PrimeTime Draft Tutorial

 

Oh, wait! Not that Prime Time draft...

...this one...

We will be using the PrimeTime Draft site this year for the first time. It's an improvement over the MFL draft room, at least visually. As noted in my emails we held a 'practice' draft recently. While there were only three of us involved I think I came away with a better understanding of how this thing works and some of the things that might need to be made clear. 

First of all, the site is pretty intuitive. If you do nothing else click here to get to this YouTube video from the company that gives you a view of the remote site you'll be using. Or view it here:

Once I generate the draft order I will be able to import the league settings into PTD. Then, prior to the draft I will send out the link via email. Click on it and the site will open in your browser. Remember you are not downloading anything...this is not a program your device is running. It's just a site you are opening in your browser just as you did in the MFL draft room in years past. If your device is capable of connecting to the 'net it will work with PTD.

I ran an second practice draft using two different devices so I could see the procedure from the remote view as well as what I'll see as commish. That's where the following screenshots come from.

When you click to the site using the link I send you you will see this... (CLICK EACH GRAPHIC TO VIEW FULL SIZE)

I added the arrows to indicate where you select your team, indicate that you are selecting your players there in PrimeTime (which they refer to as 'this app' and that needs to be set to 'Yes') and whether you want the names announced.

Then you click OK and you will see this...

Click OK to those reminders/Tips and you'll be ready to go. Note that the Available Players button is in the upper left.

When a pick is made you'll see this and hear the announcement if you have the turned on option to hear it. There will be a delay of maybe 8 to 10 seconds for anyone in Remote View (which will be everyone except me as the host). 

When your pick comes up you'll see this dialog box. The players listed will be the highest :::cough::: ranked players available regardless of team or position. You can take any of those or anyone else available. See the next screenshot for that. The clock will always be at 00:00 since we are not using a timer. The clock will appear in the slot of the team on the clock (duh1).

You can find any available player pretty easily by filtering team or position or both. Note that in my mock draft I filtered for KC and tight ends.

While you wait for your pick to register you'll see the 'waiting for confirmation' label in your pick slot. 

As we move along the board will fill up and as you probably noticed the players are color coded by position. 

 That's all there is to it. Once we go a round or so everyone will be pretty comfortable with the site I'm sure. While our draft may run a bit longer this inaugural PTD season I expect it to be a positive experience for the league. I always felt the weak link in the MFL world was the draft room which looks like something from an old Quattro Pro database file circa 1992. 

I'm going to find a communication platform that we can use during the draft and I will HIGHLY recommend that the out-of-town drafters find a way to participate. A smartphone will run Zoom or Google Meet and can sit next to your computer just in case. And hearing the shit the Houston guys talk about you will be an eyeopener! 

This week one of my favorite artists passed away. One you've probably never heard of. Sixto Rodriguez was a remarkable singer/songwriter whose story seems like a work of fiction. 

It's pretty crazy. In a nutshell the Detroit native released some albums in the early 70s which did nothing here in the states but in South Africa he became one of the top artists of the day. Meanwhile he knew nothing of his fame and his fans in SA thought he was dead. Apartheid and the SA government's draconian hold on the media is mostly to blame. Pretty wild when you consider that most of his music was smuggled into SA  and he still became a star on an 'Elvis' level. A music journalist in SA uncovered the truth and Rodriguez rose from working odd jobs and playing local Detroit gigs to real fame. It's  pretty remarkable and it's told in Searching for Sugarman, one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.  Dave Matthews grew up in SA and was a fan. There is a YouTube clip of him telling the story of not believing that nobody had heard of Rodriguez, The documentary is on YouTube. Highly, highly recommended.

RIP Rodriguez.

Here's Ellis this week on her last day as a member of her preschool's Grasshopper Room. When school cranks back up in a week she will be a Firefly!! Such a big girl! And she'll again become Teacher's Pet.

Here she is being silly with her Papa.

And just being her adorable self.