It's been a couple months since we last addressed the open ownership of the Blak Jesus franchise, so I wanted to give everybody an update on that, address realignment, publish 2008 auction details and open the forum for league improvement discussions next month.
New Owner - After several requests to the league to submit worthy candidates for the PAFFL and dozens of conversations around this by many in the league, I believe we've identified our new owner. His name is Todd C, he was supported by the largest contingent of owners and has the broadest existing set of relationships with owners of any of the candidates mentioned. I have spent time to gauge his interest, knowledge and compatibility, and I'm convinced he'll be a great addition. I appreciate all the other candidates, unfortunately we only had one opening. Todd has been 'sharing' the Short Bus the past year so he's familiar with the league structure, the complexity of contracts and the auction format. Thus he'll be off and running immediately.
Realignment - It's time to change things up. Forget that we've spent the past seven years arguing this and that the vast majority agreed to make the change for '08 (based on certain criteria that were met), this is about timing. We've never had a stretch of this length of continuous ownership and divisions, prior to 2000, the longest stretch was two years. Now we all know each other, we've reached a level of parity and its important that we stop thinking of factions as the "Oregon" group or "408" crew or whatever. Yes this is not what the NFL would do (although they have realigned since we last have) and No this won't preserve some rivalries. But nothing bad can come out of this either. Rivalries already exist across division lines, and more will evolve as the character of divisions are developed. If people don't like how the divisions are structured this year, then we can change it up again in '09. As Pat said, "everybody should be willing to throw down with any other team whenever". In short, its past due, variety is the spice of life and we've been too stagnant in our relationships amongst ourselves the past nine years to not at least make an effort. But its been too long and we need to at least try a new structure.
Auction Details - the auction is the weekend of July 17-19 (Thursday-Saturday). Historically we've always had in the following weekend but we had several wedding conflicts. I will post another message (and email) details out but the plan is to have a bar get together on the 17th (Thursday), then I'll be hosting a BBQ & party on the 18th (Friday) where we'll do cuts, the rookie draft and commence the 2008 auction. Then the Short Bus will host the auction the morning of the 19th (Saturday) at his house in Palo Alto. Details to follow.
Ideas for Improvement - anybody who has an idea on how we can make the PAFFL better or believes we need to change something, please either post it in the comments here or send me an email. Anything that receives at least two votes of support prior to our Friday, the 18th meeting, will get it on the agenda for discussion in the larger group setting. As has been the precedent the past few years, anything approved at the auction will go into effect the following season.
I'm looking forward to another great year!
Ideas for Improvement:
I propose that any rule changes can only be implemented the following season. This would mitigate against bias based on one's current year projection. We've done this for some rule changes, but it hasn't been consistently applied (e.g. Redshirt DS took effect the year after it was voted in, whereas Pick Six was implemented immediately).
If people are concerned that there may be a need for immediate rule changes - I would suggest 2/3 vote would be required for immediate implementation (simple majority results in implementation the following year).
Posted by: Irie | June 18, 2008 at 06:20 PM
agreed, irie.
I'm also somewhat proud that Irie finally found the paffl website.
:)
Posted by: todd2006 | June 18, 2008 at 08:28 PM
In defense of the Irie, they've been one of the most active posters on PAFFL.com for the past year, so I have to disagree with Todd's comment.
As for the proposed idea, I like it. We've kind of been practicing it but its not formally written into the manual. I will put that on the agenda to discuss. Thanks!
Posted by: Josh | June 18, 2008 at 09:43 PM
Ideas for improvement: No more than one dorky owner named Todd in the league at one time.
Posted by: Jack Tripper | June 23, 2008 at 04:46 PM
Ideas for improvement: Chad isn't allowed to trade his future rookie picks.
Posted by: todd2006 | June 23, 2008 at 08:29 PM