Howdy fellas! Instead of going to my marketing class today, I decided to do a little preseason blog post to whet your appetites until next week when the real analysis by Mr. Ries will start. I gotta say to start off I'm a little disappointed in the activity within our league. I continue to hope that all members will start contributing to message board posts and the like, but it continues to be the same individuals (myself, Jack, and sometimes Joe). I was really hoping this would be the year where everyone provides input to league matters, and maybe throw in some trash talking too. Alas, I'm probably fighting a losing battle in that regard, so onto more pressing matters for our league.
As far as divisions go, I was looking at more as a new wrinkle to add to the league this year. I assume the divisions were divided up by when you entered the league, because I did not in any way, shape, or form have anything to do with how the divisions ended up. I did look into it now, and it does seem to have unbalanced schedules, and unfortunately, I can't switch that or the whose in which division right now. I do agree that the Dan Stuart is definitely the stronger division. What we can do to possibly alleviate this situation for this year would be to allow 8 teams into the playoffs this year instead of six. This would make it less of a problem if some teams in the Stu division that wouldn't make it in otherwise.
As far as my soccer knowledge goes, I put that down as a slight typo more than anything. Ever since the Confederation's Cup, I have been getting more and more into soccer, and I am looking forward to the World Cup a lot this year, as well as the Champion's League that precedes it. I'm hoping Sam's Army is healthy and ready to go by June 12th because without Guch and Charlie Davies, I don't think we have a shot of doing anything. I assume you like Espana as the favorite, and at this point it's tough not to go with them, but I'm going to root for the underdog Ivory Coast as of right now. Nobody wants to choose Brazil, but I might as well take someone who no one else is going to take. I think of them as the Butler of the World Cup, but not to overwhelm the rest of you with soccer talk, but is there any interest in doing a World Cup fantasy league? Or at least like a bracket pick 'em of some sort?
As usual, Joe continues to throw me under the bus. We discussed the League Safe thing at the draft, and Joe was all in favor of it. As soon as someone who has an important role in the league questions it, of course he flip flops like he's John Kerry around election day. My thinking with League Safe is it's an easy way to collect the money, and no one has to worry about collecting and keeping it, because at the end of the season, i can go in and tell League Safe who to wire the money to so there's also not the hassle of getting it to people either. There are two options to pay for the league that I could have selected, free or standard. Free allows owners to pay by e-check only and there is no convenience fees, and standard allows either e-checks or credit cards, but the 3% convenience fee. The way I saw it was I didn't think people knew how to do e-checks but knew how to pay with credit cards, and I didn't think 30 cents extra for making sure the money is paid and distributed right away would have been a big deal. When I brought up League Safe at the draft, no one said it was a bad idea, and our treasurer Joseph was all in favor of it, even telling me to make the account. If people can't pay like that (in Riley's circumstance), we can certainly have Joe collect that money, but I just felt this was the more convenient option. Let me know what you guys think maybe so you know, we can actually get some input besides me, Joe, and Jack, and occasionally Riley.
I have one more issue also I wanted to address. I mentioned it at the draft and to some of the other members, but I wanted to institute a fine this year as well: Anytime there is a player on a team that is in the starting lineup that is either on the disabled list or in the minors, there would be a $1 fine per player. I was thinking I could check on each team on say, Sunday night, for this circumstance, and so for everytime it happens, you have to pay a buck, with all the money going towards our fantasy football draft this year, as we will all be twenty one, it would be a good fund to use to purchase any adult beverages needed. What do you guys think? I'm particularly interested in what Jack thinks because he wasn't at the draft, and as the pseudo-Deputy Commissioner, I value your opinion. I think we might be able to call it the Tmac Rule for obvious reasons. I will put it as a poll for this week, so please vote.
Well those are all the current issues facing the league that I can think of. I encourage everyone to express their opinion so we can get some real chatter going this year from nearly everyone, and not just the familiar faces. And with that, here are some links for the week! Good luck to all in the first week of what should be an awesome season!
Da Commish's Hot Clicks of the Week
If you haven't seen it yet, here's arguably the best play from Opening Day, even if it is Mark Buerhle
To go along with my increased following of soccer, here's a video tribute to US national team forward Charlie Davies, who was in a serious car accident not too long ago where he broke pretty much every bone in his body. He's looking to come back for the World Cup, which in my opinion would be insane given how recent his injury was.
They don't call them the Cameron Crazies for nothing.
If only Gus Johnson had called the game last night, we could have heard all of these.
And for the Song of the Week, we have Ryan Bingham with The Weary Kind, which is part of the soundtrack to the movie Crazy Heart.