AFBL FAQ
1.0 Introduction
The Association of Fantasy Baseball Leagues (AFBL) is the vision of three men: Garrett White, John Cahill, and David Becker. The purpose of the association is to unite all fantasy baseball leagues and owners worldwide in one neutral location. We hope to eventually become your "one-stop-shop" for fantasy baseball and your browser's homepage (The AFBL web page is best seen using IE).
2.0 Enlisting
To become an AFBL Affiliate, you must enlist your league as a member. Enlisting is 100% free, just like every other service we offer. No league that wishes to enlist will be denied.
2.1 How to Enlist
To enlist, simply send an e-mail to David Becker (reapersgm@hotmail.com). This e-mail should include:
-The league’s name
-The league’s abbreviation (if any)
-The league’s homepage
-The commissioner of the league’s name
-Four to Five sentences about the league
2.2 Why Enlist?
By enlisting on the AFBL web site the main advantage you get is to be able to take part in the Hall of Champions (see 3.0). The most notable of the awards in the Hall is the AFBL League Awards (see 3.1). Winning an award of any level will boost your league’s reputation 10x. When viewers see your league next to gold award recipient, or which ever award that league may win – they will want to click on that league’s website, check it out and possibly join. Other advantages are being able to use the Editorial section (see 5.2) and you will constantly be aware of the latest in simulation baseball. Come to think of it, why wouldn’t you join?
3.0 Hall of Champions
The Hall of Champions distinguishes the AFBL from every other web ring/listing/message board in the simulation baseball world. There are three main parts to the Hall of Champions, the AFBL League Awards, the Best All-Time Teams, and Affiliate Champions.
3.1 AFBL League Awards
These awards will be handed out at the end of January, April, July, and October. To be eligible for the AFBL League Awards, you must a) be enlisted on the AFBL b) post that you would like to be evaluated on the AFBL message board c) not have a member of your league on the Board of Directors. The reward for winning will be an image to put on your home page saying which award you won (Gold, Silver, or Bronze) as well as mass recognition from every owner that views the AFBL page. Each award will be customized to the league that wins. You may only win the AFBL Gold Award once. After you have won a gold award, you may not apply to take part in the assessment again. However, if you win a silver or bronze, you can still apply the next year and win a gold, making it possible for a league to win multiple awards, but never more than one gold award.
3.1.1 Determining the Award Winners
A panel of three board of directors members will take a look at each league that has said they want to be considered for an award. The leagues will then be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 (decimal numbers will be used, ie. 4.6) in the following categories:
- Organization
- Owner Participation
- Creativeness
- Web Page
- History
The rating that you recieved from each judge in each separate category will be averaged out. Then, the categories will be added together. If there is a tie for any level award, then there will be more than one recipient.
For example, if leagues "a" and "b" add out to 22.5 and the next best are league "c" with 21.31 and leagues "d," "e," and "f" all score 20.4: "a" & "b" will receive Gold Awards, "c" will receive a Silver Award and "d," "e," and "f" will all recieve Bronze Awards.
3.2 Best All-Time Teams
This will be a list of the top twenty teams from any one of our affiliates. It is the sole responsibility of the league’s commissioner to report a team that could is eligible for this list. The criteria is: 114 wins (if 162 season), or .704 winning percentage (that is just to start out). Once there are twenty leagues on the page, then it will just be, if your league has a team that should be on the list (and you are an affiliate of the AFBL), then you can send an e-mail to David Becker, Cc it to Garrett White and John Cahill and the list will be updated. The advantage of being on here is again, publicity. The name of your league will be right next to the team and you may get a few more hits.
3.3 Affiliate Champions
Again, it is the sole responsibility of the commissioner of each league to send in the name of the team, owner, and year to the AFBL front office and your league’s champion will be posted. This page is a tribute to every owner that has worked hard to be the best in his/her respective simulation league.
4.0 Board of Directors
Please do not send e-mails saying that you wish to be on the Board. To become a member of the Board you must be a commissioner of a league that wins the gold award. If the commissioner does not wish to take part on the Board then no one will be added. As a member of the Board of Directors, you become an administrator of the message board (see 5.1), you will be a judge in the next league evaluation for AFBL awards, and you will take part in the decision making process of the front office.
5.0 Communications
On the AFBL main page there will be a lot of communication going on, in not only speech, but in web site communication. Three main ways of this communication will be via the Message Board, Editorials, and Links.
5.1 Message Board
Anyone can use the message board. Whether your league is an affiliate or a non-affiliate. On the message board, one will be able to post their resumé. By this I mean, if you are looking to join a league, simply post on this board, make sure to leave your e-mail and any league can contact you. The opposite will happen as well. There will be an openings board. This page will contain only messages that say if a league is looking for owners. Make sure to leave an e-mail address, so that the owner can contact you. Other forums will include, the MLB Chat Room, Open Forum, Question Forum, and Gossip Forum.
5.2 Editorials
This is yet another advantage of being enlisted. On the AFBL homepage there are spots for three editorials. If you are interested in writing about your league so that a page viewer can take a look at your page, please contact David Becker. This will be on a first come, first serve basis, so I would advise asking about whether there is an opening for an editorial before you take the time to write it and send it in.
5.3 Links
The AFBL will try and keep you updated with the best, most reliable links for simulation baseball as well as baseball in general. If you have a site that you think is appropriate for this section of the web page, contact any one of the Co-Chair’s, they will check it out and get back to you.
Last, but not least, don’t take this too seriously. Some of us love the game, some of us don’t, some leagues are competitive, some leagues aren’t. However, we all got into simulation baseball because we have had fun doing it. Please try to keep this as fun, nothing more. Unreasonable arguments on the message board will not be tolerated. Obviously there can be discussions or debates, but keep the language clean, no cheap shots on other fantasy owners and try to do your best to have a good time. We hope to see your posts on the message board and your leagues enlisted!
The AFBL Co-Founders,
Garrett White, John Cahill, and David Becker
