PGF Season 4: THE DRAFT!!!

What’s your favorite part of fantasy football? Let’s be honest, it’s the DRAFT! Just like the fans of hard-luck franchises in professional sports, you have some hope for the future. Better yet, since it’s fantasy football, likely with your friends, you get to talk a little smack about reaches and give a little respect with a value pick. Well friends, it’s about time for your Professional Grappling Federation (PGF) Season 4 LIVE DRAFT!!!!!

This Sunday, October 9th at 12 (noon) Eastern, the four coaches of the PGF will select their teams for the regular season. With some late-breaking news, the lineup of coaches has changed. As noted previously, we have returning PGF Coach Champion Sean Applegate of 10th Planet Atlanta – a man many PGF competitors have noted as their top choice. Joining the defending coaching champ, we have PGF competitor alumni Caleb McAllister (PGF Season 1 runner-up, PGF Season 3 post-season competitor, and Renaissance Academy of Martial Arts instructor) and Kemoy Anderson (a PGF Season 2 standout and brown belt champion of multiple promotions). But the new coach on the block has folks excited. Nick Alpin aka Chewy of Chewjitsu is entering the arena as the final coach of the PGF. As one of the most recognizable names and faces of jiu jitsu, Chewy might just might have the competitors hoping he picks them over Coach Applegate.

This draft will be broadcast LIVE for all to see on Brandon McCaghren’s YouTube channel. Fans are free to watch and to comment just like in their fantasy leagues on whether they agree with the coaches’ picks. The draft order has been DECIDED! It will be a snake draft meaning the picks will be in order of Team 1, Team 2, Team 3, Team 4, Team 4, Team 3, Team 2, Team 1, Team 1, etc. For this season, Coach Applegate, the connect four champion of last season (seriously, they were the most intense games of connect four you’ll ever see, check them out), is the last to pick. The order is as follows: Coach Kemoy Anderson,, Coach Caleb McAllister, Coach Chewy (Nick Albin), and Coach Sean Applegate.

As noted above, the LIVE DRAFT will start at or around noon Eastern time. After a little preamble/orientation, we will begin the draft. Each coach will have ONE MINUTE for their pick. We have 24 competitors for the men’s 155lb league and eight ladies for their 135lb league. So, we have 32 competitors total. After Coach Kemoy Anderson makes his first selection, we will show some highlights of the pick in competition along with some voice over commentary. After the highlights are over, the next coach will be ON THE CLOCK with ONE MINUTE to make their selection. While we are waiting for the next selection, the hosts of the draft, the PGF Insiders, will have a back and forth with the coach who made the pick.

OF NOTE, each team will select six men and two ladies. As we have and will discuss in later posts, each team match will include a round robin of ladies matches sandwiching a  Quintet-style match of the gentlemen. For the coaches, they will accrue points towards their team (and coach’s) totals based on the points scored via submissions of their team. As in all PGF rules, competitors and teams get 3 points for a break (joint lock) and 6 points for a kill (choke) along with an extra point for a submission under one minute (the Elbow Genie Rule). While competitors accrue points for themselves, the team who garners the most points in one night will earn an additional team point for each of their members that night.

Last season, the PGF Insider Pre-draft Show and the Draft were fan favorites. So much so, it was decided to combine the two. Looking forward to this season, we have a few storylines to look towards… In last season, Coach Sean Applegate took his students in the first three rounds. In the end, his choices all around paid off as all his team made the playoffs (5 of 8). Will Coach Applegate again choose his students (e.g. Stephen Dana and Samuel Acord) over other top contenders when making his team? Last season, we saw multiple black belts including Season 4 contenders Erin Longar and Evan “Mr. Irrelevant” Dewitt (it’s a term of art, not Egghead’s fault) drop to the last round. Will they again drop or will Chewy with his experience with Dewitt and competitors from that region raise their stock? Will Noah Randolph, much maligned for his jean jacket and Ambercrombie appearance last year actually speak during the draft? PGF Fans want to know…

But seriously, this draft should be a lot of fun. Coaches will be live making picks. The PGF Insiders will invite competitors to join the show after the main draft to give their thoughts on the draft. Oh, and one more thing, coaches are drafting ladies and gentlemen the same time. It might just be interesting to see the gentlemen’s expressions as standouts such as Joannie Chamberland, Nekiaya Jackson, Tara Larosa, and Kaida Davis get picked over them (*looking at you salty dog*). Ok, enough prelude, I hope you tune in to the draft. Remember, since the matches in the regular season are intertwined with a quintet format, the team composition will have a drastic impact on competitors’ chances of making the post-season and your chances of winning the PGF fantasy league….which has a new commissioner btw, some dude with a 20lb brain…). Anyway, see you at the LIVE DRAFT!!!!