LOOKING AHEAD

I have won my second FNFT Championship.  I am happy.  When this thing started back in 1986, had I known it would survive for this long, I would have guessed I'd have ten of these by now.  But I have two.  Oh well.  And as happy as I am to have them, I'd give them back in an instant if I could know that FNFT was going to be around long enough for me to win another two - at the same pace I've won the first two.

I sincerely hope that everyone will be back to play FNFT next year.  Despite my failings as a fantasy football commissioner, my love for my role as FNFT Commissioner has never been greater.  2011 will mark the 25th season of FNFT.  Think about that.  Every year my goal is to make FNFT better than it was the year before.  I think - if things work the way I'm hoping - next year will be no exception.

I've had an idea swimming around in my head which I have told a couple of people about.  I'm going to unveil it to everyone right now.  To celebrate our silver anniversary, 2011 will be the creation of the:

FNFT Hall of Fame

We play the games just like real baseball does.  Now we will have a Hall of Fame just like real baseball does.

Before the draft next spring, I will distribute the detailed rules and initial FNFT Hall of Fame ballot.  We will vote on which players from the FNFT era are most deserving of induction.  Over the course of next season, I will write a thoroughly researched bio for each of the inductees in my typical grammatically imperfect and sometime humorous fashion and reveal them one-by-one as the season goes on.  They will live in infamy in a special section of the FNFT website and will also have a permanent physical display in bobblehead form which I will dust off for each draft.

We will have different rules for our Hall of Fame - because we can.  In order for a player to be inducted, he must be retired from Major League Baseball (no 5-year waiting period), have appeared on an FNFT roster at some point in his career and played a significant role in the league - however you, as a voter, want to define that.

The class of 2011 will include only three players and we will add one per year thereafter.  This will be a very exclusive club.  I will describe the voting and selection process sometime during the off-season. Voting will be done through secret ballot at the draft.  Be thinking of who you might vote for.

Speaking of the draft, Major League Baseball has altered their schedule for next season.  Opening Day is Thursday, March 31st,  which is actually kind of convenient for us.  That puts the date of the FNFT draft as

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

Let's go with that.

The FNFT website will be open for business all off-season as the baseball season never ends for me.  I will keep the 2010 stats updated and posted up until the draft.  I will also be working on some long planned enhancements to the FNFT roster system and History section of the website.

It has once again been my extreme pleasure serving you as Commissioner.  See you next season.

Tief