Define a "competitive" league

[Poobah]

I think if people say "competitive" they are also not looking for advice from people who may be used to pulling a fast one on other owners. Example:

Poster: I am in a 12-man competitive league that starts 2 RB. I have Deuce McAllister and Marcel Shipp, but would like to upgrade at this position. I have reasonable depth at QB, WR, blah blah, what would you suggest?

Reply: I see you have Eddie Kennison. If you trade him for Ricky Williams or Jamal Lewis, your problems are over!!!

Me (on the inside): Gimme a break, will ya?

[9er Fan]

- The number one characteristic of a competitive league is having active owners. That means the following:

1. All owners spend time preparing for the draft (at least a few hours with a decent baseline player ranking as a starting point).
2. All owners examine their lineups every week
3. All owners review and respond to trade requests (if trades 'time-out' in your league, that is bad)
4. All owners are actively reviewing the waiver wire every week (the same couple guys don't get D. Davis, S. Moss, Barlow, etc. off the waiver wire, unless they are the worst performing teams and get those players due to having high waiver priority).

- Number two is experience. The more 'average years of experience' playing fantasy football, the more competitive the league will be. This will lead to better lineups being selected, and non-stupid trades being suggested (i.e. giving up to early on a slumping stud -- Think LT through the first several games last year).

- Another essential ingredient to a competitive league, are the league rules & infrastructure. A couple examples:

1. Waiver wire needs to be priority based. Any first come first served waiver wire method is a joke, and will lead to a non-competitive environment.
2. The bad teams always need something (in addition to pride) to play for (e.g. loser throws a league party, or the bottom 4 teams play for draft position the following year in a keeper league).

[Xtreme]

9er Fan, these are suggestions that even seasoned veterans should be listening to. Thanks for the insight.

[osu4fan]

*
(Optional add-in): no free agency, all teams must trade with other GM's in order to fill holes or better their squad. I think this is an attribute to a league that sets leagues apart, free agency lends itself to people just checking the waiver wire for the players that broke through the following week.

Our league uses sub teams. Following the rookie/free agent draft we have an extra draft where each owner selects real NFL teams. All players undrafted are property of this sub team and players can be called up/sent down at leizure as long as the player is still on that teams active roster.
e.g. I have Mike Vick and Michael Jenkins. I pick the ATL sub team. Brian Finneran is undrafted. Week two Jenkins looks awful and Finneran is playing well so I drop Jenkins to my sub team and call Finneran up. Works well.
Sorry for the aside, but I thought id bring it up.

[GMoney]

thats a very interesting way to do WW... I LIKE IT. But there are prolly bout 12 teams and 30 NFL teams? Those players not on a sub-team can never be picked up? or are they First come first serve? Does each team only have 1 sub-team? or 2?

They way we do WW in the dyansty legaue i just joined is we have Waiver Money $50 for the entire year. Every Tuesday you can place a bid on the person you want of WW (1 silent bid) high bidder gets him. On Wed, those players not bid for can be picked up for $1 first come first serve. This is a good system too I think.

[osu4fan]

Sorry wasn't overly specific. We draft all the NFL teams. My sub teams are- Browns, Chargers, Giants, Falcons, Titans
I got an extra team because the way it worked out. I got most of the browns recievers. Drew Brees and The Bachelor! Our league only has seven members so some of us started the season with an extra sub team. You can trade subteams just like a normal team, and can really be a deciding factor if one owner has a lot of players off of one team in particular.

[ironman]

If a top RB goes down with an injury on Sunday and his replacement is still floating on the wire come Monday morning, then it is not a competitive league.

[Free Bagel]

This is alot simpler than people are making it out to be actually. You can answer this with one simple question:

Am I in your league?

[CC]

This is alot simpler than people are making it out to be actually. You can answer this with one simple question:

Am I in your league?

Cause if he is, the fact everyone preys on him makes your league uncompetitive.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

This is alot simpler than people are making it out to be actually. You can answer this with one simple question:

Am I in your league?

Cause if he is, the fact everyone preys on him makes your league uncompetitive.

Doh!

<rimshot>