Alright gentlemen, the first round of divisional games is over and the bye weeks are starting. There has been a very interesting change in just about everyone’s team thus far. BY trade, by injury, or by up and down play, there are no true teams that have dominated… like I did last year. It will be a very interesting next couple of weeks to see how everyone handles the byes and some of the bigger names that went down early come back. With that being said… err go the week 4 update.

For this week’s update there will be no interview instead I will raise some questions to think about the league and some possible rule changes or added things. The 5 quick questions, the weekly photo/video section, pick-up report, and Power Ranks have been updated.

Lastly we are half way to the first deadline… Money Due.

Deadlines

Money Due: Monday October 15, 2012 (End of Week 6)

Trade Deadline: Wednesday November 7, 2012 (Noon)

Playoffs: Week 13, 14, 15&16

Year End Party: TBD

Pick-Up Report
As of 5:22PM on 28 September 2012
Lawrenceville United: 5
Revis and Butthead: 5
Suck My Ditka: 4
C[][]L BREES: 4
No One Runs With My Bulls: 3
Sweaty BALSAGNA: 2
Stuart Scott’s Eye: 2
Krack: 1
|\/|cNair’s Mayhem: 1
Discount Double Check: 1

Kurt’s Weekly Interview:

Nobody this week. Instead, I will be bringing up some things about the league that we are going to vote on and I would like to see everyone’s response to some different ideas. I have been looking around at different message boards and websites for ideas regarding league rules. Also, the past few season I have created or joined some different free leagues on ESPN (2QB, Return Yards, 20 Team League, etc.) to see how things work out. So, none of this has to be an actual change but to get you thinking. I am also aware that some of this stuff has been voted on before but it never hurts to bring some stuff up again. I will conduct an official vote on each of these topics at some point, but want to get everyone thinking. IF they do pass, they WILL take effect next season and if it is unanimous, this season.

Scoring
First thing I wanted to start with was scoring. I feel that most of our scoring system is on point. With receptions the WR and pass catching RBs do get a bump, but it’s not too too much and actually levels things out as far as the top X amount goes. Qb’s at 4 might seem low but they have the ball every play and score the most touchdowns. There are three things at this point that I want us to think about.
1. Fractional scoring. Mostly every other league I have seen or read about has it. It does not change much, but will make a tie much more difficult and rewards players for those extra yards between whole points.

2. Return TDs for players rather than the defense.

3. Defense Points, yardage and points allowed in particular. In most of the other leagues I came across, kickers lose points for missed FG and defenses lost points once they reach a certain amount of points against. Now, theyw ouldnt start losing points right at 21, but more like 40. Also, defenses in some leagues get points for yards against. I personally like this, but only as like a bonus. Much like how we give WRs and RBs a bonus at 200 and QBs at 400, we could give the defense a 5 point bonus for holding a team under 100 total yards.

Rosters
The main thing with rosters that I wanted to bring up was the size and the starters. I like the idea of a two QB league, but it might not be right for 12 guys. I feel it is more like a 10 team league thing. With that being said, I like the 9 starters we have, even more so now with the Flex, but do you think the 9 person bench is too much and takes away from the glory of the waiver wire? We used to have 7 and we added two more, but it’s deep and thins out the wire. Many of the sites I go to for information has people talking about guys to pick up and when I look at our league, they are already on someones roster just about every time. That isn’t always a bad thing, but it might make the wire a little more interesting while generating more end of the year party funds at the same time. Also, thinking about the draft, no matter if we draft 10 or 20 guys every pick will always matter.

Payouts
I do not plan on changing the payout format as far as first, second and third goes but I do want to think about a weekly payout winner. As I mentioned last week, we could do a few things. The first is simply raise the entrance fee by a 12 or 24 and pay out the top scorer each week based on that (meaning like 10 or 20 bucks each week to the high scorer)…This wouldn’t be such a bad idea and is only a few bucks more for a chance to win more money. We could keep the entrance the same and take a percentage out… this is my least favorite. Lastly, and I think could be the best idea is to simply have the person with the lowest score for the week owe the person with the highest score of the week 10 bucks. It makes every week important for every person… even if you have 6 guys on the bye and 3 hurt, you have incentive to not come in last.

Tradition
This league is based on traditions. You know, we have grown from just about nothing, to a waiting list. We have the weekly updates, power ranks, interviews, and now the year end party. Well, I am looking to add a little more to this with some fun things. This idea is more open for talk (I will start a post on the ESPN site so that we can discuss further) but I am thinking some awards and bets. Like ideas that a person has to do if the come in last every year. Or some “beer” awards at the year-end-party for stuff like Most games correctly chosen from 5 questions, highest scoring qb/rb/wr/etc.

5 Quick Questions
1: Favorite retired player?
2: Worried or not about the byes?
3: How bad are the refs?
4: Saints @ Packers?
5: If you were an animal what would it be and why?

With all the favorite players listed I have to give a shout out to the recent topic of conversation, Sean Taylor.

Week 3 Power Ranks
Again, another shake up.

Image/Video of the Week: Replacement Ref’s get the Taiwanese Animation Treatment
via Reddit.

~Staudt