The Five-Dollar (Ethics) Question

[Jack]

After the first few weeks of this season--when the Steelers' passing game wasn't looking too pretty--I paid a guy five dollars to accept Hines Ward for Plaxico Burress in a league with a five-dollar buy-in.

Collusion? Maybe--now that Hines is doing fine--poetic justice?

[logan]

how is hines doing fine? the guy just had knee surgery. to answer your question yes it's collusion.personally if i found out someone did that in a league i ran they would be out as of the moment i found out. team locked and gone for the year and period for the future.

[NittanyLions]

Not the thing to do, bribing isn't right, you should actually try to be a manager and manage fairly. You picked him originally, it's your fault, and you should have to pay, which could mean trading him for less than that value.

[aaawall91]

Or at least offer a better bribe...

Kidding

I just don't see why you would care that much for such a small upgrade?

[Azrael]

To me it's collusion at the base.

If you would have just traded the 2 guys, no problem. Hines for Plax is a fair trade. But the fact that you had to give him money for him to think it was fair makes it wrong I think.

It's hard to see because the sum of money and the players involved are marginal but if you bump it up and say to him. I'll give you $20 and DeShaun Foster for LT, then it becomes more obvious.

It's basis of what the trade was about was wrong but the actual trade in itself is not a big deal.

[Jack]

I liked the hellfire and damnation in the first response because it showed me that this sort of thing touches a nerve in fantasy football circles. I knew I was in the wrong before I posted this, but I'm still trying to get a better sense of why. It's easy to throw a word like "collusion" out at something that seems objectionable, but what does it mean? At the time I made the offer, I figured it meant when one guy forced the other to make a move--and, so, if I appealed to his judgment instead of guilting him or threatening him somehow, I was in the clear. Is this something to do with fantasy football being a sort of "closed universe" where outside stuff shouldn't hold sway?

[Cowboys 4 life]

I guess I'm the only one that doesn't see this as a big deal.

I would have taken the $5 to and given you Plexiglass. At least my year is paid for and I still have just as good of a chance to win it all.

I don't think you needed to do that as it was a fair trade to begin with.

My league used to charge $5 for pickups and $3 for trades in which some members would agree to pay the trade if the other guy allowed the trade to happen. So I don't really see any difference.

[bobbing_headz]

For $5 who really cares? Plus it wasn't like you were trading a Kicker for LT or something.

[Jack]

Less than a third of the folk who are calling me scum have bothered to explain themselves. If I'm really that bad, don't you want to give my wayward soul a few pointers in the right ethical direction--or, at least, chip in with your thoughts on what "collusion" is?

[bobbing_headz]

Less than a third of the folk who are calling me scum have bothered to explain themselves. If I'm really that bad, don't you want to give my wayward soul a few pointers in the right ethical direction--or, at least, chip in with your thoughts on what "collusion" is?

People who voted Scum don't really care. They just want to make themselves think they are ethically perfect.