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Rant: Scheduling a live draft party


CreepingDeath

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It's that time of year again.  The rest of you "commishes" know my pain.  Trying to wrangle a bunch of man-children into a set weekend to fucking have fun is a GODDAMN chore.  Motherfuckers will give every excuse in the books as to why one day won't work or another.  "My kid as a birthday party to attend."  "My wife is running a snow-cone stand for the HOA that weekend."  

 

It doesn't matter how far in advance you try to schedule things.  Hell, don't even ask them to tell you if they have vacations or anything.  Theses bitch asses will either not say anything, or say it is okay and then last-minute puss-out.  Obviously, I'm talking people out of college with jobs and families and other excuses.  

 

What are some of the lamest excuses you've been given (or, if you're the bitch, that YOU'VE given) regarding trying to get together to do a live draft?  

Also - what do you do to increase the likelihood of getting together people (I'm not even hoping for 100% attendance).

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17 hours ago, CreepingDeath said:

It's that time of year again.  The rest of you "commishes" know my pain.  Trying to wrangle a bunch of man-children into a set weekend to fucking have fun is a GODDAMN chore.  Motherfuckers will give every excuse in the books as to why one day won't work or another.  "My kid as a birthday party to attend."  "My wife is running a snow-cone stand for the HOA that weekend."  

 

It doesn't matter how far in advance you try to schedule things.  Hell, don't even ask them to tell you if they have vacations or anything.  Theses bitch asses will either not say anything, or say it is okay and then last-minute puss-out.  Obviously, I'm talking people out of college with jobs and families and other excuses.  

 

What are some of the lamest excuses you've been given (or, if you're the bitch, that YOU'VE given) regarding trying to get together to do a live draft?  

Also - what do you do to increase the likelihood of getting together people (I'm not even hoping for 100% attendance).

 

I just don't do it. My friends live too far away and it works fine enough to do it on ZOOM.

 

Since you are dealing with guys with families I think your only bet is to make it a "thing". Either do a party where wives and kids are invited, provide the Moms with wine and their own shit to do and know you can get through the rounds that matter. Or bribe the wives and get it on the calendar super far in advance. Send a bottle of wine and some chocolates or something so John Q Dad can leave on a Friday night. Feels like you have to get the men to commit to stay up late and do it. Ultimately, it's one day a year and you have to play on social obligation thing. The issue is if you are just going through the men it won't happen. Wives are gonna be a thorn in your side unless you engage them in some way and get them on board. 

 

For me, leveraging all this social capital and managing the draft isn't fun. I prefer doing yahoo and ZOOM, and then trying to do something like having the people over who can come with laptops or getting together to actually watch first weeks of games. 

 

 

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21 minutes ago, Bink said:

 

I just don't do it. My friends live too far away and it works fine enough to do it on ZOOM.

 

Since you are dealing with guys with families I think your only bet is to make it a "thing". Either do a party where wives and kids are invited, provide the Moms with wine and their own shit to do and know you can get through the rounds that matter. Or bribe the wives and get it on the calendar super far in advance. Send a bottle of wine and some chocolates or something so John Q Dad can leave on a Friday night. Feels like you have to get the men to commit to stay up late and do it. Ultimately, it's one day a year and you have to play on social obligation thing. The issue is if you are just going through the men it won't happen. Wives are gonna be a thorn in your side unless you engage them in some way and get them on board. 

 

For me, leveraging all this social capital and managing the draft isn't fun. I prefer doing yahoo and ZOOM, and then trying to do something like having the people over who can come with laptops or getting together to actually watch first weeks of games. 

 

 

You're spot on about involving the families.  As is with all things, that doesn't always go as planned.  And you are also exactly right about "leveraging social capital."  Thanks for the input.  

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5 minutes ago, CreepingDeath said:

You're spot on about involving the families.  As is with all things, that doesn't always go as planned.  And you are also exactly right about "leveraging social capital."  Thanks for the input.  

 

I could honestly see something like this working. It would cost you a bit depending on how much you are willing to spend/how important this is to you + the fact that the husband is willing to play ball. 

 

You mail and invite/send evite to the wife. 

 

"Dear Jill, 

 

It's that time of the year again when Jack is preparing for fantasy football. Sorry in advance for those times when he'll be yelling at the TV because of a missed field goal or wastes your time talking about a 3rd string RB who is going to make or break his season. If you hear him use the word sleeper, just walk away and ignore him. 

 

Because he's a perennial loser, Jack's presence is really important to our league. We're hoping to have an in-person draft on Friday, August 26th. This means we'll need to steal Jack for a night. 

 

Either way he'll be participating in our draft, but here's the deal I'm offering you (fantasy football is all about negotiation, after all): 

 

Option1: Jack stays home. Jack locks himself away in the basement with his laptop except to occasionally appear and grab a beer or snacks. You might hear random shouting or other annoying remarks about fantasy football. If something happens to your wi-fi, prepare for maximum panic. 

 

Option 2: Jack comes and drafts with me. This means no Jack on Friday night (I am sure you're heartbroken over this prospect). In return, I will send Jack home with a bottle of your choice and a promise that on Saturday night he's going to take care of the kids and handle dinner so that you can enjoy with a book, bath bomb, or Bridgerton. 

 

Ultimately, its up to you. But if you are okay with sending Jack to us please let me know if you want red, white, or sparkling." 

 

 

First, yes, I do have way too much time on my hands. But at like 12 bucks per person I think this gets you great attendance and good will with wives. I mean, I am sure many of them would love the prospect of a Saturday night to themselves. Could be a strategy. 

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On 7/17/2022 at 5:16 PM, NashvilleNinja said:

The answer is to schedule an asynchronous offline/email/untimed draft.

Of course, the joys that come with that are people who take a week to draft followed by months of bitching by the others that they're taking too long.

For quite some time now, we do an online draft and try to get as many together in one room as possible.  This works, but isn't the same as when we use to do offline completely.  The offline took FOREVER since there wasn't a timer/penalty but it was great as we'd get more raucous as the beers dwindled.  And the people who couldn't make it were left us drafting according to some Fantasy Football Draft magazine that was probably outdated by a few months.  It was great shit.  

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On 7/19/2022 at 8:10 AM, CreepingDeath said:

For quite some time now, we do an online draft and try to get as many together in one room as possible.  This works, but isn't the same as when we use to do offline completely.  The offline took FOREVER since there wasn't a timer/penalty but it was great as we'd get more raucous as the beers dwindled.

 

Same here.  Typically we still get 9-10 of the 12 owners together for a day so it's almost like the old days where everyone was there.

 

And having it online is super convenient for the couple of guys who can't make it and for the commissioner since everyone brings laptops to the live draft and enters their own picks into the website (instead of the commissioner having to do it).

 

We also have a thing where the league winner gets to institute a new rule the following season.  He can make up whatever rule he wants and it goes into effect unless there is a unanimous veto from those attending the draft in person (remote owners don't get to vote).

 

Last year we had a 2 TE league.  It was very interesting.

 

We also did a live draft in Vegas one year.  Terrible idea.  We made it through about 4 rounds and then let the website auto draft while we hit the casino floor and the pool.

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In my big money league its 12 of us. The winner from the previous year picks a draft location. We are all over CA so typically the winner picks a place that is near where they live. This is the 9th year we've done it. We keep the draft weekend the same every year so there are no excuses. Of course sometimes life happens and someone has to do the draft remote, but it has to be a real reason. Otherwise you are kicked out of the league and replaced. We have about 5 other friends that are trying to get into the league so having replacements keeps everyone in check. We also do a year round bro chat to keep everyone engaged so no one has an excuse of being too busy. 

 

We do an auction draft. Live auctioneer and everything. Our auctioneer bailed on us this year for a stupid music festival that he doesnt even know any of the bands. so we kicked his ass out and replaced him. 

 

We will be hitting Reno this year but we've done Tahoe, Santa Cruz, Pismo Beach, Paso Robles, San Diego, Chico and Discovery Bay. 

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22 hours ago, CaliTitan3518 said:

In my big money league its 12 of us. The winner from the previous year picks a draft location. We are all over CA so typically the winner picks a place that is near where they live. This is the 9th year we've done it. We keep the draft weekend the same every year so there are no excuses. Of course sometimes life happens and someone has to do the draft remote, but it has to be a real reason. Otherwise you are kicked out of the league and replaced. We have about 5 other friends that are trying to get into the league so having replacements keeps everyone in check. We also do a year round bro chat to keep everyone engaged so no one has an excuse of being too busy. 

 

We do an auction draft. Live auctioneer and everything. Our auctioneer bailed on us this year for a stupid music festival that he doesnt even know any of the bands. so we kicked his ass out and replaced him. 

 

We will be hitting Reno this year but we've done Tahoe, Santa Cruz, Pismo Beach, Paso Robles, San Diego, Chico and Discovery Bay. 

 

The guy who lives in Chico must be a really good friend because that's clearly the armpit of the past draft locations.

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13 minutes ago, abenjami said:

 

The guy who lives in Chico must be a really good friend because that's clearly the armpit of the past draft locations.

Hahaha none of the guys live north of the bay area. 2/3 of the league went to Chico state so that's why it was picked. I actually missed that draft due to my wife being pregnant, but apparently it was by far the worst trip. 

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