Many leagues have added an extra week to the regular season, so this column might have appeared last week in previous years. But the concept remains the same. The best position is a spot in the postseason. But the second best is playing spoiler and keeping someone else out.
In some leagues, you might be out of contention, and playing against another team that isn’t going anywhere. In that case, your motivation is pride. You always want to beat an opponent, right? If this is your last game this season, go out with a win. If you’re friends with the person, some trash talk might even be on the line. But in any case, you signed up for a league and you’re responsible for seeing things through. Do your best and defeat your final opponent on the schedule.
In other cases, you might be in a position to keep someone else out of the playoffs, or take away a bye or hurt their seeding in a way that matters to them. That’s the fun part. They expect you to lie down and surrender quietly. They hope you’ve given up and moved on to your better teams in other leagues. Don’t give away anything. Spoil their fun. Hurt their standing or keep them out entirely. It’s your job and it’s also fun.
And don’t forget the bragging rights if you win. Does it seem silly to celebrate a victory if you’re not going to the playoffs? Sure, about as much as a defense running 50 yards to the end zone to celebrate a turnover when they’re losing. But they have fun doing it, so why can’t you?
Look, you only get to play this game for a few months out of the year. You should take advantage of every second you can still play. If a casino gave you $100 in free chips, can you think of a scenario where you would decide to give back $15 or $20? Or even $5? Of course not. You don’t gain anything by giving up early. So why give away a single week of competitive fantasy football?
And I’ll say it again: Don’t forget the bragging rights if you win. Never underestimate the value of trash-talking someone you defeated. I live in Florida, and the Florida Gators and Florida State Seminoles have battled for decades over which college football team is better. Well, this year they were both terrible. Neither team has a winning record. The Gators fired their coach before the season ended. The Seminoles lost to Jacksonville State (apparently a real team) this year. So they’d probably be kind of quiet before their annual rivalry, right?
No chance. Both team’s fans were as loud and obnoxious as they always are. And that’s kind of cool. They love their team no matter what, and they’ll earn some redemption if they can just beat their rival. Because their teams weren’t a factor in anything close to the playoffs, I actually respected the enthusiasm more this year.
The Gators won, and we heard plenty about it. But honestly, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the fans were excited for a chance to talk trash to exactly one other team. So you’re free to do the same. If there’s a game left on the schedule, play it with enthusiasm. A win is a win, and you should celebrate it. And if you can hurt a buddy at the same time, so much the better. Good luck this week.
Does your league have any incentives for eliminated teams at the end of the season? Do league members tend to try their best all year, or do some of them fall off the map when they’re out of contention? Share your thoughts below.