If you're offered a spot in a league that has a last-minute opening, do yourself a favor and decline. Just say no to all those late invitations.
Wait a minute. Didn't I just encourage you to join new leagues last week? Am I flip-flopping like a politician in October of an election year? What's changed?
Nothing. That was totally different. I think you should definitely seek out a league with a format you've never tried. But you shouldn't sign up for another league just because they have an opening.
This is the time of the year when leagues find out that they're missing a couple of owners: Maybe an old co-worker doesn't want to be in the office league, or maybe their budget forced them to cut back on fantasy leagues this season. Or maybe it's something totally different. In any case, their draft is approaching and they need somebody.
Not somebody they know or somebody who's a good fit for the league. They need literally "some body." It could be anybody, really, as long as they can make the draft and have enough cash to pay the entry fee. That's all it takes -- a little money and a spare couple of hours. Aren't you flattered to have met those lofty qualifications?
We all know why leagues find themselves in these situations -- poor planning, not enough interest in recruiting and maintaining quality ownership -- but that doesn't mean you have to take part in it. By helping them out, you're just hurting yourself.
I could say that joining extra leagues will subject you to the Law of Diminishing Returns, and each additional league you join will provide less and less extra fun during the season. But really, it's worse than that: Each additional league you join will result in net loss of fun. In other words, there comes a point where the more leagues you join, the worse your season will be. You'd be better off not playing in these leagues at all.
Let's be honest: We can always think of reasons why we might as well go ahead and join: We're helping someone out, we might win some extra money and we cal always use it as practice for our "main" draft. But in reality, you probably won't care much about this new league. You certainly won' take it as seriously as your favorite league and you'll just have another roster of players to follow. And if you join enough leagues, you'll find yourself rooting for and against the same players each week. How fun is that?
Or maybe you'll basically ignore the league, do the bare minimum and fade away if the team falters. After all, it's just a league you joined at the last minute, right? That path is probably worse, because you're hurting all the other owners of that league.
You should only join leagues you truly want to join, not leagues that have a seat at the table and a convenient draft time. Make sure you have the money, time and interest to really run your new team properly. Will you work the waiver wire, send and field trade offers and be an active owner regardless of your record? Unless you can treat it like a "main" league, you're better off passing on the offer. The league will be better off, too. Eventually they'll find "some body." It just doesn't have to be you.
So yes -- join a league that offers something different, but no -- don't join a league just to add one more to your collection or fill a last-minute spot. If you're known as an active fantasy owner, you'll get offers in the next couple of weeks. But you might improve your season by turning them down.
Have you had a bad (or great) experience joining a last-minute league? Share your thoughts below, and find me on Twitter: (a href = "http://www.twitter.com/vivamurillo.>@vivamurillo.