2005 NFBC Feedback Thread

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:13 am

As promised this will be a thread where everyone can talk about the 2005 NFBC. We want to get your feedback whether it's positive, negative, whatever. We're all big boys here so we can take it if there were some things that frustrated you. The bottom line is we are working hard not only to ensure that this year's event goes well but we also want to continue to work hard to make sure the event gets even better in the years to come. So that's why all of your feedback is important and why we want to hear what you guys have to say.

From the Chicago standpoint, there were a couple of things that I did notice, namely the fact the phone auctions with New York ran much longer then they should have. I talked with the facilitators and some of the members in each league and I honestly don't know why it happened. They had some ideas about things that may have contributed but honestly I don't think any of them should have led to such lengthy auctions -- especially the NL-only auction which ran well over 8 hours. So that's one area where I know we definitely would appreciate some feedback.

So consider this the thread where you can give us your critique of the event and how we did and what we need to do in the future to make things even better and have the event run even smoother. If you have specific questions, Greg and I will be happy to answer them here as well. Thanks in advance.

Edwards Kings · Post by **Edwards Kings** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:23 am

First off, first class. We started on time, Chicago League 2 facilitators were great, nice facility, good goodies, good fellowship.

As I mentioned in the other string, Dan Pasqua was a great guy, but just not that into baseball anymore and didn't wish to bring any good time stories to the table. Class guy, but a little reserved. No real suggestion for improvement since other options (announcers, scouts) are constrained by spring training and budget.

And if Dan Pasqua is all I would have to suggest as an area for slight improvement, then you can tell I was VERY happy with the event...again!

Hey, I know, how about a mid-draft delivery of burgers and beer by the Hooters calander girls!

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:30 am

I agree Pasqua was a very nice guy, but he was a bit reserved and like others I was very surprised when he said he didn't follow baseball any longer. I did like the fact he spent a lot of time mingling with a lot of the Chicago participants after he was done taking questions. That was his idea and I thought it was a good one.

Cooperstown · Post by **Cooperstown** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:35 am

Chicago League 4 may have set the record for fastest draft. Facilitators did a superb job. They got the names on the board fast. Hard to fault them getting a little behind when 7 names are called in succession in under 1 minute.

My only complaint is being able to hear the names being called out from other leagues. There is no doubt that some unintentional evesdropping goes on. My suggestion next year is to have separate breakout rooms for each league.

This will also help keep the noise down when some leagues finish before others.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:39 am

Jeff, I think the only way to prevent the noise is to have separate rooms for each league. Whether that's something we want to do or can realistically do remains to be seen. But we'll definitely explore all of our options.

I thought Chicago League 4 really picked up when that third guy was helping out for the last several rounds. Who was that guy again ...?

Cooperstown · Post by **Cooperstown** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:48 am

I don't know Tom, but he kind of looked like you.

Don't think I didn't notice your amazing ability to put a name on the board w/o spilling your beer.

Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:

Jeff, I think the only way to prevent the noise is to have separate rooms for each league. Whether that's something we want to do or can realistically do remains to be seen. But we'll definitely explore all of our options.

I thought Chicago League 4 really picked up when that third guy was helping out for the last several rounds. Who was that guy again ...?

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:51 am

Hey, I did not have a beer with me while I was facilitating. Now after I was facilitating well ...

chico · Post by **chico** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:54 am

My first draft. Be gentle guys.

c Buck

c Hall

1b Giambi

2b Kent

3b Beltre

co Blake

m Isturis

of Crawford

of Drew

of Alou

of Winn

of Biggio

U Swisher

sp Peavy

sp Oli Perez

sp Odl Perez

sp Grienke

sp D.Wells

rp Takatsu

rp Spier

rp Marte

rp Gordon

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 4:12 am

I think everything in Las Vegas went well. Everyone running the drafts I was in did a great job. The one down side was in the 650 AL auction.

We were in the same room as the mix auction and had the welcome party in the next room with a loud PA speaker blaring. Noise isn't a big deal with a stright draft. But in an auction where your trying to follow bids its a killer. There were a lot of unhappy campers over the nosie problem.

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 5:08 am

Greg, I was in New York for the $5K ultimate auction (along with two other teams). While we did have some technical issues in the beginning, I thought it went pretty smoothly after that. The key was having at least one facilitator on a headset, plus a "going-once, going-twice" that worked for both cities. As I indicated on another thread, the time to complete all 15 rosters--including reserves--took more than an hour LESS for the ultimate auction than the $650 NY/Chi auction.

I know that things were a little frustrating in the first half hour, but I hope that you will not close out the possibility of doing future mixed-city auction events. Even in our little 3-owner room in New York, I think everyone really had a great time.

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 5:27 am

Great job in Vegas Greg!

We had strong facilitators in LV league 5. Knew the players, and were efficient.

Nice meeting you briefly, and hope you can relax soon!

Great job.

~Lance

Patsy Dean · Post by **Patsy Dean** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 6:24 am

The draft was a lot more fun than I had anticipated. This was my first ever "fanatasy" event. Other than not knowing all of the players selected late, I enjoyed the experience. The Vegas (league 3 pick 9) event was handled in fine fashion. Sorry that I didn't feel better..I left right after the draft and missed the happy hour. Hopefully Dave knew what he was doing with some of those pitchers he selected.

MikeB. · Post by **MikeB.** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:07 am

I was in the NL only Friday night acution. I had a great time, but there were definitely things that could be changed when connecting two cities by phone. The draft took over 8 hours and it was mostly due to the two facilitators (though not their fault) trying to link up their "going once, going twice" not to mention it seemed like nobody would yell a bid until the facilitator said "going twice" every time! That probably dragged it an hour and a half alone.

The easiest solution to this would to have just set up a conference call. I mean I think they only cost about fifty bucks then you can just have two speaker phones going and everyone could hear each other.

Truthfully I think the ideal solution to a mixed city auction when people are a country apart would be the "in/out" auctioning style. It works really well and speeds things along. Everyone has a block or something in front of them with one side red and one side green. When a player gets called out it goes around the room in team number order. If you leave your block on green you must place a bid, if you turn it to red you are out of the bidding on that player for good.

I do tip my hat to Mike the NY facilitator as he was in a very tough position and did the best he could. He was a very nice guy.

JAR · Post by **JAR** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:20 am

Originally posted by chico:

My first draft. Be gentle guys.

c Buck - good sleeper pick

c Hall - he may have a bounceback season in him

1b Giambi - going to be the steal of most drafts IMO.. roids or not, this guy is a good hitter

2b Kent - hope you didn't take him too high.. I don't think he'll produce as much in LA

3b Beltre - expect a mild drop off

co Blake - underated a bit

m Isturis - gotta get thos steals.. nice

of Crawford - awesome pick..

of Drew - drop off in LA

of Alou - going to get pitches to hit all year w/ bonds on 1B over 50% of the time

of Winn - solid all around

of Biggio - very nice pick here.. he's going to get 2B eligibilty at some point too

U Swisher - decent rookie -

sp Peavy - great anchor - don't expect another SUB 3.00 era season tho

sp Oli Perez - great 2nd pitcher

sp Odl Perez - solid as they come

sp Grienke - could be middle of the road or real bad

sp D.Wells - solid as they come

rp Takatsu - 25 saves great era/whip..

rp Spier - release

rp Marte - hold

rp Gordon -hold onto.. Rivera is going to hit the DL at some poitnOverall I give ya a C

You're offense and pitching should be just above avg, and you really needed a 2nd closer or MOre potential closers.

Good for your first draft tho IMO

eddiejag · Post by **eddiejag** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 8:08 am

king of queens , if you have a chance post your ultimate team , please.Also check out mine and give your opinion on it . ILD DO THE SAME WITH YOURS.Mines on one of these threads.IVE seen some nice teams nydownunder and FANGDANGO WERE TWO TEAMS I LIKED.

Cellar Dwellers · Post by **Cellar Dwellers** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 1:06 pm

I thought the facilitators in NY league #4 did a great job. For the most part they knew the players, they got stuck on a couple near the end but that's to be expected if they are not regular fantasy baseball players themselves. The important thing was that they loudly and clearly announced the player and what team had just picked him and then started the clock after the player was posted. Overall it was a great experience, would have enjoyed it more if team #12 didn't grab the guy I was about to take with the next pick several times.

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 1:14 pm

No complaints, the entire event went off perfectly from my perspective.

Facilitators were excellent in all 3 leagues. Thanks guys, great job for NL $1250 auction-1,

Mixed auction-1, Las Vegas-6.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:22 pm

Originally posted by Cellar Dwellers:

I thought the facilitators in NY league #4 did a great job. For the most part they knew the players, they got stuck on a couple near the end but that's to be expected if they are not regular fantasy baseball players themselves. The important thing was that they loudly and clearly announced the player and what team had just picked him and then started the clock after the player was posted. Overall it was a great experience, would have enjoyed it more if team #12 didn't grab the guy I was about to take with the next pick several times. Cellar Dwellars, those guys were on the money. And I'm not just saying that because I was the guy with the Dem Bums Jersey...lol

When Football starts, I am a player and not fascilitator. It was wierd being on the other end of the table...But looking for some of the names you guys were calling towards the end reminded me why I'm not a Fantasy Baseball guy...Those Japanese names were killing me...lol

[ March 21, 2005, 09:23 PM: Message edited by: Diesel ]

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:52 pm

Originally posted by Diesel:

quote:Originally posted by Cellar Dwellers:

I thought the facilitators in NY league #4 did a great job. For the most part they knew the players, they got stuck on a couple near the end but that's to be expected if they are not regular fantasy baseball players themselves. The important thing was that they loudly and clearly announced the player and what team had just picked him and then started the clock after the player was posted. Overall it was a great experience, would have enjoyed it more if team #12 didn't grab the guy I was about to take with the next pick several times. Cellar Dwellars, those guys were on the money. And I'm not just saying that because I was the guy with the Dem Bums Jersey...lol

When Football starts, I am a player and not fascilitator. It was wierd being on the other end of the table...But looking for some of the names you guys were calling towards the end reminded me why I'm not a Fantasy Baseball guy...Those Japanese names were killing me...lol [/QUOTE]Otsuka was the one that really got you.

viper · Post by **viper** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 5:11 pm

NY7 was not as smooth as it could have been. I would say the facilitator was OK (nothing great like I had last year in NY4 but he was adequate). His helper was not helpful at all. Far too often the facilitaor had to go back and find a player. Many times there was 30-40 seconds between the pick and the tag being placed on the board. Towards the end when the less obvious players were drafted, even the facilitor seemed not to know who they were - Brandon League comes to mind but there were others too. He didn't even know all the positions of players. We finally got done at 6pm but I made a 7pm train by not staying around. Then with nothing to drink after the draft that wasn't grossly over-priced, that wasn't a disaster.

NY1 was done about an hour before us and I undestand we were done an hour before another NY league. Imagine one league finishing 2 hours before another. Something is amiss in New Amsterdam.

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:14 am

Hi,

I was in the Vegas $650 Mixed hosted by Matt and the $1250 Championship hosted by Max. I thought everything went about as well as could be expected. Matt was a tiny bit distracted by the Syracuse game, but who can blame him?

Overall, great work. Matt and Max did a great job. I liked them alot! I know it is hard to organize such events and I know how much work everyone contributed.

My suggestions are as follows:

1. Electronically track $ and positions. Quite frankly, we ran into a cluster at the end when one guy didn't track his team properly. Also, the $ checks would have gone faster if posted on a display or something.

MOST IMPORTANT: 2. Don't schedule the draft on the opening day of the NCAA. This caused a lot of issues - getting rooms, overall crowd level in Vegas, people trying to follow the games while drafting, etc...

Great Props to Greg and Tom for organizing!!!!! I did the math and this is obviously a labor of love cause they aren't getting rich doing this!

Thanks again, and I look forward to winning

Regards,

Chris Throop

[ March 22, 2005, 10:20 AM: Message edited by: Spyhunter ]

Nevadaman · Post by **Nevadaman** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:56 am

I had a great time in both the Main Event and the Ultimate Draft. No real complaints - other than when I registered I didn't get the Upper Deck package. My one comment is that I would like the draft held one week closer to the start of the season. That would give us all better information and eliminate the potential for more bad injury beats.

eddiejag · Post by **eddiejag** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 6:28 am

NEVADAMAN what pick did you have in the ultimate. I had pick 14 , tell me what you think.

EDDIEJAG

Corkedbats · Post by **Corkedbats** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 8:41 am

Originally posted by Spyhunter:

Hi,

!

Thanks again, and I look forward to winning

Regards,

Chris Throop _________________________

Chris,

"look forward to winning"? I hope you were talking about the girl scout league you joined back home, not the mixed league vegas auction I did with you. You have more question marks on your team than "the riddler" from batman.

If all the ? come through for you, you might finish top 15.

Good luck to everyone in Vegas Mixed 2.

Mike McSunas

Walter Sobczak · Post by **Walter Sobczak** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:19 am

Chicago draft was well run. League 2's facilitators were efficient, fun, and had a "perky" attitude which helped the end of the draft from dragging on and on.

Suggestions - Both are very valid and should be heavily considered.

1. Seperate rooms for each draft - I dont enjoy hearing the name of the player I am ready to take called out from another draft. Too many times did we then hear that same name called out under a minute later. I know we were all going at different paces but I feel that it may sway some peoples train of thought. This really needs to be implemented!!!!!

I hope some of you that agreed with me in Chicago will chime in so there arent just 2 of us begging for this.

2. Food - Burgers, Brats, cold sammy's, something about 10 rounds in would be good. If nothing else, the option to order something ourselves. The chips werent sopping up the beer and Kettle One quickly enough....

Still, a F'n great event!! Dan Pasqua made a huge mistake by not accepting my offer to play softball with my team....