Every year I join a couple different fantasy football leagues, some on ESPN and others on Yahoo. I even used to host a competitive league every year for about 6+ years from during junior high until after high school. I always tried to be a fair and "professional" league commissioner when it came to the draft, the scoring system, the playoff structure, team transactions, and the overall operating of the league.
Ever since my friends have gone to college, it's been hard to maintain my own fantasy football league(s) each year, so I have focused more on joining others' leagues. Brian Teter runs a good league on ESPN that I enjoyed being a part of last year, even though I finished 2nd to last - it's not always about winning in fantasy football! I am in his league again this year and am ready to compete in the "knock-down, drag-out world of make believe football." (See Bud Light's Real Men of Genius: "Mr. Fantasy Football Manager Guy"... hilarious!)
Then there is another league I am in this year called "fantasy foozeball 2008" on Yahoo. There are 12 (twelve) teams in the league, so I thought it would be an interesting experience and a challenge as well. Those that are familiar with fantasy football know the disadvantages and lack of depth that come along with having a 12-team league when most leagues have 8-10 teams. Well, this league went downhill as soon as the draft was completed. It was an autopick draft; and when this happens, each member is basically at the mercy of the commissioner. Most commissioners will have a scheduled date and/or time for the draft and make sure all members of the league are aware when that is going to occur, but this league was not the case.
The commissioner set the draft status to "Ready" and the draft was completed a few hours later. However, that's not the aspect with which I have a problem. What I do have a problem with is how the draft went down, being the most shady draft I've ever been a part of. Well, I wasn't even a part of the draft, as it was almost done for us. A normal commissioner would set the draft status to "random" so that nobody has a clear advantage over anybody else. Up until this draft, I thought the worst case scenario was seeing the commissioner give himself the first overall pick. Maybe even worse than that would be setting up the draft to get the first overall pick and the first pick in each round thereafter. But no, what this commissioner did was worse than that. The person in charge of the league went and obviously hand-picked his team before the draft even started, and the rest of the teams were left to pick from whoever was still available. Remember, this is a 12-team league. Here is his roster accompanied by a brief explanation for those not familiar with the players' rankings:
QB- Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger
Explanation: Tom Brady was the #1 QB and #1 overall point-getter last year, and it wasn't even close. In many leagues he was the very first player drafted. He has all his receivers back and will be amazing again this year. According to ESPN, Ben Roethlisberger is the #5 QB in the NFL when it comes to fantasy, especially with the emergence of some of his receivers. Dont' worry, it gets better (or worse?).
WR- Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Larry Fitzgerald, Braylon Edwards, Donte' Stallworth, Anthony Gonzalez
Explanation: Randy Moss is the #1 WR by far. Terrell Owens is easily the #2 WR. Edwards is the #4 WR, and Fitzgerald #11. Then he picked Stallworth 'cuz he's on the Browns and projected to be the #2 WR on the team behind Edwards (when Edwards doesn't get the TD catch, it's probably going to Stallworth), and Gonzalez 'cuz he is from Ohio State and has Peyton Manning throwing to him.
RB- Ladanian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore, Steven Jackson, Darren McFadden
Explanation: Probably the most ridiculous of all the positions, Tomlinson, Peterson, and Jackson are the #1, #2, and #3 ranked players in the entire draft (ahead of Tom Brady and Randy Moss) according to Yahoo, which is where this league is being hosted. Gore is the #7 RB, and McFadden is the big-name rookie from Arkansas that will be the primary back for Oakland this season.
TE- Jason Witten, K- Matt Stover, DEF- Chargers...
Explanation: I grouped this positions together since there is only one spot for each. I'll begin with Matt Stover at kicker. This is the weakest spot on the commissioner's team, yet Matt Stover is a sure Hall of Famer down the road, and the #1 most accurate kicker in the NFL's history. He is towards the back end of his career, but he's still been consistent over the years. Jason Witten at tight end is a highly-coveted pick. Although the tight end position was deep this year with 6-8 elite TE's out there, just having a TE of Witten's caliber is ridiculous considering the rest of his team. Last but certainly not least is his defensive team, the Chargers. Now, defenses can be inconsistent and somewhat unpredictable, and that is exactly why this team's manager picked San Diego: They are the #2 projected defense on Yahoo and #1 on ESPN, and they have been proven and consistent over the years.
Well, that is the team's roster of the worst screw-job I've ever seen in fantasy football. It was a very easy decision for me to drop all my players in that league and ask to be removed. Since then, I have been locked by the commissioner so I cannot post or trade or make any roster moves, which is awesome. Who cares? I'm also happy that someone other than the commissioner picked up some of my players which could help that person's team. After being through this situation and seeing how bad league commissioners can really get, I now see how good most commissioners are. Thank you, good guys!
May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum
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