It's June, Time to Plan Your Draft

That's right, time to start planning your fantasy football draft. I assume you already have a draft date set, your research has been in full swing for at least a month in a half, and your league has been full for 2 years. If all of this isn't true, you should stop reading right now and go live that wrenched, empty existence you call a life. We will talk draft prep below

Jim Rome already told us who to expect at our drafts, but he gave us no guidance on how to put on a good daft. As someone who has played in the same league for over a decade, a league which has been live drafting since 2001, I have a few tips on how to ensure your draft doesn't suck as bad as everything else in your life.

1. Location

Location will be the make or break of your draft. Having a draft in someones dining room may seem like the easy way to do things, but pulling out also seemed like the easy form of birth control. Ask those kids running around your chair how well that worked out.

Pick someplace which is easy for most of your league to get to. If a few league members have to drive, that's their fault for not being more centralized. Only allow offsite drafting for extreme situations. For instance, a founding member of my league moved over 1,000miles away from our draft location. We allowed him to call in, and we made 1,000miles the minimum for a call in allowance.

2. Booze

Rome warned us about The Drunk, but lets face it, the more people in your league you can get hammered the better your chances of drafting who you want when you want them. Now, this almost directly affected by point 1. You need a location which not only serves/allows for drinking, but one which encourages it. Someones dark basement might be fun for beer pong but hours down there mulling over stats will not encourage you to down a few beverages and trash talk. It will encourage you to GTFO and find someplace else.

3. Food

If your going to have a lot of people and booze you need food. In my experience pitch-ins are ok, but typically end with everyone chipping in for pizza. What worked best for us was renting out a bar which had a kitchen. That way we kept the drinks flowing, had control over the place, and had our own servers to feed us grapes off the vine and pour our ale into our chalice. While this isn't an option for everybody, it is something to look for. By the time your draft is over everyone wants to be able to eat, drink, talk smack, and fraternize. This brings me to my next point

4. Post-Draft Activities

Have none planned but be prepared for anything. Have red cups, ping pong balls, tables, boxes, and dice all ready. Inevitably someone at the draft won't want to drink much while making picks, and that's fine. That person will, typically, want to have a party after the draft. When he starts throwing ideas out most people who have been imbibing will be down to party and drinking games will usually commence. This also relates back to point 1, have a location which will allow/invite these things to happen.

5. Keep You League Going

The draft is great because you talk football for hours and smack talk with your friends. The longer your league has been around the more fun you have smack talking the other guys in it. As I mentioned my league has been going on over a decade and we still have a number of the original 10 teams. Of our current 12, 10 have been in the league for over 5 years. This makes the draft not only a fantasy football draft, but possibly the only chance we have to hang out in person. The atmosphere it creates is one of celebration. We love the league and draft day is like a holiday you get to spend with your friends instead of your family. It's like the 4th of July but with fewer children present.