The Extraordinary Annals - Online Edition

Welcome to the online version of The Extraordinary Annals!


From now on, this will be your go-to site for news and updates on the fantastically ridiculously awesome league of extraordinary gentlemen.  And this offseason has been one for the ages so there is a LOT to cover.


The League is entering its 4th year yet still, as gentlemen, we aim to make this the most exciting league possible and thus vote democratically on potential rule changes.  After the votes were received from MOST of the GMs (still waiting on two lazy mo'fo's), many of the proposed changes already have a majority, are decided, and are listed below.  The others are still being hotly debated by many GMs and in order to finalize this expeditiously, for each rule change I have listed one argument for and one argument against each rule change.  I urge each GM to read the proposals below and place your vote on these issues one final time before moving on to other league issues.  


It's fantastic that the league has GMs who care so much, however, like the US government, I fear that outsiders will view our internal bickering with a negative bias and potentially expose our great league to a downgrade by ratings agency Yahoody's and so we must end this quickly.


Speaking of Yahoo - I apologize for the delay in getting this done, but they have a team of monkeys running that place I tell ya.  Yahoo actually deleted one of our GM's profiles and as a result access to our glorious league was restricted.  After much emailing back and forth, extensive cursing, and a few kickbacks, Yahoo was able to recreate our league for us complete with league history at the following URL(http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/gentlemensleagueforlife).  You should be able to sign in to the league there and I'll also send an invite around just in case.  If you need a password, it's "cowboyssuck".  E-mail me if there's any issue registering.


Alright back to the rule changes.  Even though 4 or 12 GMs have yet to provide their votes (Hallywood, Wynner, Wallez, and Launchpad), it looks like some of these have already passed.

1) We should be starting 2 QBs, or at LEAST have a QB in the Flex spot.

This one was voted 4 to 4 out of the 8 GMs who had their voices heard.  I am asking for a re-vote on this one last time based on the arguments below.

AGAINST

I am strongly AGAINST drafting more QBs.

First, this argument is against adding a QB to the flex spot for the following reason - if we are able to start a QB in the flex spot, regardless of the increased flexibility, every owner should then be trying to start a QB in their flex spot. The QB position scores more points than any other position due the nature of the position. Even marginal NFL starters will score more points than a lot of RB's/WR's etc. That is fact and anyone who doesn't believe me can check. Therefore, all owners (or at least the smart ones) will look to get 2 Top QB's and start the second in their flex... This represents a distinct advantage over all of the other teams. Any owner not pursuing that strategy doesn't know what they are doing...

...but the most important one is that the position talent pool is not deep enough to support every team starting 2 QB's every week.  We have 12 teams and will look to have 14 again going into next year. That means that every week of the year, there will likely be 2X14= 28 QB's being started.

There are 32 teams in the NFL (31 if we don't count the crappy 49er's)... But starting in Week 5 this year, 6 teams will be on a bye week. That means there are only 26 NFL teams playing in Week 5, and somehow our league will be looking to fill 28 starting QB spots (assuming you start a QB in the FLEX). That is ridiculous. I would be against this even if we had 12 or 10 teams in our league, but to not even have enough starting QB's in the league to fill out of our rosters?? That is just stupid.

This also doesn't even take into account that a lot of teams will be trying to roster 3 or 4 QB's... We had spots to start 4 RB's last year (agreed that this is too many RB's but that is a different argument), but most teams rostered many more for obvious reasons... I will cut this discussion short, but that gets us into the mid-30's for QB's and lets just say if you want to play in a league where Shaun Hill and Colin Kaepernick are on your active roster good luck with that, and make sure it is not in a league I am in... 

Changing to 2 QB's dramatically changes this league, which isn't fair to all of the owners (unless a majority vote for it obviously). I wouldn't have traded Vick last year if I could have started him along with Rodgers this year. Drew wouldn't have got rid of one of Shaub/Brees and Peyton wouldn't have been traded to Ryan...

2 QB leagues can be fun but they are for 8 and 10 team leagues looking for an additional challenge, increased QB pool. A 14 team league starting 2 QB's can't and won't work.

FOR

1.       QBs  are underrepresented in this league.  In a league of 12-14 teams when there are 32 starting QBs it should be a no brainer that we could utilize 2 QBs per team.  Some of those QBs will be injured, and at least one of the bottom 16 QBs will have a huge offensive week.  It’s a matter of getting the right guy, or playing the right match-ups   If everyone drafts a starting QB and a backup, that does not mean everyone will draft a 3rd just to have a QB in the flex spot for one week and if it DOES go that deep, that owner should probably be starting a different position int he flex.

2.       Rookie/Rising Stars should be represented.  I think we can all agree on the top few QBs in no particular order.  Brady, Brees, P Manning, Rivers, Vick, and Rodgers.  Then there is the 2^nd tier.  Shaub, Romo, Rothlesberger, E Manning, Ryan, Cassel, Sanchez, Cutler.  There’s 14.   That’s it!  What about the Josh Freeman’s and Sam Bradford’s of the world?!?!  While Ryan Fitzpatrick is quietly lighting it up in Buffalo, our league barely takes a minute to notice.  Everyone’s top QB is going to get points, but the fun is in deciding ‘do I take a chance at Matt Stafford or Tim Tebow or do I make David Garrard my guy?’  Is Arizona’s Kolb going to be a top QB?  This is a question someone should be asking themselves DURING THE DRAFT not in week 4 when Vick is injured Kolb has already established himself and there is no other competition for us to go out and get him.  There’s also an influx of new talent…Cam Newton, Chris Ponder, Kaepernick, could all be starting this year.  They should be picked!!!  QB is the most important position yet we pay it the least amount of attention!

3.       This league is for HARDCORE football fans.  25 different QBs scored at least 2500 yds.  23 different QBs scored at least 15 TDs.   Just by my recollection at least 5 starting QBs (Vick, Romo, Kolb, Rothlesberger, Stafford, McNAbb) were injured or shut down for significant time during the season.  Poolies will need to get replacement QBs.  There should be competition for poolies who need to pick up another QB.  You should NOT be able to just grab a top 20 player replacement.


4.  This vote is biassed to those with a top 5 QB.  There is no doubt that QB is BY FAR the most lopsided position in terms of points.  If you were able to collect an elite QB, you OBVIOUSLY want only 1 QB as this secures a 50 point advantage over all other teams with even a 2nd tier QB.  By making everyone at least CONSIDER drafting another QB and possibly a 3rd, it creates more balance at the QB position.   Since there is little to no turnover at the elite QB position, this becomes even more important - especially when you consider that the top 5 teams in the league each had a top 5 QB on their roster.

2) RBs are waaaaaay too important, we need to reduce the number of RB starters from 3 to 2.

This one was unanimous.  Two RBs it is.

3) There is so much depth at WR, we need to expand it to 3 starting wideouts

This was pretty much unanimous as well.  The main argument against was that dropping an RB spot and adding a WR spot would ultimately end up with mostly RBs (and potentially QBs) dominating the FLEX spot.  The idea of flex is to hopefully result in positional indifference.  Result - no change: 2 starting WRs only.

4) Starting 2 TEs is way too much, but we at least need to include them in the Flex spot

Unanimously agreed to add TE to the Flex position.

5)  Our bench is far too big allowing way too much hoarding going on.  We need to reduce it to 3 immediately.

I was one of the few who wanted the bench reduced, but my mind has been changed. Keepin' it the same!

6) Injuries are way too random to have just 1 IR spot. Let's make it 2.

Again, almost unanimous - TWO IR spots this year!

7)  Players should get points for return TDs and special team points.  As an addendum, we need to change the way defense/st gets points.

The discussion here was that most GMs do NOT want to end up picking defensive players and that is a slippery slope.  With teams now kicking off from the 35, return scores will be even less important.  Result is no change.

8)  We need to lock the Free Agency period every weekend until Tuesday so we all have a fair chance at getting guys when a player steps up on any given sunday

The two main arguments for this were that GMs who are forced to miss football action are already being penalized enough without worrying about breakout players.  Further, GMs who happen to go make a sandwich at the same time a player breaks out shouldn't have to worry about whether or not there's an option to get him.  Result is that players are locked until Tuesday. 

9)  We need to expand to 14 teams

This was actually a surprise how many people wanted to keep it at 12 for the time being.  The commish is going to flex a bit of executive muscle on this one and dictate that for the 2011-12 season we will use just 12 teams (given the tumultuous offseason) but that I have every intention of getting to 14 teams next year.  There are two benefits to this: 1) i want the 12 outstanding GMs that we have now to be the deciders of the League's fate on roster changes and point changes, not newbies and 2) I really like the idea of a relegation league, however, switching to that type of format is easier when you have two new teams to put in the bottom of the sub-league.  So, the result of this one is that we will keep a strong 12 this year, with every intention of getting to 14 for next year.  This will also allow us to solidify the expansion process and develop applications and what not for any potential GMs wanting to fill the final 2 spots.

10) If we expand, we need to make divisions and go Head to Head or convert to a relegation league.

The Head-to-head portion of this vote was a blow out with passion.  No chance!  The relegation part of this vote was ALSO a blowout, but with a caveat that we have 14 teams.  So, it looks like we will switch to a relegation league next year with 14 teams which the Commish is excited about - though we will have to put some thought into it.

That's really it for the potential roster changes.  I'd appreciate it if EVERY GM can email me their confidential vote on the controversial QB in the flex dispute.  This is the LAST TIME there will be a vote on this issue for at least 3 seasons (this season and 2 more).

So, gents, your homework this week is to sign up for our league on yahoo.com using the above link and to submit your vote on the QB issue.  

If you truly want to be extraordinary, let's have a 100% voter turnout, and email me at my GMAIL address with your vote on this issue.  Once we have this sorted we can proceed with the rest of the offseason.  

Thanks guys! Again, sorry for the delay and stay tuned for upcoming posts on:

a) The 2010 season revisited

b) Potential changes to prize payouts and

c) Important dates (Keeper submission and live draft details)

EMAIL ME YOUR VOTES ASAP!!  And it also might be a good idea to sign-up to follow this blog.  That way I don't have to email you every single time something gets posted here (which i will do for the first few posts - after that, you're on your own).

THANKS AGAIN AND LET'S HAVE A GREAT SEASON!