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Is It Unethical To Tank In Fantasy Football?


the lone star

Is It Unethical To Tank In Fantasy Football?  

27 members have voted

  1. 1. Is It Unethical To Tank In Fantasy Football?



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On 4/18/2018 at 7:12 AM, JonStark said:

I think saying that front offices sign less competent coaches is a bit of a reach. They are in it to make money now, and while they want to be competitive for the long haul, I'm sure every owner's ideal scenario would be to get a Peterson or Mcvay which turns your team into a contender right away.

But yes, tanking is definitely more of a front office thing. However I don't believe that they actually bring in a lesser quality of personnel to achieve it. I think the line ends at playing a weaker starting lineup towards the end of a season.

Another thing to consider is the fanbase. Sure, some fans would be all for tanking to get a better pick, but if the fans that bought tickets to the game found out that the team wasn't trying to win it, that would harm the team much more than anything else. Future attendance would be down, merchandise sales would be down, and maybe even a few lawsuits from the fans who purchased tickets to that specific game.

Yeah, I'd like those coaches on my team, but sometimes it's tough to make those decisions. Hindsight is always 20/20 too, so sometimes the weak signings just get highlighted because of truly terrible they were.

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Yes. 

To me, though, tanking is trying to lose on purpose. 

There's a difference between rebuilding, where you trade veterans and acquire younger talent (and probably lose a lot for a couple of years) and tanking, which is where you do some shady things like start players on BYE weeks, field an incomplete lineup, or basically try to go 0-16 on purpose. 

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12 hours ago, Lions017 said:

Yes. 

To me, though, tanking is trying to lose on purpose. 

There's a difference between rebuilding, where you trade veterans and acquire younger talent (and probably lose a lot for a couple of years) and tanking, which is where you do some shady things like start players on BYE weeks, field an incomplete lineup, or basically try to go 0-16 on purpose. 

As a follow-up question, I'd like to inquire as to whether you think anti-tanking rules are necessary? Some people are of the opinion that if it is not in the rules, and has not been addressed by the league, then it should be fair game. But some are also of the opinion that it is so obvious not to tank, that it shouldn't even have to be a rule.

What's your opinion?

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5 hours ago, the lone star said:

As a follow-up question, I'd like to inquire as to whether you think anti-tanking rules are necessary? Some people are of the opinion that if it is not in the rules, and has not been addressed by the league, then it should be fair game. But some are also of the opinion that it is so obvious not to tank, that it shouldn't even have to be a rule.

What's your opinion?

I think that rules are necessary. If there aren't any rules there are always going to be people that take advantage. It's not too big of an expectation to have people field a full lineup each week. You shouldn't be playing fantasy football if you can't check your phone once a week. 

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12 minutes ago, Lions017 said:

I think that rules are necessary. If there aren't any rules there are always going to be people that take advantage. It's not too big of an expectation to have people field a full lineup each week. You shouldn't be playing fantasy football if you can't check your phone once a week. 

That's fair. So in the absence of a rule, is punishment for tanking a viable option?

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  • 1 year later...
6 minutes ago, the lone star said:

I feel like if there's a reason to tank, then it's legitimate and not unethical. 

Tanking sucks, but if I were to gauge it on being ethical or not, I think it's in the gray area. Not unethical, but hard for me to argue that it IS ethical.

In my home league, we once had an owner who practically gave up within the first month. He traded Arian Foster to the would be champ for a suspended Adrian Peterson. Looking back this trade should of been vetoed as it was still SUPER early in the year. Had this trade been done by the trade deadline then that would had been ok.

As commish, I expect everyone in my league to still be competitive even if your team starts going down hill. Now if its weeks 10-13 and there are more than one team that could get the #1 pick and then sure you can tank. 

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1 hour ago, EaglesPeteC said:

You don’t get to tell people how to run their team. Unless there is obvious collusion or a owner is simply not even setting their roster, butt out. 

Agreed.

When does it become other teams business how I run my team.  As long as you are starting players that are not on BYE or are on IR, each team should be able to start whatever players they choose based on how they see fit.

Teams that do not make the playoffs should have the draft order determined by the potential points vs the W/L records.

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Tanking without a punishment to the last place finisher is a B move in fantasy.  Just saying.  If you're willing to endure some sort of negative repercussion, go for it.  But ultimately, even when there's money on the line, it's pretty petty to throw games.

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9 hours ago, The LBC said:

Tanking without a punishment to the last place finisher is a B move in fantasy.  Just saying.  If you're willing to endure some sort of negative repercussion, go for it.  But ultimately, even when there's money on the line, it's pretty petty to throw games.

so what if there aren't any rules against it, you've seen other teams do it and get away with it, and when you ask the Commish, he doesn't definitively say no tanking, and even says he's fine with people starting weak lineups.

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On 9/14/2019 at 3:09 PM, thebestever6 said:

I have never done a keeper league since 2002 when I first played fantasy football.  And seeing this thread I'm glad I haven't. 

It takes absolutely zero skill to tank.

Sure, but it does take some skill to draft the correct rookies with the high picks you're expected to get. Sometimes they bust, like Trent Richardson, Kevin White, Devante Parker, Treadwell, Doctson, Yeldon, etc..

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  • 4 weeks later...

Beside myself this week.  We had a small issue with tanking last year and it has turned into a major issue this week.  

12 team, 4 Keeper league

Team 1: Champion from last year that traded 1st and 2nd round pick last year.  1st year owner that I realized how terrible of an owner he is after the draft, his championship last year was lucky.  He ended up moving K. Johnson for a second round pick so he was only without a 1st.

  • Stafford, Murray (K)
  • Duke Johnson, K. Hunt, C. Edmonds, Miller (IR)
  • Julio Jones (K), JJSS (K). Watkins, Amendola, Conley, Gabriel, Pringle
  • Dissley, Tj Hock

Team 2: He had 2 1st round picks because of his JJSS trade last year with the champ.  He also is the owner who moved his 2nd round pick for K. Johnson (who he traded before the draft)

  • Jackson (K)
  • Carson (K), Jacobs, Murray, Edwards, Yeldon, 
  • Diggs (K), Cooper (K), Goodwin, T. Williams, Campbell, D. Johnson, Tate
  • Graham, Herndon

Team 3: Second best team in the league.  Scored most points last year.  Traded his 1st away last year but moved Micheal Thomas prior to the draft to get back into the 1st.

  • Brady, Ryan
  • Barkley (K), Zeke (K), Howard, Hillman, 
  • Adams (K), Golladay (K), Edelman, Tate, Anderson
  • Walker, Doyle

Team 1 traded: JJSS  to Team B for Golden Tate and a THIRD round pick.  

Team 1 traded: Julio Jones to Team 2 for Diggs and a SECOND round pick.

Team 1's keepers are likely Tate, Diggs, Duke Johnson and Hunt 

The league is up in arms.  They are pretty easily the 2 most lopsided trades in the league's 14 year history.  Last year's champ is pretty clearly trying to tank but in doing so he's giving away his best players for what is viewed as almost free to 2 of the leagues 3 best teams.  The top 48 players are off the board so those picks aren't all that valuable.   It's like he picked the worst WR on each squad.  The league doesn't have anything in the laws about vetoing (which I truly hate).  I'm just venting because there isn't much that can be done.  If these trades were to be reversed then there is legitimate grounds to question every single transaction that occurred in the league going forward.

 

Is the league crazy for being up in arms?  While both trades are terrible for a keeper league that Julio trade is an abomination.  He's essentially using his second round pick and swapping one of his worst players for a guy who's pretty easily his best now.  I'm the commish and I'm pretty bitter.  Half contemplated selling off my great roster for the same sort of value but I    determined that I can't do that to the other league mates.  

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This is such a complicated issue because there are so many factors.  If it's collusion and king-making, then it's always wrong and horrible for the league and it should be prevented. 

But when you have keepers/dynasty, then owners should be able to legitimately act in their best future interests.  Meaning if I have no chance of winning this year, I should be able to sell off assets to increase my chances in future years.  Sometimes that looks like tanking but it's smart strategy.  The other factor is how shrewd the owners are with these trades. If you have an owner who isn't very experienced or savvy, he may not get "fair market value" for his trade which irritates the other owners, but objecting at that point is like trying to run their team for them.  Sometimes the best offer you can get doesn't look very good but it's better than getting nothing at all.  It's all highly dependent on keeper rules and league scoring too.  

And heaven help you if you try to write rules into the league to limit this.  It's a Pandora's box of problems.

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