Only 10 of 12 can make draft, best options? (1 Viewer)

[mjustin24]

The league I commish will draft Thursday.  10 of the 12 can make the draft and the other 2 would like to participate online.  We use yahoo and I am just looking for best options.  I don't want to do a live draft to make all 10 people at the bar bring devices, but whats the easiest way to relay picks to the 2 remote folks?

The prevailing wisdom seems to be keeping the offline draft and sharing a google doc with the two remote people and sharing pics there and having them make their pics their.

Looking for alternatives and any best practices you guys have used.

Thanks

 

[Cjw_55106]

That blows. Are these two fellas sitting at home, on the road or what type of access do they have? Is Skype or something similar an option? 

 

[mjustin24]

They are out of town for extended Labor Day festivities, both claim to have reliable internet access and will be following along.  Skype could work, just a little concerned about bar noise.  But could easily type the picks out.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

Switch to a 10-team league for a season. 

Failing that, you're going to have a nightmare. We had 2 remote drafters in a league one year - had a webcam set up, and several times one of the remote guys would miss a pick, then throw a hissy fit because they'd try to draft that player several rounds later. It was a total sh!tshow. 

I will never, ever try to do that again. 

So yeah - while totally jacked up for the other 10 people, the only way to keep it "clean" is to have everyone do an online draft. Which is going to make y'all look really dorky at the bar.  I suggest moving it to a Chuck E Cheese to avoid that embarrassment. lol 

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

..or make it a ten team league. problem solved.

 

[Timmay]

Your league is over, cancel it all. 

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

They are out of town for extended Labor Day festivities, both claim to have reliable internet access and will be following along.  Skype could work, just a little concerned about bar noise.  But could easily type the picks out.

Yeah - again, we did that, along with a webcam pointed at the draft board. 

And we were in a friend's garage - and that was often too loud. 

And you'll have to have someone volunteer to type in ~200 player names? Yeah - that SUCKS. Whomever gets stuck with that has a nightmare. It was me at that draft, and I stipulated I'd only do it if I got an extra minute on the clock when it was my pick. That's a must since you're spending all that time typing. 

Ugh. 

 

[rugcleaner]

put them on speaker phone in the middle of the table, unfortunately from experience, it seems to work the best, and doesn't screw up the people who show up too bad.

 

[RenegadeRoy]

If it's on Yahoo they can use the app to draft. But we've also used Skype or google hangouts in the past with limited hang-ups.

Not sure why everyone is so down on this. Our league has a few remote drafters every year due to people spreading out across the country and we've never had a communications problem. If one of the remote players tries to draft someone already off the board, that's on them. Just let them know that player isn't available and that they're still on the clock.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

Not sure why everyone is so down on this. 

I prefer live drafts with my friends. It's not that I'm down on it, but it's also a "training wheels" draft since every player is queued up. 

That said, I think this is the only way to do it because typing all those names is just ridiculous and time consuming and rife with confusion. And Skype/audio at a bar is going to be a clusterbleep.  

The only reason I'm down on it for the way it's described here is because they'll have 10 people in a bar and 2 online. So the 10 people in the bar are going to look ridiculous with their faces buried in their tablets - at that point, I say F the bar and just have everyone draft online.  What's the point of everyone getting together to stare at their tablets?  

Draft online and meet at the bar later. 

 

[D-Day]

We used primetimedraft.com.  Works great for remote drafters.  They can see all of the picks, and can put their own picks in.  There is about a 15 second lag, and you need internet access.  Works with laptop, iPad or phone. We hook up a laptop to a 65" tv at the draft.  The cost is $25 for the first year.

 

[zamboni]

put them on speaker phone in the middle of the table, unfortunately from experience, it seems to work the best, and doesn't screw up the people who show up too bad.

That's what we do, although we have it at someone's house. Speaker phone at a bar isn't going to be very useful.

 

[mjustin24]

Agree on the in-person draft being better, and we are trying to stay offline, so as Commish I will be the only laptop. 

So far the leading candidate is a shared google doc spreadsheet.  I have an excel list of all players so each pick should be copy/paste for the 2 remote guys to follow along.  Seems like not a crazy amount of extra work for me, and keep the fun of in-person draft.

 

[Righetti]

we just did it using Google Hangouts and Google Drive

we used Google Hangout to patch the guys in via video

we used Google Drive to type in the players being drafted.. it's a pain in the ### but doable

 

[shadyridr]

Not everyone at the bar needs a laptop, just one guy to enter picks

 

[Titans_fan]

Not everyone at the bar needs a laptop, just one guy to enter picks

Was just about to suggest this.  As commish, just enter picks for each team as they pick.  Find someone else to keep up the live draft board at the bar and the other two can draft straight from the website...

 

[mquinnjr]

..or make it a ten team league. problem solved.

 

[mjustin24]

Was just about to suggest this.  As commish, just enter picks for each team as they pick.  Find someone else to keep up the live draft board at the bar and the other two can draft straight from the website...

Will Yahoo let me do a "live draft" where as the commish I enter the picks for everyone but the two remote guys?  Or does everyone need to log-in?

 

[Titans_fan]

Will Yahoo let me do a "live draft" where as the commish I enter the picks for everyone but the two remote guys?  Or does everyone ned to log-in?

Can't speak specifically to Yahoo, but I'd be surprised if they didn't.  I know ESPN and MFL have that capability.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

Not everyone at the bar needs a laptop, just one guy to enter picks

Yeah, but that one guy entering picks is hosed. 

And in my experience when 2 guys are online and 1 guy has a laptop, the other 9 guys are at a disadvantage because they don't have the hand draft queue that the online guys and the dude with the laoptop have. 

But yeah - it can work. 

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

Will Yahoo let me do a "live draft" where as the commish I enter the picks for everyone but the two remote guys?  Or does everyone ned to log-in?

I believe everyone needs to be logged in on Yahoo for a live draft. 

Otherwise it's an off-line draft and you enter them all manually after the fact. 

 

[Godsbrother]

We've always had everyone attend live but we have had people arrive late.   I am the commish and enter the draft live as we go (we use CBS) and our long-standing rule is that if you aren't there for your pick(s) you can provide a ranked list and the commish will select the next highest ranked player for you, regardless of position.  If you don't provide a list then we use CBS's top-300 list.

So far it has never come into play.

 

[mjustin24]

I believe everyone needs to be logged in on Yahoo for a live draft. 

Otherwise it's an off-line draft and you enter them all manually after the fact. 

I thought this as well.  Which is why I originally started looking for alternatives.  Good news in last hour though, now down to only 1 remote guy.

 

[Titans_fan]

I believe everyone needs to be logged in on Yahoo for a live draft. 

Otherwise it's an off-line draft and you enter them all manually after the fact. 

Just found the FAQ for Yahoo, and this is accurate.  The commissioner can only draft for his/her team.

Another option, which would be a bit of a pain in the @$$, is to set up a free league on ESPN or MFL, hold the draft on that site then transfer the rosters to Yahoo via offline draft.

Hate you're in that situation and hope everything works out!

 

[shadyridr]

Will Yahoo let me do a "live draft" where as the commish I enter the picks for everyone but the two remote guys?  Or does everyone need to log-in?

Oh I don't know. Mfl allows this

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

MFL allows this and their online draft is very simple to use as a commish.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Not everyone at the bar needs a laptop, just one guy to enter picks

This. We have one or two remote drafters every year. One person (who has commissioner rights) enters the draft on the website as people make their picks live and the remote drafters enter theirs when they are up. You must turn off the draft timer. We use CBS so not sure if yahoo would be any different. It's not ideal but it works, This year only 1 out of 12 will be remote.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Yeah, but that one guy entering picks is hosed. 

And in my experience when 2 guys are online and 1 guy has a laptop, the other 9 guys are at a disadvantage because they don't have the hand draft queue that the online guys and the dude with the laoptop have. 

But yeah - it can work. 

meh...I don't see that as any kind of advantage to be honest. Everyone has some kind of a list and looking at the CBS Sporstline rankings, I'd love to have some one blindly follow that as they draft.

 

[mozzy84]

Yeah, but that one guy entering picks is hosed. 

And in my experience when 2 guys are online and 1 guy has a laptop, the other 9 guys are at a disadvantage because they don't have the hand draft queue that the online guys and the dude with the laoptop have. 

But yeah - it can work. 

our league like half the guys follow online and half don't. I have done it both ways and I don't really see what advantage you are getting by doing it online, anyone can go look at the draft board whenever they want.

We consistently have one or two guys that are gone (or not there in person) and do it online, commish enters the picks of everyone else not doing it on the computer (he's going to have to enter all those picks sometime anyways). I would just say hey if you want to bring a laptop great, you can follow along there and enter picks if you want, if you don't that's fine too.

Yahooo must really suck if they don't have that option...

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Just found the FAQ for Yahoo, and this is accurate.  The commissioner can only draft for his/her team.

Another option, which would be a bit of a pain in the @$$, is to set up a free league on ESPN or MFL, hold the draft on that site then transfer the rosters to Yahoo via offline draft.

Hate you're in that situation and hope everything works out!

or just stay on those sites for the season instead.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

10-team league looking better and better

 

[bonscott]

Especially now with one guy it should be easy as cake.  Just call the guy on your cell, use a headset or earpiece if needed and you're all set.  Draft as normal.  Don't need to be online just for him, he'll hear every pick and can tell you his pick just like any other guy.

My draft just this past weekend we had a guy remote who just moved.  I had him on speaker on my phone for over 7 hours, worked great.  We were in the backroom of a local pub so it was pretty quiet until later in the day, at that point I wish I had my ear buds so I could hear him better.  I (actually my wife who volunteered to be league secretary, bless her heart) also entered the whole draft live on MFL as commish so just in case we lost connection and couldn't get back in touch he could follow along on the site and draft his pick.

Sounds like pretty much every service but Yahoo allows the commish to enter in all the picks live, so that kinda sucks.  But in any case, you don't really need to do it.  It's 2016, cell phone call, Google Hangout or Skype should works plenty fine to bring  a remote guy in.

 

[Run It Up]

Had a 10th unable to show at last minute, auction league. What we did was upon a winning bid a d20 was rolled and a 1 or 20 would result in  that player being stolen by the ghost team. I had no objections when this was proposed as it was the 12th hour but after I had 4 players, two sets of back to back situations being stolen I was not happy. My team ended up looking like a mess. To clarify we had an owner who would take the team at the last minute but could not make the draft.

That being said i could see that working in most formats.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Had a 10th unable to show at last minute, auction league. What we did was upon a winning bid a d20 was rolled and a 1 or 20 would result in  that player being stolen by the ghost team. I had no objections when this was proposed as it was the 12th hour but after I had 4 players, two sets of back to back situations being stolen I was not happy. My team ended up looking like a mess.

That being said i could see that working in most formats.

some one was carrying a 20 sided dice on them?

 

[Run It Up]

some one was carrying a 20 sided dice on them?

The guys house we drafted at had one and allegedly didn't know what it was. But the same can be done with any sided die or a random number generator.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

The guys house we drafted at had one and allegedly didn't know what it was. But the same can be done with any sided die or a random number generator.

If you have a 20 sided die in your house, you know what it is.

especially if you know where it is.

im geeky enough to admit I played AD&D when I was a kid. We didn't have fancy computers & video games - we had to have fun using our brains. I know, crazy talk, right?

now turn down that rap & roll and get offa my lawn!  :::shakesfist:::

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

meh...I don't see that as any kind of advantage to be honest. Everyone has some kind of a list and looking at the CBS Sporstline rankings, I'd love to have some one blindly follow that as they draft.

Oh, I meant specifically in context to being at the bar. 

At my house all 12 people had access to my wifi, and there were all kinds of tablets, laptops, electronic devices. 

I had my iPhone and my trusty mead binder with a sharpee to cross out names. Before picking I'd check news to see if my target was injured. 

I **** to keep it simple - picking fast puts pressure on the guy after you so I like to be prepared. 

The dude before me kept using 99% of his 2 mins, and people were getting ticked at him. Not me - I appreciated the extra time!