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Best Way to Make an Even League (1 Viewer)

David Yudkin

David Yudkin

Footballguy
I have several local folks wanting to start a league (most with limited fantasy experience) and they want me to play but are wondering if there's a way to handicap the league so I don't crush them. For example, one guy wants to grab Mark Sanchez in the first round because he things he will be a stud this year.

Any suggestions? No first round pick for me? No picks for me until the 5th round? No waivers for me? Give my opponent a certain amount of points per week? I can only pick caucasian players?

Has anyone else played in leagues with some sort of handicapping system?

 
I have never been in a handicapped league - other than the handicaps we each bring to the table.

But if they will all pay attention to useful cheat sheets, I suggest that if they pick 4 rounds before you start getting a pick each round with them (and thus 4 picks after they are done) and have free trading during the year that I would still put my bet on your team - but it ought to be a struggle for you. That seems about fair to me.

 
Is there money on the line? If not, just have fun with it. Draft a ridiculous team just because you want to cheer for the players on it.

If there's money on the line I'm torn. Part of me wants to say let them learn the hard way by taking their money. Then again, that won't be much fun for them. If you want to handicap I'd probably say no picks until the 4th or 5th round and see how that works out.

 
Are you the only person out these folks that knows much about fantasy football? Also why don't you guide these folks to this site (FBG) that you work at? Don't you think that would help them a lot?

 
I've never had much luck with that kind of situation. My honest advice would be that if they want you to play in a league with them, run it straight up and let them take their medicine. Most guys will get motivated and work at becoming better and in a year or two you have some actual competition. Because if you decide to, for example, spot your opponent 25 points a week, and they beat you... Yee hah? Are they really going to be proud and happy that they beat a guy getting a 25 point handicap? If they win it's a hollow victory and if you win even with the handicap... it's an even more bitter pill.

 
I suppose one of the requirements could be that I would have to be drunk off my rocker to draft, but the problem with that is some of the people are under age (including my son).

I did think of another one. Let them play best ball and make me submit a roster. That would trim some of the advantage away.

 
David Yudkin said:
I have several local folks wanting to start a league (most with limited fantasy experience) and they want me to play but are wondering if there's a way to handicap the league so I don't crush them. For example, one guy wants to grab Mark Sanchez in the first round because he things he will be a stud this year.Any suggestions? No first round pick for me? No picks for me until the 5th round? No waivers for me? Give my opponent a certain amount of points per week? I can only pick caucasian players?Has anyone else played in leagues with some sort of handicapping system?
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I find that shallower leagues even the playing field quite a bit. Both less teams and less starters. This mitigates the late round value picks you will make, and also lessens the chance for someone to shoot themselves in the foot.The other thing is making sure no one can ambulance chase by making everyone unavailable during the games and then putting them all on waivers for the rest of the week.
 
I say let them take their lumps. Maybe you lose your first round pick and they get to start one or two flex spots each week that you don't get, but for the most part kick their butts. They'll learn.

I was whipped pretty badly my first year. In that same league I've made it to the championship five years running...

 
Commit to drafting no one in your top 1/2 starters at any position, based on your FBG rankings (have you ever finished them? I haven't checked). You can make that commitment without showing the others your actual rankings until after the draft if you're concerned about them using them.

So, if it's a 12-teamer starting 1-2-3-1-1-1 with no flex, you have to scratch off your top 6 QB/TE/PK/DT, 12 RB, and 18 WR before you begin.

I think that would be an interesting handicap to begin with. It wouldn't kill you but would make it very challenging.

 
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omally said:
Are you the only person out these folks that knows much about fantasy football? Also why don't you guide these folks to this site (FBG) that you work at? Don't you think that would help them a lot?
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A combination of high school and college kids, a couple other dads, and generally local team fans only. So I doubt any of them could name a Kansas City Chiefs player. They might not even be able to name 3 tight ends or kickers. Guys that have been in commercials, sure. Second receivers on just about every team except the Pats or Cardinals, not so much.
 
One potential handicapping system is to host the draft via an online site that does an autodraft. Even if you re-rank players different from the host website's default list, you still won't get all the players you'd normally acquire via standard serpentine/auction and this ensures everyone gets at least some quality players across the board. Obviously this fails if the point is to get together in person and have a live draft.

I'm currently in an auto-draft CBS league comprised entirely of friends and only three are knowledgable fantasy players. Worked out fairly well. May I also suggest a no trade rule, otherwise unbalance can happen in a hurry.

 
You could also try an oddball strategy. Maybe you never get to pick a top flight QB because you never want to use the 1st round pick on one. Now is your chance. Or you could just limit yourself to the best players on teams you want to watch this season and then only pick from a few different teams. Basically, go in and draft like a homer and have fun.

And yeah, I agree with the other posters, giving yourself an obvious handicap could make things sour amongst the rest of the league. The reward for beating you is not satisfying and the defeat is humiliating. Asking for people to abandon the league.

 
David Yudkin said:
I have several local folks wanting to start a league (most with limited fantasy experience) and they want me to play but are wondering if there's a way to handicap the league so I don't crush them. For example, one guy wants to grab Mark Sanchez in the first round because he things he will be a stud this year.Any suggestions? No first round pick for me? No picks for me until the 5th round? No waivers for me? Give my opponent a certain amount of points per week? I can only pick caucasian players?Has anyone else played in leagues with some sort of handicapping system?
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You could be allowed to only draft players who have been arrested, oh wait, that would be pretty much the whole league. How about only players who haven't been arrested?
 
If your son is in the league, then alternate picks with him.

You make your first round pick and he makes his, then in the second round he picks for you and you pick for him, etc etc

If your son doesn't play in the league, then let him draft for you.

But in general, I agree with playing it straight up and if you win big, no biggie; but if you lose then that guys has something to brag about.

 
David Yudkin said:
I have several local folks wanting to start a league (most with limited fantasy experience) and they want me to play but are wondering if there's a way to handicap the league so I don't crush them. For example, one guy wants to grab Mark Sanchez in the first round because he things he will be a stud this year.Any suggestions? No first round pick for me? No picks for me until the 5th round? No waivers for me? Give my opponent a certain amount of points per week? I can only pick caucasian players?Has anyone else played in leagues with some sort of handicapping system?
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You have to wear a hearing aid kind of device that randomly gives off bursts of sound (buzzing, screeching, whatever) of random length through the course of the season.\Seriously, instead of handicapping the draft, what about creating point spreads? Similar to Go, which has a system to handicap better players to make for even matches between players of different skill levels. This way they have the learning experience of a true draft, see how a veteran drafts, etc.
 
Wadsworth said:
I've never had much luck with that kind of situation. My honest advice would be that if they want you to play in a league with them, run it straight up and let them take their medicine. Most guys will get motivated and work at becoming better and in a year or two you have some actual competition. Because if you decide to, for example, spot your opponent 25 points a week, and they beat you... Yee hah? Are they really going to be proud and happy that they beat a guy getting a 25 point handicap? If they win it's a hollow victory and if you win even with the handicap... it's an even more bitter pill.
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Well put.There's no dignity in winning with a headstart. Competition breeds progress and grown men shouldn't like a handout.About the most I would do is take the worst position when anything "random" is determined, like draft order, waiver priority, etc.Hand an asskicking out each week and by the end of the year some of them will be blossoming.If this is a longterm league, you will be doing them a favor to push them like that. If it's a one off deal, just run a TD only league and forget about it.
 
Remember when one kid was significantly better (or worse) then everybody else at football - so you would make him the "steady"?

Maybe something similar can be done in ff.

Idea #1: Everybody but you drafts three to four rounds without you. Then you jump in and draft a team of "steady players." Each week, the guys in the league can set their starting lineups using any combination of their players and yours.

Idea #2: Head to head league, odd number of teams. You draft your team along with everyone else. Each week the teams get 1 win if they beat their opponent and a bonus win if they beat you.

I've been playing in a friendly league for years and find that there is so much luck involved in ff that just because you know the most (or think you do) doesn't mean you'll run away with it.

 
White guy WRs: Welker, Stokely, Walter and Matt Jones, could be worse. Too bad Largent is retired. Cooley as TE, he's white isn't he? You'd be golden on kickers.

 
JamesTheScot said:
Wadsworth said:
I've never had much luck with that kind of situation. My honest advice would be that if they want you to play in a league with them, run it straight up and let them take their medicine. Most guys will get motivated and work at becoming better and in a year or two you have some actual competition. Because if you decide to, for example, spot your opponent 25 points a week, and they beat you... Yee hah? Are they really going to be proud and happy that they beat a guy getting a 25 point handicap? If they win it's a hollow victory and if you win even with the handicap... it's an even more bitter pill.
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Well put.There's no dignity in winning with a headstart. Competition breeds progress and grown men shouldn't like a handout.About the most I would do is take the worst position when anything "random" is determined, like draft order, waiver priority, etc.Hand an asskicking out each week and by the end of the year some of them will be blossoming.If this is a longterm league, you will be doing them a favor to push them like that. If it's a one off deal, just run a TD only league and forget about it.
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I don't buy this. If you leave all other rules of the league the same, but use point spreads in the games to even out the scores, that's not going to change anyone's progress in learning the game unless they're so dumb that there's no hope for them anyway. Go has been around much longer than fantasy football and presumably ppl have learned to play it.
 
Small teams - 14 players to keep sharks from hoarding

Give Guppies a recent draft list from a mock draft site

Limit # of players in a positon - again to keeps sharks from hoarding

In a 10 team league make sure 6 make the playoffs

Experienced players will still have advantage but the rules above will allow guppies to have a decent draft and the ability to make up for mistakes during the year. It important to keep everyone interested and to have a chance to win for as long as possible. Works for the NFL and works for for FF. Remember, its only a game!!

A friend and I did this in the office to get everyone to know each other better and several people had never played. The above rules worked and we are now in the 3rd year. 8 of the original group are still active and its a fun group. We had Yahoo the 1st 2 years and decided to do waiver manually every week at lunch. Great comradery. 1st year my friend won and I got 4th. Guppies finished 2nd and 3rd. Last year friend got 4th, I got 2nd and a Guppy won. One Guppy went 0-16, a first in my experience but he's back for another try! Didn't take Brady, Plexico, or any of the other IR players he had last year!!!

Important: Do not allow sharks in that won't make fair trades!!! And feel free to make waiver suggestions.

 
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Honestly, it needs to be for fun - no money. You've got kids - including your own - and parents, and you do this professionally.

I have no idea how to handle the kids/ unknowledgeable people thing.

Kids division/adults divison?

You picking last in every round would help. Call it the Non-DY Serpentine.

 
reduce size of league. (everyone has better starters)

start 2 kickers and 2 defenses. (increases randomness)

use adjusted PPR. (parity amongst positions)

use multiple flex spots. (rewards poor drafting)

 
David Yudkin said:
I have several local folks wanting to start a league (most with limited fantasy experience) and they want me to play but are wondering if there's a way to handicap the league so I don't crush them. For example, one guy wants to grab Mark Sanchez in the first round because he things he will be a stud this year.Any suggestions? No first round pick for me? No picks for me until the 5th round? No waivers for me? Give my opponent a certain amount of points per week? I can only pick caucasian players?Has anyone else played in leagues with some sort of handicapping system?
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1. the league needs to be small (no more than 8 teams) so even if they screw up the talent is not diluted.2. the rosters should be no more than 15 players, so there ample replacements on the waiver wire and the advantage of your expertise of sleepers is somewhat reduced3. you should get last pick at the waivers each week after everyone has made their adjustments.4. run the league on a site like MFL so all of the owners have access to current player info, who's hot, who to pick up this will provide that all the owners will have decent talent and will be mostly competitive-Even if you, as the expert, have a team full of stars, you still need to decide between the bench and the active roster for several of them.
 
You give all of them your projections/rankings before the draft.

Maybe you only draft in even rounds and then fill out the rest of your roster from what's left after they're done drafting.

 
ceo3west said:
twistd said:
ceo3west said:
David Yudkin said:
I can only pick caucasian players?
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:lmao: Peyton Hillis your #1 back?
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You'd be okay at QB, other than that it makes it tough.
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Tom BradyPeyton HillisBrian LeonardWes WelkerKevin WalterKevin CurtisJason WittenOuch.
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That's a better team than I drafted this year from the 5 spot.. I've been playing for nearly 7+ years :bagoverhead:Coach them up before you draft. Give them lists (off this /other sites) of rankings by position and the ADP lists (so they see Sanchez is not a first rounder). If they then choose to still draft all OAK Raiders... its no different than some of the people in my $$$ league--heckle them (in a nice way) and have fun just like they are. As someone else said--next year the serious ones will have learned from you (and their errors) and be better and you'll have even more fun... the ones who just draft based on the homer team will still be there too most likely--let them have their fun/do what they want.
 
Simple - you have to pay the entry fee but you are only eligible to win your money back. The rest goes to the runner up. Strange things happen in fantasy football and its no lock that in a 12 team league you are going to win. If you want to "handicap" yourself this year then offer to pay to play but not "win" anything. If you give a whippin, some of the guys will wise up and get better for the next year. ANd if you don't win, that will encourage everyone to participate with more fervor figuring that it isn't a sure thing that you'll be the best owner. As I always like to say, "Fantasy Football is like poker. There is a lot more skill involved then bad players want to admit, but a lot more luck involved then good players want to admit."

I would definitely send over the FBG articles on basic FF as well.

 
smellslikefish said:
you don't get to draft. they draft, then you build your team off the remaining free agents.
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I actually did this in a keeper league once (with real opponents not scrubs). I started with no one and everyone else got to keep their 5 or 6 keepers. I drafted along with everyone else, last pick of each round. I got to fill out the rest of my roster AFTER the free agent/rookie draft with remaining free agents. I had one ugly team. I still won the first year based on shrewd waiver wire work, but it was winning ugly )God bless Nick Goings). I traded my team's keepers for the worst team's the following year and won again. Good times.
 
I like the all white guys idea. Alternately, you could draft all guys with a particular name. Maybe only Johnsons or Smiths.

Jon Kitna

Chris Johnson

Larry Johnson

Andre Johnson

Calvin Johnson

Chad Johnson

John Carlson

Alex Smith

Kevin Smith

Kolby Smith

Steve Smith

Steve Smith (NYG)

Brad Smith

L.J. Smith

 
I think you are overestimating that it will be a walk in the park. It just takes a couple of owners albeit new to FF to hit pay dirt during the season and then get lucky in the playoffs to end your season without a title. My recommendation is to play it straight up and give them free subscriptions to FBG. At the most take the last pick of the first round. Most people who take the time to use FBG as a resource ought to get better over time.

 
David Yudkin said:
I have several local folks wanting to start a league (most with limited fantasy experience) and they want me to play but are wondering if there's a way to handicap the league so I don't crush them. For example, one guy wants to grab Mark Sanchez in the first round because he things he will be a stud this year.Any suggestions? No first round pick for me? No picks for me until the 5th round? No waivers for me? Give my opponent a certain amount of points per week? I can only pick caucasian players?Has anyone else played in leagues with some sort of handicapping system?
Click to expand...
If it is a pick-em league couldn't you just give them a FBG Cheatsheet, tell them to follow it, and expect each of them to have a great chance to win?
 
You could tell them which ten teams are projected to have the best offenses this season and which ten teams are projected to have the worst offenses. That way you're giving direction but people still have freedom of choice.

 
Best ball and you have to be 14-kicker guy :thumbup:

j/k

I like the idea that you get the last pick of each round and the rest of them go serpentine. That might be handicap enough. If you want to go more extreme, have them 2 rounds serpentine and then you get the last 2 picks of each even round. If you want to weight it a little more you can give them 2 extra players (say they roster 14 and you roster only 12). Free agent priority will be inverse order of standings with you going last.

I don't think picking a system heavy on kicker scoring or such gimmicks is the way to go. You'll be inadvertantly give them the lesson that kickers are more important than they really are.

Rather than a typical cheat sheet, maybe you give them the average draft positions from a source like myfantasyleague or what have - maybe even link them to it and encourage them to tweak it a little to customize it.

I really think that should about do it. Put the picks in the calculator maybe and see if you think that's enough of a handicap.

But have teams with the first two rounds of 1-18, 2-17, 3-16, 4-15, 5-14, 6-13, 7-12, 8-11, and 9-10 against your 19-20 seems fair.

Good luck and have fun. I wouldn't do it for anything more than a token amount of money (say 10 or 20 bucks).

-QG

 
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