Thinking about converting my league from yahoo help.

[cowboys85]

I use ESPN and MFL for dynasty leagues and both get the job done. I really like the ESPN user interface, just like Allen said, along with how the league page is set-up. I think the lineup submission is easier and simpler with ESPN. It is true that ESPN lacks functions that MFL has like a slow draft, practice squad capabilities, and ESPN's IDP eligibility is a little off so MFL gets some points there (I did see Matthew Berry mention once that ESPN is working on a slow draft function, that'd be nice). But for a free site, ESPN is great and I would recommend it to anyone.

Not to discredit anything you said but....Matthew Berry is a douche

This is true, but I can tolerate him in small doses.

[the_lung]

Sorry to derail the thread, but despite the awful choice of moniker “The Talented Mr. Roto,’ I think Berry’s articles are very funny and well written, and I look forward to his Waiver Wire and Love/Hate articles each week. Berry usually prefaces every article with an anecdote from his personal life which will often tie into his fantasy analysis, and which makes for a very enjoyable read. He seems to take great pride in his prognostications and cheers more for them each week over his own fantasy teams or his beloved Redskins. When his recommendations don’t work out, he gets a good deal of hate mail but takes it in stride. Unfortunately, since he works for ESPN his articles are geared towards 10-team public leagues and lot of the waiver wire players he recommends are long gone in any serious league with deeper benches, and conversely you’d never part ways with some of his recommended drops.

[Risky bidness]

So on mfl I can't tinker with one or two players? Ex: I set my lineup on a Tuesday and then decide to change a QB, I have to resubmit my whole lineup as well as bench players again?

I'm not big with CPU terms. Is that what is meant by interface? Ex: I can go into my team in yahoo and drag a player into my starting lineup.

What I do like on mfl is pass and run ranks on the player line they're facing that week.

Maybe I missed it in a post here, but is there live stat tracker on mfl? I saw something about stats refreshing every 60 seconds.

[hosler427]

So on mfl I can't tinker with one or two players? Ex: I set my lineup on a Tuesday and then decide to change a QB, I have to resubmit my whole lineup as well as bench players again?

I'm not big with CPU terms. Is that what is meant by interface? Ex: I can go into my team in yahoo and drag a player into my starting lineup.

What I do like on mfl is pass and run ranks on the player line they're facing that week.

Maybe I missed it in a post here, but is there live stat tracker on mfl? I saw something about stats refreshing every 60 seconds.

No you can tinker with however many players you want. It is just not in the typical team page setting. You just have to click on the SUBMIT LINEUP option.

Yes there is live stat tracking and even better there is a program you can download called MFL gameday. It is great if you have multiple leagues on MFL...you can track all of them at the same time.

[Phish Brigade]

I don't understand how submitting a lineup is more difficult on MFL than any other site. We use ESPN in one of the dynasty leagues I'm in, and aside from appearance... the process is very similar.

For those that use ESPN, don't let the "projections" have any impact on your weekly lineup decisions.

[Misfit74]

So on mfl I can't tinker with one or two players? Ex: I set my lineup on a Tuesday and then decide to change a QB, I have to resubmit my whole lineup as well as bench players again?

I'm not big with CPU terms. Is that what is meant by interface? Ex: I can go into my team in yahoo and drag a player into my starting lineup.

What I do like on mfl is pass and run ranks on the player line they're facing that week.

Maybe I missed it in a post here, but is there live stat tracker on mfl? I saw something about stats refreshing every 60 seconds.

They have advanced interfaces (how the page works and what you can do on that page without having to ever move off of that page, reload it, or go back and forth between lineup submissions). That allows you to manipulate and/or submit your lineups dynamically (without loading another page or having to move off the page at all). You can set multiple combinations, see how they look, and go back and forth between starting or bench players easily and quickly on both ESPN and Yahoo.

MFL, for what they charge should get with the times and upgrade their user-interface. The check-boxes used on MFL, in particular, are a clumsy and out-dated way of submitting a lineup. They need to invest in their product in that regard, as both ESPN and Yahoo completely out-class them as far as lineup submission and roster pages w/ stats go (and for free).

[kris_kapsner]

I'd been using yahoo in the past and just switched to MFL this year.

Things I like:

- I LOVE the options like taxi squads, IR squads and such.
- I like the forum format. It blows yahoo out of the water in that because it's set up like a normal forum and allows related posts to be grouped together.
- I like the opponent's defensive rankings for each player on the submit line up page.
- In a dynasty league it's important to be able to trade future picks. MFL is the best I've seen for that. Even fleaflicker that allows picks to be traded for three years out doesn't compare.
- I like that three way trades can be made with ease in MFL. There is no requirement for anything to be returned to you when you trade something away. So, if I'm trading away a player to team A but receiving something from team B, team B can send me the trade without getting anything back. You can't do that in yahoo and I have no idea if you can do that in ESPN.
- I like the week by week statistics and average points scored for weeks played, etcetera for players.
- The power rankings are fun as well as the "play all" records.
- I like that we won't have to reload all of our rosters for next year just like we had to with yahoo.
- I like the control the commissioner has in MFL for controlling trades too. They don't just go through at the end of the waiting period. That can be important if there IS an issue with the trade.
- I love the fantasy recaps. They're funny. Unless of course your recap is "capped" by something like this: "Viqueens drew the short straw with their schedule this week, as their point total would have resulted in a win against 14 out of 14 other potential opponents in week 1."


Things I don't like:
- I don't like that the entire line up has to be resubmitted because it presents a key problem. Example: A player that is started for the week, let's say a kicker, that is playing on Thursday night is dropped on Saturday for another kicker just to get a jump on picking up a different kicker for the following week. Then, on Sunday morning it's announced that a player isn't going to be playing, we'll use Jacoby Jones missing his plane as an example. The owner tries to go in and put a different WR in his starting line up and can't. The reason he's given for not being able to make the change by the website is that he has to submit his starting roster with the kicker he started on Thursday. The kicker is on waivers because he dropped him the day before. So, there is no way to switch out Jacoby Jones because he no longer has the kicker that already played. Does that make any sense? This happened to us with an owner this year. It was a mess. Because he was playing against me I gave him the option of having me resubmit his starting line up as the commissioner. But, there was no way to keep the points from the Thursday night game. LAME!!!
- I don't like that players can be dropped during games that they are starting for their owners. If you have a WR starting and he gets hurt in the first quarter, you can drop that player and pick up his back up. Of course you can't start him. But, I don't like being able to drop a player for another player while the game is in progress.
- The site is a little dated with zero bells and whistles. I wish it had a little more flare. There are ways to customize and make your site look a little better than the standard format. But, other sites blow MFL out of the water when it comes to pizazz.
- Searching for a player is a little cumbersome. If there is a way to search by name for free agents, I haven't found it yet.



There are quite of few things I like and a few I don't like. All in all, I really like MFL though.

[kris_kapsner]

I do have a question about MFL and the off season. It's the first year we're using the site. Does it allow trading on the site through the whole off season?

[Steelersfan]

I'd been using yahoo in the past and just switched to MFL this year.

Things I like:

- I LOVE the options like taxi squads, IR squads and such.
- I like the forum format. It blows yahoo out of the water in that because it's set up like a normal forum and allows related posts to be grouped together.
- I like the opponent's defensive rankings for each player on the submit line up page.
- In a dynasty league it's important to be able to trade future picks. MFL is the best I've seen for that. Even fleaflicker that allows picks to be traded for three years out doesn't compare.
- I like that three way trades can be made with ease in MFL. There is no requirement for anything to be returned to you when you trade something away. So, if I'm trading away a player to team A but receiving something from team B, team B can send me the trade without getting anything back. You can't do that in yahoo and I have no idea if you can do that in ESPN.
- I like the week by week statistics and average points scored for weeks played, etcetera for players.
- The power rankings are fun as well as the "play all" records.
- I like that we won't have to reload all of our rosters for next year just like we had to with yahoo.
- I like the control the commissioner has in MFL for controlling trades too. They don't just go through at the end of the waiting period. That can be important if there IS an issue with the trade.
- I love the fantasy recaps. They're funny. Unless of course your recap is "capped" by something like this: "Viqueens drew the short straw with their schedule this week, as their point total would have resulted in a win against 14 out of 14 other potential opponents in week 1."


Things I don't like:
- I don't like that the entire line up has to be resubmitted because it presents a key problem. Example: A player that is started for the week, let's say a kicker, that is playing on Thursday night is dropped on Saturday for another kicker just to get a jump on picking up a different kicker for the following week. Then, on Sunday morning it's announced that a player isn't going to be playing, we'll use Jacoby Jones missing his plane as an example. The owner tries to go in and put a different WR in his starting line up and can't. The reason he's given for not being able to make the change by the website is that he has to submit his starting roster with the kicker he started on Thursday. The kicker is on waivers because he dropped him the day before. So, there is no way to switch out Jacoby Jones because he no longer has the kicker that already played. Does that make any sense? This happened to us with an owner this year. It was a mess. Because he was playing against me I gave him the option of having me resubmit his starting line up as the commissioner. But, there was no way to keep the points from the Thursday night game. LAME!!!
- I don't like that players can be dropped during games that they are starting for their owners. If you have a WR starting and he gets hurt in the first quarter, you can drop that player and pick up his back up. Of course you can't start him. But, I don't like being able to drop a player for another player while the game is in progress.
- The site is a little dated with zero bells and whistles. I wish it had a little more flare. There are ways to customize and make your site look a little better than the standard format. But, other sites blow MFL out of the water when it comes to pizazz.
- Searching for a player is a little cumbersome. If there is a way to search by name for free agents, I haven't found it yet.



There are quite of few things I like and a few I don't like. All in all, I really like MFL though.

Go to "Reports" and at the bottom of that tab is "Players". Simply type in the last name and there it is.

[kris_kapsner]

Go to "Reports" and at the bottom of that tab is "Players". Simply type in the last name and there it is.

Thanks Mark.

[Steelersfan]

Go to "Reports" and at the bottom of that tab is "Players". Simply type in the last name and there it is.

Thanks Mark.

No problem. MFL is a great site but definately a little confusing at first. I've been with them for 4 or 5 seasons now and I still get lost at times, especially with the commish controls.

[Risky bidness]

Go to "Reports" and at the bottom of that tab is "Players". Simply type in the last name and there it is.

Thanks Mark.

No problem. MFL is a great site but definately a little confusing at first. I've been with them for 4 or 5 seasons now and I still get lost at times, especially with the commish controls.

You're tellin me. MFL has an offer to load a league for free through week 17 as a try out and I loaded a six team league to play around with. The commish controls has been taking alot of my time for set up, but I'm now starting to navigate through everything else.

I hope they upgrade lineup changes to be like yahoo or cbs sportsline. I like the ability to log in, make a change, and be done with it.

It'll take a while to soak it up, but hopefully the next 3 weeks will get me comfortable with making my decision. This discussion has been great, so thanks to all for the input. Obviously more input the better!!! Keep it comin.

[jimmo]

Things I don't like:
- I don't like that the entire line up has to be resubmitted because it presents a key problem. Example: A player that is started for the week, let's say a kicker, that is playing on Thursday night is dropped on Saturday for another kicker just to get a jump on picking up a different kicker for the following week. Then, on Sunday morning it's announced that a player isn't going to be playing, we'll use Jacoby Jones missing his plane as an example. The owner tries to go in and put a different WR in his starting line up and can't. The reason he's given for not being able to make the change by the website is that he has to submit his starting roster with the kicker he started on Thursday. The kicker is on waivers because he dropped him the day before. So, there is no way to switch out Jacoby Jones because he no longer has the kicker that already played. Does that make any sense? This happened to us with an owner this year. It was a mess. Because he was playing against me I gave him the option of having me resubmit his starting line up as the commissioner. But, there was no way to keep the points from the Thursday night game. LAME!!!
- I don't like that players can be dropped during games that they are starting for their owners. If you have a WR starting and he gets hurt in the first quarter, you can drop that player and pick up his back up. Of course you can't start him. But, I don't like being able to drop a player for another player while the game is in progress.
- The site is a little dated with zero bells and whistles. I wish it had a little more flare. There are ways to customize and make your site look a little better than the standard format. But, other sites blow MFL out of the water when it comes to pizazz.
- Searching for a player is a little cumbersome. If there is a way to search by name for free agents, I haven't found it yet.

Those first two are league set-up issues, though, not MFL issues. I really believe waivers should end when each players game starts,and then start up again tuesday or wednesday; I've never been in a league in which you can drop guys that are currently in your starting lineup and I'm surprised that that happens. Otherwise, a league is just asking for trouble, just like you experienced earlier Kris. Setting up waivers on MFL can be tricky, but its worth the time it might take to get it right.

[brice587]

In my experience the user interface of MFL is fairly dated, which means it takes a lot of time and knowledge for it to really be set up properly. This also means that some things, like submitting waiver claims, can be a bit of a pain. If you have the patience to figure it all out and don't mind paying than it is by far your best option for hostign a league. Personally, for the league I commish, I would rather spend a couple of hours once a year loading drafted players to ESPN and spend a little more time keeping track of draft picks and the draft on a message board than to deal with paying for and setting up MFL. I deal with enough pain in the bleep programs at work. That's my preference, but it is not for everyone. ESPN has done a lot in the past few years to improve pretty much everything about how their leagues work. We started using it for the DLF Charter in 2006, and in the past few years it has improved a ton. For a free service, I really can't complain about it too much.

[kris_kapsner]

Things I don't like:
- I don't like that the entire line up has to be resubmitted because it presents a key problem. Example: A player that is started for the week, let's say a kicker, that is playing on Thursday night is dropped on Saturday for another kicker just to get a jump on picking up a different kicker for the following week. Then, on Sunday morning it's announced that a player isn't going to be playing, we'll use Jacoby Jones missing his plane as an example. The owner tries to go in and put a different WR in his starting line up and can't. The reason he's given for not being able to make the change by the website is that he has to submit his starting roster with the kicker he started on Thursday. The kicker is on waivers because he dropped him the day before. So, there is no way to switch out Jacoby Jones because he no longer has the kicker that already played. Does that make any sense? This happened to us with an owner this year. It was a mess. Because he was playing against me I gave him the option of having me resubmit his starting line up as the commissioner. But, there was no way to keep the points from the Thursday night game. LAME!!!
- I don't like that players can be dropped during games that they are starting for their owners. If you have a WR starting and he gets hurt in the first quarter, you can drop that player and pick up his back up. Of course you can't start him. But, I don't like being able to drop a player for another player while the game is in progress.
- The site is a little dated with zero bells and whistles. I wish it had a little more flare. There are ways to customize and make your site look a little better than the standard format. But, other sites blow MFL out of the water when it comes to pizazz.
- Searching for a player is a little cumbersome. If there is a way to search by name for free agents, I haven't found it yet.

Those first two are league set-up issues, though, not MFL issues. I really believe waivers should end when each players game starts,and then start up again tuesday or wednesday; I've never been in a league in which you can drop guys that are currently in your starting lineup and I'm surprised that that happens. Otherwise, a league is just asking for trouble, just like you experienced earlier Kris. Setting up waivers on MFL can be tricky, but its worth the time it might take to get it right.

We don't want our players to go on waivers unless they are dropped from a team. Then there is a two day wait period. But, otherwise, we like players to be available for pick up during the weekend. I don't think I can have it both ways.

Does anyone know if trades are allowed on the site in the off season?