What to do if someone can't make live draft (2 Viewers)

[GottaBohlieve]

Guys, I need some help. There is a guy in my league who cannot attend our live draft this year (He is out of the country). This is the first time that this has ever happened in our league. We all love the face to face nature of the draft and the ability to talk after the draft, so we don't want to do it online, but I am not sure of other options.

We have considered having him give one league member his "cheat sheets" and another member sealed envelopes for each round. Inside each envelope is the position which he would take in each round. This seems to be the best option so far. Any other suggestions. Thanks guys I appreciate it.

 

[Kenlin]

Can you just call him on the phone every time it is his pick and tell him who has been picked since his last pick and then take his pick?

 

[Anonymous Internet User]

just have him rank a list of players by ADP and email it to you prior to the draft and use that for drafting. go by best player available.

 

[Avery]

One league I'm in there is often at least one person who can not attend and as the league grows in age it happens to more owners more often. People move. Things happen. One of the owners is usually me. I now live across the country from the base of my league.

I used to do it by phone, then over an instant messenger but over the past couple of years, thanks to more internet friendly league sites, I just do it directly on the league site as the draft progresses. Everyone who can be there is together while one person enters the picks on the league site as they go. I follow along on the computer. I miss the camaraderie and ribbing each other over picks, but it gets the job done. I'll call in now and again to chat it up with the guys.

Finally, if the owner can't even be online during the draft, have him find a league mate who he trusts and discuss who he would draft and general strategy going into the draft (hand over cheetsheets and the like) and have that leaguemate draft in his stead.

 

[Addai's Adidas]

Live draft on line. Set player rankings and use the bot to draft for all that are not in the draft room.

 

[benm3218]

Every year in my league get a laptop hooked up to a 50 inch tv and then the guy in the other country webcams in to us. it is actually very fun.

 

[Birdie048]

My Fantasy League allows owners to rank available players to their own personal preference. This will allow him to rank his picks. He can not deviate from the plan, but it allows "value" picks - players that slip to him & are high on his list. The only problem is that he has to determine positional needs in his rankings. If there is a QB run, he can not set his to autmaticly take a QB unless he is the next rated player. He could get 2 QB's early in this situation also.

 

[Darker Knight]

Had this happen twice in one of my leagues.....it was handled to different ways....one the owner who was out of the country got a friend to draft for him. The stand in was given the owners Player rankings and the stand in drafted. The other way was the owner called in and we did it over the phone. Good luck.

 

[unckeyherb]

Had this happen twice in one of my leagues.....it was handled to different ways....one the owner who was out of the country got a friend to draft for him. The stand in was given the owners Player rankings and the stand in drafted. The other way was the owner called in and we did it over the phone. Good luck.

same here. For some reason last year we had about 5 people out of town for the draft, lame I know. One guy moved to LA and he just logged into RTS and drafted from his home. The others just IM'd or called in their picks. The guy had a softball championship and was only going to miss the first 3-4 rounds. He got a guy draft for him. I wouldn't reccomend the last option unless there is no other option.

 

[Skipdog77]

We always have at least one member of league who can't make it in person each year.

What league software do you use ? I've used both Fanball and MFL since 2003, and with both of those we could setup a live draft room, and while the guys are all drafting in person at my house, I, as Commish, enter their picks into the live draft room for them. Then when it's their turn, the team(s) that is/are remote can make their picks in real time as the draft is occuring. When they make their pick in the live draft room, I announce it, and someone goes up to the board and puts up the player sticker on the draft board for that team.

No need to kick someone out of a league for this.

 

[bcr8f]

In MFL we have one or two guys that pre-draft every year.

In MFL you can make lists of players you like(or exclude those you don't).

One ended up with 8 RB's though so a friend picking for him makes more sense.

 

[Ray_T]

just have him rank a list of players by ADP and email it to you prior to the draft and use that for drafting. go by best player available.

This is your best bet.if the guy is out of town, but is able to get online, you could have him chat by MSN or Yahoo messenger from whereever he is.I have done this in hockey drafts where a handful of people couldnt leave home due to family committments, but could get online.

 

[Winning IS Everything]

One league I'm in there is often at least one person who can not attend and as the league grows in age it happens to more owners more often. People move. Things happen. One of the owners is usually me. I now live across the country from the base of my league.

I used to do it by phone, then over an instant messenger but over the past couple of years, thanks to more internet friendly league sites, I just do it directly on the league site as the draft progresses. Everyone who can be there is together while one person enters the picks on the league site as they go. I follow along on the computer. I miss the camaraderie and ribbing each other over picks, but it gets the job done. I'll call in now and again to chat it up with the guys.

Finally, if the owner can't even be online during the draft, have him find a league mate who he trusts and discuss who he would draft and general strategy going into the draft (hand over cheetsheets and the like) and have that leaguemate draft in his stead.

This is exactly what we do, and it works ok.

 

[Dope]

We always have at least one member of league who can't make it in person each year. What league software do you use ? I've used both Fanball and MFL since 2003, and with both of those we could setup a live draft room, and while the guys are all drafting in person at my house, I, as Commish, enter their picks into the live draft room for them. Then when it's their turn, the team(s) that is/are remote can make their picks in real time as the draft is occuring. When they make their pick in the live draft room, I announce it, and someone goes up to the board and puts up the player sticker on the draft board for that team. No need to kick someone out of a league for this.

I did this last year for 2 guys who couldn't make the draft.It worked great.So much so, that I'm not stressing if I can't get everyone into the same room at the same time this season.And as commish, that is seriously the most stressful part of the year.

 

[waveman]

There are a number of things you can do...

I kinda like the idea of using a draft room myself. It makes it easier to print, email, etc.

Other than that, if the phone thing doesn't cost too much, that works. I was in a league that half the league was in my state, and the other half in another state. We just did a conference call.

another thing, is to give someone not in the league (but competent) his rankings and instructions and let them draft for him.

 

[Evilhomer3k]

In the three leagues I'm in we've only had one draft the past 3 years that had everyone there. It's tough to coordinate these days (and all of them but one have someone playing from out of state). We've done friend drafts, cell phones, chat rooms, "online" drafts, and IM. The cell phone is the worst. You have to call and run down the picks then wait the 2 minutes for them to make a decision. It really extends the draft time. The online draft through MFL works the best. Chat rooms/IM work well, too. Having someone at the draft pick for them is no good. That gives one owner an unfair advantage since they can see another owners rankings. It's not fair for the one doing the drafting (since they may feel they should not take someone for fear that the other owner will accuse them of taking their player). Overall, it's a bad idea. I would rather slow the draft down and do a cell phone.

I have not done a webcam yet. I think that would be the closest thing to an in person draft.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

phones down?

 

[Stinkin Ref]

any type of pre draft lists/cheatsheets suck....period.....does not allow you to adjust, etc

this seems really easy if you can somehow do these two things:

1. owner that is out of country is somehow connected to you during draft by any of the means mentioned above (phone, web, whatever)

2. have someone at the draft that is his representative that is not involved with any other team....this guy takes care of communicating with said owner so that nobody else has to do it and it does not slow down your draft.....give this rep free beer or food or something for his help....

 

[3nOut]

phones down?

common sense down? the guy is OUT OF THE COUNTRY. if you want to share your opinion, next time say it nicely.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

phones down?

common sense down? the guy is OUT OF THE COUNTRY. if you want to share your opinion, next time say it nicely.

LOLphones dont work over seas? I've conducted many drafts with one guy on the phone, no biggie.relax francis

 

[Stinkin Ref]

phones down?

common sense down? the guy is OUT OF THE COUNTRY. if you want to share your opinion, next time say it nicely.

didn't know that being out of the country meant you can't use phones...."out of the country could be Mexico, Canada"....now if it's BFE, might be different...........even if it's the middle of the night wherever he is at, I bet he would be willing to stay up, and even pay the cost of a phone bill of some sort....either way, as long as he has almost instant access somehow, this should not be a problem......

 

[coachjim]

We have a 10 team draft in Vegas every year. It seems that at least one guy can't make the draft each year. Before last year we either had the guy on a conference call to the draft room or had someone draft his team for him. This is a $1000 buy in so everyone is pretty knowledgable. Last year we used my fantasy league. The guy just pulled up the site on his computer and participated in the draft as if he were there.

Hope this helped.

 

[coachjim]

phones down?

common sense down? the guy is OUT OF THE COUNTRY. if you want to share your opinion, next time say it nicely.

LOLphones dont work over seas? I've conducted many drafts with one guy on the phone, no biggie.relax francis

I think the phones work just fine if you have the proper connection. I talked to my son-in-law this morning and he is in Germany.

 

[kylechoffman]

Not that it matters for your situation but my gripe with ESPN Live drafts is that even if you rank your players and cant make the draft, ESPN doesnt have logic to say pick by position vs need so I had to stop the draft last year multiple times so someone didnt end up with like 7 wrs in a row.

 

[Day Drinker]

I would recomend getting a sharply trimmed quill and a fresh ink bottle. Have your absent league mate finely script his choice onto freshley molded clean white parchment. After he scripts his choice, have him contact the local Western Union and have his message sent directly via telegraph. Really amazing technology...

Wait....what.....it's 2009, ohhhhhhhhhh, I'd probably just use a cell phone and a computer in that case. Good advice guys!

 

[thehornet]

SKYPE. As long as the missing manager has a comp with a Camera and someone at the live draft has a comp with a camera. Its free and easy. You can talk and see the person and there is also a place to manually chat so there is no mixups on picks.

end of thread.

 

[Da Guru]

Are you on CBS?? The missing guy can draft on-line while the commish run the draft.

In my 14 team league 4 guys live out of state and they draft online "live" while we are at the draft.

 

[Billy1x]

Tried the sealed envelopes once when I was in Switzerland. Didn't work out welll as the players didn't fall the way I expected. If he can't get in online then the best is to build a table of players & stategy and have someone draft for him. I did that for someone at my very first draft and did pretty well.

 

[Vikes Fan]

Tried the sealed envelopes once when I was in Switzerland. Didn't work out welll as the players didn't fall the way I expected. If he can't get in online then the best is to build a table of players & stategy and have someone draft for him. I did that for someone at my very first draft and did pretty well.

I did it one year too. (About 12 years ago before the computer age.) It was actually one of the best drafts I have ever had. I had three friends call me afterward marveling and saying it was because I couldn'd panic and go after a guy because of a run like many do on draft day. Actually doing that changed my yearly draft strategy and I became much better on draft day. Incidently, I did have a run of bad luck/injuries and missed the playoffs, but it really worked out fine...as long as you give lists at each posistion that are long enough to cover every possible pick.Good luck!

 

[Tigerbot Hesh]

just have him rank a list of players by ADP and email it to you prior to the draft and use that for drafting. go by best player available.

This is your best bet.if the guy is out of town, but is able to get online, you could have him chat by MSN or Yahoo messenger from whereever he is.I have done this in hockey drafts where a handful of people couldnt leave home due to family committments, but could get online.

This sounds like a good plan. Have him sit in on the draft by cam or IM, but have him e-mail you a list of players before leaving just in case he can't get through or his connection is lost mid-draft. I'd rather chat with a guy on IM than keep him on the phone for the length of the draft or have to call him whenever it's his pick and run down all the selections he's missed.ETA: International calls can get expensive in a hurry. I'd hate to see what kind of charges you'd get for a 3-hour international call.

 

[Darko M]

Are you on CBS?? The missing guy can draft on-line while the commish run the draft.In my 14 team league 4 guys live out of state and they draft online "live" while we are at the draft.

This is OBVIOUSLY the best, easiest, choice.

 

[Penguins]

Very good thread as it happens in a lot of leagues - we are having a live draft in vegas - but only half the league can attend in person - so we're doing the sportsline online draft so that everyone can participate where-ever they are....just missing out on some good personal ribbing....here's the options in order of preference:

1. Online draft via sportsline or where-ever you choose, if that is out because he can't get online or middle of the night, then

2. ADP printout with best player available method - have him set some roster limits by position so he doesn't have 5 QBs - unless he wants 5 QBs - he'll have to do some homework....but should work out ok - as long as he understands the method and communicates the method to his designated drafting party.....

I drafted for another guy in our league who couldn't make the first 5 rounds of a draft one year - he hopped on in round 6....he gave me very specific instructions which i followed - and he understood some picks didn't go the way he had planned - but he fully understood.....and the trust was there....especially since one of the rounds i selected for him right before my draft slot and selected who i wanted for him.....so has to have trust there to go with that - but option 2 above should give enough clarity for him to give a round by round desire on "best player available"

just my 2 cents - hope that helps....