Suitcase Nuke

This is going to a little bit different of a season since I'm in Afghanistan and can't put the usual effort into management. We'll still hit all the important stuff, but I won't be able to do newsletters, trophies or analysis as I usually do. Also, drum roll please, this is the year we finally hit TWELVE members! We've been trying for two years and we finally made it with little turnover and a few additions.

Now, Samson (Walers) and myself (Marshals) are the only remaining founding members. But all of you who participated last year are exactly the kind of people we want playing. Except for Fish. Just kidding. He still owes a picture of his trophy sitting somewhere prominent in his home, though.

Speaking of trophies: $12 is the fee for playing, all of which goes to buy the kick-ass trophy we award. You can send it to me on Paypal justin@justinstahl.net or you can pay Samson and he'll send it to me.

You'll notice a few changes to the roster with 12 teams this year. Be sure to read all the details on the league page: http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leaguesetup/settings?leagueId=144613.

I bumped two bench spots off so we have a little more availability in the free agent pool, but you do still have the IR slot for injured/inactive players. We also reverted to requiring 2 starting RB/2 starting WR, you'll still have the Offensive Utility which can be any offensive player, and then one flex that can be either a WR/RB/TE.

The season will be one week longer since we have extra teams, and you'll notice we are now in three divisions. You'll face your division opponents twice during the regular season, and everyone else once. Each division winner will make the playoffs, in addition to the team with the most points scored for the season. You can download last year's Owner's Reference here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jhbqo7dgisdry3u/2011%20Owners%20Reference.pdf.

Point scoring hasn't really changed, and all of the player rules still apply so you should read that and then double-check all the scoring details on the league page. http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leagueoffice?leagueId=144613&seasonId=2012

Be sure to like our Facebook page. I'll post updates and info there since I can access that from my work computer. (ESPN Fantasy is blocked!) 

The draft will be an online snake draft that will take place next Saturday, September 1 at 10:00PM Eastern Time. (6:30 AM Afghanistan). Because of the scheduling and difficulty this year, there is no penalty for using the auto-draft feature. I would recommend spending time adjusting your auto-draft settings as close to your strategy as you can; if you spend time here an auto-drafted roster can still turn out alright. I have already randomized the draft order, so when you check it on your team page, it's for real!

Everyone except Heather and Ron are taking over an existing team. You can select a keeper from your roster provided they were not drafted in the 4th round or earlier. Please send me your keeper selections this week or set them in your team page. I will double-check to make sure everyone has chosen a legal keeper. Before the draft I will send out a list instructing everyone on when to select their keeper during the draft and everyone else to not touch the keepers. If somebody screws up, I can just pause the draft and correct it.

As always, if you have any questions, please email me or Samson. I'll try to spend some time introducing everyone and we should have a freaking blast this year. I'll be home before Christmas, so we may be able to get together near the end of the season to trash talk in person.