With the bye weeks in full swing and plenty of “game-time decisions” (which is mostly a lie. You know they’ve actually decided well before Sunday. They’re just letting us know at game time), you have to be careful and see which players are out this week.
And by “players,” I don’t mean NFL players. You’ll know who’s playing and who isn’t. I mean AWOL fantasy owners. And they aren’t game time decisions. They’re out, plain and simple. And for the good of the league, you have to identify them and weed them out as soon as possible.
Nobody wants to start the season 0-1, and you can bet that 0-4 is a real bummer. That’s why some owners will simply abandon their teams and focus on the winners: Those 3-1 and 4-0 squads they have spread across the Internet, as part of their plan to join 20 leagues and find a couple of winners. They have them, and it means your league isn’t that important anymore. Or maybe having a losing record simply isn’t that fun, and now they think fantasy football takes up more time than they thought. You have to check the waiver wire every week? People send you trade offers and you’re supposed to respond? Forget that; I barely know these guys, anyway. And now your league is short an owner or two.
Fortunately, the bye weeks and injuries give you a chance to identify these teams. Did the Randall Cobb owner start them last weekend? How about Cam Newton or Steve Smith? If those guys were in lineups on bad teams, that’s a red flag. It doesn’t mean the owner has definitely abandoned their team, but it warrants some investigation. They should be contacted and notified that their lineup contained guaranteed zeroes. What’s going on? Maybe there was a Sunday morning emergency, or a situation where they couldn’t access their team, or something else. It’s real life; things happen. Maybe they haven’t given up. But you need to find out before it really hurts the league.
Yes, it hurts the league. Some people think “Hey, it’s their money. They can do whatever they want with their team, including abandon it.” No, they can’t. When you agree to play, you agree to play. Competitive games require opponents, and the very least you can do is be one. When you dole out cheap wins to teams lucky enough to face opponents with bye week players in the lineup, that distorts the records, which in turn distorts the playoffs. You shouldn’t miss the post-season because you had a real game while another owner faced a pile of driftwood. The wins and losses should be real wins and losses, and abandoned teams hurt the competitive balance of the league. So something has to be done.
That’s not the sole job of the commissioner, by the way. Sure, they’re the ones who should make contact with the owner and find out what’s going on. But every owner should be on the lookout for abandoned teams, and should contact the commissioner if there’s a problem. And it’s not like these teams can go unnoticed, either: Every opponent they face sees that they had an easy game that weekend. I could say that the right thing to do would be to notify the commissioner before you face that team, but I won’t hold you to that. I mean, you should, but I don’t know if it’s fair to ask that from a competitive owner. But I will say that you need to say something on Monday so it doesn’t go any further. You know that team is bad for the league. Don’t let it continue. You have options, you know. If the owner can’t or won’t do the bare minimum to field a real team, replace them. Either find somebody who is willing to take over, or replace the team with the league average and make opponents beat it to earn a win. Anything you do is better than letting the team float across the schedule messing up your season. It’s not fair to everyone else who enjoys the league and is trying to make the most out of the remaining games. Abandoned teams make it harder to accomplish that, so use the bye weeks and injuries to identify them, call them out and make things right for the rest of the year.
How do you deal with abandoned teams in your league and do you feel comfortable kicking out a league mate if they’re not holding up their end of the deal? Share your thoughts below.