If you want to play in a tried-and-true format and create your team right now, standard leagues (Classic and SSG) are open to the public 24/7. But if you want to try something different, Custom Leagues – created by customers – are there in abundance..

There are franchise leagues, progression leagues, captains leagues, high and low salary cap leagues, “rags to riches” leagues, alphabet leagues, place of birth leagues … the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Diamond Mind Online would not be the same if the Community did not include some of the most clever and prolific creators of Custom Leagues. We’ll be featuring one of these in this space each month.

This month we’re visiting with Chip (bigchip0) Lefebvre, the current commissioner of the long-running Blue Meanies leagues.

Tell us something about yourself: age, occupation, marital status, where you live, and interests (apart from DMO, of course).

My real name is Mark, but everyone calls me Chip since I was young (it’s a long story). I am 54 years old; I am semi-retired. I still own a piece of the family payroll business my father and I started. I am divorced and live in upstate NY somewhere near Lake George if you know the region. I spend most of my time taking care of my dog Leo. He and I go everywhere together including hikes, weather permitting. My interests aside from DMO and my dog are hiking, heavy metal music (went to Dallas last month to see Metallica), craft beer and hockey. I still like other sports, but hockey is my main one.

When did you start playing DMO and how did it first come to your attention?

I first started playing DMO from the beginning. Got into sim baseball way back in the ESPN Classic days; that is where I heard about DMO. All of the Meanies migrated over here when ESPN shut down.

You’re the current commissioner of the Blue Meanies leagues. Tell us something about Blue Meanies history?

The Blue Meanies started way back in ESPN days. A few of us got together from a standard league, Pike’s Peak was the name. We were the only ones active on the message board and we meshed well from the beginning. So, we decided to start a progression (that is our go to theme) and one of our founders, Dave “Rhino” Fickes came up with the Blue Meanies name. We have had our share of members come and go, a couple have passed away, rest in peace Buddha Bob and Jerry Fickes. But we have a core of guys who have been in the group for so long, we have become almost like brothers. In fact, six of us have been here since the beginning (me, Brian Haynam, Rhino, Keith Walker, Keith Whitescarver and John Sevigne). And most of the others have been here longer than I can remember. I have met a few in person and talk a lot with a few through text messages. These guys are the reason I stick around. Our themes vary, right now we are doing a regression instead of a progression. Bad timing because you have new players coming out, oh well, maybe we will do a side league.

What do you find particularly enjoyable about the “continuing leagues” format?

The biggest thing I love about continuing leagues is the comradery. There are times my team is doing awful but I still stay plugged in because of the message board and the other jerks in the Meanies. I call them jerks affectionately because we are all jerks and turns out we are all the worst too. We have been through a whole lot in our history, and I don’t think there is a group of guys or gals out there closer than us but that is subjective. We are still waiting for the continuing group tournament by the way!

Is there any advice you would give to people who haven’t created a Custom League before, but would like to give it a try?

My advice to anyone who hasn’t tried creating a custom league is to use the live draft. To me, the draft is the best part of the game. I get that we are all over the world playing this game and sometimes an autodraft is best. But for me a live draft is challenging, you get to see firsthand when a player you wanted gets taken and then you must change gears on the fly. Like Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face.”