Collusion?
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:28 pm
I saw something last week in one of my OC leagues that I hadn't seen before, and I'm still trying to make sense of it. Here goes:
I was tied for first place with another team going into the final week. Neither of us, however, was #1 in Total points. I was 3rd, about 60-70 points out. So it looked like the only way I could finish in the money (and advance to the Championship round) was for me to win my game, and for the team I was tied with to lose his game. Fortunately for me (or so I thought), the team I was tied with was going against the High Scorer in the league. When I looked at the High Scorer's roster, I noticed that he had played L. Bell (who was on bye) the week before, while he had Justin Forsett on his bench. Forsett had a monster game that week, so he lost out on 30+ points. I can certainly understand that sometimes things happen during the course of a week, and even with the 30+ point hit, he was still up by a good margin in total points (even though his record was so-so). All he had to do was hang on to his 60-70 point lead with one more week to go, and he would be in a playoff with whichever team finished 1st in head-to-head (hopefully me) for the $1500 league prize.
Well, on Friday of the final week, I looked at his roster, and he STILL hadn't updated it from 2-3 weeks earlier. I mean, he was playing Jerick McKinnon (who had already been declared out), while he had Justin Forsett on his bench. I wouldn't normally say anything, but I really needed him to knock off the other 1st place team, so I sent him a nice email congratulating him on his strong season. I then asked him if he knew McKinnon was out and reminded him that the outcome of his game that week would have big implications for everybody involved. No response.
Sunday rolled around, and Jerick McKinnon was still in his starting lineup, netting him 0 points. The rest of his team didn't fare a lot better that week, so needless to say he lost, ending my playoff chances. I'm happy to report that the 4th place team in total points had a HUGE week and picked up 80+ points on him, knocking him out of the top spot (and a chance at the $1500 first place money or the $700 2nd place money).
Still, I was perplexed that the top scorer in the league would not change his lineup for the final 2-3 weeks. Was he that confident that his big lead would hold up? Was he in some exotic location and had no access to the internet? Was he in the hospital? Or even worse, was he dead? Through the years, I've seen plenty of teams out of contention who have stopped checking in, but never a team at the top of the heap. I hate to assume the worst, but perhaps there was some type of collusion going on. I mean, the top point scorer in the league is playing a team tied for first (record-wise) in the final week... Maybe they made a deal to split the 1st and 2nd place money if the former team would just take a dive?
Remarkably, the guy who hadn't submitted a lineup the last few weeks finally did so in week 14, just in time for the playoff round. So at least I know he hadn't died...
Sorry for the long-windedness. If you've made it through this story, and I didn't confuse you too much with my "this team" and "that team" references (I didn't want to name anybody), I'm curious as to what explanations you might offer up in this guy's defense...
I was tied for first place with another team going into the final week. Neither of us, however, was #1 in Total points. I was 3rd, about 60-70 points out. So it looked like the only way I could finish in the money (and advance to the Championship round) was for me to win my game, and for the team I was tied with to lose his game. Fortunately for me (or so I thought), the team I was tied with was going against the High Scorer in the league. When I looked at the High Scorer's roster, I noticed that he had played L. Bell (who was on bye) the week before, while he had Justin Forsett on his bench. Forsett had a monster game that week, so he lost out on 30+ points. I can certainly understand that sometimes things happen during the course of a week, and even with the 30+ point hit, he was still up by a good margin in total points (even though his record was so-so). All he had to do was hang on to his 60-70 point lead with one more week to go, and he would be in a playoff with whichever team finished 1st in head-to-head (hopefully me) for the $1500 league prize.
Well, on Friday of the final week, I looked at his roster, and he STILL hadn't updated it from 2-3 weeks earlier. I mean, he was playing Jerick McKinnon (who had already been declared out), while he had Justin Forsett on his bench. I wouldn't normally say anything, but I really needed him to knock off the other 1st place team, so I sent him a nice email congratulating him on his strong season. I then asked him if he knew McKinnon was out and reminded him that the outcome of his game that week would have big implications for everybody involved. No response.
Sunday rolled around, and Jerick McKinnon was still in his starting lineup, netting him 0 points. The rest of his team didn't fare a lot better that week, so needless to say he lost, ending my playoff chances. I'm happy to report that the 4th place team in total points had a HUGE week and picked up 80+ points on him, knocking him out of the top spot (and a chance at the $1500 first place money or the $700 2nd place money).
Still, I was perplexed that the top scorer in the league would not change his lineup for the final 2-3 weeks. Was he that confident that his big lead would hold up? Was he in some exotic location and had no access to the internet? Was he in the hospital? Or even worse, was he dead? Through the years, I've seen plenty of teams out of contention who have stopped checking in, but never a team at the top of the heap. I hate to assume the worst, but perhaps there was some type of collusion going on. I mean, the top point scorer in the league is playing a team tied for first (record-wise) in the final week... Maybe they made a deal to split the 1st and 2nd place money if the former team would just take a dive?
Remarkably, the guy who hadn't submitted a lineup the last few weeks finally did so in week 14, just in time for the playoff round. So at least I know he hadn't died...
Sorry for the long-windedness. If you've made it through this story, and I didn't confuse you too much with my "this team" and "that team" references (I didn't want to name anybody), I'm curious as to what explanations you might offer up in this guy's defense...