This will work the same as it did last year - I will throw out a topic of debate, we'll discuss in the Comments section, and when I feel all the arguments have been made, I will post a poll that everyone will vote in.
I thought I'd start the debate with one of the most divisive (pun intended) issues our league dealt with last year: Divisions.
There are 3 legitimate schools of thought when it comes to dividing up the league:
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1. One Large Division
This was popularized in the Pounding 06 season, and really takes divisions out of the equation altogether. Playoff seeding is based solely on overall record and tiebreakers.
2. Two Divisions
This was last year's setup that set the London Gentlemen up against the men of Blackbeard's Delight. Last year, the league's top 6 seeds were the 6 who made the playoffs, narrowly avoiding controversy.
3. Four Divisions
This is a proposed divisional setup that has been gaining momentum ever since rivalries were introduced during the 2007 season. The top seed in each division would get an automatic playoff berth, along with 2 wild cards (the teams with the next 2 highest records, taking tiebreakers into account). This is pretty much how the MLB does it.
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Opening Argument
My vote, as it was last year, is to institute the 4 Division system, mainly because it will piss Fuquay off.
With a 13-week regular season and the rivalry system in place, each team plays all 11 other teams once, and then 2 of those teams a second time. This plays perfectly into a 4-Division league. The 2 other teams in your division are, by default, your rivals. And, consequently, those rivalries actually become more important than other games - should division leaders be tied at the end of the season, the division record would be the first tiebreaker.
And imagine if we changed the second Rivalry Week to the final week of the season. The Pounding '08 hype machine would go crazy with playoff implications.
Let the debate begin...
Welcome to the new (and improved) Pounding Blog. I've been bored out of my mind in the world of sports lately (I can't even bring myself to watch an entire Lakers/Spurs game) that I decided it was high time we began the next great debate. We have some major decision-making to do, and we should get down to business.
Here is a summary of the topics we'll be debating:
Members
I've already gotten one application requesting to join the Pounders, and I know we have some disgruntled owners that would like to make some ownership changes.
The Pot
Should we increase the pot? If so, by how much?
Divisions
There were major rumblings this year about changing the division setup to 4. Some want to rid the league of all divisions whatsoever.
Rosters
Last year, we added the OP spot, where smart owners put a 2nd QB (see: Herrington's draft). We need to vote on whether to keep or remove that, as well as other roster changes.
Authors & Articles
We had about 5 people writing articles for the league last year. While it was intended to increase user participation, it actually had the opposite effect. The Sultan's calculations have informed me that user participation declined by 30% from 06 to 07. We'll vote to see if we should return to the Preview/Recap only system.
Scoring System
I was called out this year for decreasing the interception penalty from -2 to -1 points, so we can vote on that and other scoring changes.
Trade Review Process
This was the first year we saw multiple trades pushed through by none other than myself. We need to decide what an acceptable trade review period should be, and if we should allow trades getting pushed through again.
Waiver Wire Order
Jeff White will explain/complain, but there is apparently a much better way to decide the waiver wire order. It forces you to take a more calculated approach to working the wire each week.
Keeper League
Should we institute a keeper system this year? Just throwing the idea out there.
Tiebreakers
Some people had issues with how the tiebreakers worked.
That's not the exact order we'll go in, but I would say that's a pretty good list that should take us a fair amount of time.
I think that's all I got right now. We'll begin shortly. And if you don't remember how to post onto this site, or don't have access, let me know.
- Potentate Wade