Maintaining the Order of the League

Proud minions of our sacred army,

We have arrived at the crossroads and it is now time to choose the path of thy noble and true of heart. Despite the temptation to stray from the decree set forth by that our holiest of institutions, we must lead our followers away from the demons and to the promised land. No man shall rise above this holy institution in favor of personal glory and it is our given order to maintain the peaceful coexistence of our solemn village.

Folks, we have reached the hot zone in the fantasy football season and it is our collective responsibilities as commissioners to lead our leagues through this tumultuous time.This is when the shit starts to get hairy.

Around week 12 every season, there's always one or two players who realize they are as good as done. These are the guys who forgot to set the roster on a regular basis and probably still have Deuce McAllister in the starting lineup. As commissioner, you have got to watch the league like a hawk and rule it with an iron hand. Why? These guys will cheat. It's not necessarily them who are the problem though, but rather it's the guys who still have an outside shot. These guys will try to come up with elaborate schemes to form an alliance to come up with one good team to make a playoff run.

I'm not naming any names, but a certain brother of mine just recently attempted to buy an entire team and then make a mass five player for five player trade which looked like something to the effect of Clinton Portis, Chris Cooley, Terrell Owens, and Marion Barber, for guys like Pierre Thomas, Kevin Walter, and Jamal Lewis. Needless to say, this caused a massive uproar by several members of the league, particularly from the team who is slated to play these guys this week.

Well, the league overthrew the trade via the veto power, but the issue still exists. It's really the next 2 weeks that make up this hot zone, because typically in late November, whether or not the trade deadline hits, these guys have plenty of tricks up their sleeves and the power to wreak havoc. Sure, the veto power is great all, but having curbed the attempted alliance, these fantasy defects will stop at nothing to wither develop a competitor or worse, cause mayhem for the strong teams. Here are some of the key stunts you may need to thwart - look out.

• Putting in Swiss cheese or empty lineups when playing against a team who, by winning, will disrupt the standings for the current leaders. For example, say there is a team tied for fifth and these bottom dwellers want them to win to screw someone else at the top.
• Dropping their players to show you that "they quit" and again screwing everyone over when someone will inevitably pick them up. This move tends to end in a scandal, because someone is usually tipped off when the player gets dropped (Stan, looking in your direction here).
• Sketchy trades (assuming you were too dumb to implement a trade deadline). "What, I needed a defense and Steve Smith hasn't been playing well."
  

Commissioners, it is your job to maintain the order. Most leagues, Yahoo! especially, have all the tools in your toolkit to prevent this from ruining an otherwise good league. You can set the veto function for trades, freeze rosters if guys are throwing games, set a trade deadline so as the playoffs near, questionable trades are a non-issue, and even make it so the teams who quit are no longer considered wins or losses. So be strong and hold your ground. This is fantasy football, not some laughing matter. Last guy who tried a stunt like this in our money league left looking like this.