Grits and Shins Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I've been in my local league since some time in the 90's. Originally the league was with co-workers. Over time we've had to replace owners for one reason or another (including two deaths) but we have a solid core of 6 owners that have been around since the league was started. About 10 years ago one of the guys moved out of state. So each year he conducted his draft over the phone ... a somewhat painful process. Until about 4 years ago when I introduced him to the MFL live draft room - we still conducted the draft at my house but I entered the picks live allowing him to more easily follow the draft and enter his own picks live. It worked wonderfully. It worked so well that for the second year in a row everybody drafted remotely. One of the absolute best things about my local league had been the draft itself where we all got together in the same room and ran the draft - heck one year we even drafted in a suite at a Cowboy pre-season game. Sadly those days appear to be gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Muto Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Agreed. Since 1990 I have been holding drafts at my house and everyone used to come over now only half of them come over and the rest draft online. Very boring now. Not the feel of a great draft day like in years past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonDog Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I started out playing in a local league before the internet days and it was a blast. I have an online league now in our 11th year with many owners there for most of that time. None of us knew each other but have become good friends, sometimes a few meet up when traveling. One year about 1/2 of us met in Vegas. But the drafts are not like the "old days"... but this year a few of us last minute setup a Google+ hangout and could see and talk to each other during the draft! It rocked and we will be doing it every year. So I have hope that one day the drafts we be once again something more than looking at a computer screen for 3 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bree22 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I agree. I miss getting together with my league mates. 3 of my drafts are online and 1 I draft via the phone. The online drafts are just over an hour and the phone draft is 3 hours but it is fun to pick on each others picks and make fun of the 2 people who take 10 mins to make a pick. A few years ago I had to draft from my Car during the hurricane in FLA (went thru 2 cell phone batteries). That was a lot of fun. Sucked being alone but was cool to share with my boys. I actually just talked to 2 of them after there brush with Irene and they both mentioned me and that draft. Great times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTSuper7 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I've setup a conference bridge for my local auction draft. You can do it for free at www.freeconference.com, and I'm sure there are other sites that would do it too. It's not quite the same, but it's fun to hurl insults at your league mates when they overpay for guys or just generally bust each other's chops. But I agree that nothing compares to the good old days where everyone actually showed up in person to the draft. The last time I was in a draft where every single owner was present in person to draft was 2008. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazinib1 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 My bar local makes it mandatory you show up in person...emergencies withstanding, its been smooth for years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Agent Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 It's getting tougher to get everyone together in my local the older we get. Kids, wives, jobs...bullchit excuses like that. We had to draft 3 weeks ago just so we could all get together. For me the draft is the best part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montster Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I had two drafts back-to-back on Monday. First one was at 4 pm with half the owners in the same room and the other half online. Second draft was in my garage with all 12 of us drafting (one guy had to come an hour late because it was his kid's birthday). One thing about drafting online is that when it's just you in front of that computer, it seems like picks take FOREVER. In person, we all can just yell at the guy. Typing "hurry up" in the chat box isn't the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staniels12 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 We started our league in 1992, used an AOL chatroom in 1996 and 1997 for one or two guys who moved away, and eventually went totally online to the point where we do the draft over the course of an entire week these days. We missed the good ole days of live drafting so much that we started a 2nd league where everybody shows up in person, we hold the lottery 10 minutes before we start drafting, and we knock the whole thing out in about 3 hours. For sure owners make better picks doing the slow draft online when they have lots of time between picks to analyze players. The old-school method in our 2nd league really separates the skilled owners from the lackeys since you have to be on your toes. We still enjoy draft week for the original league since we get to converse in the MFL draft room with each other, but nothing beats a live draft to remember how it was back in the day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wpob Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Been in a dynasty league for 22 years with mostly the same 10 owners. Every year we hold a draft weekend - golf and dinner Friday. Lunch, BS time, BBQ , draft and poker Saturday and depart Sunday. While we do not drink as much as we did, we all look forward to seeing each other and hanging out for 60 hours. It is the best part of the draft - tied with bragging rights! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazysight Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 That sounds like a blast Wpob. Lots of money spent though. Not everybody is financially secure these days, unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelman Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Believe it or not.. the best thing we ever did was to allow two women into the league bumping it from 10 to 12. We no longer get as much SHAM WOW! from the other girls for talking football. Our football Sundays are now almost basically catered by the ladies. We get the most awesome trades! And to my chagrin... one of them won last year. And the year before one of them knocked me out of playoffs with Dallas Clark scoring 3 tds in one game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddahj Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Without the live/in person draft, I see no point in being in a local league. Just my Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MothAudio Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Without the live/in person draft, I see no point in being in a local league. Just my Agrreed. Formed an office league 7 years ago with guys in the department and the draft was the best part. We reserved a room at a local Irish pub and it was a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 My main local has been together over 15 years. This year we actually had to put it to a vote whether to have a live draft or not. Live draft won but its a sign of the times. Some guys moved out of state so they will follow online but a few guys that live locally bitch that we are in the stone age for having a live draft when cbs can just host an online one. Obviously they miss the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The 13ers Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 In 11 years, my league has had 100% live participation with all owners(no proxies) once. We've had people move, quit, kicked out over the years. This year, we had one proxy and one remote drafter. I was all set up for an MFL draft, but I decided it didn't 'work' well enough the day before the draft. So, we skyped. Worked great!! It was like he was in the room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thews40 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I miss the days drafting using only paper (no laptops allowed). With the ADP right there, having to scroll down to make a pick makes you think you're losing value. My first draft was with one guy (commish) who had been playing FF using the newspaper and calculating the stats for years. #7 pick overall was a kicker... good times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 we still meet and I enter the picks into MFL as we go along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Been in a local league here of some form for about 15 years. We have never missed the live draft. We've had occasions where guys were out of town and had one that lived out of town one year. We've set up the draft on MFL so they could follow along, but you adjust and still have fun. If it got to the point where we all just drafted from home, I'd quit. Not what I want for my local league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_am_the_swammi Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Just had our local last night. Used to be a weekend getaway at the beach or a night out, but now its just an afternoon of golf for those inclined, dinner, then the draft at my buddy's house on his deck. We still make sure we are all together....and other than a small handful of changes, the core of our group has been together since 1991....20 years this season! No doubt its the best part of the season....even online drafts are fun. I never understood why, after waiting all off-season to draft a team, all the mocks, all the preparation....people want their draft over as quickly as possible. While a live draft is the best way to go, I also have no problem with a long, slow draft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theprofessor Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 My drafts are all auction style formats so it's critical that everyone is together in the same room. We have had 5 owners from Washington and 5 from Oregon and we have held a state versus state competition with the losing state (always Oregon ) having to drive to the winning state for the draft. We hold our draft in a large niteclub in a local casino and then every 4th year we all meet in Las Vegas to hold our draft there. Great times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trots Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Our local's 19th year. About half of us meet in Pennsylvania for the entire weekend, the other half roll in just for the actual auction and then go right home. We have guys coming from Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philly, and Long Island. 2 days of golf and debauchery during the draft weekend cannot be beat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelman Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 (edited) The online system also makes it easier to join/ create multiple leagues... thus devaluing each one. I can't even root for players anymore because I have them all in one league or another. Edited September 1, 2011 by michaelman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Yep, our local has been going on since '89 at work and we still have 4 of the originals together. We switched to MFL from hand scoring a few years ago and it's slipped every year since. We only had 5 of the 12 "live" people at the draft...the rest were online. Used to be one of the funnest days of the year...now not so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JUMbotron Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Great thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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