Pulling Back the Curtain

A brief explanation on how the DelFL schedule is setup.

When I created the first schedule with 3 Divisions in 2009 there were a couple things I wanted to implement. 1, inner-division games would be the last 5 games of the year; 2, you would play your biggest inner-division rival in the final regular season game (week 13); 3, Giorgio would play Warren in their Shiner Bowl each year.

For the inter-division games (Weeks 1-8) I setup the following table (A – Family Division, B- Friends Division #1, C – Friends Division #2):

2009 Week 1

A1-B1 A2-C1 A3-B2 A4-C2 A5-B3 A6-C3 B4-C4 B5-C5 B6-C6

I then randomly (drew out of a hat) selected Owners from each Division and plugged them into the table. For Week 2, I rotated the right column:

2009 Week 2

A1-C6 A2-B1 A3-C1….etc.

I did this for weeks 1-8 in 2009. From 2009-2012, I repeated the process drawing new names to plug into the table. In 2013, I lazily used the same inter-division schedule as 2009; in 2014 the inter-division schedule was the same as 2010’s and this year’s inter-division schedule is the same as 2011’s. One of the reasons I quit randomly drawing is because with the current setup, everyone plays everyone at least once in the four years. If there is a random drawing each year, there is a chance that some people might not play each other at all.

In 2009, for the inner-division schedule, I grouped the biggest rivalries in week 13 then assigned randomly to a table using the same method as shown above. In 2010, I kept the rivalry game in week 13, and rotated the other games; for instance: If I played Jeff in week 9 the next year I play him in week 10 and the next year I play him in week 11 (but never week 13, after playing him in week 12 the following year I play him in week 9).

The one thing I did fix in the inter-division schedule is The Shiner Bowl (Warren-Giorgio) in week 8, to do this I always fixed Warren and Giorgio’s table number, the rest of the Owners were randomly drawn. Furthermore, I think this is a non-issue and it is not only fair but a lot of fun how it is currently setup. I am always open to modifications and suggestions.