Fantasy Football Fans: Vote Auction or Snake Draft

Every year, there is a huge debate between starting a fantasy football league with an auction or a snake draft. InGameNow has challenged The Ted Lilly Fan Club to a debate on what form is best.

Auctions Rule (via InGameNow)

InGameNow is a huge supporter of free markets. In Fantasy Football (yes, we need to capitalize it, its important) the only way to practice free markets is to run an auction. Some Communists such as our “friends” at the Ted Lily Fan club will argue a snake draft is the way to go. This is simply put, ignorant and foolish. Anyone who tries an Auction is hooked, and here is why:

1. A fantasy draft is not fair. In ESPN’s Fantasy Football Auction values, the 1st and 20th picks had a combined value of 88 (LT @ 62 and Braylon Edwards @ 26). The 10th and 11th pics had a total value of 65 (Marion Barber @34 and Larry Johnson @ 31). In a 10 team draft, the first pick has a significant edge over the 10th pick. Picking a draft order out of a hat should not be what dictates a Fantasy Football season.

2. In the auction gm’s are rewarded for being smart, not lucky. To be successful in auctions, gm’s must find value, not get caught up in emotion, and be able to adapt their initial plan as circumstances call for it. Nothing is more rewarding than watching rival gm’s bid up a players price way past fair value. The Ted Lily Fan Club fears this, their ancestors were partly responsible for the 17th century Tulip Bulb bubble. If going to a draft means loosing the 2 dumbest members of your league, don’t worry about it. They are replaceable.

3. Auctions are continuous fun. Any gm can purchase any player, at any point. If you have the first pick in a 10 team draft, you make your first pick, then can leave the room for ten minutes, and not miss anything. In an Auction, if you purchase LT first, you will have the ability to bid on the very next player called. GM’s are rewarded for focusing on every pick, and purchasing as many players cheap as possible.

Long story short, the NFL is an American game and auctions are the American way to run a Fantasy Football league. Do not follow our Communist blogers. Stop participating in the snake draft. Enjoy free markets. Run the auction. USA! USA! USA!

Draft (TLFC’s position)
Once the Ted Lilly Fan Club received the official throw down challenge from In Game Now to debate the merits of draft vs. auction format in fantasy football, we immediately went down to the TLFC Nerdery and Fantasy Sports Data Analysis Lab (TNAFSDAL) which doubles as our post-apocalyptic fallout shelter (complete with endless amounts of creamed corn, D batteries and, ummm, Sears bra catalogs).

First thing we did was to feed reams of fantasy sports data into the Ted Lilly Fan Club Super Computer to determine if the draft format makes more sense then auction format. The results? 60% of the time it works, every time. Not only is the draft format fairer (TLFC actively endorses NAFTA), it also lets each member recall fond memories of learning numbers with the Count on Sesame Street. “Pick One—Adrian Peterson. Pick Two-Ladainian Tomlison. Pick Three—Tom Brady. AH AH AH AH”.

Second thing we did was to pick up the phone and seek advice from recent media superstar and friend of the blog, Joe the Plumber. As educated Ted Heads know, Joe the Plumber, aka Joe Wurzelbacher, is an Ohio man looking to buy a plumbing business which went against Barack Obama’s notion of wealth distribution.

TLFC: Hey Joe! It’s the TLFC…Just checking in. Saw you last week on Fox News, Dancing with the Stars and TMZ—that bald head is pretty badass. Looks like you’re from the future.

JTP: Oh—thanks. Appreciate the continued support and please send my thanks to TLFC House Mom Brenda for sending down those “Redistribution of Wealth Brownies”. What’s up?

TLFC: Well—we’re sitting here in the middle of a debate on the merits of drafts versus auctions in fantasy football and..

JTP: GO BROWNS! WOOT WOOT! GO BROWNS!

TLFC: Oh, well, okay…like we said, in this debate, we thought that you’d have an interesting perspective. To us, it seems like the draft format is the patriotic format and the auction format resembles the very reason why we’re in this financial mess. Thoughts?

JTP: Absolutely. This is a classic case of Main Street vs. Wall Street. Main Street loves the draft, loves apple pie and supports our troops. The Wall St. fat cats love the auction format, love big-guying the little guy and creating stochastic calculus models that assign a relative value for each player.

Joe’s hit the nail on the head. Auctions require more of a thought process, while drafts require the very minimal amount of Brain Power. The auction format is fun for people who like models, Sudoku puzzles, and statistics. Drafts are for people who drink too much because of relationship problems or deep seeded issues from showering in gym class (“Ummm, thanks, Coach Buckhalter, I’m good…and please stop staring at me”).

Case-in-point, Steve Smith. An astute auctioneer that calculated the value of the Carolina receiver minus the suspension games and tried to scope Smith “on the cheap.” On the other hand, a drafter might see Smith available in the second round and take him as well, but that’s because he’s too cheap to get a draft mag. Boiled down, the defining question of this debate is whether you prefer to admire someone for their careful thought or make fun of their lack of preparation? We at TLFC prefer the later. Drafts are better, no question unless you hate America.

********editors note, Interview with Joe The Plumber is fictitious*****