Fantasy Football League Manager for Windows Preview Edition #2 Preliminary Manual July 30, 1995 Copyright (C) 1995 by Mike Hall Introduction ------------ Welcome to the 1995 Preview Edition of the Fantasy Football League Manager for Windows! This program is designed to provide you with everything you need to maintain a fantasy football league for the 1995 football season. This manual will not attempt to teach you the concept of Fantasy Football. Rather, it focuses on the use of this Fantasy Football League Manager (FFLM) program. It assumes that you already have the basics in place for your fantasy football league and shows you how to use FFLM to help run your league and keep track of the scores, standings, player statistics, and transactions on a weekly basis throughout the season. Preview Edition --------------- This version of FFLM is the Preview Edition. It is not fully completed yet (as of July 30, 1995). The final version will be available in mid to late August. Therefore, some of the screens and menu items that you see in the program may not be fully operational, or may say "under construction." Also, preview edition does not have any on-line help available. All of these items will be completed in the final version of FFLM, and this manual will be updated to reflect all of the additions. In addition, the preview version currently has all of the stats for the 1994 NFL season in the database. This will be updated in the final version so you can still access the old stats, but of course it will default to the 1995 stats as you change from week to week. Until the final version is available, you can definitely use this version to start entering your league information. All of the data that you enter into the program will be completely compatible with the final version when it is released. You can use this version to enter all of your league and team information, setup and conduct your draft, and print lists of available players and rookies. You can also analyze players based on last year's stats with the reports that are available under the NFL menu item. All of these options are complete and fully functional. The main functions that are missing from this preview edition are the reports under the Fantasy menu item that you will use throughout the season to summarize the stats, standings, and other information specific to your fantasy league. Overview -------- Fantasy Football League Manager (FFLM) is designed to handle all of your Fantasy Football needs. It is a very flexible program that allows you to define and keep track of all aspects of your league. For those leagues that keep "franchise players" from year to year, it has an option to designate which players each team is keeping from the previous year. Then, FFLM allows you to set up the draft order for each team. It even allows you to modify draft picks in any round, in case some teams made preseason trades involving draft picks. For draft day, FFLM has a great option which allows you to enter the players in the order that they are drafted. It will tell you which round you are in, and which team has the next draft pick. Your league can have up to 20 teams in up to 4 divisions. Each team can have up to 30 players in any of the following scoring positions: Quarterback, Running Back, Wide Receiver, Tight End, Kicker, Head Coach, Team Quarterback, Team Kicker, Team Offense (Offensive Line), Special Teams, Team Defense, Defensive Lineman, Linebacker, and Defensive Back. You can define how many starters are allowed at each position. You also define the scoring for each type of play for each position. Should a quarterback get 3 or 6 points for a touchdown pass? Should a QB lose a point for each interception? Should a running back get bonus points if he rushes for more than 100 yards in a game? Maybe he should get an extra point for every 20 yards of receiving? Should a kicker get bonus points for field goals longer than 50 yards? You decide, and FFLM should handle any scoring variation that your league has devised. Finally, you create the head to head schedule for all of the weeks to pit the teams against each other according to your league's wishes, or setup your league as a total points competition. Once all of the above items are defined, you start the weekly competition. FFLM handles all of the scoring and statistics for you automatically. No more tedious, time consuming data entry from the box scores in your daily newspapers! FFLM has all of the stats ready for you to use on Tuesday of each week. Just download them from a BBS, and print the weekly results. It's quick and easy, and you'll have more stats available to you then you ever dreamed of having, without having to worry about scoring errors. In addition to handling the stats and scoring, FFLM also handles all of your player transactions. It will keep track of trades, injuries, and allow you to maintain a protected player pool or "taxi squad." It will also keep track of all available players and allow teams to add and drop players from their roster. Each week, FFLM gives you an easy method to enter everybody's starting line-up. It even allows you to fix your mistakes. Finally, FFLM lets you print the weekly results, stats, rosters, transactions, and schedules for distribution to all of the teams in the league. The Fantasy Football League Manager was developed with input from several different Fantasy Football Leagues, so hopefully it will handle all of your league's needs. If you would like to see any features or options added, please let us know about your suggestions! Installation ------------ To install FFLM for Windows, perform the following steps: 1. Insert the FFLM for Windows disk into your floppy disk drive. 2. Select the Run command from the File pulldown menu in the Windows Program Manager. 3. Type either A:SETUP or B:SETUP (depending on the drive letter of your floppy drive) in the Command Line box, and then press Enter or Click the OK button. 4. Follow the instructions on the screen. Weekly Statistics Updates ========================= One of the best features of FFLM is the amount of time it will save the commissioner (or scorekeeper) each week because of the weekly stats that are included as part of the program package. Every Tuesday, stats are available for you to download to your PC and import into the FFLM program. Then you just tell FFLM to update the stats for the current week, and it takes care of the rest. All of the calculations for the league scores and standings are done quickly and accurately according to the way you setup the scoring definitions for your league. Preliminary stats for all of the Sunday games will be available each week on Monday mornings, and final stats for all of the games will be available on Tuesday mornings (typically sometime before 7:00am central time). Of course, in order for all of this to work, you must be able to access the stats every week. There are several way to get the weekly stats throughout the season: Sideline Software BBS --------------------- The Sideline Software BBS is the original source for all program updates and stats throughout the season. The phone number is (608) 845-3742. It is located in Madison, WI. This BBS is available 24 hours per day, seven days a week, except on Saturday mornings when weekly maintenance is performed. The Sideline Software BBS is a free system, so you can access any of the files on the system without any sign-up fees. The only charges that you will incur for calling this BBS are long distance telephone charges. To get to the program and stats, just press F from the main menu after you get signed onto the system to access the Files Menu. Then press F again to list all of the files on the system. Then just download the files that you need. EXEC-PC BBS ----------- Since the Sideline Software BBS only has one phone line, we have made arrangements with EXEC-PC, the largest BBS in the nation, to be the official source for the FFLM stats and program updates throughout the season. EXEC-PC has over 250 phone lines, so you should never receive a busy signal on Tuesdays when you are trying to get the stats. The phone number for EXEC-PC is (414) 789-4360. It is located in Milwaukee, WI. This BBS is available 24 hours per day, seven days a week, except on Thursday afternoons when weekly maintenance is performed. EXEC-PC is a subscription based BBS, but there is a free files section that is available without charge to all callers. All of the FFLM files and weekly stats are available in this free files section, so there is no cost to access the stats every week except for your long distance telephone charges. EXEC-PC is available via telnet (bbs.execpc.com) for those of you with internet accounts. To get to the program and stats, just press F from the main menu after you get signed onto the system to access the Files Menu. Then press F again to go to the Free Files section. Then press F again to go to the Fantasy Football Section. Then press L to list all of the files on the system. Then just download the files that you need. All of the stats and program updates will be available on EXEC-PC within 30 minutes after they are posted on the Sideline Software BBS. So if you are having troubles getting through to the Sideline Software BBS because of busy signals, you should definitely dial into EXEC-PC to get the files you need. Internet -------- For those of you with access to the internet, the stats and program updates will always be available at the vnet.net ftp site in the /pub/football/SOFTWARE/FFLM directory. You can also point your web browser to http://www.execpc.com/~pauer/fflm.html to download the latest program and stat files. CompuServe ---------- The program and stats will also be available on CompuServe in the Sports Forum (GO FANS) in the Fantasy Football Library. The stats take a while to be approved an posted to the library on CompuServe, so they generally won't be available until sometime on Tuesday afternoon. The preliminary Monday stats will not be available on CompuServe. Only the final Tuesday stats will be posted there. America Online -------------- The program and stats will also be available on America Online in the GrandStand section in the Football Library. Like CompuServe, the stat files have to go through an approval process on AOL, so they generally won't be available until sometime Tuesday afternoon. Also, the preliminary Monday stats will not be available on AOL. Only the final Tuesday stats will be posted there. Registration Information ======================== Fantasy Football League Manager is marketed as a shareware program. This means that you can give it a complete trial run before you decide whether or not to use it. However, if you decide to use it to manage your fantasy football league for the 1995 season, then you are required to Register it for the 1995 season. To register FFLM, send a check or money order for $54.95 to: Sideline Software 7417 North Pass Madison, WI 53719-5069 When you Register FFLM, you will receive the following: A complete printed manual Access to program updates throughout the season Access to statistics throughout the season Access to technical support for questions and problems A discount on the 1996 edition of FFLM Technical Support ================= If you are having problems with FFLM, or if you have questions about certain feature of FFLM, please let me know with a letter, e-mail message, or phone call. The details: Mike Hall Sideline Software 7417 North Pass Madison, WI 53719-5069 Voice: (608) 845-3286 Sideline Software BBS: (608) 845-3742 Internet mail: mhall@execpc.com CompuServe: 74723,1507 America Online: FFLMike I prefer to be contacted via e-mail, but I can be reached by phone most weekday evenings and weekends. Generally, the best time to call is Monday or Tuesday night. Leave a message on the answering machine if I am not available and you want me to return your call the same evening or the next evening. I check my internet mail account (mhall@execpc.com) every day, so this is the best way to contact me. I will respond to e-mail questions as quickly as possible. I also check mail that is sent to SYSOP on the Sideline Software BBS on a daily basis, and I will respond as quickly as possible. If you logged in as a guest on the BBS, I cannot return your mail. Please login to the BBS using your real name. Finally, I check my mail on CompuServe and America Online several times a week. I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve the program. If you would like to see a feature added, just let me know. If I can't implement the feature this season, I'll keep it on the list for next year's program. Getting Started =============== When you first start FFLM, you will be presented with the title screen and the menu. You'll notice that most of the menu items are "dimmed" and therefore cannot be selected. That's because there is not an "active league" yet. You either have to open an existing league, or create a new league. You can perform both of these functions from the File pulldown menu. Your best bet is to click on the File/New option to create a new league and start entering information into the program. Or if you prefer to see what an existing league looks like after it is already setup, use the File/Open option to open the SAMPLE.FL5 league file that is included with the FFLM. Converting 1994 FFLM League Files --------------------------------- If you used the 1994 edition of Fantasy Football League Manager, you can convert last season's league file into the FFLM 1995 edition. Just click on File/New to create a new league, and then select the Convert 1994 menu item from the File pulldown menu. Use the file selection box to select last year's league file (it has a .FFL file extension). You will be presented with the Conversion screen. FFLM will convert all of the basic league information, including the league name, team names, division names, position and starter minimums and maximums, head to head schedule, and the scoring definitions. In addition, you can choose to convert the draft order. You have the option to convert the draft order because it only makes sense in a couple of situations. First, if you will be using the same draft order as last season. Second, if you used the 1994 version of FFLM to start setting up your league for 1995, and you already entered the draft order. The other option you have is to convert the actual players selected as keeper picks and draft picks. Again, this only makes sense if you used the 1994 version of FFLM to setup your league for 1995, and you already entered the keepers and draft pick selections. Be aware that anytime you convert a 1994 league file, it will overwrite any information that is imported. Be sure to perform the conversion only once at the beginning of the season. Player Database --------------- FFLM comes with a player database consisting of all of the NFL players that are in any of the positions (QB, RB, WR, TE, K, DL, LB, DB) supported by FFLM. When you create a new league, FFLM loads all of the players in the database along with the league file. This is fine if your league uses all of these players. However, if there are some positions that your league does not use (for example, individual defensive players), then it is best to remove these players from the player database. By removing players, you will speed up processing time throughout the program whenever players need to be sorted, printed, or otherwise manipulated. You will also notice an increase in speed when you open your league file. The place to control the player database is on the Players pulldown menu, with the Maintain/Database menu item. There is a selection for each position. Just click on a player position to turn it on or off. Notice there is also a selection for each of the "team positions" (Team Offense, Team Defense, Special Teams, Team QB, Team Kicker). Be sure to deselect any of these positions that aren't being used to help decrease the amount of time it takes to open a league file. It is best to leave the "Unassigned Positions" selection on, because there are very few (if any) players that will not have a position assigned to them, and it will probably save you some confusion in the long run if you are ever looking for a player without a position. Also, make sure you keep all of the positions that are used by your league marked as "selected" on this screen throughout the season. Otherwise you will run into a lot of missing players on the reports and player selection screens! If you ever need to add a player to the FFLM player database, you can do so from the Maintain/Add Players menu item in the Players pulldown menu. Hopefully, you should never need to add a player, because all of the active players in the NFL should already be in the database. Also, as new players appear on the scene, they will automatically be added to the player database as part of the weekly stats updates. Setting up your League ====================== Once you've created a new league file, you'll need to start entering your league information into FFLM. The first place to start entering this information is from the League pulldown menu. Select the Setup League menu item. You'll see all of the menu items (Basic Info, Divisions, Teams, Positions, Starters, and Schedule) that you will need to fill in before your league will be fully defined. Basic Information ----------------- Start with the first submenu item, Basic Information. Enter the setup information for your Fantasy Football League on this screen. First, enter the League Name. It can be up to 60 characters long and is optional. Second, most leagues have a dedicated (or is that designated?) commissioner that keeps track of the stats and enforces the league's rules. Enter the commissioner name here. It can be up to 60 characters long and is optional. The next two items on this screen are the Number of Teams and the Number of Divisions in your League. You must have at least one Team in order to perform most of the functions in this program! Also, you must have at least one Division, but all references to Divisions will be ignored unless there is more than one Division. The next item to enter is the Length of the Regular Season. Typically, this will be 14 or 15 weeks, so the last 2 or 3 weeks of the regular NFL season can be used as the playoffs and superbowl for your fantasy league. This item does not affect the fantasy schedule at all. It just lets FFLM know which weeks are "regular," and which ones are playoff weeks. Type of Competition ------------------- The last item lets you specify the Type of Competition for your league. Head to Head leagues base their results on a weekly schedule that pits fantasy teams against each other just like the NFL. Those teams that compile the best record throughout the season make it to the playoffs. Some leagues don't like this style of competition, because it involves a factor of luck. You might have the second best score during a week, but if you happen to be playing against the team with the best score that week, you still get a loss, even though you would have received a win against any other team in the league that week. To remedy that situation, some leagues prefer Total Points competition. There is no schedule. Each team plays for the most points each and every week, and those teams with the most cumulative points at the end of the season move on to the playoffs. Yet another choice is Total Points plus Head to Head competition. With this setup, each team is still trying to accumulate the most points throughout the season. In addition, a weekly schedule is setup, and teams are awarded bonus points for beating their opponent in any of several categories. For example, you might award a team 10 bonus points for beating their opponent. Or you might award 5 bonus points to the team that compiles more rushing yardage than their opponent. Divisions --------- If your league has a lot of teams, you may want to break the league into divisions. This screen will allow you to enter or edit the division names. FFLM supports up to 4 divisions. Typically, with 8 or 10 teams, you will want 2 divisions. With 12 teams, you may want 3 divisions, and so on. Teams ----- This screen allows you to enter or edit team names and coach/owner information. Just click on the Previous or Next buttons to move between all of the teams. The team name and owner fields can be up to 35 characters each. You can assign each team to any one of the divisions that you defined on the previous screen. The address section gives you up to 3 lines of 32 characters each for the team owner's address. The phone numbers section gives you a place to enter home, work, and fax numbers for each team. You can also enter up to 2 lines of comments for any additional information that you need to keep track of for each team owner. Finally, you can enter a 10 character team code for each team. This code can be used on some of the reports in place of the full team name when space on the report is limited. Positions --------- This screen lets you determine which player positions will be used by your league, and how many of each position a team can have on their roster. FFLM supports the following player positions: QB Quarterback RB Running Back WR Wide Receiver TE Tight End K Kicker HC Head Coach OL Offensive Line, or Team Offense ST Special Teams unit D Team Defense DL Defensive Lineman LB Linebacker DB Defensive Back Just click on any of the positions to select or deselect them. Once you select a position, you will be able to change the Minimum and Maximum number of players that each team can have at that position. The min and max options are provided in case your league allows flexibility in a team's roster. If you have a specific quantity that is allowed at a certain position (for example, if each team is required to have exactly 2 Quarterbacks) rather than a minimum and maximum range, then just set the minimum value on this screen. The maximum will automatically adjust to match the minimum. Once you set the quantity for each specific position, you'll have to set the quantity for the total number of players that each team may have on their roster. All of these entries will be used by FFLM on the draft screen and on the transaction screens throughout the season to help make sure each team maintains an appropriate number of players and positions on their roster. In addition, you cannot access the Draft Players menu option until you select the positions that your league will use on this screen. Note: In this preview version of FFLM, the minimums and maximums for each position are not checked or enforced on the player transaction screens. This functionality will be implemented in the next release. They are enforced on the Draft Screen in this version. Also on this position setup screen, you have several options to choose from. Many leagues treat Tight Ends the same as Wide Receivers. If that is the case with your league, select the appropriate item. With this option selected, all Tight Ends will be considered the same as Wide Receivers for all aspects of your league. Some leagues like to combine the Special Teams unit with the Team Defense. If you select this option, all of the scoring that is normally associated the Special Teams unit will be combined with the scoring by the Team Defense. Finally, some leagues use a "Team Quarterback" or a "Team Kicker" concept. Select the appropriate option if your league uses these positions instead of individual players at the Quarterback and Kicker position. Starters -------- This screen lets you select how many players will start at each position. You will only be able to change the quantities for the positions that were selected on the previous Position screen. You can enter a minimum and maximum number of starters at each position that your league uses. The min and max options are provided in case our league allows flexibility in the starting lineup. For example, some leagues allow a team to start 1 RB and 4 WRs or 2 RBs and 3 WRs depending on the team owners preference. In this case, you would enter 1 as the minimum and 2 as the maximum for the number of starters at the RB position, and 3/4 as the min/max for WRs. If your league doesn't allow this type of flexibility in the starting lineup, then be sure to enter the same number for the min and max. Be sure to enter the min and max values for the Total number of starters as well. All of these entries will be used by FFLM throughout the season to help make sure each team submits an appropriate and legal starting lineup each week. Note: In this preview version of FFLM, the minimums and maximums for each position are not checked or enforced on the player transaction screens. This functionality will be implemented in the next release. Schedule -------- This menu item is only available if your league is setup with Head to Head type of competition. It allows you to enter the schedule for each week of the head to head competition. Click on the Next or Prev buttons to change weeks. Be aware that the teams on the left side of the schedule are considered the home team if your league uses the home team concept. If you don't award points for the home team, then it doesn't matter which side of the schedule you enter the teams. If you have an odd number of teams, then there will only be enough schedule game slots for all of the teams except one. For example, if you have 9 teams, then you'll have 4 games (2 teams in each game). The last team will be given a BYE week and will not score any points during that week. There are a couple of time saving features that you can use on this screen if you don't want to generate your own fantasy schedule. If you want to select a "standard" schedule based on the number of teams you have in your league, just click on the Standard button. FFLM will use a predefined schedule that is based strictly on the number of teams and divisions in your league (this option is only available for leagues of 3 to 16 teams). The predefined schedules are setup as follows: For 3 or 4 teams, each team plays every other team five times, for a total of 15 weeks in the regular season. That leaves weeks 16 and 17 of the regular NFL season for the fantasy superbowl (or a free for all challenge). For 5 or 6 teams, each team plays every other team three times, for a total of 15 weeks in the regular season. That leaves NFL weeks 16 and 17 for the fantasy playoffs and superbowl. For 7 or 8 team, each team plays every other team twice, for a total of 14 weeks in the regular season. That leaves weeks 15 through 17 for the playoffs and superbowl, and possibly a last week free for all challenge. For 9 or 10 teams, the league is assumed to be split into two divisions of five teams. Teams in the same division play each other twice, and teams in different divisions play each other once, for a total of 13 weeks in the regular season. That leaves weeks 14 through 17 for playoffs, superbowl, and plenty of free for all challenges. For 11 or 12 teams, the league is assumed to be split into three divisions of four teams. Teams in the same division play each other twice, and teams in different divisions play each other once, for a total of 14 weeks in the regular season. That leaves weeks 15 through 17 for the playoffs and superbowl. For 13 or 14 teams, the league is split into two divisions of seven teams. Teams in the same division play each other twice, plus three teams at random from the other division, making 15 weeks in the regular season. The playoffs and superbowl are in weeks 16 and 17. If you want to generate a schedule based on the number of teams in your league and the length of the regular season, just click on the Generate button. Finally, if you want to randomize the weeks of the existing schedule, click on the Randomize button. Setting up the Draft ==================== After your league is all setup and ready to go, you can start getting ready for the big day -- the Draft! Use the Setup/Edit Draft menu item from the League pulldown menu to start entering the draft information. Keep Players ------------ Use this screen to enter all of the players (if any) that each team is keeping from the previous season. Some leagues have designated "franchise" players which stay with a team from year to year. Other leagues have multi-year player contracts which allow players to stay with a team from year to year. If your league keeps some players from season to season, then this is the place to enter the info. Otherwise, just skip this menu item. You will quickly become familiar with this type of entry screen, because it is used for all of the player transactions. At the top of the screen you can select the fantasy team. At the left side of the screen is that teams' current roster. On the right side of the screen is a list of all available players (in alphabetical order). To select a keeper player, just scroll through the list on the right until the desired player is highlighted. Then click on the Keep button at the bottom. The player will be transferred from the Available list to the Keeper list. You can also double click the left mouse button on a player in the available list of players to activate the Keep button. In addition, you can use the keyboard to search for a player instead of scrolling through all of the players with the mouse or the arrow keys. Just start typing a player's last name in the list of available players to quickly advance to the desired player. If you make a mistake and need to "undo" a keeper selection, you will need to use the Edit Draft menu item which is discussed in a later section. Setup Draft ----------- This screen will let you setup all of the basic aspects of your fantasy draft. The most important item to enter is the number of rounds in your fantasy draft. FFLM can handle from 1 to 50 rounds of drafting. The other major item to select is whether or not you will be conducting an Auction Style draft. If yes, then you need to enter the total salary each team will start with. You can also enter a minimum auction bid amount if needed. FFLM uses these values on the draft screen to let you know how much "money" each team has left to use for player bids as each draft pick is displayed. The other items on this setup screen are mainly for entertainment purposes during the draft. FFLM will give you the option of displaying a timer on the draft screen while you are conducting your draft. The amount of time left on the timer will be based on the values you enter on this screen. Enter the time values in minutes and seconds. You can also enter time values for "timer alarms" to go off during the draft. For example, if you want an alarm to go off when 15 seconds is left on the draft timer, just enter 00:15 in one of the timer alarm slots. You can also enter the number of "beeps" that FFLM should emit during the alarm. Draft Worksheet --------------- Need help keeping track of your draft picks on draft day? Just select this menu option to create a draft day worksheet for coaches and owners. It will give each person a place to record all of their draft picks at each position and keep track of any notes they need to take. You can either print the worksheet or save it to a text file. Draft Order ----------- When you select this item, you will be presented with the Draft Order Screen for Draft Round #1. You can switch between rounds by using the Next and Prev buttons. By default, each round will have the same number of picks as there are teams (for example, a 12 team league will have 12 picks in each round). However, you can override the number of picks by changing the value in the upper left of this screen. For example, if a team lost a first round pick because they decided to keep a player from last year, then you'll want to decrease the number of picks for Round #1. Each pick will be listed along with the fantasy team name and number that has that pick. The default setup is that Team #1 gets Pick #1, Team #2 gets Pick #2, and so on. Obviously, this isn't always the desired picking order. Just click on the team for the appropriate pick to change the picking order as needed for the current draft round. There are several functions available to help you with the most common drafting methods. Click on the Standard button to restore the default setup (Pick #1 goes to Team #1, etc.) for the current round. Click on the Random button to give each team a random pick for the current round. Yes, these really are random numbers that are generated! Click on the Clear button to erase all picks for the current round. Click on the Reverse button to reverse the order of the picks for the current round. The Copy button will copy the picking order for the current round to all future rounds. Many leagues like to reverse the picking order for every other round. To accomplish this, use the Reverse button in conjunction with the Copy button. Start by selecting the picking order for Round #1. Then click on the Copy button to copy this picking order to all future rounds. Finally, use the Next button to scroll through the rounds, and click on the Reverse button in all of the even numbered rounds to reverse the order. The result will be a "snaking" draft order that is common in a lot of leagues. PreDraft List ------------- Do you have access to a computer with FFLM during your league's draft? If not, just use this option to print a complete list of the picking order for each round in your entire draft. Then fill in the blanks on paper as your draft unfolds. When the draft is over, you can use this list to enter all of the draft picks into FFLM so you can start your season with all of the correct fantasy team rosters. Edit Draft ---------- This item will let you delete draft picks or keeper picks that were entered incorrectly. You will be presented with a list of all the keeper picks and draft picks. Just highlight the pick that was made in error, and click on the Zap Pick! button to delete the keeper or draft pick. You can also double click on an item to delete it. Be aware that you can edit draft picks (but not keeper picks) on the fly during the draft right from the draft screen. There is an Undo button that will let you undo the current pick. Performing the Draft -------------------- Once you have finished all of the above steps to setup your draft, you are ready for the agonizing pleasure of drafting your own fantasy team! Select the Draft Players menu item from the League pulldown menu. Be aware that you won't be able to select this option until after you setup the Positions for your league and setup at least one Round for your draft. The Draft Screen is where you will perform your league's draft. You will be presented with a lot of information. In the upper right hand corner is a speedometer type gauge with the current round and pick number so you can keep track of how far along you are in the draft. On the right side of the screen is a list of all players in the player database for your league. Rookies will be listed with an (R) after their name. Any keeper players will already be marked as selected. As you proceed through the draft, each player that is chosen will also become marked as selected. On the left side of the screen is a list of all the valid positions for your league, along with the maximum number of players that can be selected at each position. As the draft proceeds, this will be updated to reflect how many players have been selected at each position. It will help teams keep track of which positions they still need to draft. To draft a player, just highlight their name and then click on the Draft button. You can also double click on the highlighted player to select them. If you don't want to scroll through the whole list of players to find the player you want to select, you can use the keyboard to start typing a player's last name, and FFLM will start searching for players that match. The keyboard characters that you type will be displayed just above the list of available players. In the middle of the screen is the Draft Timer. This will help keep your draft moving along right on schedule! Click on the Start or Stop button to control the timer. You can also Reset it if needed. The time on the timer will be reset at the beginning of each pick according to the time that was specified for the current round on the Draft Setup screen. If you specified alarm times, then you will hear beeps at certain intervals to warn everybody that time is running out for the current pick. If a team needs to see their current roster anytime during the draft, just click on the Roster/Timer button to toggle the display between a listing of the current team's roster and the amount of time left on the draft timer. If a trade takes place sometime during the draft, then you can click on the Team item right above the draft timer to change the team for the current pick. By default, the Team item is set to the team that was allocated to have the current draft pick (as it was setup on the Draft Order screen). The team that has the next pick in the draft will be displayed in the lower left hand corner of the screen. To move to the next pick in the draft, just click on the Next button after the current draft pick has been selected. If you ever need to go back the previous pick, just click on the Prev button. If you need to skip a draft pick for some reason (like if a team runs out of time, or if they can't make up their mind), then click on the Skip button. If a selection is made mistakenly, just click on the Undo button to cancel the current draft pick. Finally, if you would like to automatically advance to the next pick in the draft as soon as a player is selected, just click on the Auto Advance option at the top of the screen. This will save you the trouble of clicking on the Draft button and then the Next button with each pick. The Prev and Next buttons are handy if you need to move forward or backwards a couple of picks at a time (to change a mistake, or fill in a skipped pick, or whatever). However, if you need to move forward or backwards more than a few picks, the best way is to use the Jump button. You will be presented with a list of all of the draft picks, and you can just scroll through the list and highlight the pick that you want to jump to. Click on OK or double click on the highlighted pick to jump right to it. If you hold your draft over several days, or if you need to take a break in the middle of your draft, you can exit the draft screen at any time. The next time you select Draft Players from the League menu, you will be returned to the current round and pick that you were at the last time you left the draft screen. Finally, if you need to add a player to the database during the draft, click on the Add button. You will be presented with the Add Player screen that is explained later in the Players section of this manual. Kitty Management ================ Many leagues like to charge fees for certain transactions or mistakes that teams make throughout the season. Most leagues also award prizes for the top teams or top players at the end of the season. Use the Kitty Management menu item from the League pulldown menu to keep track of the "kitty" for your league. Make Kitty Entry ---------------- Use this screen to enter a fee that a team owes the league. Select the team name at the top of the screen, and then enter a description (up to 30 characters) for the type of transaction. Finally, enter the amount of the transaction. The type of kitty entry on this screen defaults to Debit, but you can change it to Payment if you really meant to enter a fee that the league owes a team. Make Kitty Payment ------------------ Use this screen to enter a fee that the league owes a team. It works exactly the same as the Kitty Entry screen described above, except the default type of entry is Payment instead of Debit. Edit Kitty ---------- To change or delete a kitty entry, use this menu item. You will be presented with a list of all of the kitty transactions. Highlight the one you want to edit, and then click on the Edit button (or double click on the kitty entry) to display the entry. You can make changes to any of the fields as needed. Click on OK to accept the changes or Cancel to discard the changes. If you want to delete a kitty entry, just click on the Delete button after highlighting the desired entry from the transaction list. Automatic Kitty Entries ----------------------- The most common type of kitty entry in most leagues is associated with a player transaction. For example, if you pick up a player during the season, or put a player on injured reserve during the season, you might owe some money to the kitty. To make this process more streamlined, FFLM will give you the option of adding a kitty entry any time you make a player transaction. At the bottom of each player transaction screen, you will see a checkbox and a kitty amount. Just click on the checkbox to activate it, and then enter a value in the amount field before making the player transaction. FFLM will automatically create a kitty transaction entry that is associated with that player transaction. If you ever delete that player transaction, the corresponding automatic kitty entry will be deleted along with it. Player Management ================= Once your league is setup and all of the teams have drafted their players at the beginning of the season, you are ready to start the competition! One of the major activities in most leagues involves the player transactions. There are trades, injuries, free agent pick ups, disappointing players dropped, and players to protect. FFLM will keep track of all of these types of transactions for you via the Players menu item. Browse ------ This option lets you browse through an alphabetical list of all of the NFL players that are currently in the player database. Just click the Prev or Next buttons to scroll through the list of players. You have access to all sorts of information on each of the players, including their current NFL position and team, as well as their current fantasy team status. For most of the players, you can also see which year they were drafted into the NFL along with the round and pick that was used to select them and the team that drafted them. You can also see which college they attended, and information on their physical specs. This screen can also be used to change a player's NFL team or position (or even the name if needed). Just click on any of these fields to change the information. You will be asked if you really want to save the changes. Finally, this screen can be used to search for players. Use the Find button to search for a player based on their last name. You can enter just a portion of the last name if you want. If there are lots of players with the same last name (for example if you are looking for a "Smith"), then you can use the Again button to search for the next player with the same last name (or portion of a last name). Click on the Pos button if you want to search for the next player in the database with the same Position as the current player. Click on the Team button if you want to search for the next player with the same NFL Team as the current player. Maintain Players ---------------- This menu item lets you maintain the list of players that are available to your league. See the previous section on the Player Database for an explanation of how the list of players supplied along with FFLM is maintained. If you need to add players to the database, then use the following two options. Add Players ----------- This screen will let you add players that aren't already in the FFLM list of players. Be sure to check for a player before adding them. You want to avoid duplicate players if at all possible. Also be sure to enter the name in LAST,FIRST format. Just enter the name, position, and NFL team, and then click on OK to save the new player. Be aware that this player will only be added to the list of players for the current league. If you are managing multiple leagues, and they all need the same player added, then you will have to add the player to each league. However, as explained in the Player Database section, you should hardly ever have to use this Add Players function. Consolidate Player ------------------ The only reason you should ever have to add a player to the database manually is if the player is an "unknown" or "unexpected" player in the NFL. A typical example might be a local player on one of the NFL practice squads that nobody knows about (except one of the coaches or owners in your fantasy league). However, if any of these obscure players makes it into the limelight and manages to generate some statistics during any week in the season, they will be added to the FFLM master player database along with the weekly statistical update. When this happens, you will need to Consolidate your manually added player to match them up with the master copy of that same player. If you don't Consolidate the player, then the stats for that player will not be properly credited to that player. Note: this menu item is not operational yet. It will be added to the next release of FFLM. Starters -------- Use this screen to enter the starting line-ups for all of the teams. At the top of the screen is the current fantasy team. Click on the team name to change teams. On the left side of the screen is the list of starters, and on the right side is the list of reserves or bench players. To switch a player from one side to the other, just highlight their name and click on the appropriate button, either Bench `Em or Start `Em. You can also double click with the left mouse button on a highlighted name to move them from one side of the list to the other. If you are in Week #2 or later, you can use the Copy button to copy the starters for the current team from the previous week. Trade ----- This screen allows you to keep track of player trades. The left side of the screen lists the roster for "Team A", and the right side lists the roster for "Team B". Just select the two teams that will be involved in the trade, and then highlight the appropriate player from either team and click on the Trade `Em button to perform the trade. You can also double click on a name to trade a player. You will have to click on the Trade `Em button once for each player involved in the trade. Drop ---- Use this screen to drop a player from a team. Select a team at the top, and then select a player from the list. Click on the Drop button, or double click on the player's name to drop them. The player will be returned to the pool of available players. Pick Up ------- Use this screen to add a player to a team during the season (you should use the Draft Players and Keep Players menu items under the League menu to select the initial rosters for all of the teams at the beginning of the season). To add a player, just select the fantasy team at the top of the screen, and then highlight the player you want to add, and then click on the Pick Up button or double click on the player's name. Be aware that you can click on the list of available players and then use the keyboard to start typing a player's last name to quickly jump to that player. Injuries -------- In most leagues, teams are allowed to replace injured players, either permanently or temporarily. Usually, if a player is on the NFL injured reserve list, then a Fantasy team is allowed to put that player on their injured reserve list. This menu item will allow you to manage players that are on injured reserve (IR) and their replacements. Injured Reserve --------------- Use this screen to place a player on the injured reserve list. The player will be unavailable for starting line-ups until he is activated and taken off of injured reserve. IR Replacement -------------- This screen will allow you to choose a replacement for an injured reserve player. You'll be given a list of all available players. In most leagues, the IR Replacement has to be released when the original injured player is reactivated. Use the Drop Player function for that purpose. Activate IR ----------- Use this screen to activate a player on the injured reserve list. Only the players that are currently on Injured Reserve for the current team will be selectable. Protected Pool -------------- Many leagues support a "Protected Player Pool" or a "Taxi Squad" for inactive players. With all of the bye weeks in the NFL, it is especially helpful to have some extra players during those off weeks when half of your normal starting line-up is not playing. This menu item will help you manage a Protected Player Pool. Protect ------- Use this screen to move a player from a team's roster into that team's protected pool. Your league will have to determine how to handle the protected pool. FFLM doesn't set any limits on how many players you can put in the pool, or how long they can stay there. It will just keep track of which players are in the pool, and when they were put there. Activate -------- Use this screen to reactivate a player from a team's protected pool. The player will be returned to the team's regular roster. Zap Trans --------- Even though we hate to admit it, mistakes happen. The Zap Trans menu option will let you undo any transactions that were entered mistakenly, so nobody ever has to know that you make mistakes. When you select this menu item, you'll be presented with a list of all of the transaction sorted by week. Highlight the transaction in question, and click on the Zap It! button to delete the transaction. All of the affected team rosters will be updated to reflect the change. Remember that some transactions rely on others. For example, team A might drop Steve Young one week, and then team B might pick him up the next week. If you delete the first transaction in which team A drops Young, then the second transaction won't make any sense, because Young wouldn't be in the available player list for team B to pick up. Therefore, if you are going to delete the first transaction, you also have to delete the corresponding second transaction! There is no way to undo a deleted transaction except to enter the transaction again. Also, if you delete a transaction with a corresponding Kitty entry, the matching Kitty entry will automatically be deleted along with the transaction. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! --------------------------- Scoring Definitions in FFLM --------------------------- One of the most useful and flexible features of FFLM is the scoring definitions that it supports. You can decide whether or not to use any of the following scoring categories: Individual Offensive Players (QB, RB, WR and TE): ================================================ Passing Touchdown Passing Yardage Average Yards per Pass Pass Attempts Pass Completions Pass Completion Percentage Pass Interception Pass Rating Rushing Touchdown Rushing Yardage Average Yards per Rush Number of Rushes Receiving Touchdown Receiving Yardage Average Yards per Reception Number of Receptions Total Yardage Average Yards per Touch Make a 2 Point Conversion (passing, rushing, or receiving) Return a Punt for a Touchdown Return a Kickoff for a Touchdown Fumble Kickers: ======= Field Goals Made Field Goals Missed Field Goal Percentage Extra Point Made Extra Point Missed Extra Point Percentage Passing Touchdown Passing Yardage Pass Attempts Pass Completions Pass Interception Rushing Touchdown Rushing Yardage Number of Rushes Receiving Touchdown Receiving Yardage Number of Receptions Total Yardage Average Yards per Touch Make a 2 Point Conversion (passing, rushing, or receiving) Fumble For Team Offense: ================ Winning a Game Points Scored Rushing Yardage Passing Yardage Total Yardage Sacks Allowed For Head Coach: ============== Point Differential (Win or Loss) For Special Teams: ================= Return a Punt for a Touchdown Return a Kickoff for a Touchdown Total Punt/Kickoff Return Yardage Make a 2 Point Conversion Miss a 2 Point Conversion Team Defense: ============ Defensive Touchdown Points Against Total Yards Against Passing Yards Against Rushing Yards Against Number of Touchdowns Allowed Number of First Downs Allowed Interception Sack Fumble Recovery Safety Individual Defensive Players (DL, LB, DB): ========================================= Defensive Touchdown Interception Sack Fumble Recovery Safety Tackle Assisted Tackle To activate any of the scoring categories, you have to define the amount of points each category is worth from the Scoring menu in the Player Positions submenu. You will be presented with the Scoring Definition Screen. Along the top is a set of "tabs" with each player position. Use the mouse to click on the position that you want to define. Right below the position selection tabs is a Category selection. Use the mouse to select one of the available scoring categories for the selected position. ================================= Definition of Quantity and Points ================================= There are two ways to define the scoring for a category. You either have to setup a Scoring Table or a Scoring Formula. Use the mouse to select one or the other on the left side of the screen. Both the Table and the Formula use the concept of a "Quantity" and a "Points" value. The Points value is always the amount of Fantasy Points that you want to award for a given scoring category. The Quantity value varies depending on the scoring category. For example, the Quantity for a rushing touchdown is the *Yardage* for the touchdown. The Quantity for the Pass Completion category is the *Number* of Pass Completions. The Quantity for a Field Goal is the *Yardage* of the Field Goal. The Quantity for Pass Interception is the *Number* of Interceptions. In general, if yardage is a factor for a scoring category, then the Quantity represents the amount of yardage of that category. Otherwise, the Quantity represents the Total Number of instances of that category. Specific examples will follow. ============== Scoring Tables ============== Scoring Tables consist of 2 columns of 30 rows, kind of like a small spreadsheet. The first column is the Quantity, and the second column is the Points. The best way to describe how the tables work is to start with a basic example. Let's define a rushing touchdown with the following table: Qty Pts 1 6 20 7 40 8 60 9 80 10 100 11 What does this mean? This table says that a rushing touchdown of at least 1 yard long but less than or equal to 19 yards long is worth 6 fantasy points. But a touchdown run of 20 to 39 yards is worht 7 points, and a 40 to 59 yard TD run is worth 8 points, etc. Generally, you just have to make sure there is a Point value in the first row of the table, along with either a 0 or a 1 in the Quantity value of the first row in order to define the basic scoring for that scoring category. Then you can use the rest of the rows in the table to add bonuses for big plays or better peroformances. Let's setup another common example. Let's say you want to award 3 points for a short field goal, and more points for longer field goals. To accomplish this, set up a Scoring Table for the Kicker position and the Field Goal Made category as follows: Qty Pts 1 3 40 4 45 5 50 6 55 8 60 10 This will award 3 fantasy points for a field goal between 1 and 39 yards in length; 4 points for a FG from 40 to 44 yards; 5 points for 45 to 49 yards; 6 points for 50 to 54; 8 points for 55 to 59; and 10 points for a FG 60 yards or longer. The above examples are all based on scoring categories in which the Quantity is equal to the *yardage* of that category. Let's try a different example where Quantity is equal the *number* of occurrences of the category. Let's say you want to award 1 point to the Team Defense for each Sack, but then give them a flat bonus value if they have 5 or more sacks in a game. Set up a table for the Team Defense position in the Sacks category as follows: Qty Pts 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 10 This will award 1 point per Sack for anywhere from 0 to 4 sacks, and then it will award 10 points for getting 5 or more sacks. ================ Scoring Formulas ================ Scoring Formulas consist of 10 different values, and they look like the following: ---------------------------------- Base Score: xxx Qty = xxx Pts Increment Every: xxx Qty = xxx Pts New Base Starting At: Base Score: xxx Qty = xxx Pts After That Every: xxx Qty = xxx Pts Maximum: xxx Qty = xxx Pts ---------------------------------- All of the xxx's have to filled in with values to make the formula work the way you want it to. Generally, a formula is a shorter and quicker way of defining a scoring category when compared to a scoring table that has consistently increasing quantities. Again, the best way to describe it is with an example. Let's use the same example that we used for the first scoring table example. We'll define a rushing touchdown with more points awarded based on length. ---------------------------------- Base Score: 0 Qty = 6 Pts Increment Every: 20 Qty = 1 Pts New Base Starting At: Base Score: 0 Qty = 0 Pts After That Every: 0 Qty = 0 Pts Maximum: 0 Qty = 0 Pts ---------------------------------- What does this mean? This formula says that a rushing touchdown of at least 0 yards long but less than or equal to 19 yards yards long is worth 6 fantasy points. After that, an extra fantasy point is award for every 20 yards in length of the touchdown. Notice that we didn't even need the other parts of the formula for this example. Also notice that we had to start with a Base Quantity of 0 yards in order for the 20 yard increment to come out properly. If you entered 1 for the Base Quantity, then the next increments would be at 21 yards, 41 yards, etc. instead of 20 yards, 40 yards, etc. You will (probably) never have a 0 yard rushing touchdown, but the 0 Base Quantity gives the desired result. Another example of a formula might be for Passing Yardage. Let's say you want to award 1 fantasy point for every 50 yards of passing. But when a QB reaches 300 yards, you want to increase the scoring, and award 1 fantasy point for every 25 yards of passing after that. Finally, you want to cap the scoring at 500 yards of passing. Set up a formula for the Quarterback position and Passing Yardage category like this: ---------------------------------- Base Score: 0 Qty = 0 Pts Increment Every: 50 Qty = 1 Pts New Base Starting At: Base Score: 300 Qty = 6 Pts After That Every: 25 Qty = 1 Pts Maximum: 500 Qty = 15 Pts ---------------------------------- Let's dissect this example. First, the Base Score says don't award any fantasy points for less than 49 passing yards. Then the increment says to award 1 fantasy point for every 50 yards of passing (up to 299 yards). The New Base takes over at 300 passing yards, and awards 6 fantasy points for anywhere from 300 to 324 passing yards. After that, award 1 fantasy point for every 25 yards of passing. Finally, if a QB has 500 or more passing yards, just award 15 fantasy points. As you can see, a scoring formula can be very powerful in defining a complex scoring category that needs a "sliding scale" of values. However, there is another great use for the scoring formula. It is the best way to define a scoring category in which the Quantity is equal to the Number of scores in that category. For example, if you want to award 1 fantasy point for each Extra Point scored by a Kicker, set up a scoring formula as follows: ---------------------------------- Base Score: 0 Qty = 0 Pts Increment Every: 1 Qty = 1 Pts New Base Starting At: Base Score: 0 Qty = 0 Pts After That Every: 0 Qty = 0 Pts Maximum: 0 Qty = 0 Pts ---------------------------------- Notice that for scoring categories like this one, you just leave the Base Score value set to zero, and then you fill in the increment. Also notice that we don't need the other parts of the formula. Another common example might be to subtract 2 fantasy points for each Pass Interception. To do this, setup a formula as follows: ---------------------------------- Base Score: 0 Qty = 0 Pts Increment Every: 1 Qty = -2 Pts New Base Starting At: Base Score: 0 Qty = 0 Pts After That Every: 0 Qty = 0 Pts Maximum: 0 Qty = 0 Pts ---------------------------------- ================== Special Situations ================== Some of the scoring categories are a little more confusing than others. Below is an explanation of how to setup some of the less obvious scoring categories. Defensive Team - Points Against (Shutout) ----------------------------------------- For the Team Defense position, one of the categories is Points Against. A lot of leagues like to give a bonus for a shutout. The easiest way to set this up is with a table with two rows: Qty Pts 0 5 1 0 This example will award 5 fantasy points for a shutout, and 0 fantasy points for allowing 1 or more point against the defense. Head Coach - Win a Game ----------------------- Many leagues like to award a bonus when an NFL Head Coach wins their game. To accomplish this, setup a table with two rows for the Point Differential category for Head Coach: Qty Pts 0 0 1 5 This example will award 5 fantasy points for a Win, and 0 for a Loss or Tie. How does this work? The Quantity for this category represents the Point Differential in the score of the NFL game. If Green Bay beats Minnesota 21 to 7, then the quantity is 14. If they lose 28 to 24, then the quantity is -4. In other words, to represent a Win in the scoring table, use 1 for the Quantity; for a Loss, use - 1; for a tie, use 0. As another example, let's say you want to take away 3 fantasy points for a Head Coach loss, and take away 6 fantasy points if they lost by 21 NFL points. In addition, you want to award 3 points for a Head Coach win. Setup a table like this: Qty Pts -21 -6 -1 -3 0 0 1 3 Defensive Team - Yardage Allowed -------------------------------- The other unusual scoring category is the yardage allowed by a team defense. The larger the quantity, the fewer fantasy points are awarded. For example: Qty Pts 0 10 100 7 200 5 300 3 400 2 500 1 600 0 This would award 10 fantasy points for holding the opposing team to under 100 yards of offense; 7 points for 100 to 199 yards; 5 points for 200 to 299 yards; and so on until 0 points for allowing 600 or more yards. You could also start with a score of 0 fantasy points and start taking away points as more yardage is allowed, like this: Qty Pts 0 0 100 -1 200 -2 300 -3 400 -4 500 -10 In this case, the team defense would stay even if they allow less than 100 yards against them; they would lose 1 fantasy points for allowing 100 to 199 yards; -2 points for 200 to 299 yards; and so on until they lose 10 points for giving up 500 or more yards. Fantasy Reports =============== These are currently under construction for the 1995 season. They will be available when the final version of FFLM for Windows is released in mid to late August. You will be able to print weekly scores, overall standings, weekly and overall stats, player transactions, kitty transactions, a draft summary, weekly all-star lists, and more. NFL Reports =========== This section of the menu will give you access to reports detailing everything you need to know about the NFL rosters and scores and schedules. You can also get a summary of player stats grouped by position, and player performance reports for individual players.