Judge Ed, Fantasy Football Ethicist: Those Pesky Quarterback Hoarders
Playing By One Set of Rules
Judge Ed, I think I was screwed several weeks ago and it’s still haunting me. I was in the midst of a game, winning by three points, when lo and behold my opponent got a five point boost because Reggie Wayne went over 200 yards. This came as a great shock because while the original rule sheet sent by the commish (supposedly) said a player gets a five point bonus for every 100 yards, this rule wasn’t reflected on our fantasy site, NFL.com. The league rules online state that a player gets a five-point bonus once they reach 100 yards, but mentioned nothing about 200 yards and beyond. Our commish went in and changed it after my opponent pointed out the Wayne discrepancy. This all happened mid-game, but it still doesn’t seem fair. You can’t have two sets of rules. – Steve, Anchorage
It may have worked for the 2001 Patriots, Ryan Braun and George Dubya but when it comes to fantasy football there’s no honor in winning on a technicality. You were aware that a 5-point bonus was awarded for every 100 yards and to try to take advantage of a programming glitch is, pardon the pun, really bush league.
My judgment: If the commissioner hadn’t noticed the scoring snafu you would have been obligated to have pointed it out. So rather than waste your energy trying to overturn a legitimate loss, hit the waiver wire, address your weaknesses and build a better fantasy team.
Fantasy Overload
Hi Judge, This isn’t a conflict question. Well it is. An internal conflict, actually. I’m so bogged down by my three leagues I can’t keep up. I’m losing potential players on waivers and have been struggling to fill out my roster with viable options during the bye weeks. . My job just has me slammed these days. How do I survive the year without embarrassing myself, and is it socially acceptable to only be in one league next season? – Marcy, Wisconsin
For starters Marcy, you need to relax. Breaking wind while standing in line to vote is unacceptable social behavior. Owning just one fantasy football team? I think you’ll manage to avoid the leper colony.
My judgment: This late in the season you can focus most of your attention on your top team. That’s not to say you should abandon your lesser teams altogether. Rather you can ease off the daily monitoring of the waiver wire and other time consuming activities while still fielding your most competitive lineup on a weekly basis.
Quarterback Fetish
Judge Ed, In my two QB league, we have one owner who literally has all quarterbacks on his bench — he owns eight in total! He’ll switch one out if he needs bye week help for his other starters but it seems like we should a max for the position on our rosters. Especially since we have 12 teams and 24 quarterbacks need to be started. By him taking six extra QBS, that leaves 2 QBS in total left for everyone else’s bench. It’s obviously a strategy but I think it’s shady and the commissioner should do something about this quarterback hoarder. – Jamie, Kansas City
So that must be where the remains of Philip Rivers and Michael Vick’s careers are hiding. You just never know what you’ll find on “Fantasy Hoarders.” I assume your league has a maximum roster size and can’t imagine a team remaining competitive with that many slots devoted to one position.
My judgment: You should be holding an intervention for an owner who has accumulated 8 QBs, not complaining about it. So long as the hoarder owner isn’t over the roster limit there is no reason for the Commissioner to step in. If you’re interested in one of his QBs offer up a trade. I’m sure that owner has plenty of needs at the other positions.
