Fantasy League etiquette – a contradiction in terms?

I have been playing fantasy sports for around 10 years, starting with the Daily Telegraph’s Fantasy Football League (back when Badiel and Skinner had jobs)…through many football European and World Cups…to right now, where I am currently (relatively) active in two – premierleague.com’s fantasy football and SportingNews.com’s fantasy basketball.

One thing I had never experienced, prior to yesterday, was cheating in a league. Well, cheating may be a little harsh…perhaps ‘cynical rule bending with the sole aim to guarantee an unfair advantage over your opponents’. I won’t go into the details, but it made me wonder…is there such a thing as ‘Fantasy League Etiquette?’. And if it does exist, what does it consist of?

Looking online, the vast majority of informal rules and advice for perspective fantasy managers was regarding ‘Fantasy Drafts’ – or meetings between managers (in certain types of league) where managers select players for their teams by auction (using fantasy currency) and each player can only go to one team. I have never been involved in such a draft, but I can imagine the disputes which could arise:

Manager 1: I bid $1m
Manager 2: I bid $1.01m
Manager 1: You don’t want him! You’re just trying to get me to spend more!
Manager 2: No way man, I’ve been tracking him for 4 years!

And so on. Another tactic of some managers seems to be to prey on those who have less knowledge of the sport than them (read: who actually leave nfl.com, nba.com and mlb.com for 10mins per day to take a walk outside). They will attempt unlikely trades in the hope of getting an extremely valuable player for one of their duds:

Manager 1: I’ll trade you my Shaquille O’Neal for your Lebron James
Manager 2: Erm…I’m not sure…Lebron is pretty good isn’t he?
Manager 1: Errrr no! Shaq’s got 4 championship rings! Lebron’s only been there once and he choked!
Manager 2: Ok if you say so….

So we can see that some nefarious individuals will always try to get one over on their opponents. But a draft system is not the only system of fantasy leagues, so are there any rules which span multiple formats?

Jeff Valois, at Fantasy Football Café has clearly thought this one through, and offers one bit of etiquette which I had not really considered – the responsibility of a manager to check on their team:

4. If you’re going to join a league, check your team at least periodically.

It kills a league, especially a small one, when owners Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise interest and stop maintaining their teams. A full league is whittled down to three or four teams and it feels like you’re playing solitaire rather than fantasy football. It gives a huge advantage to anyone playing that team because lineups aren’t shuffled to reflect bye weeks or personnel changes. Especially approaching the playoffs, a team’s schedule strength is important. If a team on the bubble plays a non-maintained team in the last week or two of the regular season, it could make all the difference in the league.

It almost goes without saying, but keeping a league active, even if you’re not competitive any more, makes it more fun for everyone (and of course, there are always ‘mini-battles’ to win (like beating your housemates) when the ‘big prize’ has been lost).

So we have a nice league with active players…and a nice atmosphere of friendly rivalry. Friendly rivalry?!?! Give me a break. It’s trash talk time! But doesn’t talking smack about your buddies go against the etiquette of Fantasy Sports? Not according to Joe Levit, writing on IGN.com:

DO talk trash about your victories
What better way to create some serious fantasy rivalries than to revel in your blowout victories over the other fantasy owners? Braggadocio is almost a requirement of league play. This is FFL, not the No Fun League and you need not limit your jeering to mentioning how well your own players performed. It is sometimes more effective, and more rewarding, to point out how poorly the other owner’s guys fared.

I feel liberated…so a verbal assault is justified and can, of course, make a victory more sweet – but one point to remember is that anything you give, you will get tenfold when you Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise! So far so good…but what if someone has found a way to cheat in the league? Levit continues:

Swindling in fantasy football can take on many forms. Perhaps an owner will purposely draft particular players while his partner in crime drafts other positions, with the idea that they will conduct outrageous trades to stack one team to win the championship. In another roster stacking arrangement, an owner may let another know when he is dropping players so his collaborator can quickly, and seemingly legally, add them to his lineup. Any of these attempts at petty theft obviously ruin the integrity of the league.

The integrity of the league. This seems, through all of the articles I have read, to be the underpinning principle of Fantasy Sports. Winning is fun, but winning unfairly? We all know that feeling. Back to Jeff Valois at Fantasy Football Café to sum up:

5. Fantasy football is about having fun. Keep it that way.
Everybody wants to win their league’s cash prize and/or trophy, snag the draft pick who ends up being the fantasy MVP, pick up the stud free agent who went untouched for four weeks, and make all the right moves to dominate the competition. Please try to keep in mind that your livelihood doesn’t, or at least we hope it doesn’t, depend on winning at fantasy football, so don’t make it seem that way. Play the game and enjoy the season.
(And if you’re banking on your winner’s check coming in the mail to make your mortgage payment, you’ve got way more problems than any list can help you with).

So play nice, or be prepared, as Thomas Moore once said, “Those who plot the destruction of others often perish in the attempt.“

NCAA Basketball 2007/08 Superstars

After watching ESPN’s College Gameday preview show for the 2007/08 basketball season, three freshmen players were highlighted as potential superstars. The three players have all been given their own labels – the new Kobe, the new D-Wade….even the new Jordan. Let’s see what all the fuss is about…
 

Derrick Rose

Stats
Height: 6’4″
College: Memphis
Position: Guard
Comparison: Jason Kidd

Rose’s highlight videos have him doing a wide range of dunks, but his true value is in his lightning speed and foresight, able to dish in seemingly impossible situations. He’s a true playmaker, who also has the ability and fearlessness to drive to the basket at will. His perimeter shooting, once seen as his weak-spot, has been a strength in his opening pair of matches for Memphis – shooting 58% and carrying his new team to the semi-finals of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic (to be played on the 15th November).
 

OJ Mayo

Stats
Height: 6’5″
College: Univeristy of South California (USC)
Position: Guard
Comparison: Kobe Bryant

The hoops hype machine has been working overtime for Mayo, largely due to issues off the court. In January, after being ejected from a high-school game he allegedly assaulted one of the officials, earning himself a two game suspension. This ban was overturned after video evidence seemed to suggest the referee overreacted to what little contact there was between them.More controversy followed in March, when Mayo was ticketed by police for posession of marijuana. This charge was dropped when a (very rich in the future?) friend claimed responsibility for the weed, which had been found in a car that Mayo was riding in.On the court, Mayo is a monster. He has speed, great hands, size, vision and inside strength.
 

Kevin Love

Stats
Height: 6’10″
College: UCLA
Position: Center
Comparison: Dirk Nowitzki

Kevin Love makes the job of headline writers easy. Not just because of his name (marketability: A+), but because of the raw materials that he puts to good use every time he steps onto the floor. He’s a big (270lbs) centre with an eye for inch perfect, court-length outlet passes and a soft touch from the 3-point line. He is known as an NBA historian, and has grown up with some serious pedigree (his father, a former NBA player, had him watch videos of the Showtime Lakers as a child). His biggest weakness was seen to be that he was, at times, slightly sluggish, however he has cut down for the start of his college career and is now a danger both inside and out.Love was awarded High School Athlete of the Year in his final year, and he has started his college life the same way – with 22 points (two shy of a freshman record) and 13 boards (breaking the previous record of 12) in his first game for UCLA.

Champions League Tuesday

Last night was an average night for picks (my early Manchester City Asian Handicap bet was premature and ended in a push), however by kickoff the odds on City winning were as high as 1.81…more than enough to entice me in. They won (eventually), and my stack looks a little more swole now (that sounds disgusting).On to tonight’s festivities, and it looks like Europe will once again throw up some super betting potential.

Chelsea, top of Champions League Group B, face Schalke 04, knowing that a victory could see them safely through to the next round. Chelsea easily beat them two weeks ago at home, and are on a great run of form (they have won their last seven games, including two in the Champions League). Schalke, on the other hand, lost their last game to the Bundesliga’s bottom club, and are sweating on the status of two of their star players, and have a further five out definitely.

With all of this stacked up, why are Chelsea so far out at 2.14?

The main reason seems to be their defence, which has two noticeable gaps (Terry and Cole) and also Ferreira on the sidelines, and so punters seem to be being a little cautious about how Chelsea will approach this match. Is that enough to justify this price? I don’t think so. The back four that kept a clean sheet at Wigan at the weekend should be reunited, and with Schalke needing to press forward to take the three points, there should be ample space for Joe Cole, Lampard, Drogba and (even) Shevchenko to exploit.

My pick:
Schalke 04 v Chelsea – Chelsea (to win) @ 2.14

Back to basics

After backing Phoenix against the Lakers earlier in the (brief) NBA season, I was fooled again into thinking that Kobe wouldn’t show up to work with the right attitude. He did, and the Jazz felt it.

With that disappointment fresh in my mind, tonight is a night for going back to basics.Manchester City host Sunderland this evening, with the 6-0 drubbing by the newly rejunivated Chelsea galacticos still fresh in their minds.

Sven’s men want nothing more than to erase this blip in form from the minds of the football public, and what better way than to reassert their authority at home to a Sunderland team who have failed to win in 9 of their last 10 outings?

City will also be boosted by the return of Martin Petrov (the Fantasy Football enthusiast’s favourite pick), which should see them extend their home record to a perfect 7-0-0.

How to play tonight’s match? Try this bet:

Asian handicap, Manchester City -1.0 @ 2.22. This means…

If Man City win by 2 or more – £6.10
If Man City win by 1 – £0
If Man City do not win – -£5.00

Showdown Sunday

The US sports world is buzzing about the biggest NFL matchup in 10 years – the New England Patriots at the Indianapolis Colts. With the Red Sox sweeping the World Series, and the Celtics welcoming their first ‘triple threat’ offence since Bird, McHale and Parish, the Patriots are looking to complete the puzzle by proving their football seniority by defeating the reigning Superbowl champions, the Colts.

Just like Arsenal v United yesterday, this one is a tough call. The Colts, as previously mentioned, are the world champions, they are undefeated and (perhaps most importantly) may hold the pschological edge by winning the last three meetings against the Pats. The Patriots, however, boast the most talked about team in recent times, with an offence that has averaged more than 40 points per game on their way to a perfect 7-0 record this season. So what’s the call?

The call is – don’t risk it! If football insiders and commentators are split as to who will win, the only possibility is that anything can happen! Even taking the spread (Colts +5.5) is troubling, because if the Patriots do get on top, they have shown no mercy in running up the score all season long.

Looking over at the NBA, there are some tasty Sunday night matchups – with the pick being Utah travelling to LA to face the Lakers. In what promises to be a tight game, Utah has been given a slight edge by Vegas (-2.5), however betting exchanges are not recognising it, actually making Utah a slight underdog (1.99 to 1.98). The Lakers comfortably beat Phoenix on Friday, however this seemed to be more due to their opponents bad play rather than their dominance, and Kobe was bailed out by his bench. This leads me to Utah, who crush Golden State last night and who I think will be too deep for LA to handle.

Pick:
Utah v La Lakers (money line) @ 1.99

Bouncebackability

Last night’s pick (and the first official pick of the 2007/08 season) turned bad when Phoenix conspired to be blown out by the Lakers’ bench. There were quite a few ‘odd’ results last night…so I’m not going to get too hung up on them. What’s more important is today’s Premiership action.One of the biggest, if not the biggest, Premiership fixture takes place today at 12.45GMT – Arsenal at home to Manchester United.

This game is cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise, and the form guide for both teams reads like a Tiger Woods scorecard – Arsenal have won 8 and drawn 2 in their last 10 games, and United have gone one better with 9 wins and one draw. It’s this parity which makes it very hard to pick a winner…however…

United have scored a club record 12 goals in the last 3 games, and just one of Arsenal’s last 10 games at home has ended with fewer than 2 goals being scored (their 1-0 win over Manchester City). It will be an upbeat match with everyone trying to make their mark, and +2.5 goals is tempting at 2.3…but instead go for +1.5 goals in the game multiplied with no sendings off in the Middlesborough and Wigan games to take you up to 1.95.

For another pic, look no further than the big disappointment of this season so far (except Spurs) – Liverpool. They seem to have been surrounded by crisis after crisis since opening day, however this hysteria hasn’t completely translated itself to their Premiership form, especially on their travels where they are yet to Lose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise this season (in fact they have only dropped 2 points from a possible 15). A nice price of 2.56 is available for Liverpool to extend their run of away form, and with Blackburn’s talismanic midfielder David Bentley out injured, they should be able to get back on the comeback trail this afternoon.

Picks

Multiplier – Arsenal v Manchester United +1.5goals, no red cards in Middleborough and Wigan matches @ 1.95

Blackburn v Liverpool Liverpool to win @ 2.56

NBA picks – Gameday 4

Rain Man here to give a quick note to give my pick for tonight’s action. Over the coming months I will be trying to give less ‘traditional’ bets…including multiples and some in-play tips…Tonight I’ll offer up:

3 game multiplier
1 LA Lakers @ Phoenix (Backing Phoenix Suns @ 1.21)
2 Denver @ Minnesota (Backing Denver Nuggets @ 1.22)
3 Miami @ Indiana (Backing Indiana Pacers @ 1.33)

Multiplying up this comes to an overall bet of 1.96…enjoy.

Rain Man cometh…

With the 2007 NBA season beginning in earnest this evening, as well as a packed day of Premiership action, there seems to be no better time to introduce everyone to the newest writer on DJOD.co.uk…Rain Man.

Rain Man is a tipster who wears his brain on his sleeve. He isn’t afraid to make controversial calls, and will always share his insider knowledge with the world.

The tips provided on these pages will be aimed at the gambler who bets a regulated amount on every game…to avoid potential ‘DOUBLE UP’ scenarios becoming a fast train to being broke. Logic is the key and Rain Man is the locksmith.

Of course every hero has a nemesis, and the tipster who is the Joker to Rain Man’s Batman is Oytun over at www.oytun.co.uk…if you ever need some comedy to go with our stone cold locks…it’s available there.