8/1/10
Everything from seemingly harmless trash-talk to underhanded
collusion can cause hard feelings among owners… and even
divide an entire league. Whether you’ve been the accused,
the betrayed, or just an innocent bystander wondering which side
to take, this column is for you. E-mail
the Devil's Advocate with a description of the controversy
brewing in your league (or a potentially unpopular move you’re
about to make), and I’ll give one of those emails an outsider’s
viewpoint in a future column. Maybe you’re right, maybe
you’re wrong; there are always two sides to a controversy.
Both sides will be explored in hopes of finding some middle ground
that helps you, and that any league can use to bolster its rules
and maintain that rogue ownership that makes fantasy sports all
the more entertaining.
Leave It All on the Field
This article is a continuation of sorts from
the last “Devil’s Advocate,” though it deals
with a completely different issue, and one that is pretty cut
and dry. After last episode’s controversy involving one
owner taking a player after another owner had stated that he was
thinking of signing that player…
…[the other owner] accused me of being
an outright cheat. His ire was so fierce [that] he began to threaten
me and eventually created trouble at work. I was forced to resign
from the league to calm the storm and reduce tensions in the workplace.
The Guardian Angel
Look, no matter how devilish someone gets, this is still just
a game in the end. You can chastise another owner in the league
forum, berate them in personal emails, or curse them under your
breath all you want; but you do not take the issue outside of
the league. Go ahead and believe they are a cheat and a liar for
all eternity, but do not voice those beliefs to outsiders. Besides,
most people couldn’t care less whether someone cheated at
some fantasy game you’re playing.
The Fallen Angel
If someone cheats while playing a game, they’ll cheat in
all aspects of life, too. Trust me, I should know. Having the
inside tip, you know the scoop, and you have every right to protect
other people from the underhandedness you’ve seen that person
perpetrate already. Call them out to the world. They deserve it.
To the devil his due.
Here on Earth…
Though I’m usually on the devil’s side, I see little
merit in his argument here. You’re playing a game, and different
rules apply on paper than they do in reality. As I’ve been
privy to hear at least one commish remark, “A person acts
differently while playing fantasy football than they act in real
life.” This harkens back to a previous concern: Is fantasy
football more fantasy or more football? Either way, real players
don’t hold their grudges when they leave the field of play—for
the most part, at least. Perhaps, just this once, we should consider
them true role models.
If it turns out that fantasy sports are actually more fantasy
than sport, then personas play a bigger part than most people
imagine. There is a big difference between the Cape Fear Killers
and the Albuquerque Hotdogs. You’ve got a good idea of what
each team stands for as soon as you see their names. You also
have a good idea of how the owner of each team is going to play
their game. It should clue you in on whether to take something
as a joke or get a little hot under the collar (a little, I said).
In fantasy football, every Sunday gives a generally low key owner
the opportunity to go loco, and the normally delightful can suddenly
to turn dastardly. If, through weeks of draft preparation and
week after week of head-to-head (or cumulative) games, a team
does not develop a persona, the league you’re in may not
be a very good one. Each owner has an inherent style of play,
and that style usually directly generates their team’s personality.
That style of play, however, does not always depict how a person
behaves professionally or in personal, real-life situations.
The reality is that fantasy football has nothing to do with reality.
Talk about it as you would Fight Club or Vegas: The first rule
of fantasy football is that what happens in fantasy football stays
in fantasy football. Just as no one cares to hear about your dreams
unless they are in them, no one cares about the games you play
unless you’re playing them together. It’s just not
real to outsiders. If you have a problem with another owner, that’s
your problem and your problem alone. If you believe another owner’s
doings could affect other league members, then of course it’s
fine to present your argument to the league, as adamantly as you
deem necessary.
Outside of the league, you can moan about someone’s immoral
ways to your own friends (just don’t expect them not to
roll their eyes after awhile). If you have to take the conflict
home to your immediate family, fine. Just realize that they may
care less than anyone. Maybe you feel the need to throw a threat
or two that owner’s way. If you want to risk your own reputation
in that manner, go for it. But keep others out of it. Those others
include another owner’s business associates, his family,
and his non-mutual friends. That advice is as much for you as
for anyone. Bring an outside problem into the workplace and you
will probably be the one who ends up looking like the fool. Unless,
that is, you’re making another person’s job hell in
an underhanded way.
[Easily mounts the high horse] At the risk of moralizing…If
you slyly, or openly, disrupt another person’s life, how
are you any better than that person? I can’t play the devil’s
advocate role very well this time around simply because I don’t
have the imagination to believe the other side of the argument,
if there even is one. If something happens in relation to fantasy
football during a league function or on the league message board
or in the fantasy stat column, that’s part of the game—no
matter how personal it seems. So take it as fantasy, and don’t
let it interfere with your or someone else’s real life.
A personal issue with another should remain a personal issue.
If giant gladiators destroying their bodies for show (and millions
of dollars, of course) can follow a hackneyed though sound bit
of advice, your everyday fantasy owner can, too. Keep what happens
on the field, on the field.
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