I am the commish of a 10 team yahoo h2h league. This league was started last year and is mostly based with friends and 2 or 3 friends of friends. Anyway, one of my decent friends Rob, who I see on a regular basis at the gym and elsewhere has been doing some shady things of late that make me think he might be playing for 2 teams.
Rob asked me at the beginning of football if I was cool if his friend Dave joined the league. I had met Dave one time years ago and I said sure. I never talked to Dave personally about it, but figured all was good and Rob would help him out with the setup.
One thing about Rob, his grammar is HORRIBLE!!!! Probably the worst ive ever seen in my life. Seems like a smart guy when you talk with him, but when he writes or types, WOW! Anyway, for some odd reason he calles Wes Welker of the Patriots "Wes Walker" with an A. Dont know why, I just think he forgets his name. Rob asked me about a trade he was thinking of sending Dave for..as he put it...wes walker and I told him the trade was bad. The next day "Dave" sent me a trade involving Welker, but typed me a message saying "here is Wes Walker". He called him Walker also, not to mention his message had very poor grammar and was basically horrible. Between the misspelling of Welker and the bad grammar, it had me thinking, could Rob be playing 2 teams. The next week, my buddy Scott called me and said the same exact thing, he thought they were 1 person. I looked into it.
I asked Rob straight up if he was cheating and he said no. I felt so bad about asking because he is my friend and I didnt want to come off as a a$$. He said he wasnt playing 2 teams and I said fine I believe you. This guy Dave was also supposedly pumped about the Draft, yet he never made it to the online draft. I asked Rob for Dave to text me and someone did, but I wasnt sure if it was Dave or not. I tried calling the number but got a very generic answering machine.
The last thing today that tipped me off.....and this was a biggie......Rob asked me to log into his team and check to see if a trade he sent was shot down because he is out of town for the day without internet. I said sure. His password is his daughters name and has a VERY VERY weird spelling. For shits and giggles, I thought I would see if that worked on daves login. Sure enough....it did! I used Daves yahoo login and Robs password and it let me into daves account. I am sure now that Rob is playing 2 teams.
My question to you guys, is what should I do? Rob is a friend, but also a cheat. being the commish I have to be fair about things especially to the other managers. Should I call Rob out...lock his team? One thing I had considered is locking Daves team until I have a phone call from him. What do you think? Thanks for your opinions and reading this long post.
You have no choice but to call him out, especialy based on that second last paragraph. Lock both teams and find someone to take over "Dave's" team. If you do decide to let Rob stay in the league, ban him from trading for the entire season as a penalty for a severe breach of the rules, otherwise kick his butt out!
Fantasy Football: "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity"
Considering that we are still early and the season hasn't started, a redraft is definitely worth looking into. However, everyone now knows what player is valued by owner x, where they value that player, and where you could expect to get them. Not only will having a re-draft make *everyone* think (well they knew I drafted him in the 5th...maybe I should reach for the 4th now), it could undermine their draft strategy. Then again, everyone is at the same disadvantage and the draft is the most fun part of the year !
But as for your friend, that is a very tough call. Don't lock the team until you get a phone call, b/c you may receive a call from the person who owns that "generic message". Some geek of the street, who knows. But you must act quickly with your decision. Depending on your host, like yahoo, they have when the last time a user logged on and changed their team. Most likely (before you tampered the evidence) both teams would have very similar times. This is a very serious offense, and my league got in an uproar when an owner was just logging into someone else's account who signed up but didn't know football. He was just trying to help out an actual person and create a competitive league...but it was a bad decision.
You can always bestow a bit of authority to the other owners, allowing them to decide whether or not to keep your friend in the league. This way they get to take some of the credit when he is no longer an owner and your friendship is on the rocks
Wow. I've been doing this a looooong time, and I don't think I've every heard of inventing a person in order to gain an advantage in fantasy football.
Maybe Dave was alive and interested and he died suddenly of Heart Failure?
jeez.
I think you have to take your "friend" aside and have a chat with him and give him a choice of presenting this to the league himself. Let him know if he doesn't, that he has left you no choice but to inform the league.
You should probaby run him, then redraft with 2 new owners. Make sure they are breathing human beings with SSN's before letting them into your league.
Yes, dilemma! First and foremost - as a commish - you must be fair to the league and the integrity of the game. It is your job and duty!
I would have a talk with your friend and if he gives you static, he has to go. It is difficult, but is important to keep the league.
Redrafting is an option, but you are going to get some pissed-off managers, who drafted a good team ... this is your dilemma.
Is this a pay league? One option you have is to keep his "buddy's" team as a dummy team, talk to your friend and somehow penalize him and play on, or kick him out and redraft. It is not an easy choice, but those are the decisions of a commish.
Personally, no one I do not know joins my league, having friends of a friend can cause unwanted headaches.
Good luck, but you MUST enforce the rules. Man, I hate cheaters!!! If you do kick him out, don't feel bad, it is your job.
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by bbalevic23 » Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:07 pm 
