Welcome Back Mr. Martin... We Missed Ya!

Before we get into today's post, let me just say.............ahem.................WELCOME BACK KEVIN MARTIN!! Wow we were REALLY sweating it there for a bit weren't we. Those of you who went out on a limb and snagged ole Kevin on the cheapy cheap, this is your return on investment. For everyone else, it's DECISION TIME. If you have any doubts about Martin going forward, this is your opportunity to send him packing. Me? Not in a million years, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't if he scares you or if there's too much risk on your team.

On to the post!

A couple people asked me for details in how exactly I set up my leagues to draft auction style and still play on Yahoo. Let me preface this by saying that I have played in an ESPN league, I have played in a CBS league, and for my money, nobody has a smoother *in-season* game than Yahoo (ESPN has the best draft software). I highly recommend Yahoo, however I'm also fully aware that it's very tough to convince one person (let alone a whole league) to swap vendors.

So for those playing Yahoo, who wish to be able to use auction draft (and keepers) take heed. First thing you do is set the league up on yahoo directly. When you get to the choice of draft, you merely select OFFLINE draft and import results later.



Next: You ALSO set up a league on ESPN. Don't pay too much attention to the settings of the league, just be sure to choose the auction draft settings. Both Yahoo and ESPN are going to ask you some keeper related questions, they aren't important, but just be sure keeper functionality is 'ON' for ESPN (doesn't matter for Yahoo).

Now get your friends to join both leagues. In the ESPN league, this is where you will go to draft. You can encourage everyone to try 'mock drafts' to get used to the system and learn the ins' and outs' of auction drafting. Prior to drafting, if you have keepers, under the commissioner tools in ESPN, it will allow you to add a player and his price (or multiple players, prices) to any teams. Very easy.

Finally, after you're done drafting, head back to yahoo and import the results. Now I say this, and I know it sounds like adding all the drafted players to all the teams would take hours. It takes me roughly 30 minutes to do this. Yahoo makes it wicked simple by using the autocomplete feature. Type in like 4 letters of a guys last name and he pops up. Quick, easy, simple. Now you're good to go!

Any questions? How bout my statement regarding Yahoo vs the other vendors, do you agree, disagree, or know of a better one i didn't mention?