A New Season Begins

Fellowship,

We are so back.

And thus begins another epic season of The Fellowship of the League! As your trusty commissioner, I am overjoyed to embark on our sixth journey through Middle-earth, where fantasy football meets the rich tapestry of Tolkien's world. This year promises even grander quests, more fierce rivalries, and deeper immersions into the lore that makes our league truly legendary.

From the Shire to Mordor, our teams will battle it out with the valor of the Fellowship and the cunning of Sauron's minions. Sharpen your strategies, rally your rosters, and prepare for a season filled with unforgettable moments and heroic feats. May the best team claim the One Ring and be crowned the ultimate champion of our fantastical realm!

Okay… now that my GenAI made opener is done, please see below on all of the updates that are coming to our league for 2024. Truly, I am excited to be back and to welcome those who are new not only to our league, but to our weekly in-season newsletter as well! Football season is one of the best times of the year and I can’t wait to get this season kicked off!

New People & New Divisions

Jimmy the Kid - our 2023 #OneTeam Champion - is here! Like Tom Bombadil, we haven't seen much of him - but we swear he's cool!

That's not all!

We also felt like Significant Other's week could use a little something extra! There have been some epic romances in the world of Lord of the Rings: Beren and Luthien, Aragorn and Arwen, Eowyn and Faramir... Frodo and Sam... this couple has a lot in common with all of the above (except for the two dudes). Ron and Jess have joined the league!

With new people requires new territory mapping, so here is how the divisions will shape up:

These new realms aim to bring a competitive balance to each region and some killer match ups each week.

On top of Rivalry week and Significant other’s week, we are also bringing a new themed week: The Battle for Middle Earth [Week 7].

This week will be a battle of the divisions, East v West, to see who the one true ruler shall be.

Our Fantasy schedule is always custom made and never the same each year. Check out who you play and when below.

The 2024 Draft

Now that the new ones are here, let’s get down to the most important piece of business: Our Draft.

As is tradition, the winner of the league from the previous year gets to select the draft spot of their choosing. Which means with the 2024 draft, Trevor “the Machine Learning Moustache Man” has selected the 4th overall pick.

That leaves spots 1-3, and 5-14 for the rest of the league.

In the past we have used 100 yard dash as a fun simulator to get the draft order, but for this year we are changing things up a bit… with a Marble Race!

If you are on Brain Rot TikTok like I am, you’ve probably seen some of the Bouncy Marble race videos to see which marble is the fastest. Well, this year we are doing just that. All 14 of us will be turned into Marbles, competing in an elimination based race for our draft spots.

Here’s an overview of how this year’s event will work:

• 14 marbles will race to the finish line through randomly generated tracks.

• The marble that finishes last for that round will be eliminated.

• The process will repeat until there is only one marble remaining.

But…. one more thing… this race is for all the marbles. The elimination race will not determine the draft order, it will determine the order in which we select our draft spots. That’s right, win the race and you get to pick your draft spot. Then finishers two thru twelve will continue to pick their spot (sorry last place, you get whatever spot is left).

We will be running the Great Fellowship Marble Race this Sunday, August 11th, around 8pm EST in our discord server. If you’d like to watch this live, come join us! And if you can’t make it, don’t worry, I will have another recap of the draft order with the recording of the race.

Rule Updates

Last but not least we have some minor - but rather nice - rules updates.

Starting this year, trades will have zero wait time and will process immediately. This will allow you to get the players you want faster and before they play their week’s game. No more of the two-day prime shipping bullshit like years past - it’s my player and I want him now!

To ensure fairness and avoid any foul play, every trade will be reviewed by the commissioner and action will be taken accordingly if an unbalanced trade is made. But we’re all fair playing sports, right? So this shouldn’t be an issue.

That about wraps it up. If you are around, we’ll see you on Sunday. If you can’t make it then look out for our next newsletter update.