collusion, tanking and rant

[kiddragonsoft]

I pretty much only play in 2 fantasy leagues. They are below in my sig. Dynasty, $75 buy-in. Not a ton of money, just enough to make it worthwhile. One league is about 12-13 years old and the other one was started last year. There are some overlapping owners in both leagues since it's just a friend's league and we all live locally.
Last week, the last week of the regular season, we had 2 teams fighting for a playoff spot and 1 team in last place. Lets call them Team A, B and C. Team A is division lead at 7-6, team B is 2nd in the division at 6-7. Team C is last in the division at 2-10. Team A is also Team C's son. Team A played Team C and Team B played the 4th member of their division. This is in the 2 year old league.
Before the Thursday night game, Team B talked to the commissioner that he felt Team C is tanking the game by setting a weak lineup. The commissioner texted Team C, and got a reply, "Well that's my lineup".
Here's his roster,
Bradford, Sam PHI QB (P)
Winston, Jameis TBB QB
Ajayi, Jay MIA RB
Allen, Javorius BAL RB
Artis-Payne, Cameron CAR RB
Crowell, Isaiah CLE RB
Johnson, David ARI RB
Johnson, Duke CLE RB
Abbrederis, Jared GBP WR
Adams, Davante GBP WR
Austin, Tavon STL WR
Dorsett, Phillip IND WR
Snead, Willie NOS WR
Gates, Antonio SDC TE
Green, Ladarius SDC TE (Q)
McManus, Brandon DEN PK
Walsh, Blair MIN PK 112.0
Jaguars, Jacksonville JAC Def
Vikings, Minnesota MIN Def

His starters were,
Bradford
Ajayi
Artis-Payne
Dorsett
Abbrederis
Adams
Green
McManus
Vikings vs ARI

Well needless to say, he lost by a big margin. On Tuesday, team B filed a protest saying that there seems to be collusion between team A and C. In our bylaws, there's really no rules or clause in there concerning tanking/collusion since it's just a group of stand up guys who has been friends for 10+ years. It's an unspoken rule that we don't tank or lose on purpose for any reasons. We do have a clause in the bylaws that let's a team file a protest and a panel of 3 impartial owners are formed to arbitrate. I'm one of the panel member. Well it didn't take us long and we found that it was unfair for Team C to purposely lose to let Team A win the division. We proposed that we use the Who should we start function on MFL to set Team C's lineup. That resulted in Team C beating Team A and knocking Team A out of the Playoffs.
After the ruling, I get a text message from Team C, that I'm kicked out of the 12 years old league (he's commissioner) because I'm friends with the other commish and team B. I'm like wtf, he also locked me out of my mfl account. I'm in the playoffs and he's going to allow me to finish up the year but said nothing of my winnings if I were to win the league. Let me know your guys take on this. Just unfortunate and hope you guys don't run into an unreasonable commissioner like this.

[AU6294TX]

I would want out of that league, 12 years old or not. You are also entitled to your winnings if you win. That lineup was crap, especially starting an inactive player. Is there an inactive player rule? We have one in my leagues where if you start and inactive player you lose a draft pick the first time you do.

[Coogan Football]

I would want out of that league, 12 years old or not. You are also entitled to your winnings if you win. That lineup was crap, especially starting an inactive player. Is there an inactive player rule? We have one in my leagues where if you start and inactive player you lose a draft pick the first time you do.

Boom

[evorzan]

It's hard to do a lot if it isn't in the bylaws, but that is a garbage lineup and intentional tanking in my opinion. David Johnson is looking like a potential league winner down the stretch and benching him for CAP when JStew was healthy and getting 20+ touches/game is a pretty clear indicator of not even trying to keep up appearances. You need to ditch the "stand up guys" attitude of your league and address this type of behavior with some additions to the bylaws in the off-season if you intend to keep playing in the league.

[joshb]

That guy sounds petty and childish.

[JJDubya]

I would want out of that league, 12 years old or not. You are also entitled to your winnings if you win. That lineup was crap, especially starting an inactive player. Is there an inactive player rule? We have one in my leagues where if you start and inactive player you lose a draft pick the first time you do.

Agree that the actions of father/son are shady, and if you've got that arbitration rule in place, are well within your rights to raise the issue to the attention to the league.

Also agree with the quoted post that it might be worth leaving the league if you guys can't resolve your differences. Something you've been a part of that long isn't easy to walk away from, so I'd definitely try to let the wound heal before making the decision. Ultimately you guys have called out someone for cheating/collaborating. He's not going to take too kindly to it, even if true.

Now, to AU's comment that starting an inactive player loses you a pick the first time it happens, that's outright Draconian. Plenty of players become inactive just before game-time, and if I've set my line-up earlier in the day, or the night before, not much I can do. To lose a pick the first time that happens is pretty ludicrous. Warning, sure, but losing a pick for something that is in no way tanking is seriously punitive.

[sloth8u]

has team C been starting this type of line up all year? isnt this the big question? ive tried bringing up tanking, whats acceptable/whats not, how it impacts matchups, etc...

he has some rb's that have come on lately...was he starting them the previous week or two? was he starting this lineup for himself or for his dad? was he trying to ensure that he got the 1st pick and didnt lose that 1.1 (or lowest pick possible) by winning the game or was he trying to ensure that his dad made it in to the playoffs?

i dont agree that he should be able to tank so that his pops gets in...but how can you be sure thats what happened? it is perfectly plausible that he was tanking for himself if that scenario was there.

it sucks that he's trying to kick you out of the other league because of this. they should be two separate entities...but i would honestly expect some kind of backlash like this. not real suprising for me.

unless you can prove he was tanking for his dad...i think your panel did the wrong thing. that may be very tough to prove imo.

[kiddragonsoft]

no team C was starting a good lineup all year. in all of 12 years of playing in the 1st league and the 2 years on this 2nd league, we never had an instance of collusion or tanking. his week 13 lineup was, winston, david johnson, buck allen, tavon, cole beasley, t lockett, gates, mamanus, jaguars. he has already gotten the 1.1 wrapped up, he's in last place by 2 games. win or lose this game didn't matter for his standing. and if i had a choice next year i prob wouldn't play in his league next year. i just play in it because we are friends and it's kind of fun with out being all too serious. and i didn't have a choice of leaving the league, he kick me and the other 2 guys out of his league even tho i didn't have anything to do with it except i was selected a random as a arbitrary panel member. all 3 of the panel did come to an agreement to use mfl who should we start as a lineup choice. I think it was pretty clear cut that he was tanking so that his son's team would make the playoffs. If he was out of it and just inattentive, his previous week lineup would have been submitted. he did just trade, lockett, and a 1st for crowell, duke, snead earlier in the week. then he set his lineup to consist of CAP, Ajayi, dorsett, abbrederis, ladarius green. had he just setup a decent lineup with out being that obvious about it we would have let it passed. but he blatantly did this lineup just to say, hey i'm going to cheat, what are you going to do about it.'
we didn't even punish him because there was no punishment spelled out in the bylaws and the panel member decided to just let this go as a warning. we are going to put one in this summer tho.

[kiddragonsoft]

That guy sounds petty and childish.

yeah it's the ultimate i'll take my ball and go home.

[sloth8u]

by knowing his lineup the previous week...id say thats enough evidence to say that he was losing so his dad could win....you did the right thing imo.

if he wants to kick you guys out...let it be. he's a cheat and that really isnt something you want to have to worry about every year. everyone puts money into the pot and playing with guys fixing games really isnt something you need to concern yourself with.

[AU6294TX]

I would want out of that league, 12 years old or not. You are also entitled to your winnings if you win. That lineup was crap, especially starting an inactive player. Is there an inactive player rule? We have one in my leagues where if you start and inactive player you lose a draft pick the first time you do.

Agree that the actions of father/son are shady, and if you've got that arbitration rule in place, are well within your rights to raise the issue to the attention to the league.

Also agree with the quoted post that it might be worth leaving the league if you guys can't resolve your differences. Something you've been a part of that long isn't easy to walk away from, so I'd definitely try to let the wound heal before making the decision. Ultimately you guys have called out someone for cheating/collaborating. He's not going to take too kindly to it, even if true.

Now, to AU's comment that starting an inactive player loses you a pick the first time it happens, that's outright Draconian. Plenty of players become inactive just before game-time, and if I've set my line-up earlier in the day, or the night before, not much I can do. To lose a pick the first time that happens is pretty ludicrous. Warning, sure, but losing a pick for something that is in no way tanking is seriously punitive.

If they are ruled out moments before the game ala Lynch a few weeks ago, a warning is issued. If it is someone who has been known to inactive or injured and going to miss the game that is when a pick is taken. It is the 3rd rounder first and then 1st rounder the second time.

[bonscott]

Yea, Team C is totally cheating and colluding. And you don't need something specific in your bylaws of "no collusion allowed", it's just a given. In any case the commish should have the power to act anyway and sounds like in your league you have a full on arbitration panel to act on it. And you did. He's a big cry baby. But more importantly you see he is a cheat and I wouldn't want to be in a league he commishs anyway.

[patiloman13]

Just curious, did you use the "Who should you start" tool for the other team's lineup as well?

[Jfever]

Team A = Son

Team C = Dad.

Not to be petty, but I think it got turned around mid thread. So, Dad (Team C) tanked for son (Team A). Then, when called out, Dad kicked the people that called him out on his blatant cheating from their league that the OP was in with him for 12 years.

Unreal. What kind of a complete D-bag is this guy?

[Coogan Football]

Team A = Son

Team C = Dad.

Not to be petty, but I think it got turned around mid thread. So, Dad (Team C) tanked for son (Team A). Then, when called out, Dad kicked the people that called him out on his blatant cheating from their league that the OP was in with him for 12 years.

Unreal. What kind of a complete D-bag is this guy?

Lol wowwwww, so someone old enough to be a dad (of a 20-something year old child) was immature enough to kick out people who pointed out that he cheated????


Sounds like you need some new friends...those kind of guys remind me acquaintances I use to have when I bartended that would walk out on their tab and then not answer the phone when you called them...