Fantasy Football Quitters: Overriding Line-ups Amendment

Image via Wikipedia

It appears that everyone in the BFFG is still involved except Anchors Aweigh. I have dropped a line to JD (email, text message, and phone call) and have not received a response. I assume since his team has not done so well he has decided that he has better things to worry about, which is fine.

I am still contemplating on how to deal with quitters. It's been a brain-buster actually. I apologize to everyone for not having all these details worked out ahead of time. I can ensure you; however, that the experience will have me more prepared in the future.

I've decided that I need to work on what I already have started with one exception; I'm not going to lock JD's team. I want to allow him to come back if he decides to. It's all up to him.

I am going to honor what I previously wrote about overriding the lineups but there are some concerns. His team has so many injuries, but all of his players are still active. He has no players listed as NA or IR. For this reason I'm not going to do any add/drops. My intentions are to edit his line-up to the most common sense configuration and make no more changes for the rest of the season.

Thank you guys for your support. I'm doing my best to develop a fool-proof system. If you have any questions or input let me know.

A Fantasy Draft Formula Designed To Keep You In All Season

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Imagine coming all the way from the bottom of the standings to competing for the last playoff seed in your league. You went from last to 5th in a 5 game win streak. Its do-or-die last week in the regular season. Your match-up looks tight but you definitely got a chance. Too bad the guy also competing for the same spot is facing Team Quitter this week. Team Quitter's starting QB has been on IR for 2 weeks and the other positions are not much better. That's because Team Quitter has no more stake in the game. He gave up 3 weeks ago. No matter how good your chances are to come from behind or maintain a lead in the standings, if the competition is facing a dead team your probably not going anywhere.

You can't blame people who quit on fantasy football too much. Staying in and playing the spoiler doesn't do it for everyone. No doubt managers who quit still impact the league because their team remains and there's no way to tell how they'll leave. They can leave hurt, inactive, and players with bye weeks coming up in starting slots.

In my league, the BFFG, the draft order is based on the results from the previous season. The idea is to give everyone a fair shot at the cream-of-the-crop players. The last place team gets first pick followed by each sequential team and last pick goes to the league's champion. I thought giving 1st pick to the last place team would entice managers who do not do so well to come back and join again next year. The problem is it also entices teams in last place to stay in last place, killing competition.

My new formula is designed to keep managers who are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs to stay involved and compete. Here is how it works with a 12 team league and 6 teams going to the playoffs.
7th seed - 1st pick
8th seed - 2nd pick
9th seed - 3rd pick
10th seed - 4th pick
11th seed - 5th pick
12th seed - 6th pick
6th place - 7th pick
5th place - 8th pick
4th place - 9th pick
3rd place - 10th pick
2nd place - 11th pick
1st place - 12th pick
(New managers to the league follow the 12th pick in chronological order of when they signed up.)

Having a top draft pick is a treat. You're bound to land an MVP type player. This method of assigning the draft order will give those who might normally quit something to play for.

Fantasy Football Quitters

Image via Wikipedia

One of the dilemmas of being fantasy commissioner is that you also have your own stake in the league. It's possible for this to be perceived as a contradiction when the time comes to perform a commissioner duty. There are; however, certain things a commissioner must do to preserve integrity in the league, but you have to make sure these actions are consistent. In other words, don't cheat.

My #1 priority in the BFFG is to run a fair and challenging league as commissioner. My #2 priority is to win. So, it bothers me when I feel I may have to interfere with a team's roster. I promise that my intentions are to increase competition and make things fair, and not to cheat for myself.

There are only 2 reasons I would interfere with a team's line-up: 1. at a manager's request, or 2. if a manager quits. The first reason needs no explanation. The second is a more complex.

There's really nothing wrong with quitting the league. You may feel that you're mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and rather not bother. You may have a personal obligation that comes first and have to put fantasy aside. Or, ya just might not give a shit anymore. It happens.

Let me explain how I will handle the issue of quitting in the BFFG:

1. Identify a quitter. Ideally, I would like to actually speak to a manager and hear them say something like, "Ya, I've given up. I can't make the playoffs. Oh well, there's always next year. [etc.]" But it might be that your W/L record and level of participation speaks for you. In which case I will . . .

2. Override the line-up. When I assume a team has quit I will lock that team and adjust their line-up with 1 thing in mind: do as little as possible. Basically, put the best players in and don't change anything for the remainder of the season. The only exception is if that team can't start a player in every position; in which case I will pick up a needed starter and put them in. If I add a player to a dead team it will be a player that is ranked in the middle of what is available in the free agent pool. There will be no trading or dropping of players from the dead teams.

My rules on quitters are not new. I have dealt with dead teams ever since I started my fantasy football league in 2001. I have handled it pretty much the same way except that now I try to communicate more with managers and document all issues in this blog. I promise to increase fair deliberation on fantasy issues and continue to write in this blog.

I don't want to see anyone quit. I don't want to lock teams. I think that even when you are eliminated from the playoffs it's still fun to try your best and play the spoiler. But if you stay involved in the league and you try real hard against a guy one week, you should also do the same the next week. My rule on quitters is to ensure that no one has a free ride to the championship. All I ask is that managers who participate legitimately try to win. It is the best way to keep the league fair, interesting, and fun.