Fantasy Football is meant to be enjoyable and competitive. Don’t be the person who ruins it.
Being an ass doesn’t get you anywhere. Not in life, and not in fantasy football. If you’ve played in enough leagues you’ve probably seen these types of people I’m about to list. Doing these things not only won’t help you in your fantasy football league, but it will isolate you from your leaguemates as well.
The over-the-line Trash Talker
Talking trash is a natural part of the game. We all know this, we’ve all done this. There’s abosolutely nothing wrong with trash talk itself. But going straight to insults that cut deeper than a fantasy football roster will cause serious problems in your league. You’d think this is common sense, but it happens much more often than it should.
Nothing will create havoc in your league faster than personal attacks. In many instances it’s a league killer. On the off-chance that it doesn’t, it completely isolates yourself from the rest of your league. You’ll be the last one to know about league-relevant news, you won’t find trade partners, and there’s a good chance that you can get voted out of the league itself. You’re not going to win any fans doing this, and in turn will ruin the experience for you and everyone else.
The Quitter
Let’s be real. Not everything is going to go your way. Don’t be the person who throws a temper tantrum and quits, or gives up altogether once your season becomes a lost cause. Those remaining games might not matter to you, but they still have an impact on the rest of your league. Giving a playoff contender a free win when they’re in the middle of a tight race for a playoff spot will do nothing but put you in bad graces with the rest of your leaguemates.
Not setting a lineup shows the rest of your league that you really don’t care unless you’re winning. Toxic mentality like that is what dissipates leagues. Do it enough times and it will be hard to find a league of people you enjoy playing with. In ‘free’ leagues, this is fairly commonplace; but in those that require a buy-in this is one of the biggest ‘no-no’s that you can do.
The League Ignorer
Fantasy football isn’t life, and everyone understands that. But similar to ‘the quitter’, the league ignorer is someone who just doesn’t care about other people’s time.
How often have you been in a league where one person consistently comes up with excuses for missing announcements made by a commisioner? Or perhaps you’re in a long-draft and one person is getting autodrafted multiple time with an 8 hour limit?
Yes, fantasy football is a game. It also involves other people who don’t need to revolve their life around one selfish leaguemate. For commissioners, these and welches (more on this later) are the two worst kinds of people in your leagues. Nothing’s worse than explaining self-explanatory answers, repeating yourself for the upteenth time, or hounding people for league issues.
The Welch
The welch is one of the most hated people in the league, and personally my least favorite. I’ve chosen to avoid these people permanently in my leagues by charging upfront before any draft takes place; and to pay in advance if people wish to trade draft picks.
The welch is someone who is consistently late (or doesn’t pay) on league dues, which causes a myriad of problems for the commissioner and leaguemates. In some cases where a commissioner allows a ‘trusted’ person into a startup, it can be league killers. As a commissioner, nothing is worse than having to hound someone who’s ignoring your league fees but doing other things.
As stated before, yes, fantasy football isn’t life; but if you haven’t paid into your league after a month’s time, you’re doing it on purpose. Avoid having people like this in your league.
The Insulting Trade Sender
I’ve saved the best for last. Everyone reading this article has ran into someone who’s sent them a god-awful trade. Some of these people are blissfully ignorant to what they’re doing, while others are just looking for a sucker to take on their garbage in exchange for gold.
The ‘Insulting Trade Sender’ is probably the most common person on this list; and the trades are always terrible. Patrick Mahomes for a QB2 and RB2, Justin Jefferson for a bunch of benchwarmers. Some trades are flat out disrespectful. Here are a few trades players have DMed me to highlight just how bad it can get across leagues (none of these trades were accepted, though that should be obvious).
If you have any bad trades sent to you by someone, post them below!
