Ronald Wilson Reagan Fantasy Football League 2012

Football, the only thing better than bacon!

Welcome Back:

Are you ready for some football?! We are back and better than ever for 2012. We are hooked up on myfantasyleague.com for standings, transactions, real time scoring, smack talk and more. We also have our domain and portal web site, www.rwrffl.com.

The League Structure:

We will be using a fairly standard performance scoring method. The scoring works like this:

Touchdown caught/rushed: 6 points
Touchdown thrown: 4 points
Field goal: 3 points
PAT: 1 point
Conversion caught/rushed: 2 points
Conversion thrown: 1 point
Interception return for TD:  6 points
Fumble return for TD: 6 points
Safety:  2 points
Defensive fumble recovery 2 points
Defensive interception 2 points
Defensive quarterback sack 1 point
Every 25 yards passing: 1 point
Every 10 yards rushing/receiving: 1 point
Every reception: 1 point

Special teams' scores do not count, unless the player scoring is one of your starters. Examples: You have the Washington team defense, and Champ Bailey runs back a punt return for a TD. Even though Bailey is a defensive player, this score does not count. If Bailey intercepts a pass and runs it back for a TD, this would count toward your total. In another example, if you draft and play a wide receiver who also returns kicks, say Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears, any scores he makes on returns do count.

We are 10-team league divided into 2 divisions, the Caspar Weinberger Division and the James Baker Division. We will play 13 regular season games, and have 3 weeks of playoffs. The top 4 finishers in each division will make the playoffs. Standings will be determined each week in each division based on overall record. Ties will be broken as follows: First tiebreaker is division record, second is head-to-head record, and third will be total points scored. The 2 non-playoff teams will play Week14 in the Toilet Bowl to determine the “Best of the Worst”.

The total entrance fee for our league will be $35. $5 of each fee will buy food on draft day. I will be using $70 of the total to purchase our website. The Dick Schaap Memorial Bowl winner will receive $100, the runner-up $70, and the 2 regular season division winners $30 each. The Schaap Bowl winner will also receive the coveted Cain Trophy to hold until next season.

The league will be run exclusively on myfantasyleague.com, linked from our main page, http://www.rwrffl.com or directly at http://www10.myfantasyleague.com/2012/home/42488. The web site provides lineups, real time scoring, standings, transactions, all the reporting I used to provide, plus a message board for smack talk and so on. Use it. You are paying for it, so don’t be shy about getting on it and making the most of the resources it offers.

Every year's champ will also get to rename the worst team in the league for 1 season. The champ announces the name change after the draft, and only guideline is can't pick something too vulgar. Be imaginative.

The Teams:

The teams will consist of 16 total roster spots, 8 starters and 8 reserves. Each team will be allowed 2 transactions per week all season long. Your starters will be:

1 Quarterback

2 Running Backs

3 Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

1 Kicker

1 Team Defense.

Your reserves can be anything you want, but generally you want at least one of each offensive position. This season each team will be designating one "franchise player" to be retained from last year's roster. This player can be from any position. You will then draft the remaining 15 roster spots. Franchise players will be declared draft day. On the My Fantasy League site, you can change just about anything about your franchise you like at any time.

The Draft:

We will hold the RWRFFL draft on Saturday, August 18 at 5:00 p. m. This is about 3 weeks before the start of the NFL season. I will be the host again this year, and we will draft at the League Offices, also known as my basement. I will provide directions. A representative of each team should attend the draft, and be on time. The draft will consist of 15 rounds. Odd rounds will be a reverse of the order of finish from last season. Even rounds will be a reverse of this order, making for a standard serpentine draft. There will be a 2-minute time limit per selection, so please be prepared. Several warnings will be given. If a selection is not made before the time limit expires, the team will then draft last in that round. Keep in mind that even with limiting everyone to 2 minutes, the draft will probably take over 3 hours to complete. After drafting, everyone should have 16 roster spots filled, including your franchise player. League entry fee must be paid prior to drafting any players. Complete draft order is posted. Players must be drafted by name, with one exception. The Kicker Exception Rule states that if an NFL team has not announced its kicker by draft day, a fantasy team may draft this position without naming the player. The fantasy team then adds to its roster the NFL team's opening day starting kicker. Also, occasionally a drafted player gets cut after the draft, but before the start of the season. In this case, a team may replace 1 cut player before week 1 without penalty. I will not be notifying anyone of cut players, and if the transaction is not done before the start of the season, it will count against your transactions. In the event more than 1 team loses drafted players, the replacements are first come, first get. Once the draft is complete, I’ll export the results to the league web site, and we’ll be ready for the season.

The Schedule:

Our regular season will be weeks 1-13 of the NFL season. Weeks 14-16 will be our playoffs. Every NFL team has 1 bye week; we will not have a bye week. Each team will play its division rivals twice, home and away, and each team in the other division once. The playoffs will be seeded inside the divisions, with 4 vs.1 and 3 vs. 2. Winners in each division draw then meet, with those winners then meeting in Week 16 for the Dick Schaap Memorial Bowl. Again, the Toilet Bowl for “Best of the Worst” will be Week 14.

Game Week/Game Day:

Lineups must be submitted on the myfantasyleague.com league website. Lineups may be submitted and changed until a player kicks off. Once any one player kicks off, he’s locked. Submit starters and a back up to break ties. If a lineup is not submitted, the previous week's list will be carried over, with no regard to bye weeks. I will not be able to remind all owners about lineups every week, so get them in. In a pinch, you may submit a lineup to me by phone and I can enter into the web site for you. You may submit as many lineups as you like for the week, with as many changes as you like, until a player locks. Further, if a lineup is invalid for any reason, such as exceeding the maximum allowable players per position or starter backup duplication, I will attempt to contact the owner via email ONLY and advise that the lineup be replaced. Note that I said attempt. If I am traveling and don’t see the lineups until after the games, I won't be sending notices. If I receive no reply, the lineup will be ruled invalid IN ITS ENTIRETY and will be treated as if no lineup were submitted. The web site should catch invalid lineups, but you never know what sort of glitch we may encounter.

All starting player scores will count toward your team's total, with the exception of defensive scores (the Champ Rule). If a player plays both offense and defense, only his offensive scores will count toward his total for the week. If the player is on your team defense, that score would count under defensive scores. If the teams are tied, the tiebreak players come into play. The tiebreak player scoring the most points breaks the tie. If the game remains tied, this ends the game and it is listed as a tie. A sample lineup might look like this:

Week 5 - Dave's All-Stars

QB-Drew Brees NO

RB- Arian Foster HOU

RB-Ray Rice BAL

WR- AJ Green CIN

WR-Larry Fitzgerald ARI

WR- Dez Bryant DAL

K-Adam Vinatieri IND

TD-Baltimore Ravens

Tiebreaker K – Mason Crosby GBP

Transactions:

Each franchise will be allowed 2 free agent transactions per week over the length of the entire fantasy season. A transaction involves dropping one player from your roster, and signing an available free agent. In the event more than one franchise wants the same free agent, the team with the worst record gets the player. In the event of a tie, division record, head-to-head record and then total points will be used. The league web site allots the waiver wire order. The 2 picks will run in 'rounds', with each team getting 1 move, then the next round starting. Player trades are also allowed; however, each trade must get Commissioner approval. Commissioner approval will only be withheld if it is felt that the trade in question is an attempt to "load" one team at the expense of the competitiveness of another. Such collusion between owners will be frowned upon. Preseason trades are allowed as well, but the players traded must become the franchise players for their respective receiving teams. Transaction submissions are due each week by the deadline set in the league web site calendar.

The Newsletter/Website:

Each week of the season, the web site will provide real time scoring, results of the previous weekend's games, including scores, standings and league news, such as the coming week's schedule in both the NFL and the RWRFFL. The previous week's transactions will also be noted. I will also post a brief rundown of the action, so be prepared for some lame attempts at humor. If your team got embarrassed, be assured that you will be that week's league notes headline. It will be evident from the Newsletters that I watch way too much ESPN. I would also encourage all franchises to use the features of the website to maximum advantage. The rosters will be up-to-date when the results are posted, and doing your lineups on the site is very quick and easy. There is a weekly free agent listing as well. Also, DO SOME TRASH TALKING! Get on that message board and shoot off your pie holes! Let’s get some bad blood and some rivalries going!

The Officials:

The Commissioner: David Ferguson, thecommish@rwrffl.com

The Deputy Commissioner for Operations: Jon Kash, jon.kash@insightbb.com

The Deputy Commissioner for Hospitality and Public Relations: Brian New, deannabrian2004@aol.com

Final Word:

Lastly, this can become quite a competitive hobby. Be good sports. My intention is to run a fair, fun and competitive league, but all decisions by the Commissioner are final, and are made in the best interest of the league as a whole, not any particular team. See you draft day!