Madden 12 League Structure

OK, following a potential crisis-filled attempt at trading the Titans in Madden 12, Suszek and I had a brains-trust meeting and discussion in regards to how we should set up the leagues in Madden 12.

It's no secret that there will be 2 leagues, and the 4th String community should be able to sustain 64 players without too much difficulty. With that in mind, and knowing the complex matrix (hot math talk!) of ways that players get their favourite teams or carry their teams through from Maddden 11, especially with new people coming in, Mike and I have come up with a super fucking cool idea:

THE (PROPOSED) 4th STRING MADDEN COMMUNITY
2 Leagues, 1 Knockout Tournament, 64 playaz.

The 2 Leagues, are NOT separated by skill level, and do not have any difference in rule set, QTR times, anything. They are identical in structure and you only get 1 team. They are 2 leagues, in 1 community. Compare your AFC West to the other AFC West. Laugh at the ridiculous rookie names in BOTH leagues, not just your own. See which WR's are getting exploited in the other league so you can make a trade run at them while they lay dormant in the squad of a run-heavy team. The greatness of 4th String lies in it's community and the 'fake' storylines, not necessarily all about the game.

Now, to the amazing bit: The Super-Fucking-Awesome-Mega-Team-Draft
Nobody gets to pick their team. Not at first. This is the idea:
4th String Hat Pick
STEP 1
Each leaguer signs up and gets a number in the order that they signed up (1-64). Once the League is full, the Hat Pick begins.

STEP 2
The Hat Pick breaks down into a number of dice rolls:
1st Roll: Odd = League 1, Even = League 2
2nd Roll: Odd = AFC, Even = NFC
3rd Roll: 1-4 = North/South/East/West, 5-6 = Re-roll
4th Roll: 1-4 = Teams A/B/C/D, 5-6 = Re-roll

Done. Amazing. Obviously, if the team is taken, you re-roll for another team in the division. If the division is full, you re-roll for another division. And so on, until all 64 players have a League, a division and a team.

STEP 3
But wait, there's more.
Let's say Suszek and I are both in League A, and I score the Packers and Suszek gets the Texans. Now the fun begins. You are able to TRADE your teams, and players can be part of the deal (with restrictions to stop complete team-raping). I'll give Suszek the Packers, but only if I get to keep Greg Jennings as part of the trade. And Scotty Bins has the Colts, and wants to trade too, and is willing to let me pick 2 players off the Pack of my choice as part of the deal. This is fucking amazing. To stop mega-teams occuring straight away, we limit team-trading - 1 trade only. Choose wisely my friends.

We end up with 4th String style rosters before a down is even played. At the end of week 1, the teams are locked in and the Madden 12 4th String Community does what they do best.

THE ANNUAL BALLAZ TOURNAMENT
But how ten do we really get interaction between the 2 leagues? What if Babyseat is in the other league and I want to play him every now and then, and not just in a boring scrim match with boring McBoredom rosters. The annual BALLAZ Tournament.

At the end of each regular season, the League Manager Power Rankings are taken, and each team from BOTH leagues is ranked 1-64. Then, both during and after the playoffs, a 64-man tournament is played using the Madden 12 online Communities tool. And you don't get to use your online franchise team, in fact, depending on your power ranking, you choice of team is limited. The BALLAZ Tournament is all about trying to level the playing field. We use the up-to-date online 'real life' rosters, and the higher your power rank, the worse the team you are allowed to use.

ROUGH DRAFT:
Seeds 1-16 can only use teams with an overall of 75 or less
Seeds 17-32 can be 80 overall or less
Seeds 33-48 can be 85 overall or less
Seeds 49-64 can be any team at all.

Don't feel like entering in the tournament? Not a problem, the opposition can either can a bye, or the community can take the opportunity to introduce member waiting in the wings for a league spot to gauge their abilities and play-style suitability to the leagues.

What's that? It's week 16 and you are 3-12 and can't wait until the next season. No way - you are going to be able to play as a sweet team in the Tournament before the next season even begins. Shit, if everyone put in a couple of bucks, we could even have cash prizes (may cheese things a little, maybe best to keep it on friendly terms).

So with that leaguers, I present to you The Sooz and The Aussie Chris' ideas for our Madden 12 setup. A lot to digest, yes, but Aussie Chris is like Sweet Motha' Fuckin' Corn.

This is a big and ambitious plan, and I want everyone to embrace it. Before I talked to Mike and we came up with this, I wasn't looking forward to starting from scratch in Madden 12. Now I am. Now I'm day and date. Now we have stuff that we can do in the league between the release date and the 1st patch.

I think this plan might even be able to be made better (I don't know how though, but I want to hear ideas). Some people may be pissed off that they could potentially lose their favourite team, but look at it in positive light. Think of Jeff Solomon, how much he has put into the league & community over the past 2 years, and he hasn't even had a chance at being his beloved Dolphins. Everyone will be given the same treatment in what team they get, and will have the ability to trade for any team in the league. It couldn't be fairer. To give everyone a say in the decisions though, I think it's only fair that once we have a good understanding of our different options that we take this to a league-wide vote, and even include all of the former leaguers who intend to return in Madden 12. But given how fantastic this idea is/can be, there shouldn't be any reason that any less than 80% of you all agree.

This is going to be one fantastic thread.

AC OUT.

I would have stuck with the Panthers if I knew this was coming. Miss you Aaron.

I can see you guys worked really hard on this but I think its too much change for the sake of change. I dont want to play with random teams. I dont want to trade players for franchises. I like the idea of the 2 leagues interacting but this seems like too much.

CHANGE-HATER!

Me and Suszek are like if Obama actually made changes.

YES WE CAN!

How does this help Solomon get the Dolphins exactly?

I'm moving this to Misc. League Yakking, where more people can participate.

I think this is great. People are too attached to their teams and, if multiple people want to be their team, then who gets to decide? A team is made up of the parts that you put on it, and this will create some crazy trading and signing.

I love the idea of a tournament on that large of a scale as well. Even if the haters don't want to do the sweetass league format, I think we should still do the tournament. For those of us who are playing as teams we're not fans of, you kind of grow attached to that team. But I'm down for getting attached to a different team each Madden iteration...or maybe I trade for a team that I want more. I think we need to add more depth to the trading of teams, but other than that, I am 100% for this.

Jeff, I'm not sure why you are so hesitant.

To clarify something - the team draft is only to happen once for all of Madden 12. It's only the starting point. The Hat Pick & trade scramble is to evenly distribute new and established members between the leagues, and gives everyone an opportunity (but definitely not a guarantee) at being their favourite team.

The next time it is done, Madden 13, only then we will have 3 leagues.

Just as you don't want to play with 'random' teams, I'm sure a new addition to the community doesn't want to be stuck with the team that nobody else wants. And to be fair, your team at the moment doesn't come close to resembling the Dallas Cowboys. It's more of an All-Pro team.

Also this:

For those of us who are playing as teams we're not fans of, you kind of
grow attached to that team. But I'm down for getting attached to a
different team each Madden iteration...or maybe I trade for a team that I
want more. I think we need to add more depth to the trading of teams,
but other than that, I am 100% for this.

This summarises the reason I put out the e-mail saying that I wanted to trade teams for Madden 12, which then led into me and Mike's brainstorm which gave birth to this hot lovechild. The Titans in Madden 12 will be so different from MY Titans from this Madden, that I really don't want anything to do with them.

I thought the purpose of the second league was to avoid the disparities that had emerged in the skill basis of the players.

That's just my initial reaction.

The tournament is the only part of this idea that I like.

Here's a fresh concept (we need more fresh concepts around these parts):

YOUR team isn't the colors or logos you wear. Your team is what you make of it. My team isn't the Texans, it's the Houston Texans of Milwaukee, and its leader is a fake player I drafted named Aspha Savage. My team's identity isn't formed around already-existing players that I love. I MADE my team, and frankly, I think I'm having more fun than if I had the Packers (blasphemy!). Texans are now my second favorite team!

Jeff, you are afraid of change. But this IS NOT change for the sake of change. This is change for the greater good. It's a way to accept and welcome a larger community, and to really tie that community together.

The funny thing is Jeff, you know EXACTLY what this is about, but you're not embracing the idea of change. You have the "Houston Starboys," and you trade players like nuts for the purpose of advancing your team. This is just a new, clean slate to start from. And you CAN trade to get your Dolphins in one of the leagues if you'd like.

It's a perfect scenario that's fair for everyone. And to embrace this means that you accept that your interests are NOT greater than that of the entire league (which they shouldn't be). Put the league first!

Probably bouncing for 12 if this happens.

If there is any justice in this world, and God is in fact as real as I believe him to be, I will land the Dolphins. This way, I get to rape Solly raw. Solly will go before the judge to complain/sob about his treatment only to have the judge ask the prosecution to demonstratethe act on Solly and be entered as evidence.

I may get the PS3 version as well as the 360 version to to double my chances.

Dascenzo wrote:Probably bouncing for 12 if this happens.

I'd love to know why. Why are you not embracing the idea of being fair to everyone? Are you only interested in being in a Lions uniform? Are you not interested in trying to trade for your team in a fair way?

I don't think we should plan on bouncing until we've had some time hash out this idea. This just came up, so I don't think we should get too one-sided about this towards either direction. If you don't like this idea, then let's talk about why. If I don't get the Seahawks I might have a pouty face, but I'm open to talking about making the league a little deeper or different.

You have to know that this will be debated. Let's refine it and make it work if enough people think it's doable.

The only reason I'm the Lions now is because I thought I'd be getting them in 12.

I for one, LOVE IT. It would be my love if I were to be on 4th String this week.

I love the Packers, but do does Suszek, and other Suszek, and new Bears...

This is also a great way to interact the leagues without losing the teams that you've built up.

With this system there is a possibility of no one league wide playing their favorite team. We could use the 12 change to have a system among the duplicates to fight it out.

Scott, I like your attitude. Sharing is caring. I can see how this is maybe a little chaotic for some people, though, so we may need to refine some of the details...like the team selection.

What if, to make the Brians of the league (I highly doubt he's alone on this) cool with this, we have a "take your team" round. These people would skip the dice roll, but only if there are two or less people who want that specific team. Just an idea. Something to consider.

Well Lion Brian, you have 1/32 chance of landing the Lions in one of the leagues for the get go.

If you don't get them, you have 2 shots at trading teams with somebody who does get drafted the Lions, and you will effectively be able to add a player as part of the team trade if the guy is in the same league as you.

Please guys, it's fine to dislike this idea, but don't just say that you dislike it.

Why not say why you dislike it, and offer an alternative as to how you would like for the 4th String league/s better and more interactive like Mike and myself did.

I entered the day with Mike telling me not to trade teams for Madden 12. Which resulted in a proposed completely new system of keeping the leagues interesting every time a new madden game comes out.

I think the idea is stupid. There doesn't need to be an alternative.

So pretty much you get the Lions in the league until you leave? What about Nick Rogies, the Chiefs owner who is also a Lions fan?

What about expanding the community into 2 leagues? The number of people is there for 2 leagues, and considering that 4th String has it's logo IN THE GAME for Madden 12, I would expect that a 3rd league couldn't be too far away.

How would you propose that we integrate both leagues.

Or do you think that we need to keep them separate like a good and evil twin from birth.

I do think that if at all possible, players should get their own teams if they want them.

I don't know you want to fix something that isn't broken. If someone wants to play in the other league they can. If someone wants to switch teams to an open team they can. Fill the other league like you filled this one.

I like this idea, but I certainly understand Brian's point of view.