JimmyJam Football League (7.1.14)

JFL Draft Date Set, Keepers, New Divisions, Trophy
We have a draft date set and the ninth season of the JFL is ready to get going. It will be an online draft, and I will set up a Google Hangout for us all to be on. Or maybe even a Skype, because they allow for group video calls now. I’ll make that decision as we get closer.

My house is still open for teams to come by if they want, but I imagine the 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, draft will make that tough. Nevertheless, the option is there.

Here’s the latest information you’ll need to know as we enter the summer months.

Draft Details
The draft has been set up for 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21. There will be an allotted time of 75 seconds per pick for the first 10 rounds, 45 seconds per pick for the final 7 rounds. This is a little shorter than before, but if everyone is prepared and alert during the draft, this shouldn’t be a problem.

I have made the necessary second-round draft pick trades to create the 1-through-16 draft for the first three rounds. The snake will begin in Round 4.

Everyone will be given two things before the draft: (1) a list of all 12 keepers, and details on when they will be drafted; and (2) a comprehensive chart showing exactly where they will be taken. This should prevent any mistakes during the draft. Please see the JFL rules. There are stiff penalties for drafting a protected keeper so it will be important for you to make sure you know the list of 12 and you DO NOT DRAFT THEM.

Keepers
Keepers will be due, per JFL rules, seven days before the draft, so at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14, the 12 teams with keepers must submit them to me via Facebook message. The new system means you will not select keepers via ESPN. They must be submitted verbally. (FOR FULL KEEPER RULES, VIEW JFL RULEBOOK.) Also, the new system doesn’t allow for us to see our old roster, so I have posted everyone’s final 2013 ROSTER HERE.

The expansion teams can trade for a keeper if they wish, but they must remember how trades will affect a keeper’s status. See JFL rules for full details, but the quick example is, if you trade for a player, he will move up seven rounds from where he was drafted last year, and if you’re trading a pick to get him, you have to make sure you’re not trading the draft pick that the keeper would be drafted at. Sound complicated? Probably. Because that is the quick example. See the rules for more details and examples, or just contact me if you want me to quickly explain it verbally.

Divisions
I’ve set up the new divisions. For the most part, they remain the same with a few changes.

Two expansion teams, Jerk (owned by Justin Brown) and Choo (owned by Steven Spillane), will join the AFC East’s beasts Sunday Slackers and Jimmy Jammers.

Jawz Attack will move out of the AFC East and move to the AFC North where he’ll join the trio of Fear and Loathing, Real Houserville and World of Noise. You knew I couldn’t break up Houserville and Noise, right?

In the NFC, two new teams will join the NFC East, as Chalupa Batman (owned by Brian O’Reilly) and Philly Cheese Steaks (owned by Jim Vaughn) will go up against NFC East rivals T-Money and Dottsville Toasters.

Team Boyer, a.k.a., the Spacklers, will move to the NFC West to go up against the Chinese Organ Thieves, Graybill’s Generals and the reigning JFL Super Bowl Champion Channel 4 News Team.

Trophy
The lack of an in-person draft makes it hard to deliver the trophy, and everyone is progressively getting busier in the lives that it does make it hard to get the trophy back to me in time to get it engraved and then presented to the winner at the draft.

So, effective immediately, we change the timing for the trophy. The Channel 4 News Team will get a little screwed here, but he has won it and held it before, so it won’t be too bad. Plus, he wife will like this.

The trophy will be delivered to Nikish ASAP so he can have it in his possession for the season.

Prior champions will be responsible for getting the trophy around December — either by shipping or in person, unless they are in the playoffs **. December is a time when a lot of you out-of-staters trek back to this region of Pennsylvania to see family, so we can set something up to save shipping.

I will then ship or deliver the trophy to the winner ASAP in January or February. The champion is responsible for any shipping costs to return the trophy to me for engraving, and any shipping costs to send the trophy to the new winner will be taken out of championship pot.

The prior champion also has the option to keep the trophy through the Super Bowl, get it engraved on their own — you must have the plate engraved to match the format and font of the rest of the plates — and ship it to the winner. You could work out a deal with the winner because it will save you both money.

** Also, this is an option if you are still in the running to repeat as champion. Obviously, you’d keep it and could get it engraved on your own.


Comments