7/18/10
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.
Information, Please
The sage advice the last “Devil’s
Advocate” article ended with was quoted from the reader
who supplies this column’s controversy. That advice came
as a result of the controversy brewing below—but the result
was not so direct. Something else happened that will be explored
in the next episode. The theme of keeping your mouth shut follows
from that last article into this one, and then into the next.
I won’t specifically tell you to keep your mouth shut this
time around. After all, talking about fantasy sports is undoubtedly
the best thing about playing fantasy sports (with cold hard cash
coming in a close second). However, you do need to know how and
when to curb your tongue, as the other actor in the following
scene quickly found out:
During the Sunday night game [a fellow owner
said] "I think I am going to pick up [that player]".
I thought nothing of his intended move until I went home that
night, investigated the player in question, and put in my own
claim. Being one step in front of my buddy on the Waiver Order,
I received the player when the Waivers cleared.…[The] owner
was outraged…he accused me of being an outright cheat. [to
be continued.]
The Guardian Angel
Look, if I say something about a player, and to my friends no
less, I should be able to expect that the information I shared
will not be used to my disadvantage. Saying that I’m going
to take this guy or I’m looking at that guy is the same
as calling dibs. A fellow owner can’t rush to the closest
computer and immediately pick that guy up. Give an angel a chance!
The Fallen Angel
You can’t just put information out there and expect people
not to use it. Granted, calling dibs is as close to an unofficial
retainer as it gets—a verbal agreement, if you will. But
what happens when you change your mind before you officially sign
that player? Are you charged the free agent pickup fee? Do you
lose your spot in the waiver wire rotation? Most likely not. Well,
you can’t have it both ways. So if you want a player, you’d
better officially get him on your team before you draw another
owner’s attention to him.
Here on Earth…
There are unwritten laws all around us. Who of us constantly remains
below the speed limit—even with a state trooper in sight?
The rule is pretty universal: You can break that law a little,
just don’t break it by more than 10 miles per hour. Likewise,
few of us would cut in line, though there’s no specific
law against it. Calling dibs falls into that category. We all
know how it works, though few of us were instructed on how to
use it. We also know that anyone who takes someone else’s
“dibs” is a complete schmuck. That said, there is
some differentiation here. You can’t just safely voice a
mere intention, unless, that is, you’re surrounded by angelic
good-guys who would run to help an old lady across the street.
Even then, you may want to hold your tongue. As soon as someone
hears what you want, they are going to want it too. It’s
human nature. If you’re going to pick up a player, you need
to call it, definitively, out in the open, and preferably with
a number of witnesses around. Otherwise you’re just saying,
“I think I’d like to sit up front tonight,”
rather than, “Shotgun!” A race to the car ensues,
and you’re left bitter in the backseat while someone else
hangs their arm out a window that actually rolls the whole way
down.
Letting too much information slip can create havoc. Everyday etiquette
presumes that when a fellow owner mentions while watching the
game on Sunday that he’s thinking of picking up so-and-so,
you instantly lose the option of picking that same player up.
But this is a game based on a sport where men twice your size
collide with the force of a residential traffic accident. Leave
the etiquette to Emily Post. It may be uncool for someone to pick
up a player you told them you had your eye on. But can you actually
expect them not to look at and ultimately want a player you specifically
pointed out? While the guardian angel may disagree, I will contend
that it’s not the player who “steals” another
player who is the real criminal. Well, maybe he is, but it’s
primarily by entrapment. If you tout another player and then expect
someone not to be driven to them by your glowing analysis, you’ve
got what’s coming to you.
As a fantasy owner, you must realize that the information you
share is fair game. Protect your research. That’s not to
say don’t talk football with owners in your league. If you
take that away from the game, you lose the best part. If there
is a player you like and want to talk about, feel free. Good strategists
take into consideration the views of others. Getting a feel for
how hot or cold a player’s reception is to the rest of your
league is good strategy. But keep your accolades on the down-low
if you want that player to be available for you in the future.
If you must commend someone’s skills, throw some cons in
there as well. In fact, accentuate the cons. And here we have
the other side of information handling: the abuse of mis- and
disinformation.
There is nothing wrong with talking up a player’s weaknesses
and mumbling over his strengths. Almost every player has their
faults. The best of owners will actually accentuate those weaknesses
in their own analysis, in order to determine whether a player
is worthy of a roster spot. So place that at the forefront when
discussing a player, instead of freely giving up your own positive
analysis to the competition. Most discussion revolves around how
badly a player stinks anyway, rather than how great they are,
so that shouldn’t be too hard. Focus on the negative is
usually what helps an owner decide whether a certain player is
better left on the free agent market.
Of course you never want to lie. Telling another owner that you
are going to do this or not going to do that when it is completely
untrue will surely land you with a label you don’t want.
Be discreet, not deceptive. It’s probably a good rule to
follow in life, and it should work just as well in fantasy football.
Quickly, another form of disinformation that may be considered
in bad taste is the blurting of obnoxious comments during the
draft. Bad taste or not, it sure is fun. Snide eruptions like
“Is he still in the league?” or “Isn’t
he suspended/already on IR?” or the simple but effective
“Who?” can add extra humor and levity to the chaos
that is draft day. If it disrupts the confidence of a fellow owner’s
draft, well, that’s just some effective chatter. If you
can’t take that kind of banter, you should get out while
you can. Anything done in good dirty fun makes fantasy football
all the more entertaining.
So put up a smokescreen, misdirect a fellow owner’s allegiance
to a player or team, hoard all the information you can. Or, if
you must, honestly discuss a player’s prospects (which means
discussing both pros and cons). But never tell a fellow owner,
even and especially if they are a friend, what your intentions
are. There are two tricks of the trade when it comes to handling
tactical information—one is the poker face and the other
is the bluff. Play your information like you would a hand of cards,
and everyone should make it out alive.
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