Laptop computers at the draft (1 Viewer)

[Keepers]

Great for auction leagues as it keeps a running total of how much each team has spent, has left, and what their max bid is. Don't see the point for draft leagues.

 

[mad sweeney]

But you know what, go ahead and stay away from laptops and DD. The less of you out there using it the better. I mean just look at how good the cromags did when they laughed at the neanderthals using silly things like stone tools and the wheel.

After my first draft three weeks ago (where I drafted from a cheatsheet only), I loaded each team into the DD to see the rankings after the fact. Since that time, projections have changed to make my team the strongest in the league. My point: You need your brain to stay ahead of the curve regardless of what tool you use. Most leagues start 8-10 players a week and have 10-12 teams, that's only a 120 or so players. Not too hard to know who the best ones are out of that group. As long as you draft the best picks each round, computer or not, you'll do well.Can you give a lousy FFer the DD and improve his team? Probably. But what if you are in a league and everyone uses DD? The best players will still come out on top. This isn't brain surgery. Whoever picks the best players (that stay healthy) will do well. But don't fool yourself into thinking DD makes that much of a difference if you are in a competitive league.

Laptops and DD are not the same thing. Using a laptop with or without an internet connection (preloaded pages and such) is just another way of accessing your info. And the DD at it's most basic is a tracking program. Neither cause your mind to shut down and neither make your pick fot you. It's just a means of storing and retireiving info.

 

[mad sweeney]

Prologue: The original poster brought his laptop to our draft yesterday, but did not use DD.

Our league is a bunch of FBG, and half of the guys used DD....but I wasn't one of them.

Two things happened:

1) Whenver I picked someone DD recommended, they were sure to let me know it.



2) Whenever someone with DD got confused in keeping track of who had been drafted, I was quick to refer to my spreadsheet to update them.

Sounds like operator error. I had an errorless 2 drafts keeping up with the picks.The bottom line is you ise your mind, backed up with the resources you prep ahead of time. I can access more info on a computer with preloaded pages and the DD running than I can with paper and pencil. Doesn't work for everyone, but to knock it before you try it is shutting yourself away from a very valuable tool.

 

[Wingnut]

Our league is a bunch of FBG, and half of the guys used DD....but I wasn't one of them.1) Whenver I picked someone DD recommended, they were sure to let me know it.

How did they know DD recommended your pick unless you were all using the same projections, baselines, etc??

 

[dancingbones]

I used my laptop yesterday at a live draft for the first time, and I found it very useful.

The link to the "web pages" in particular I used several times.

I used the DD like a cheatsheat, only instead of scatching off the players, I moved them to their proper teams (as well as writing their name down with my old pen & paper method).

It's gonna be a staple for my drafts from here on.

 

[chadavan]

What purposes can you accomplish with a laptop that you cannot accomplish with a draftboard and a notepad?

Have you ever tried to read my handwriting? A laptop is a necessity for me.

 

[Camel Toad]

I also geeked-out and used a laptop with DD over the weekend at my 1st draft of the season. So much easier than crossing the same name off of 3 cheat sheets. As for picking players, it's a great guide, but you still need to use your brain 1st, DD 2nd. It's a tool people... nothing more. And yes, I was the only one....

I ended up bringing a folder of cheat sheets, current rosters, ADP, etc. in case of a melt-down, but they never had to see the light of day.

I'll be using a laptop from now on.

 

[Ibis81]

We use an online draft so everyone is on a computer anyway. Having them there also allows a couple guys in our league to play all sorts of audio samples during the draft which can be pretty hilarious.

 

[rowediggy]

Having them there also allows a couple guys in our league to play all sorts of audio samples during the draft which can be pretty hilarious.

Brilliant! I wish I had audio clips to play in my last draft (like the sad trombone drop for the guy who picked Addai at 2.02 in my redraft). I need to download some of these radio drop type things for my live draft wednesday!

 

[Ibis81]

Having them there also allows a couple guys in our league to play all sorts of audio samples during the draft which can be pretty hilarious.

Brilliant! I wish I had audio clips to play in my last draft (like the sad trombone drop for the guy who picked Addai at 2.02 in my redraft). I need to download some of these radio drop type things for my live draft wednesday!

One of the best when someone blows a pick Austin PowersThe link doesn't work but search for the file.

 

[stealthrunner]

I used DD for both drafts this weekend for the 2nd year in a row. DD is of course skewed to FBG projections if you don't tweak them. In the past, I used to keep track of what other people drafted, what positions were needed,etc. so I could anticipate my next couple rounds. DD does the same thing, just alot simpler, so I can focus on looking ahead for my next pick.

To be honest, the Shark Pool forum is the most valuable tool, reading all the posts the last 4-8 weeks. In each draft, there was at least one guy that said Huh? or Who? when Mike Bell or Luncy was drafted later in the draft. And it wasn't me that drafted them both at either draft.

It doesn't matter if you used DD, bought a magazine or got some other cheatsheet. If you haven't done your research, you would have been the guy to draft Dominic Davis in the late first round or the one that took Tatum Bell and then said he never heard of Mike Bell. The classic was "The guy isn't even in my magazine" Which I replied "because your magazine was probably printed in June or maybe July if you were lucky.

In both of my leagues, we say no wireless internet, so there is no unfair advantage about injuries, etc.

I print off spreadsheet based on my projections and highlight those for old school sakes. But I move players in DD to track the draft and look ahead.

One more huge thing: In both drafts, we used my laptop with DD as the timer to force people to make moves in an alloted time.

 

[H.K.]

Our league is a bunch of FBG, and half of the guys used DD....but I wasn't one of them.

1) Whenver I picked someone DD recommended, they were sure to let me know it.

How did they know DD recommended your pick unless you were all using the same projections, baselines, etc??

I don't know, you'd have to ask them....but just about everone was using info. from FBG. People were not blindly selecting from those rankings either.

 

[On The Rocks]

More and more, I read about people taking laptop computers to a live, in person draft. What are the practical uses for a laptop computer, if there is only a short time between picks? What purposes can you accomplish with a laptop that you cannot accomplish with a draftboard and a notepad?

well right out of the gate...if i have a laptop i can use it to show the other guys your avatar and keep them distracted.

 

[Wachman]

I've brought a laptop for the last 3 years and will be doing it again this year. I'm in an auction league and as mentioned before, it makes it easy to keep track of everyones cash situation and each teams need. This allows me to focus on what's happening live.

What I really like is having the auction results saved so I can go back and look at tendancies. The core of our group has stayed the same so I can get a good read on what to expect player to go for this year. I have each year's auction saved and dumped into my auction prep spreadsheet.

 

[rolliehouliranson]

At the 3-4 turn, with a glance, I knew the guy on the turn needed an RB. There were two WRs and an RB I wanted. I took the RB instead because taking a WR would have meant that RB wouldn't be there for my next pick. This forced my opponent to take a lesser RB and one of the two WRs I needed.

I tend to use my eyes and a draft board to get this info.I'd be interested to see DD, but I've won 3 championships using ADP.

 

[Topes]

Great for auction leagues as it keeps a running total of how much each team has spent, has left, and what their max bid is. Don't see the point for draft leagues.

Yar, would be good for our auction, but our draft board is a spreadsheet/projector combo, which keeps track of all teams' max bid, for all to see.Is nice.I was at another auction yesterday, helping with the draft board. A few guys had laptops. Two of them spent too much time keeping three things updated with every pick to keep track of it all reliably.I've manned the league spreadsheet in years past, while drafting my own team.The laptop is not for me, but I can see why some would like it.I prefer one sheet of paper to keep track of available players (cheat sheet) and one sheet to keep track of my team as it is assembled.

 

[goonsquad]

I bring a laptop to pull up pron and distract the other owners while I draft from print outs. Genius, I know.

 

[kingmalaki]

Laugh at me and my computer while I wreck shop in the draft. Without no CPU you can't use Draft Dominator, and Draft Dominator is the shiznit. I really don't use it for it's projections, but it's a perfect tool to track who has what player, who hasn't taken what position, etc. My draft was on Saturday and simply having a track of who had what (especially for the guys picking right ahead of and behind me) was key in some of my draft picks.

Plus with a CPU you can run Excel programs and stuff.

 

[mhrutkowski]

I've never used DD before. Do you think it's useful for a live draft if we have the draft board with selections up on an easel and with only 150 total picks in the draft?

 

[stealthrunner]

I've never used DD before. Do you think it's useful for a live draft if we have the draft board with selections up on an easel and with only 150 total picks in the draft?

I think that is what everyone is saying. 15 rounds , 10 man league is what one of mine was. Like someone else said though, if you are not good with a laptop, it can hurt you.

 

[Buckna]

I don't own a laptop so I've never brought the DD to the draft. I do use it to print our customized cheatsheets, etc. along with a mini draft board I print out on a sheet of paper that I've been using for years now. One little sheet of paper can track the whole draft along with bye's, positions, etc. it's pretty easy and quick.

I never begrudge someone for using a laptop, I don't care how you draft as long as you get your picks in timely. The few remaining live drafts I do I always push for a draft timer, I don't care if you are using a magazine or top of the line software you paid for, you better make that pick in an adequate amount of time or I'm jumping you and calling out a name!

 

[Eviloutsider]

I bring it to dominate, oh yeah!

 

[seahawk 17]

Several sharks in my league bring laptop, and use DD. To counter attack, as commish I redraw the draft after round 8 (16 rds) screws up their programs evens out the field.

I'm a ####### soldier!!!!

 

[AcerFC]

I used a laptop at my draft yesterday with DD as a tool to keep track of the draft. It worked great and is worth the money. I will never spend money on a magazine again. You dont need it with DD and VBD spreadsheet/cheatsheet.

There is one thing though. Make sure you save the draft after every round. Mine gave me an error after the 15th round and I had to do it all over again. Otherwise it was great

 

[Brewdude]

At the 3-4 turn, with a glance, I knew the guy on the turn needed an RB. There were two WRs and an RB I wanted. I took the RB instead because taking a WR would have meant that RB wouldn't be there for my next pick. This forced my opponent to take a lesser RB and one of the two WRs I needed.

I tend to use my eyes and a draft board to get this info.I'd be interested to see DD, but I've won 3 championships using ADP.

I'm not here to convince anyone either way. I find it much easier to double-click a name and have the computer update that team's roster, the team stats (numbers of players taken at each position listed in a grid), draft summary, and my cheatsheet updated at the same time. If I screw up, "Undo last move" or right-clicking the name and putting him back to the player pool reverses the screw up. Click on a team in the "team stats" window and that roster is displayed in another window -- very valuable when figuring out where I should take Michael Turner. I just find DD does with a couple clicks what I used to do with several sheets of paper. Instead of writing who drafted which player and keeping track of numbers of RBs taken, I can focus on anticipating my next pick, getting a beer, getting some food, and reading through my notes. People saying "if you use a computer, you can't use your brain" are just not listening to the reasons DD is so useful.

 

[teamramrod]

2nd year of using DD. I cant imagine doing without.

BUT. A laptop and DD does not make for a good team. This weekend at a live draft, 10 team league, 6 had laptops. 5 had DD, one an Excel sheet he had made.

One guy with DD had never looked at it until he got there. Remeber it is just a TOOL. Learn it before the draft. Run a few mock drafts. Learn how to set up your leagues scroing. And remember to still use your brain. Garbage in, Garbage out. So if you havent updated it lately, Curtis Martin is still highly rankes and Greg Jones looks like a great backup to Fred Taylor.

And for me personally, if a Lion is the best choice, just keep moving on down the list.

 

[Kleck]

Why me?

Frustration or depression.

Hopelessness.

Impatience.

Fear or panic.

Over or under-reaction.

Acceptance.

The seven stages of acceptance

 

[Wingnut]

My sole reason for taking my laptop with DD loaded and ready to go is to make my job as commish a BREEZE.

With the DD, you get out of it what you put into it. Its that simple. I input my projections, etc and then use it to conduct the draft. I dont take players the DD suggests, I take who I want based on my strategy and how the draft is going. It helps everything go smoothly enough that I can actually focus on the task at hand instead of turning some of that focus on making sure everyone is drafting properly, etc.

For example, a guy tried to draft a 6th WR (we can only draft 5) and right away when I clicked the player I got a BEEP and a message saying he was trying to draft one too many WRs. In the past mistakes like that have happened and didnt get noticed until a few picks or a round later -- little things like that make the DD worth its weight in gold. I dont have to track everyones team anymore -- its all right in front of me.

A few of the coolest features are things like having SOS by position right at my fingertips as well as the full schedule grid. The complimentary player is cool as well in the later rounds when looking for a backup for a bye week fill-in. Depth charts are top notch too -- the DD crosses off any player already taken, so you know whos there and who isnt.

The team strength feature is kinda neat as well...a few times I opened the window just to see who the bottom feeders could turn out to be. In the later rounds, open it up and see who has the weakest WR corps, or the strongest RB stable. Pretty cool.

Team stats is nice as well. With a quick glance I saw that everyone else filled their WR quota while I had one left to draft, so I instantly knew I could wait till the last round to grab one.

So many useful features. Every time I use this program I am impressed.

 

[H.K.]

Classic bump for my CHUG buddies!

 

[ConstruxBoy]

Classic bump for my CHUG buddies!

lol, well if FBG ever puts out a "Rank-the-top-20-QBs Dominator", you'd better be jumping on it.