This theme league is posted over on The Bullpen board because of it's political roots, but it seems only fair that everyone get a shot at participating. The rules are repeated below, and if interested please sign up on the original thread at:
http://forums-beta.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=16587
Rules:
This is a theme league idea. I'm posting it on the Bullpen forum because I think it would be an interesting challenge for the political core of this board to engage in a little fun competition. I won't call this a Democrat/Liberal leaning Vs Republican/conservative leaning League since I don't want to pigeon hole anyone (and individuals seeking office have always declared their party affiliation as they see fit). So it is the Blue Party vs the Red Party, with six teams for each party competing against each other. Anyone is allowed to sign up for either party.
Each party will have their own player pool. Blue's player pool will be all players who were born in states won by John Kerry in 2004, while Red's players will all be born in states won by George Bush. That of course means that players not born in a US state (or DC) are not eligible.
I am in the process of identifying the player pools for both parties. If there are a shortage of players or balance problems I'll look at how to mitigate that, which those interested in participating can help with.
Since we are talking politics here, it will of course be a $200M 2005 autodraft waiver league with DH.
The rules are very simple:
* Divisions will include two each red and blue teams
* Players choose their party and division on a first-come-first-served basis
* Stadiums do not have to be unique, but they must come from a state your party won
* Stadiums do not have to be declared until all teams are ready to enter the league
* Only players in the appropriate pool may be selected in the autodraft and during waivers
* Trading between teams in the same party can be done at any time
* Trading between teams in different parties is ok once waivers are complete
* Collusion among players in the same party is AOK. As long as TSN rules and the rules set down here are not broken, players in the same party can share draft lists, cooperate on trades, work together on waivers, etc. It can be as loose or as regimented as the players in each party want it to be. Some restrictions:
* No player can be traded more than once between teams in the same party once the season starts (to prevent constant movement of players)
* There is no arbitration process outside whatever each party agrees to internally or enforcement of any deals/rules made by the parties (ie, I'm not getting in the middle of any internal party disagreements)
* Uh, can't think of any others
Winning:
President of the League (and bragging rights) is awarded to the winner of the Championship.
Blue Vs Red Party League Champion is awarded to the party which wins the highest number of regular season games.
Note that the above titles could be roughly equivalent to winning the Presidency and to winning control of Congress.
Show your colors and sign up!