The draft was at 7:45. ESPN meant Eastern Time.
In Denver, that made it 5:45.
The mistake started another round of league messages. Somebody tried to move the draft to 8:00 and found that the controls would not allow it. The draft order changed. Keeper instructions changed. Everyone needed a new reminder.
The league was called Spiced Lamb Shank. The team names were worse. Horse Chokers. Sweet Lincoln's Mullet. Mustache Ride. Nobody was trying to make fantasy football sound respectable.
The schedule still mattered. Everyone needed the same draft time, draft order, and keeper instructions before the league opened.
The ESPN page showed the time. The problem was which clock it used. Once the group realized that, the email thread became the real scheduling system.
The league manager kept sending corrections because every change affected the whole group. A new time was not useful unless everybody saw it. The same was true for the draft order and keeper rules.
The same email group also carried parties, utilities, camping plans, tickets, and football. The fantasy league added draft lotteries, keepers, trades, and scheduling corrections.
The season result was months away. The immediate problem was getting everybody into the draft at the same time.
The final instruction was clear: August 29 at 7:45 p.m. Eastern. For everyone in Denver, log in two hours earlier.
There was no room left for another conversion mistake. The final message put both the date and the time zone in front of us.
Before the picks, the group needed one correct time.