Cause It Was Us Baby, Way Before Them, And We're Still Together, And I Meant Every Word I Said, When I Said I Love You I Meant,That I Love You Forever
--"Keep On Loving You (cover)", Lisa Loeb
As scandals go it wasn't as nefarious as Watergate. it didn't make as big of a splash as the Iran-Contra hearings, and it certainly wasn't on the scale or scope of Enron. What it was, though, was an incident that happened to me recently that still resonates today.
It was the big fantasy baseball scandal of 2007.
----
Back in 2007 I was just in the auspices of joining and competing in my first fantasy baseball league--my first fantasy sports league of any type, actually. I'd always wanted to try it out being as interested in number crunching, probability, and gamesmanship for as long as I can remember. Not only that but I've always been a big baseball but to begin with. Fantasy baseball seemed tailed to my particular talents and skill sets. It was going to be 12 of us; all employees, former employees, or friends of employees of Bally's Total Fitness in Norwalk. We were all newbies at the time to the world of fantasy sports so it was all being put together by a Bally's employee named Manny. Keeping that in mind, it wasn't surprising that the majority of us didn't know what to expect or how this would all end up when we met up on that Saturday afternoon in March of 2007. We were all expecting to have a good time. I certainly did not ever conceive that it would ever lead to one of the hugest blow-ups I have ever had nor that it would cause such a huge stink that its effects are still felt.
The draft went fine. I would say all of us walked away from the table with a good sense that we had stumbled our way through successfully. The only minor trouble came from a co-worker named Elio who couldn't make it out to the draft. That should have been our first sign that there might be a wrinkle in the operation that would prevent everything from running smoothly. It wasn't a big deal at the time, but it wouldn't stay that way for long.
I began the season auspiciously, jumping to an early lead within the first few weeks. I'd say by the first ten weeks I had built up a commanding lead over my nearest rival. It was up to this point that the cracks in the system began to show. Manny, again, mostly due to his inexperience running a league, started making a lot of moves that I thought were a little hinky. Trades and additions that seemed suspicious. I wouldn't go so far as to label these acts examples of collusion, but they most definitely were not the type of decisions one would expect from a commissioner.
Briefly explained, a commissioner's actions need to be above reproach. Even though he has a team just the same as everyone else in the league, his actions always carry more weight with them because he has the power to totally stack the deck in his (or anybody else he chooses) favor with none being the wiser. He has at his disposal methods and tools to add points, change settings, and overall screw with the system of the game to make it unfairly biased and, therefore, not fun anymore. I should know because ever since that first league, I've been commissioner in about 80% of the leagues I've joined since then.
In retrospect, some of these worrisome signs very well might have been honest glitches in the system, some erstwhile ghosts in the shell, so to speak. But I maintain to this day that some type of abuse of power was going on with a select subset of the owners that lead all the way back to our commissioner, back to Manny.
As if that weren't enough, Elio, the flaky and out-of-his-depth owner decided to move to Salt Lake City. This meant he all but abandoned our fantasy league. Sure, he claimed that his intent was to jump back in as soon as he settled in; but in the meanwhile, there were three or four weeks no actions were being taken by his team. No rosters were being set; no changes were being made. His team was basically a lame duck. So the word came down that we were to begin scouring our rolodexes for new potential owners to take over Elio's team. We thought that the best course of action rather than keeping his team around without a captain at the wheel. It was to be explained to this new manager that he would be shepherding someone else's flock and that he would have an uphill battle in front of him. But, if this man was willing, there were the beginnings of a really great team in Elio's old crew. And, if he were willing to put in the effort, there was a good chance he could still make the team competitive
I couldn't think of a better "man" for the job than Breanne, naturally. She loves baseball as much as I do and she too had been discussing joining a league at about the same time I started getting the itch.
I nominated her to the rest of the league and she was accepted without a much of a fuss. Again, in retrospect, I should have known better. I should have insisted that a more thorough review should have been performed, seeing as she was my friend. I think the implications of just how close the two of us are escaped them and that's what lead to the scandal as it unfolded later.
Within a few weeks, she and I were thick as thieves in the league. Not only had I found a perfect trading partner, but I also found someone I could discuss strategy and tactics in the league. We soon began a fruitful unofficial partnership. That's when all hell broke loose. The other owners took notice of how easily we were assisting each other (without breaking the rules, mind you) and they began to feel like it was unfair. I would drop players and she would pick them up two days later. I would trade for players expressly to give them to her for the real player I wanted from her team. Mind you, all these actions are not against the rules. It was more of the general spirit that we became exclusive collaborators that miffed everyone else. They felt like we were two heads of the same monster, impossible to beat. And we said that we were doing what any real owners would do, making moves to cover both of our asses. Where I had a hole and she had a surplus, we were more than willing to fix that. I don't know--I guess the trouble lay with the fact that we already knew each other so well, what we could pull and what we couldn't, that adding and dropping players became a simple yes-or-no procedures rather than the laborious task of haggling that it was for everyone else. In a sense, it was like asking my younger sister to do me a favor rather than asking a co-worker--all parts of the process were just sped up. We were making more moves left and right than anyone else in the league were making in a few weeks time.
It wasn't before long that we were accused of cheating.
In fact, I think the real trouble started when we went to Chicago that year. If making deals over the phone was quick, when we were talking off-handedly after dinner or before bed about how best to improve our teams decisions were being made at light speed.
As soon as we got back from our trip, formal charges were levied again us. We were colluding, we were deliberately throwing the game to make sure that one of us won, we were cheating. It didn't hit the final straw until I made a comment that, again, Manny was abusing his powers as Commissioner. Not only was I publicly accused of courting controversy, but I was also accused of intentionally bringing her in as a puppet. I was told I was calling the shots in this partnership, that I was effectively using both teams as one super team and she was merely a figurehead.
I walked. Or rather I should say we both walked. It didn't take long for what had been posted about us to hit her view either. Neither one of us were willing to be put through that level of scrutiny in what was supposed to be a fun game among friends. It's one thing to be competitive and act like a sore loser. It's another thing entirely to accuse an individual of cheating, let alone an entire conspiracy to commit cheating on a league-wide scale.
It was because of that that I started my own fantasy leagues; to maintain that sense of propriety and fair play that a fantasy game should have. I've started and run about eight leagues now and not once have I ever been accused of bending the rules in my favor. Not once have I been accused of setting aside what's best for the league in favor of what was best for me. More importantly, every single one of my baseball leagues Breanne has always been the first person I've invited. We still trade. We still help each other out.
But you know what? She still kicks my ass in the majority of those leagues. That gal sure knows baseball.
What I came away with is the knowledge of what's important to me. Before, I thought Manny and some of the other owners were playing fast and loose with the rules. I still stayed in because it wasn't a big deal at that point. It wasn't until someone accused Little Miss Chipper of the same allegations that I walked. It wasn't until I saw firsthand my good friend being maliciously slandered in the view of everyone that I told her it wasn't worth it.
Yes, playing fantasy baseball is fun and it's something I can see myself doing for a long time to come.
But there's something more important to me for far longer than a silly game has ever been. There's someone who came first before fantasy baseball ever took root as something I might want to do someday. That's the real joy get out of playing, the fact that it's something I can include her in without a second thought.
For six months out of the year it begins to feel like me and her joined at the hip again.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
As scandals go it wasn't as nefarious as Watergate. it didn't make as big of a splash as the Iran-Contra hearings, and it certainly wasn't on the scale or scope of Enron. What it was, though, was an incident that happened to me recently that still resonates today.It was the big fantasy baseball scandal of 2007.
----
Back in 2007 I was just in the auspices of joining and competing in my first fantasy baseball league--my first fantasy sports league of any type, actually. I'd always wanted to try it out being as interested in number crunching, probability, and gamesmanship for as long as I can remember. Not only that but I've always been a big baseball but to begin with. Fantasy baseball seemed tailed to my particular talents and skill sets. It was going to be 12 of us; all employees, former employees, or friends of employees of Bally's Total Fitness in Norwalk. We were all newbies at the time to the world of fantasy sports so it was all being put together by a Bally's employee named Manny. Keeping that in mind, it wasn't surprising that the majority of us didn't know what to expect or how this would all end up when we met up on that Saturday afternoon in March of 2007. We were all expecting to have a good time. I certainly did not ever conceive that it would ever lead to one of the hugest blow-ups I have ever had nor that it would cause such a huge stink that its effects are still felt.
The draft went fine. I would say all of us walked away from the table with a good sense that we had stumbled our way through successfully. The only minor trouble came from a co-worker named Elio who couldn't make it out to the draft. That should have been our first sign that there might be a wrinkle in the operation that would prevent everything from running smoothly. It wasn't a big deal at the time, but it wouldn't stay that way for long.
I began the season auspiciously, jumping to an early lead within the first few weeks. I'd say by the first ten weeks I had built up a commanding lead over my nearest rival. It was up to this point that the cracks in the system began to show. Manny, again, mostly due to his inexperience running a league, started making a lot of moves that I thought were a little hinky. Trades and additions that seemed suspicious. I wouldn't go so far as to label these acts examples of collusion, but they most definitely were not the type of decisions one would expect from a commissioner.
Briefly explained, a commissioner's actions need to be above reproach. Even though he has a team just the same as everyone else in the league, his actions always carry more weight with them because he has the power to totally stack the deck in his (or anybody else he chooses) favor with none being the wiser. He has at his disposal methods and tools to add points, change settings, and overall screw with the system of the game to make it unfairly biased and, therefore, not fun anymore. I should know because ever since that first league, I've been commissioner in about 80% of the leagues I've joined since then.
In retrospect, some of these worrisome signs very well might have been honest glitches in the system, some erstwhile ghosts in the shell, so to speak. But I maintain to this day that some type of abuse of power was going on with a select subset of the owners that lead all the way back to our commissioner, back to Manny.
As if that weren't enough, Elio, the flaky and out-of-his-depth owner decided to move to Salt Lake City. This meant he all but abandoned our fantasy league. Sure, he claimed that his intent was to jump back in as soon as he settled in; but in the meanwhile, there were three or four weeks no actions were being taken by his team. No rosters were being set; no changes were being made. His team was basically a lame duck. So the word came down that we were to begin scouring our rolodexes for new potential owners to take over Elio's team. We thought that the best course of action rather than keeping his team around without a captain at the wheel. It was to be explained to this new manager that he would be shepherding someone else's flock and that he would have an uphill battle in front of him. But, if this man was willing, there were the beginnings of a really great team in Elio's old crew. And, if he were willing to put in the effort, there was a good chance he could still make the team competitive
I couldn't think of a better "man" for the job than Breanne, naturally. She loves baseball as much as I do and she too had been discussing joining a league at about the same time I started getting the itch.
I nominated her to the rest of the league and she was accepted without a much of a fuss. Again, in retrospect, I should have known better. I should have insisted that a more thorough review should have been performed, seeing as she was my friend. I think the implications of just how close the two of us are escaped them and that's what lead to the scandal as it unfolded later.
Within a few weeks, she and I were thick as thieves in the league. Not only had I found a perfect trading partner, but I also found someone I could discuss strategy and tactics in the league. We soon began a fruitful unofficial partnership. That's when all hell broke loose. The other owners took notice of how easily we were assisting each other (without breaking the rules, mind you) and they began to feel like it was unfair. I would drop players and she would pick them up two days later. I would trade for players expressly to give them to her for the real player I wanted from her team. Mind you, all these actions are not against the rules. It was more of the general spirit that we became exclusive collaborators that miffed everyone else. They felt like we were two heads of the same monster, impossible to beat. And we said that we were doing what any real owners would do, making moves to cover both of our asses. Where I had a hole and she had a surplus, we were more than willing to fix that. I don't know--I guess the trouble lay with the fact that we already knew each other so well, what we could pull and what we couldn't, that adding and dropping players became a simple yes-or-no procedures rather than the laborious task of haggling that it was for everyone else. In a sense, it was like asking my younger sister to do me a favor rather than asking a co-worker--all parts of the process were just sped up. We were making more moves left and right than anyone else in the league were making in a few weeks time.
It wasn't before long that we were accused of cheating.
In fact, I think the real trouble started when we went to Chicago that year. If making deals over the phone was quick, when we were talking off-handedly after dinner or before bed about how best to improve our teams decisions were being made at light speed.
As soon as we got back from our trip, formal charges were levied again us. We were colluding, we were deliberately throwing the game to make sure that one of us won, we were cheating. It didn't hit the final straw until I made a comment that, again, Manny was abusing his powers as Commissioner. Not only was I publicly accused of courting controversy, but I was also accused of intentionally bringing her in as a puppet. I was told I was calling the shots in this partnership, that I was effectively using both teams as one super team and she was merely a figurehead.
I walked. Or rather I should say we both walked. It didn't take long for what had been posted about us to hit her view either. Neither one of us were willing to be put through that level of scrutiny in what was supposed to be a fun game among friends. It's one thing to be competitive and act like a sore loser. It's another thing entirely to accuse an individual of cheating, let alone an entire conspiracy to commit cheating on a league-wide scale.
It was because of that that I started my own fantasy leagues; to maintain that sense of propriety and fair play that a fantasy game should have. I've started and run about eight leagues now and not once have I ever been accused of bending the rules in my favor. Not once have I been accused of setting aside what's best for the league in favor of what was best for me. More importantly, every single one of my baseball leagues Breanne has always been the first person I've invited. We still trade. We still help each other out.
But you know what? She still kicks my ass in the majority of those leagues. That gal sure knows baseball.
What I came away with is the knowledge of what's important to me. Before, I thought Manny and some of the other owners were playing fast and loose with the rules. I still stayed in because it wasn't a big deal at that point. It wasn't until someone accused Little Miss Chipper of the same allegations that I walked. It wasn't until I saw firsthand my good friend being maliciously slandered in the view of everyone that I told her it wasn't worth it.
Yes, playing fantasy baseball is fun and it's something I can see myself doing for a long time to come.
But there's something more important to me for far longer than a silly game has ever been. There's someone who came first before fantasy baseball ever took root as something I might want to do someday. That's the real joy get out of playing, the fact that it's something I can include her in without a second thought.
For six months out of the year it begins to feel like me and her joined at the hip again.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
Labels: bonds, fantasy baseball, Lisa Loeb, scandal, Temper
posted by mojo shivers @ 12:36 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home