League News Archives: Spring 2009 to Autumn 2009
NOTE: Links that were originally featured in the stories have been permanently disabled.


AUTUMN 2009

Let's make a deal
Football Gal, Pulverizers swap a pair of receivers (and a draft pick)
With the trade deadline looming less than 72 hours away, Mozelle Meyers and Jared Byrd agreed to a deal Friday, Dec. 4, which sent New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker to the Pulverizers in exchange for Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss and a second-round pick in the 2010 UFFL draft. The trade became official at midnight Sunday, Dec. 6, after none of the league's owners opted to veto the deal (six dissenting votes would have been necessary to void the transaction).

Welker, 28, has 85 receptions, 886 receiving yards and four touchdowns this season. As a punt returner, he has racked up 236 yards on 16 returns. Moss, 30, has caught 44 passes for 574 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He has also returned seven punts for 33 yards.

If the season ended today, the draft pick that Football Gal would receive would be the 17th overall pick in the draft (and the third pick in the second round).

"With other teams making moves to strengthen their roster, we felt we had to do something to stay competitive," Byrd said. "The playoffs are just around the corner and I thought it was necessary for us to upgrade our receiving corps."

Meyers was not imediately available for comment.


EPIC BATTLE
Northern Division title is on the line this week
It's the tale of two divisions: in the Southern Division, Calvin Brown's bbashers have had firm control of first place for the entire season, becoming the first UFFL franchise to clinch a berth in the championship bracket. At one point in the season, they were the only undefeated team, but they still remain the league's overall fantasy points leader.

On the other hand, multiple teams in the Northern Division have spent time in first place, in a battle so close that it has yet to be decided as we head into the final week of the regular season. A-Peterson Fan Club (9-3-0) and the Pulverizers (8-4-0) will both make the championship bracket, but Week 13's matchup is important for bragging rights, in addition to determining playoff seeding.

If A-Peterson Fan Club defeats the Pulverizers this week, the former will improve to 10-3-0, while the latter will fall to 8-5-0, meaning that Jay Klinkhammer will have clinched the division title.

However, if the Pulverizers defeat A-Peterson Fan Club, both teams will end the season with a 9-4-0 record, and even though Klinkhammer's squad has scored 124.39 more fantasy points than Jared Byrd's team, head-to-head record will serve as the tiebreaker when determining which team wins the division and which team earns a wild card berth instead.

In addition to A-Peterson Fan Club, bbashers and the Pulverizers, Craigntx and N2deep have also clinched championship bracket berths. According to Fleaflicker, Exit Strategy, the Steph Infections and The Catch would also make the eight-team bracket if the season ended today, although the PC Best Bets have not yet been mathematically eliminated from this competition.

A Fake Football Team, the Cheeko Chiefs, CheeseWhiz, Deltaman and Football Gal have already been eliminated from the championship bracket and will compete in the consolation bracket.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (A-Peterson Fan Club) will face the Chicago Bears defense (Pulverizers) during the final week of the 2009 UFFL regular season.


Forte traded to defending UFFL champs
In an attempt to bolster their running game before the trade deadline, A-Peterson Fan Club finalized a deal Thursday, Dec. 4, in which they sent a 2010 UFFL draft pick to the bbashers in exchange for Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte.

Forte, who will turn 24 years old on Dec. 10, has racked up 543 rushing yards and 433 receiving yards this season, while only reaching the end zone three times. It has been a highly disappointing year for the 2008 UFFL All-Pro Squad member, who is averaging 49.4 yards/game on the ground, 39.3 yards/game receiving and just 3.3 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, the bbashers - who have just completed their fourth trade in a six-month span - acquired an early second-round selection, which would be the 16th overall pick if the season ended today.

In order for the deal to be vetoed, six owners would have had to reject the proposal within a 24-hour span, but only one owner cast a dissenting vote. The trade deadline is Monday, Dec. 7.


Art imitating life?
Wide receiver Braylon Edwards has already played for two different NFL franchises this season, after being traded from the Cleveland Browns to the New York Jets in October. Now, he has found himself as the centerpiece of yet another deal, this time in the Ultimate Fantasy Football League.

Cheeko Chiefs head coach Chad Fuller announced in a statement on the Fleaflicker message board that Edwards was on the trading block Thursday, Nov. 19, and said that all he wanted was a 2010 draft pick in return. With a 4-7-0 record and the chances of his squad doing much in the postseason dwindling with each passing week, Fuller figured it was best to begin the rebuilding process as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, despite his league-leading 9-1-0 mark, bbashers head coach Calvin Brown jumped at the opportunity to bolster his receiving corps. In a deal which became official Sunday, Nov. 22 at 4 a.m. Eastern, the Cheeko Chiefs agreed to send Edwards to the bbashers in exchange for a sixth-round pick (71st overall) in the 2010 draft.

The 26-year-old Edwards has 26 receptions, 410 receiving yards and two touchdowns this year. In his five games since being dealt to New York, he has 16 catches, 271 receiving yards and two touchdowns.


Recent UFFL Trade Offers and Rumors
Rejected deals: Football Gal head coach Mozelle Meyers turned down a deal that would have sent Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco to A-Peterson Fan Club in exchange for New England Patriots Wes Welker ... Meyers also turned down a trade offer from bbashers head coach Calvin Brown, where she would have received New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2010 draft.

On the trading block: A-Peterson Fan Club head coach Jay Klinkhammer recently listed Flacco as being on the trading block for the rest of the league, but immediately pulled him back ... Cheeko Chiefs head coach Chad Fuller has placed Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson on the block; his team is looking for help at the running back position.


RI$KY PROPO$ITION?
Cheeko Chiefs head coach Chad Fuller recently proposed turning the Ultimate Fantasy Football League into a money league. "Personally, I think it would do wonders as far as team managers maintaining a high interest in their team, no matter their record," he said. "It could be something as simple as $20 each - every playoff team gets their money back (or a free entry into the next year) with the overall champion winning the remaining amount." bbashers head coach Calvin Brown wholeheartedly supported the idea, and N2deep head coach George Thomas said he was "up for it also."

With regards to the suggestion, Brown said, "I think it's great! It amounts to a little over a dollar a week and it's been my experience that a little Pot O'Gold at the end of the rainbow does keep all the managers more focused and the league more competitive, even if it's just to make the playoffs so you don't have to pay the next year."

The remaining UFFL owners did not comment on the proposal, so it is uncertain where they stand on the issue. However, the latest installment of the commissioner's note reveals the thoughts of Jared Byrd.

News and notes: A-Peterson Fan Club head coach Jay Klinkhammer is 6-0 since he announced on the league's Fleaflicker message board that he was considering having a fire sale after his team lost their first two games ... Congratulations to George Thomas, for winning the 2009 One (Loss) and Done survival football contest ... The bbashers need to score 5.31 points to become the first UFFL franchise to score 1,000 fantasy points this season, and three other teams are within 100 points of reaching this plateau. On the other hand, Football Gal will have allowed 1,000 fantasy points this year if she gives up 57.51 points, with three other teams currently within 100 points of the 1,000-point mark ...  With their Week Seven loss, Football Gal became the first UFFL franchise eliminated from division contention ... Week Seven marked the 100th week of regular-season play in league history; two of the games were decided by less than one fantasy point ... Trade talks are definitely heating up, even if very few trades have actually been executed. One week ago, Football Gal rejected a deal from the Pulverizers, where she would have received Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson and a second-round pick in 2010, in exchange for Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice ... Two weeks ago, the Pulverizers rejected a trade from the Cheeko Chiefs which would have sent them San Diego Chargers running back Darren Sproles, in exchange for New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marques Colston ... More recently, the bbashers offered Football Gal New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, in exchange for a second-round pick in 2010.


Trading places
Chad Fuller and Craig Lechner executed a four-player trade prior to Week Six's games, which sent Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco from the Cheeko Chiefs to Craigntx, in exchange for Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr.

Johnson, 29, has 309 rushing yards and 69 receiving yards this season, but has yet to score this season. He is only averaging 2.7 yards per carry, and 51.5 rushing yards per game.

Ochocinco, 31, has caught 29 passes for 455 yards and three touchdowns. He has averaged 75.8 receiving yards per game.

Benson, 26, has rushed for 531 yards (an average of 88.2 yards per game) while reaching the end zone four times this year. He also has 66 receiving yards as Cincinnati's top running back. Benson has gained an average of 4.2 yards per carry.

Ginn, 24, has 16 receptions for 195 yards and one touchdown this season. He has also gained 31 yards on three rushing attempts.


News and Notes: Tidbits from Week Four
- Week Four involved absolute domination by the Southern Division over the teams in the Northern Division, as the South went 6-1 on a slate of seven non-divisional contests. Even more impressive was the fact that all of the Southern Division squads were on the road. The only game that prevented a clean sweep of the North was the A-Peterson Fan Club/A Fake Football Team matchup, with Roy Bellamy losing by only 2.59 fantasy points.

- Since making his proclamation that he was considering having a fire sale following an 0-2 start, Jay Klinkhammer has rebounded to win each of his last two games, and his team has jumped from last place in the seven-team Northern Division to second place. Fleaflicker's power rankings now have A-Peterson Fan Club as the fourth best team.

- Speaking of Fleaflicker, they have changed their logo and added fantasy basketball and hockey games to their website over the past week. Additionally, you may have noticed that they now list projected scores for individual players, as well as teams, for the upcoming week. This had been a feature on their site in the past that had inexplicably disappeared.

- With Football Gal's victory in Week Three, every team in the league has at least one victory, so no one is in danger of being compared to the 2008 Detroit Lions. However, there is one remaining undefeated squad (bbashers), after the Pulverizers were upset by Exit Strategy in Week Four.

- Finally, Week Four marked the first time in UFFL history that a defensive team (New Orleans Saints) won the UFFL Horse Trailer award, after they racked up 31.92 fantasy points for N2deep against the Steph Infections.


Klinkhammer to have fire sale?
After losing the first two games of the regular season not long after proclaiming that he had the "worst team ever," A-Peterson Fan Club head coach Jay Klinkhammer announced that he was willing to listen to trade offers, with the intention of dismantling the team in order to build for the future. "I don't see a victory in my future," the three-time UFFL champion wrote on the league's message board Monday, Sept. 21. "Fire sale if you want. I will trade anyone for future picks and young players!"

As of right now, no trades have gone down, and A-Peterson Fan Club appears to be on the verge of a blowout victory against Exit Strategy in Week Three. Stay tuned.

In other news, several rule changes have been announced for the 2010 season. To view a list of these changes, check out this link, and to suggest ideas, visit the league message board.
SUMMER 2009

HUGE Fleaflicker glitch affects outcome of Week One game
During the first week of the regular season, major technical difficulties on the Fleaflicker website prevented many fantasy football owners around the world from setting their starting lineups. Players from some NFL teams were able to be added and dropped from rosters, while others couldn't be moved at all, even if their team's game hadn't started. Some players couldn't even be shifted from the lineup to the bench, and vice versa. Unfortunately, the Ultimate Fantasy Football League was not immune to these glitches, and it directly affected the outcome of one of Week One's games.

Here's what happened in our league: bbashers head coach Calvin Brown tried to set his lineup approximately 15 to 20 minutes before the early Sunday NFL games began, only to find out that several players were locked because of the Fleaflicker glitch. Calvin wanted to move New Orleans Saints wide receiver Robert Meachem into his starting lineup but was unable to do so, even though New Orleans hadn't started playing yet.

As a result, he was forced to drop Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams - one of only two bench players that hadn't been locked - in order to pick up another receiver (Houston Texans wide receiver Andre' Davis). Calvin didn't want to drop Williams - or sign Davis, for that matter - but had to, in order to fill the spot that Meachem would have filled.

Meachem would have scored 16.47 fantasy points for bbashers, had he been able to be inserted into the lineup. Instead, Andre' Davis posted 3.70 points - a difference of 12.77 points. This means that instead of A-Peterson Fan Club defeating bbashers by the score of 94.10-91.20, bbashers would have won 103.97-94.10 if it hadn't been for the glitch!

The matter was discussed with Doug of the Fleaflicker technical support team, who agreed that the appropriate amount of points be added to the bbashers. The final decision wasn't handed down until Thursday, Sept. 17, which explains why this issue hadn't been brought up publicly until Friday, Sept. 18. Therefore, bbashers will actually improve to 1-0, with A-Peterson Fan Club falling to 0-1.

However, if you look at the box score link, Fleaflicker doesn't give me (league commissioner Jared Byrd) the option to show that Meachem was in the Week One lineup instead of Davis. The only thing it gave me permission to change was the final score itself.
http://www.fleaflicker.com/nfl/ showMatchup. do?leagueId= 25490&fantasyGameId= 8378797

Upon hearing the news that his team had lost, A-Peterson Fan Club head coach Jay Klinkhammer proclaimed, "The fix is in."

For further proof that other owners on Fleaflicker suffered similar fates, check out the following links:
http://www.fleaflicker.com/showForumMessages.do?forumid=1&forumsTopicId=12393
http://www.fleaflicker.com/showForumMessages.do?forumid=1&forumsTopicId=12394


The apocalypse is upon us!
Football Gal head coach Mozelle Meyers once famously said that she would never make a trade in any fantasy sport, preferring to improve her teams through free agency and scouting the waiver wire. She had held true to her word ... until now.

Meyers and A Fake Football Team head coach Roy Bellamy have pulled off a swap of tight ends, with the Pittsburgh Steelers' Heath Miller traded to Football Gal in exchange for Todd Heap of the Baltimore Ravens.

Miller, 26, had 48 receptions for 514 yards in 14 games last season, with three touchdowns. The 29-year-old Heap had 35 catches for 403 yards and three touchdowns while playing all 16 games last year.

Bellamy reportedly made the deal because both tight ends he drafted had the same bye week.

Stay tuned to this website for additional updates.

Highlights of the 2009 UFFL draft
The 2009 UFFL draft was held Tuesday, Aug. 18, in a chat room on the Fleaflicker website. This year's turnout for the live event was better than ever, with 12 of 14 owners participating (A-Peterson Fan Club head coach Jay Klinkhammer and PC Best Bets head coach Mark Bender were unavailable). The entire process took less than 90 minutes, despite the adjustment of the draft countdown clock from 60 to 90 seconds, and the addition of two franchises. In case you missed it, or just want to reflect back on it, here are some of the draft highlights:

- The day of the draft also happened to be the day when quarterback Brett Favre announced he was coming out of retirement (again), this time to join the Minnesota Vikings. Football Gal head coach Mozelle Meyers, who drafted him last season, said she didn't want him, and thought Klinkhammer would select him, even though the computer was picking for him. However, Andrew So, head coach of The Catch, picked him in the middle of the seventh round. "Favre should have no trouble finding purple shirts to throw to," quipped Deltaman head coach Craig Hoffman. "He had no trouble doing it in Green Bay."

- Cheeko Chiefs head coach Chad Fuller, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, lobbied for a CFL draft because he felt he would have a decent chance of winning. CheeseWhiz head coach Jim Douglas took the opportunity to remind everyone of his fantasy XFL championship, and Craigntx head coach Craig Lechner asked for an Arena Football League draft, before being reminded that the league folded (and yet its spin-off, af2, is still around).

- Speaking of Fuller, he drafted free-agent WR Marvin Harrison in the 11th round, thinking he would eventually catch on (pardon the pun) with an NFL franchise. This move led Lechner to say that Dan Fouts had re-signed with the Chargers, Hoffman to say that Joe Namath was coming back with the Jets, and A Fake Football Team head coach Roy Bellamy to say that Lou Groza re-signed with the Browns.

- San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree's holdout made his stock fall considerably, and he wasn't selected until the seventh round by Deltaman with the 89th overall pick. Craigntx considered drafting him earlier, especially after being encouraged by Southern Division rival Football Gal to do so. This was until Lechner was told that he is expected to sit out the season and re-enter the draft in 2010.

- Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick was tabbed by bbashers head coach Calvin Brown as Mr. Irrelevant, as the only selection in the 15th round, prompting laughter from several people. "The humane society is proud of you," Hoffman told Brown.

Several owners were unhappy with their team when all was said and done. "My teams look crappy," Douglas said. "I blame Favre ... I was distracted." Klinkhammer was also less than thrilled with his squad. "I ended up going to a show with a friend [Tuesday] night and missed the draft," he wrote in an e-mail. "I have the worst team ever."

UFFL draft scheduled for Aug. 18
UFFL owners have voted to hold the 2009 player draft on Tuesday, August 18 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, in a draft room on Fleaflicker's website. Owners are allowed to enter the draft room as early as 30 minutes before the official starting time. Teams will have up to 90 seconds to make their selections, and the entire process is expected to be completed in 60 to 90 minutes. Click here to view the draft order.

If you haven't already done so, try out the mock draft feature, in order to familiarize yourself with the live draft room. After heading to Fleaflicker, look for the "My Teams" tab, and click on the button which says "Mock Draft."

While football discussion and trash talk is encouraged during the draft, the software does not allow for trades to be made while drafting is actually taking place. However, this does not prevent deals from happening after the draft. For those of you who are unable to make it on August 18, you can pre-rank your players using the following link (making sure you're logged in, of course): http://www.fleaflicker.com/rankPlayers.do?leagueId=25490.

If you log onto the Fleaflicker website, you will see that the only players on your team's roster right now are the keeper players you selected. This means that you can no longer trade players from your 2008 final roster that were not protected as franchise players. This was done so that owners who will not be around for the live draft can have time to pre-rank players.

UFFL News Ticker: Participants are needed for two league-sponsored football-themed contests on the Yahoo! Sports website:  the Yahoo! Pickem Challenge (an NFL pickem game, in its third season) and One (Loss) and Done (a survival football game, in its second season). To learn more about these contests, click here for the NFL pickem game, and click here for the survival football game.


Wayne headed to PC Best Bets
The bbashers have traded Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne to PC Best Bets, in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2010 draft. The 30-year-old Wayne caught 82 passes for 1,145 yards last season, scoring six touchdowns.

The deal marks the second trade this offseason by head coach Calvin Brown, who has been busy acquiring draft picks for players from his 2008 roster who will not be protected as franchise players.

PC Best Bets head coach Mark Bender decided to keep Wayne as one of his franchise players and had to choose between Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and New England Patriots running back Laurence Maroney as his other keeper. He opted to keep Hasselbeck.

Bender and Brown were not immediately available for comment.


Jones-Drew on the move
In an attempt to bolster their running game, bbashers has acquired Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew from A-Peterson Fan Club, in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2009 UFFL draft.

The 24-year-old Jones-Drew rushed for 824 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, with six fumbles. He also caught 62 passes for 565 yards and two touchdowns. His role in Jacksonville's offense will increase this year as he assumes a featured back role, with Fred Taylor heading to the New England Patriots.

As for A-Peterson Fan Club, they received the eighth pick in the third round of the upcoming draft (36th overall selection). This is the first trade in UFFL history involving future draft picks, and the first deal of any type since the Bone Crushing Bills traded running back Ahman Green and quarterback Joey Harrington to the Flying Fortresses, in exchange for quarterback Aaron Brooks, running back Marshall Faulk and wide receiver Roy Williams in September 2004.

Neither bbashers head coach Calvin Brown nor A-Peterson Fan Club head coach Jay Klinkhammer were immediately available for comment. Ironically, the same two coaches squared off against each other last December in the league's first annual Pro Bowl, but the fact that this trade still was completed proves no bad blood exists between them. Two owners rejected the deal once it was announced, but six owners would have had to say no within a 24-hour time period for the transaction to be voided.

Less than an hour after the deal was finalized, Brown named Jones-Drew as one of his two franchise players, along with Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte. Seeing as how A-Peterson Fan Club had already named Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Indianapolis Colts running back Peyton Manning as their two keepers, Jones-Drew, along with every other player on the roster, was available as trade bait.


Fantasy sports update #2
  • Registration is still open for the 2009 Yahoo! Pickem Challenge and the One (Loss) and Done survival football contest. There is no limit to the number of participants, but interested parties need to sign up before the end of the first week of the NFL season.
  • Calvin Brown (bbashers) is considering starting his own fantasy football league on the FOX Sports website, and is looking for participants. A draft date has yet to be determined. Meanwhile, George Thomas (N2Deep) held the live draft for his Hit-Em League on ESPN Thursday, Aug. 27.
  • The UFFL is not the only fantasy sports league where Jay Klinkhammer serves as defending champion; he won the NHL 2008-09 crown by defeating Jared Byrd's squad, 12-0, in the final round.
  • Chad Fuller was the winner of the Ultimate March Madness Pickem contest on Yahoo! Sports. He correctly picked 43 of 63 games, earning a total of 150 points in the tournament.
  • A historical website for the Fantasy Baseball Challenge keeper league is currently under construction. Click here to see the site, and more updates will be posted as more features are added. (Notice: The Fantasy Baseball Challenge website is currently unavailable, due to server problems.)
SPRING 2009

Changes for 2009
Now that the entire league has participated in the owners' questionnaire, here's a quick rundown of what will (and will not) change for the upcoming season:

NEW FOR 2009
- The UFFL has expanded to 14 teams, up from 12 teams in 2008. Mark Bender (PC Best Bets) and George Thomas (N2deep) have been named owners of the two new expansion teams, which have been placed in the Southern Division following geographical realignment. The Pulverizers were moved to the Northern Division so that each division would have seven franchises.
- In the live draft room, owners will have up to 90 seconds to make selections. Previously, owners only had 60 seconds to choose players.
- There will be two "injured reserve" spots per team this season, as opposed to one spot in 2008. Eligibility requirements for the IR will remain the same.
- Fleaflicker has now made it possible for owners to set their lineups for future weeks. Therefore, if you know you won't be near a computer for an extended period of time, you can now plan ahead. There are several other changes on a smaller scale which have also been unveiled at Fleaflicker, with more improvements promised in the near future.

REMAINING THE SAME
- Each team will still need to select only two franchise players for 2009. However, there was so much support for three franchise players from some owners that it will definitely be instituted for the 2010 campaign.
- Teams will continue to receive one point for every 20 receiving or rushing yards. A proposal from earlier this offseason had one point being awarded for every 10 rushing or receiving yards.

UFFL News Ticker: Fleaflicker began offering fantasy baseball during the first week of June, in addition to fantasy football. There will not be a UFFL-sponsored baseball league on Fleaflicker this season, but there is a possibility that the Fantasy Baseball Challenge keeper league could shift from Yahoo! to Fleaflicker for 2010.


Survey said ...
A review of owner responses to the annual league questionnaire

In late March, the annual Ultimate Fantasy Football League questionnaire was distributed to current owners via e-mail. It serves as a way to keep owners talking about football during the offseason, and often leads to discussion about rule changes and scoring changes for the upcoming year. Here are the questions posed, along with the owners' responses:

1. Will you be returning for the 2009 season?
As of Friday, June 5, all of the owners who participated during the 2008 season said they were coming back for the 2009 season. As commissioner, Jared Byrd (Pulverizers) did not participate in the survey, so as not to influence the rest of the league - and also to avoid tie votes on some of the issues.

2. How would you feel about the league possibly expanding to 14 or 16 teams?
None of the owners polled were vehemently opposed to expansion, and most seemed quite receptive to the concept. Stephanie George (Steph Infections), Mozelle Meyers (Football Gal) and Andrew So (The Catch) felt 14 teams were enough, while Craig Hoffman (Deltaman) preferred the idea of a 16-team league. Roy Bellamy (A Fake Football Team) was supportive of whatever was best for the league. Jay Klinkhammer (A-Peterson Fan Club), on the other hand, felt the idea to add more teams was part of a conspiracy to keep him from winning another championship.

Expansion plans had been discussed in 2008, but were scrapped when one of the previous year's owners were unavailable to return, leaving a vacancy for an already existing franchise.

3. Should the number of franchise players be increased from two to three?
Jay, Roy and Calvin Brown (bbashers) were in support of increasing the number of keepers to three. Craig Lechner (Craigntx) said he would support the idea as well, if the league expanded to 16 franchises.

"With the ability to trade future draft picks, three makes it a lot more interesting," Brown said. "It allows you to trade (or trade for) a first or second-round pick without sacrificing your team." In addition, three keepers would expedite the drafting process, although this is no longer a major concern, with offline drafts being a thing of the past.

Mozelle, Jim Douglas (CheeseWhiz) and Craig Hoffman were staunchly opposed to the proposal, with Andrew, Stephanie, Chad Fuller (Cheeko Chiefs) and Grace Cloud (Exit Strategy) also leaning towards the status quo.

4a. Given the overwhelming success of the "injured reserve" spot last season, should we add a second IR spot?
Eight of the polled owners requested a second IR spot, while two - Mozelle and Craig Hoffman - were opposed to the idea. Craig Lechner said he would prefer one spot, but it didn't really matter to him.

4b. Last season, anyone who appeared on an official injury report was eligible for the UFFL injured reserve, even if they weren’t on the real-life IR. Should this be changed?
Nine owners voted to keep the UFFL injured reserve the way it is. This should not be surprising, considering that rule changes for the IR were actually made on the fly during the middle of last season, after much leaguewide discussion. Stephanie and Andrew said the IR should be limited to players not playing in a game, although there's not much a fantasy franchise (or league) can do if an NFL team labels a player as "questionable" (50% percent chance of playing).

5. Any other changes which should be made, or at least taken under consideration?
Several of these ideas were serious, while others were not:
- Chad suggested a slight change to the scoring system: award one point for every 10 yards receiving or rushing (as opposed to one point for every 20 yards receiving or rushing). Calvin and Grace also supported this idea. On the other hand, Jay opposed this idea because it would alter drafting strategy.
- Jim suggested limiting transactions to 20 per week. "Call it the 'Klink Rule,'" he said. While a weekly limit cannot be enforced, an annual limit could be established.
- Calvin wanted the time allotted for each pick to be made in the live draft to be changed from 60 to 90 seconds. Since owners rarely use the entire time anyway, this idea is feasible.
- Craig Lechner wanted the league to step in to prevent him from selecting too many Dallas Cowboys during the next draft.

UFFL News Ticker: Updating previous reports, Fleaflicker has finally reactivated their website for the 2009 season. To view a direct link to the UFFL's page, click here. In the upcoming weeks, several new features will be added, although Fleaflicker site administrators have not revealed what they will be.


Fantasy sports update #1
Recently, I announced the creation of three fantasy sports leagues (two for fantasy baseball and one for NCAA tournament brackets). After several weeks of trying to round up enough interested participants, I am happy to announce that all of the leagues have been filled. Listed below are the people who will be competing - most of whom have ties to the Ultimate Fantasy Football League.

'09 Fantasy Baseball Challenge
Head-to-head keeper league with 10 teams; Live draft was held March 20, 2009
Calvin Brown, Jared Byrd, Grace Cloud, Becci Domecillo, Joey Domecillo, Jim Douglas, Mozelle Meyers and George Thomas

Ultimate Fantasy Baseball 2009
Head-to-head redraft league with 12 teams; Autopick draft was held March 27, 2009
Roy Bellamy, Mark Bender, Calvin Brown, Jared Byrd, Grace Cloud, Stephanie George, Craig Hoffman, Craig Lechner, Mozelle Meyers and George Thomas

Ultimate March Madness Pickem
Fifteen participants
Todd Addington, Roy Bellamy, Mark Bender, Calvin Brown, Jared Byrd, Jim Douglas, Chad Fuller, Stephanie George, Craig Hoffman, Craig Lechner, Mozelle Meyers, Kenneth Ortiz, Andrew So and George Thomas