I ended up the week making a little at the blackjack tables and had a great time.
Gordon Gekko - go figure - is a regular guy
The Draftmasters League on Friday was excellent. We saw few surprises and things were very smooth. I think the lack of starting QB/K/Defenses caught a few teams napping - we all knew about RB scarcity, but in the DM where there's no free agent pickups having at least 2 of everything is huge... 3 a luxury that few will have. All in all, a fun group and we flew through it.
I was happy with my team - I got 3 QB, 3 K, 3 Defenses and 3 starting RB. Toss in a posse of WR and with any luck they all take turns having good weeks.
After a short pizza break, we began the auction draft. Priest Holmes went for $80 (out of a $200 budget) and was followed closely by LT ($79) and a host of $60+ bets on other top 10 players. Potentially the steal or wasted money of the draft was Faulk for high $20 range. The fun started after about an hour when MrBill decided it was time for beer and took matters into his own hands. Suddenly a case of beer and a big tray with ice appears and we were off and running. Bill had an ulterior motive, however, as he had spent a big chunk of his money and wanted the bidding to be relaxed and inhibitions to spend lowered. It worked! We were out of 50% of our money after the first 2.5 rounds in the entire league!
Not to be outdone, Chris Schrinker pulled in another case of beer a bit later and the auction draft was full of rip-roaring fun. We had an inadvertent $11 raise on a Tight End that resulted in a modestly heated exchange of whether it was intended or not and settling on the fact nobody required Harlan to say "$14" when the previous bid had been $3. Harlan and co. graciously accepted the bid, although I think most of us would have been fine with letting it roll back (The error was "$3 by team 13" was heard as "$13" - but that's the live auction and stuff happens.
Personally, my auction team was mediocre. A solid core group lead by Ahman Green - but I need a few things to happen for my squad to be capable of landing in the money.
For the main event on Saturday the room was buzzing and everyone had their game faces on. I was a little surprised at some frantic magazine flipping (no I wasn't, just had to say that...). The drafts were quite different, but same (ridiculous) problem of 2 draft moderators bellowing each pick so that those on the strip could hear everything. I counted at least 15 times in the mid rounds where one of the human-megaphones would say a player's name and magically he was gone within a few picks. Could be some of those were appropriately taken and were being watched - but I would bet some would have slid a bit. In any event, our draft of 14 teams had 1/2 of the owners who had played in either Draftmasters, Auction or both the day before. We'd been through a draft or two and each pick was tough. I couldn't find a single late round flier, so spent my time building a solid and rounded squad. Competitive, I hope, but I didn't build a juggernaut here.
After the draft, Meat Loaf was reviewing my team and was pretty happy with my squad until he saw I had picked Donald Driver at 9.2. He's convinced I would have been better picking Donald Duck instead of Donald Driver. So, after listing off the 10 players he would have picked ahead of Driver at that point, we had to throw down a bet. We'll meet up again in Vegas for Greg's NFBC contest. I told him Driver would have a 150 yard, 2 TD game this year... in addition to being productive. IF I'm right, Meat owes me steak dinner. If I'm wrong, I'm going to treat him. One of the interesting little sidebets to watch for the season
All in all - Vegas was a long trip. Glad to be home, even if exhausted and still hearing the rhythmic ding-ding of the slot machines.
Good luck everyone. There can be only one, let it be.. well... me?
Dave