Chinstrap Ninjas — Fantasy Football and Fantasy Baseball Assassins

Fantasy football and fantasy baseball assassins

Auction an adrenaline shot for my fantasy soul [FFB]

My first auction draft behind me, I sit here with boundless thoughts and energy. My fantasy sports fever hasn’t been this high since I played in my first dynasty league — I get to keep how many players?! — and that was almost a decade ago.

Yeah, every year I get really juiced for the NFL Draft and the influx of talent that will mesh into the league, but this is completely different.

I love me a good fantasy draft, it’s my favorite part of the season. I might even trade a good quality and fun fantasy draft over a playoff appearance. (OK, maybe a bit of a stretch, but I’m gonna run with it anyway.)

For the uninitiated, an auction draft allows every owner to have a shot at every player. You just have to bid auction-style to acquire that player and have enough money to draft every spot on your roster. If it sounds great, it is. If it doesn’t sound great, maybe I’m not saying it clearly enough.

Let’s try this: If a fantasy draft is like a Bull in a China Shop (Yes, folksy!), then for an auction draft you would replace the bull with an elephant that was infected with the Rage Virus from 28 Days Later. And was on rocket skates.

Yep, tis that awesome.

While your average draft has lulls in it — pick 14th in a serpentine draft and you might as well take a 20-minute siesta between the 14-15 picks and your next pair — there is no time for lulls in auction drafts. The action is quick and constant.

You have to make sure everyone’s paying a fair market price for players, and you have to make sure you get your steals here and there.

A couple of other great nuggets that I pulled from that first auction draft:

• You don’t have to be ticked off that George from Accounting, who doesn’t know a darned thing about fantasy football, ended up with the first pick and will end up with the best player in the game.
• If you want to follow a two-stud receiver plan, you don’t have to hope to fall into the bottom of the draft, or hope that certain players fall to you in the second or third round.
• If your only goal was to pick your two favorite players, you could pay whatever price was necessary and likely get them. You would have to have scrubs at every other roster spot, but you could do it.
• Bidding up players you don’t really want, but that you know that guy does not deserve for $7, is a great adrenaline rush. Do it often, but stay within reason, and always on a player you wouldn’t mind having on your own roster, because you’ll end up with a couple of them on the relative cheap.

I could go on, and I’m sure jzak’s going to compose a few posts. He was an excellent host, with an excellent setup that kept everything running smooth. The crowd was a lot of fun, too — these guys bleed and sweat fantasy football — and I look forward to the league getting started.

More to come. I had some great picks and missed out on some guys. There was only one pick I was completely disappointed with, and I only wasted $1 on him, so no big deal.

Have you ever participated in an auction draft? Do you prefer a regular draft or an auction draft? What’s the best bid you’ve made — whether you bluffed somebody into a huge number, or got a ridiculous steal? Let us know in the comments.