Post by Cincinnati Bengals (Chris) on Apr 17, 2019 1:37:52 GMT -5
As you might have heard on the inaugural Canton Dynasty Podcast, Steve (DEN) found a website last year which provides customized trophies for a fantasy football league's champions that can be adapted with placards for each year the league exists. This particular trophy (Linked above) has the ability to double as a whiskey decanter (Or whatever other alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage you desire--though if you put swill such as vodka in it, as I mentioned in the pod, I will find you and come to your home to repossess it in person).
Honestly, this league has gone its entire timeframe without any kind of championship reward, and since it's a free league (Maybe that works in both directions here), explaining to your girlfriend/wife (Or boyfriend/husband potentially) that you dedicate so much time to a league where the winner gets...bragging rights can be a challenge. I know that in my past relationship, the suggestion on the part of my significant other was to leave the league because it was a minor net-loss, and the strong implication was that it was stupid to put so much time into something for bragging rights. I also think that having a league championship trophy would go a long way to improving the product, attention span, and effort of some of our more time-challenged teams, and of this league, and can be another source of bringing the people in the league--specifically those from different eras--together for a more cohesive and interactive league.
I know that cost is going to be the big issue here among some of us, and so factored it up. The year-1 cost for purchasing the trophy would be roughly an additional $7.50 per person, give or take a few cents (This would include listing every champion in the history of all of our leagues to date), bringing the total league fee to around $10 per team this year. I figured since a mystery party took care of the league fee last year anyway, we could all use that savings to pitch in to something like this. However, as several members have brought up about potential complications with shipment and adding future champions to the rolls, I wanted to break down and address those issues.
Question/Issue 1: How much would it cost to ship the trophy and update the plaques to add new champions to the trophies for each year after year-1?
Answer: If the recipient of the trophy is in the continental United States, it would be a maximum of $35 (Or $1~ extra per person per year in league fee) when shipping UPS (The company I strongly suggest/prefer in my experience of shipping delicate items on a daily basis in my job), give or take a few dollars depending on the exact location of the recipient.
Question/Issue 2: What if the shipment arrives damaged?
Answer: The amount that I have factored in for shipping cost more than doubly covers the cost of replacing the trophy should it be damaged, so even if it breaks, if it was packed correctly and UPS is found to be at fault, we would be able to replace the trophy.
Question/Issue 3: How do we know how to pack the trophy correctly?
Answer: It's really simple, you can find that information about UPS' packing expectations online, and I'd even be willing to do an instructional video on what to do just to be extra sure, given my experience with expensive, sensitive items.
Question/Issue 4: What if the previous person that we ship the trophy to bails on the league, never contacts us again, and we lose the trophy outright?
Answer: This is the only real question that doesn't have a clear solution to. However, we would have the ship to address available from the previous shipper, and could establish a league database for contact information. I guess the only other thing that I could say that would allay that is this: We've only ever had 10 champions in the history of the league, and all of those guys were long-time, reliable members (Maybe except for the old JAX on the reliable point). Many of us have pre-existing connections with league members here, and even more have developed relationships within the league. If anyone thinks that one of those members is just going to abscond with a trophy, I would say that from my viewpoint, I highly doubt that.
So, those are the relative deets. We're talking about a 1-year increase of $7.50 per team, making the league fee for that year $10~, and then a $1~ league fee from that point on, making the league fee $3.50~ as opposed to $2.50. If there's anything I forgot to mention or address in here, please post about it below, and feel free to vote in the poll above. If we get a strong majority without too much opposition, perhaps we can make this a thing.
Honestly, this league has gone its entire timeframe without any kind of championship reward, and since it's a free league (Maybe that works in both directions here), explaining to your girlfriend/wife (Or boyfriend/husband potentially) that you dedicate so much time to a league where the winner gets...bragging rights can be a challenge. I know that in my past relationship, the suggestion on the part of my significant other was to leave the league because it was a minor net-loss, and the strong implication was that it was stupid to put so much time into something for bragging rights. I also think that having a league championship trophy would go a long way to improving the product, attention span, and effort of some of our more time-challenged teams, and of this league, and can be another source of bringing the people in the league--specifically those from different eras--together for a more cohesive and interactive league.
I know that cost is going to be the big issue here among some of us, and so factored it up. The year-1 cost for purchasing the trophy would be roughly an additional $7.50 per person, give or take a few cents (This would include listing every champion in the history of all of our leagues to date), bringing the total league fee to around $10 per team this year. I figured since a mystery party took care of the league fee last year anyway, we could all use that savings to pitch in to something like this. However, as several members have brought up about potential complications with shipment and adding future champions to the rolls, I wanted to break down and address those issues.
Question/Issue 1: How much would it cost to ship the trophy and update the plaques to add new champions to the trophies for each year after year-1?
Answer: If the recipient of the trophy is in the continental United States, it would be a maximum of $35 (Or $1~ extra per person per year in league fee) when shipping UPS (The company I strongly suggest/prefer in my experience of shipping delicate items on a daily basis in my job), give or take a few dollars depending on the exact location of the recipient.
Question/Issue 2: What if the shipment arrives damaged?
Answer: The amount that I have factored in for shipping cost more than doubly covers the cost of replacing the trophy should it be damaged, so even if it breaks, if it was packed correctly and UPS is found to be at fault, we would be able to replace the trophy.
Question/Issue 3: How do we know how to pack the trophy correctly?
Answer: It's really simple, you can find that information about UPS' packing expectations online, and I'd even be willing to do an instructional video on what to do just to be extra sure, given my experience with expensive, sensitive items.
Question/Issue 4: What if the previous person that we ship the trophy to bails on the league, never contacts us again, and we lose the trophy outright?
Answer: This is the only real question that doesn't have a clear solution to. However, we would have the ship to address available from the previous shipper, and could establish a league database for contact information. I guess the only other thing that I could say that would allay that is this: We've only ever had 10 champions in the history of the league, and all of those guys were long-time, reliable members (Maybe except for the old JAX on the reliable point). Many of us have pre-existing connections with league members here, and even more have developed relationships within the league. If anyone thinks that one of those members is just going to abscond with a trophy, I would say that from my viewpoint, I highly doubt that.
So, those are the relative deets. We're talking about a 1-year increase of $7.50 per team, making the league fee for that year $10~, and then a $1~ league fee from that point on, making the league fee $3.50~ as opposed to $2.50. If there's anything I forgot to mention or address in here, please post about it below, and feel free to vote in the poll above. If we get a strong majority without too much opposition, perhaps we can make this a thing.
