Each year since 2006, everyone who purchased the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy for fantasy football was eligible to enter a contest to win $5,000. It was a way for Mike Krueger (FFToday) and I to say thanks for the support that year, and great to add some fun and excitement to see who comes away with the cash at the end of the year.
I’d like to do something similar for fantasy baseball as a thank you for supporting the cause in 2010. I have two problems that prevent me from doing it along exactly the same lines though. One, with a much smaller customer base the big money contest is not really an option. “Win $50!” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?
Two, I can’t think of a contest idea that groups us all together in one big competition for baseball season. Hold that, I actually do have an idea to convert one of my football contests to baseball, but the program is not ready, I don’t have a stats feed, and, and, and… no time to put it together right now. That idea is on the shelve for now.
Here is what I want to do though—let’s run some fantasy baseball leagues at DraftBuddy.com.
Now, while I’m sure the competition and trash talking will be nice enough on its own, we aren’t going to just play for pride. I want to start sending some of you—the best of our best—on the road to the National Fantasy Baseball Championship.
First, since we don’t know the best of our best right now, we are going to have a random draw for an entry in a 2010 $125 NFBC Satellite League, with first prize being an entry in the 2011 NFBC Classic, otherwise known as the mother of all fantasy baseball championships. Entry into the 2010 NFBC Classic is $1,300 where the winner amongst 405 teams walks away with a $100,000 grand prize.
Second, we’re going to play one or more sub-satellite leagues amongst Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy customers. We’ll start forming the leagues this week and get drafting soon. The winner (if we have one league) or draw amongst the winners (if we have more than one league) wins an entry in a 2011 $125 NFBC Satellite League.
For obvious reasons, I’d like to replicate the NFBC Satellites as close as possible. They are 15 team, 5X5 mixed roto leagues. We might not get to 15 teams, but the nice thing about not playing head-to-head is we have some flexibility there. There will be no trading, the same as the NFBC.
I’m likely to run the leagues on Yahoo! given the cost and I do believe it is a pretty reliable and slick system. Plus live scoring is free this year as an added bonus. It probably won’t allow us to do all the things we need, like FAAB waivers, but if it lets me make add/drops as commissioner when I want then I could run the FAAB offline. ESPN’s league manager is also a possibility I’m looking at if the drafting options are more flexible (slow draft with pre-selects).
Okay, that is the offer. What I need YOU to do is tell me if you are in or out. We don’t want to wait too long to get this going. If you’re on the fence about buying the Compiler & Draft Buddy Baseball, then maybe this is a little more incentive to get in. Drop a comment here, or on the message board, or shoot me an email.
I hope to see all of you in the leagues! Rick and I will also be playing, so come school us on your fantasy baseball knowledge, if you’re up for the challenge!
I’ll join…. if it’s a live draft then I’d have to see if available… slow draft with pre-selects would work better for me…………….
Mike,
I am in and if possible would like to be in a league with my brother Mitch.
Thanks.
Hey Chet. I would think it will be difficult to schedule a time for all of us to do a live draft, so I’m going to put a lot of priority on a slow draft w/ pre-select ability. I’m going to register a league at ESPN right now just to see what it is capable of. Maybe I’ll pay for a CBS league if necessary.
Hi Dale. This won’t be a problem at all if we only get 1 league going! I’m going to have to create some kind of cutoff for people to join.
FYI to all, the cutoff for the random draw for a 2010 NFBC Satellite league entry will probably be around March 20th.
Just noticed I had some of the years wrong in the initial post. I’ve fixed them now. We’re doing a random draw for a 2010 NFBC Satellite league entry. We’re playing to win a 2011 NFBC Satellite league entry.
Mike, I sent you an email. I’m in and looking forward to going H2H with you and Rick as well as other DB Fans. What determines eligibility for the NFBC random draw? Just whoever says they’re interested? Count me in for all of the above. I promise that when I make it to the Classic I’ll wear a Draft Buddy T Shirt to the draft.
Hey J.B. I’ll do the draw for everyone who purchases the Compiler & Draft Buddy before a certain day. Hopefully that person can make themselves available for one of the remaining NFBC Satellites from that time, or defer to someone else if they can’t, especially since they will be representing all of us.
Anyone who wants to play in a DB.com league (or the leagues) needs to let me know. You can only have a shot at the NFBC Satellite entry for next year if you play. I’ll tally up the list tomorrow but we must be up to 8 or 9 at this point.
Another reason I should have DB.com t-shirts!