Two years ago my best friend my main money league couldn't make our draft so I drafted for him. Naturally I drafted him a solid team but he's not the greatest manager so I think he finished like 4th or something.
Anyways, he just told me that he can't make it again this year because of work committments so I'll have to draft for him again.
It's weird because in a way, it's a lot of responsibility and I remember the first time I did it for him, I sometimes found myself more concerned with how I was doing for his team rather than my own. I'm confident in my own abilities (two-time defending champ) but I think I'd get an even bigger kick if I drafted him a solid team and he managed to finish (gasp) first or even top 3. I know teams from the draft to the end of the season are never the same but hey, at least if I give him a nice foundation I can take some credit for his success.
I've drafted for other people also, the problem arises when there is a player that you want, but that player fits in perfectly with the team you are drafting for and probably would be the pick that manager would make if he were there. What do you do?
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. No way would I draft for someone nor would I want someone to draft for me, for the reason Crimedog kinda was talking about, you have different "sleepers" than other people and do you draft those "sleepers" for the other guy or do you draft them for yourself. Its just not right to draft for someone, kinda stupid if you asked me, just to be honest!!!
During a draft last year, we had one player ask another player, who was his co-worker, which closer he should take. His co-worker replied Rocky Biddle when Kolb and a few other good ones were still available. That's what you get if you don't do your homework. Don't expect to cheat off a buddy.
Personally, I wouldn't draft for a friend. I would tell him to pre-rank the players.
"And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that lord of Castamere. But now the rains weep o'er his hall, with no one there to hear." - The Rains of Castamere
I had to have a friend start a draft for me last year in a keeper league (2 rounds of rookies and then the first few rounds of the actual draft) because I had other commitments which could not be changed.
However, in my situation I knew that I'd only be 2-3 hours late, so I gave my friend my rookie rankings and my top 20 or so at each position. I told him exactly who I wanted for my first round pick (I had the #2 spot) and then told him to simply get me the best player available through my ranking, using his best judgement as to which player was best between positions. I even called him on his cell phone before I left for my 1.5hr drive to the draft, and my 2nd pick was coming up so I was able to tell him exactly who to take there too now that I think about it.
(As it turned out, I arrived at the draft 2.5hrs after it started and just in time for either my 5th or 6th round pick in the actual draft)
Overall there was a risk one both sides, but overall it worked out fine. Granted, my situation was a bit different than this one because I knew that I would still get to the draft in the early rounds so I could inform my friend adequately as to what to do for me up to that point.
Long story short... if he can give yu rankings to work off of it might work. If you're doing everything for him it's not right.
I didn't realize until you got about halfway down the post that you meant drafting for a friend in the same league! I've drafted for friends online before, but this is something else.
Anyway, if it's an online draft, he needs to pre-rank and that's all there is to it.
If it's in person, I see no problem with him giving you a detailed ranking list and you using a little of your own judgment to decide between positions. But he can't be relying on your judgment to pick players for him, because that hurts your team.
I've done it more times than I care for... probably more than 5 times in various leagues & sports. Also, since they are auctions, it is even more complicated.
What I ended up doing was saying that the team(s) I would draft for had to provide a list, and I would draft exclusivley off that list, and always bid the max amount, and never go higher. So if (for example) Alex Rodriguez was on his list at $40, and someone bid $1 for A-Rod, I would immidiatly bid $40 for that guy, and that would be the end of it. Then, as teams finished up their drafting (or used up their money so they couldn't participate) I would pass the responsability over to them.
Generally that would incent the owners to show up for the draft since they would know they would be over-paying for players or they'd be left with the people chosen at the end (which might be sleepers, but unlikely). In compensation for that, I would give them first rights to the waiver wire (a 1 day head start). It works alright, but it is very bad since as commish, I not only have to draft my own team, run the auction, track everyone's cap space, but also draft for one or more teams (most I ever did was 4, but that was a very small draft where they only needed one or two players a piece with very little money available).
I had a buddy(or so I thought) on IM once with my computer using two browsers - to run two simultaneous yahoo live drafts. (he had a problem with java and couldn't get the downloads installed properly and only had IM)
He got every pick he wanted - I got a pretty mediocre team.
And what's worse - he stiffed me on the fifty bucks he owed for the league fees. Never paid me.
I will never again help someone out like that. I screwed up my team and paid for it - TWICE.
I wouldn't have a problem with it, cause to me, a good friend is more important than my team roster.
My apologies. I have a nephew named Anfernee, and I know how mad he gets when I call him Anthony. Almost as mad as I get when I think about the fact that my sister named him Anfernee.
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by nsulham » Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:24 pm 
