Fighting over Fantasy Sports Rules?

Fantasy games come with a set of rules. But unlike the real leagues they are based on, these rules can sometimes have considerable grey areas. Many leagues add or amend rules from year to year but with the addition of new rules come, well, even more rules.

So what do you do when a GM in your league takes advantage of a grey area—or loophole, that is—many times, accidentally created?  If a GM makes a move that doesn’t actually break a rule but isn’t exactly above-board, is he wrong? Or is he playing within the rules?

Whether you are playing fantasy football, baseball, hockey, golf, or even fantasy American Idol, chances are you know one of these shysters. Perhaps you are even one of them. Or you agree with them. I guess that depends on a number of things...

1. Where do they sit in the standings?

First place? You can almost guarantee a unanimous vote from the league’s GMs that this guy is circumventing the rules. Middle of the pack? You will likely have a league divided (unless it’s the one annoying guy that somehow keeps coming back every year). Dead last? The issue probably won’t even be brought to a vote.

2. How many championships does the rule-bender have?

If this is a GM with some hardware on his mantel, you can bet a majority vote will likely find him guilty. On the flipside, if it’s the league chump who chokes the last week of the season and fails to make the playoffs year in and year out, chances are you will be more lenient with a decision. You want to give the guy a sporting chance right?

3. You ask yourself, “Can this loophole help me?”

Let’s be honest. Any time one of these questionable moves comes up, every GM questions whether it can help their team. Yes? You’re definitely voting for the loophole to remain open. No? Then you are probably calling foul with the intensity of Ed Hochuli.

The bottom line is that there isn’t a fair way to make the grey areas black or white once the season has begun. The GMs will always vote with some type of bias. In my league, the outcome of these votes has started fistfights, ended friendships and without fail, prompted many a GM to utter the phrase “Forget this league. I quit!”

This reoccurring issue is what caused my league to find an alternative to the majority vote. We needed a system that delivered an unbiased, clear-cut decision to these grey issues. Our answer was www.instantjury.com.

At Instant Jury, any arguments or issues can be brought before a jury made up of public users. A plaintiff pleads the case, a defendant refutes the argument, and then the jury delivers a verdict. In the world of fantasy imperfection, this system works beautifully to decide issues that otherwise would leave us screaming at each other for months. We might not always agree with the decision of the jury, but we do agree that the process is fair.

You can see a real case that was posted by our league members here.

Unless your league is perfect or your commissioner’s taking bribes, I bet you have a use for a system like Instant Jury. It’s saved our league...and our friendships!