The burgundy red carpet lay, sprawled out on the floor, as
the platform for fantasy football draft selection.
“I just need to get my balls back in the sack,” stated
Steven. Within the response of beveled laughter, both Dan and Owen offered
their personal service, or at least offered to refer medical professionals, in
assisting Steven with his task at hand.
The winds of autumn, among the summer dew, have started to
bite the air as the month of September approaches our current timeline. This
can only mean that another fantasy football season has arrived.
Discussions of rule changes were on the figurative table as
I finally reached my Google hangout destination. Oldies played in the
background as Austin’s connection cut in and out. Although unseen at first,
Owen was heard voicing to other unforeseen figures, what exactly he was
involved in at the moment. Maucus looked like he had been hitting the gym
lately whilst Steven and Reece appeared in front of a luxury dining room
background with many windows. The scene was set, albeit, without the familiar
faces of Justin (whom made a later cameo appearance), Francois, Henry, and
Nathan.
Should The Elite League keep the current scoring format or
were there changes that needed to be made? Was PPR (point per reception) working
the way everybody wanted it to or did the majority long for the old, standard
scoring system? Did the .20 points per carry need to be eliminated? Should
there be a full point for each reception or would it be best to just stay with
the half point per reception? And what about IDP (individual defensive player)?
Eliminate it or keep it? These were the main points of discussion, as well as,
smaller rules brought into question such as rostering three quarterbacks when
the rule was kept to two. There were also the limits on running backs and wide
receivers, if the limit were to be five or six when taking into account the
injured reserve and benched designations.
Although nothing official was decided and votes still needed
to be tallied, I took note of the discussions. Here is what I think the results
will be by majority vote:
-
PPR Format stays for 2017.
-
0.20 points per carry will be eliminated for
2017.
-
0.50 points per reception, like the 2016 season,
will stay the same for 2017.
-
IDP will be eliminated. This means that the
standard format for defense/special teams as one unit will be brought back for
2017.
-
2 QB & 5 RB/WR limits stay the same for
2017.
Of course, these rules might be apt to change. So, again,
this is not official. Any further questions should be sent to the league
commissioner, Reece. However, as the official media source for The Elite
League, I am fairly confident that these will be the official set rule
parameters for the 2017 season. That said, double check the league page rules
in the next week before heading into the draft on Sunday, September 3rd
@ 9PM [CST].
After rules were discussed, the draft selection began (metaphorical
guns were fired and long-lost imaginary friends were accidentally murdered).
Without clear communication, Steven proceeded to pull the
all-too-familiar yellow ball with the ‘designated one’ from the bag as Reece
announced that the ball was being picked for Owen. The response was of utter
chaos, as it appeared that Owen had finally rivaled the raging luck of the lucky
duke himself, Dan Martinez. Everybody automatically jumped to the conclusion
that Owen had drawn the number one pick in the draft! However, it was quickly
snuffed out as Reece clarified that they were only drawing pool balls for the
order in which they would again be drawn from the bag for official draft order
selection. After aplenty of colored balls were handled and a handful of ‘bruhs’
had been exchanged, the line up was laid out on the burgundy carpet. The draft
order was set.
[Insert Steven’s infamous line here]
Here were the official results of the draft order selection:
1.
Francois
2.
Austin
3.
Nathan
4.
Justin
5.
Dan
6.
Reece
7.
Maucus
8.
Steven
9.
Henry
10. Owen
Key point observations made from the official results:
-
Francois, just one year removed from league
champion, acquired the number one overall pick (in response, Dan instigated the
fact that Francois would only get the number one pick once Dan acquired the trophy
from Francois).
-
The Elite League held to its unsaid rule that
generosity reigns supreme, as it handed out another top overall pick to the
third rookie in six years in Austin.
-
Nathan finally has a chance to show off his
skills with a top draft pick, which puts him in a tough spot in later draft
rounds.
-
Justin is once again in the top five (the
popular statement of ‘AP’ was had even with the irrational illogical irony)
-
Dan has a lot of homework to do for mid-round
drafting (he could always trade up/down).
-
Reece, like Dan, gets to put in work and
research as to whom he thinks will draft who before and after himself so that
he can best position himself to get the players he values as well as the
players he wants.
-
Having his brother in front of him can either be
an advantage or disadvantage as Maucus gets the lucky number "slevin" slot
(either way, the outcome should be interesting).
-
Always the dark horse, Steven’s newfound yellow
additive in his red blood cells to form a Chief following of scalped
proportions, should make for a crazy insightful selection at the eighth seed.
-
Honestly, Hery couldn’t have asked for a better
spot for his selection, as Owen is his evil twin when it comes to drafting.
Therefore, ruling out any kind of clashing (not to mention spelling,
punctuation errors), Hery is free to choose back-to-back, under-the-radar picks
going into the second round.
-
Owen went from first in the order selection to
last in the official draft selection (the popular Bible memory verse was quoted
a cliché amount of times).
As I heard everybody say, “peace” and “deuces” (my
interpretations of everyone saying their ado) and clicked the red phone to end
the hangout session, I found myself grinning, that JB crooked smile.
One of my biggest fears is that of being an outsider. It is
one of the first things out of my mouth when a counselor or psychologist goes
through the initial intake stages. Yet, I have again set myself up for the
exact dilemma as I stepped down as an “Elite League” player to become an “Elite
League” reporter. As I sat there with my laptop, I couldn’t help but ask
myself, “Did I make the right decision?”
I have been in the position of outsider through various
means the past couple of years. I have volunteered my time with many journalism
outlets, media inlets, radio outputs, and musical inputs. Through all of the
hours spent, I can never break out of the outsider mold. I haven’t quite
figured it out but as long as God blesses me with opportunities to do what I
love, I will always do it for free.
About a month ago, I found myself staring out at the city of
Portland from one of the most prestigious buildings known as the “King
Building” (oh, the irony and compensation for the name). I was in between
interviews for one of the fortune 500 companies, Robert Half and its creative
division, TCG (The Creative Group). Each interviewer told me that I was not the
“bread and butter” to the position they were hiring for but that I was a nice
kid.
The last interviewer asked to see some of my work. I showed
her all of the professional projects in my portfolio but she wasn’t satisfied.
She then asked if there was anything I had possibly left out. That’s when I
showed her the league blog. I kidd you not, she was infatuated. Not by the
design, mind you, for it was hideous. She was intrigued by the amount of
content we had poured into the blog. I then showed her my individual blog
posts. Her response?
“DO MORE!”
My response?
“Why? What’s the point? It’s just a fantasy football blog.”
Her counter-response?
“Jonathan, this is 2017. A blog is not just a blog anymore.
A blog, any kind of blog, art, design, journalism, fantasy football; they are
all living, breathing, walking portfolios.”
“My advice, put simply, is that you use this fantasy
football blog as a catapult for everything creative within you. Use it as a
tool to bounce all of your education you have learned so far and form
repetitions. Use your friends as an audience. Find out what works and what
doesn’t. The important thing to understand is that you need to always be doing
something. And if it sounds silly, like fantasy football, grow thick skin. If
your friends don’t like an article, grow even thicker skin, take the good from
their criticism, and move on to more projects!"
“In the end, when you interview somewhere in the future, you
will have more than just a portfolio. You will have something relevant, even if
it is created solely for ten other men in a silly little fantasy football
league. What seems silly to some is actually mind-blowing to others. Figure out
a way to get back into your league and write, craft, film, record, take your talent
as far as it can possibly take you. And then press on further. Trust me,
opportunities will start to come your way through this process.”
I was stunned. I was speechless. I was inspired.
No, I didn’t even hold a candle-of-a-chance in acquiring
those positions with that company in Portland. However, I did walk away with a
new piece of mind, a brighter outlook on my creative juices. So, where would I
start?
My biggest complaints about last season were that I became too
competitive and didn’t like the league’s staleness. Obvious solution to complaint
number one, just don’t compete. Give another guy the opportunity. Enter stage
right, Austin. Second, obvious solution again. How about I become the catalyst?
I not only try to make things happen in the league but make the league my
personal and professional canvas?
Thus, a newfound era was born.
My mind descended back down to earth as I sat in front of my
computer screen, reminiscing the familiar faces of who and what I defined as
fantasy football.
As I sat in on that Google hangout, I realized that when it
comes to this group of guys, I am not an outsider. I never will be an outsider because
these are my best friends and brothers. No, I am an insider. Getting the scoop
whilst servicing as best as I can, meanwhile growing my relationships with my
friends…again, I grinned that crooked mouth of mine. I definitely made the
right decision, without a doubt. The Google hangout just affirmed it.
The Elite League in 2017 is about to get insane. You ready?
