I visited Disney World last week and on the flight from Buffalo to Orlando there were several people who clapped when the plane landed. It was an uneventful flight; we landed 30 minutes early and the bumps and turbulence during the flight were minimal at most. This led me to tweet how annoying the clappers were and that it was a top-10 pet peeve of mine. I mean, would you really board a flight if there was even a remote chance of something bad happening? Does everyone realize a vehicular accident on the way to the airport is much more likely to happen than anything bad on the plane?
Someone asked me via Twitter what the rest of my top-10 pet peeves were and instantly the one that came to mind is the lack of people who understand what the passing lane is and how to use it. This came to make me think how I could apply this to the fantasy world. While on vacation I decided to come up with five of my top fantasy pet peeves. In no particular order, here they are.
1. The bad trader
In every league trading should be one of the most fun parts of being in that league. Too often owners get lost in "winning" a trade that would be good in a vacuum when they just need to "win" the trade by making their team better. However, we've likely been in a league where there's been a bad trader or two. This person can be a bad trader in a variety of ways. They offer something ridiculous for your star player in a way that almost seems that they hope you'll mistakenly hit the "accept" button instead of the "decline" button. Then when you question their offer they often use the crutch excuse of "well, it's a starting point and I was expecting you to counter-offer." There are also people who will offer players that were injured that day hoping someone hasn't seen the news. Then there's the guy who sends a million different offers but won't compromise and ultimately a deal is never reached unless he's robbing you blind.
2. Some experts/pundits
It amazes me that people don't do their own research and blindly buy into so-called "experts" for their DFS picks and now gambling picks. I understand reading DFS articles but personally only do so once I've made my picks in case I've missed something. As a DFS "expert" some sites allow you to cast a wide net by recommending multiple players to use for DFS regardless if it's baseball, basketball or football. Funny how they recommend players and don't use them in their own lineups. Funny how they show their big wins but on the days they lose, you don't see those screenshots? Let's look at the gambling "experts". It amazes me that people will pay for not only pay for gambling picks but accept the excuses of the "experts" when they lose. It's comical when experts who have gone cold find an excuse as to why they're losing (team couldn't hit the three, etc.) and the sheep following except said excuses and continue to follow them into bankruptcy.
3. The idiot in the draft
There are several ways to screw up a draft for the entire league and it seems to happen a lot. There's the guy who has a bad internet connection and asks for the commissioner to dial back the draft so he can bid on a player he missed out on. There's the person…who… uses… every… second… of… the… clock… to… make… a… pick…even… if… they… have… the… first… pick. Granted, there are extenuating circumstances but asking for more than one or two breaks over the course of a draft is excessive, be prepared to sit there for the next 2-4 hours and use the bathroom when it makes sense. Also, bringing up a player who's already been nominated is excusable but it ends there with *one* player. Bringing up multiple players who have already been selected to a team is just bad form.
4. The lack of uniformity among fantasy sites
This situation is ultimately on me but I lost a season-long points bonus in football this year (cost me $150) because the site I used was slightly different than the site (Yahoo!) I usually use. When switching a player to the bench, on Yahoo! It automatically saves the player when you move them. On the site I used during this particular league for football, I needed to click "save" to make the changes. I didn't one week and when Leonard Fournette was ruled out and I thought I benched him, I did not. I ended up losing the season-long points total bonus by less than one fantasy point. I'm pretty sure whoever I would have put in his place would have gotten me the bonus. I'm sure there are other examples of how sites should run (waiver moves, FAAB, etc) more in line with each other.
5. DFS GPP payouts
I understand that the DFS sites want to promote a huge overall top prize for their GPPs and that probably makes those contests more popular. I think it's a bit crazy though when you have a winning lineup for a GPP and the minimal cash isn't even double what the entry fee is. There's a soccer GPP right now with 2,374 entries at $5 a pop. If you get first, you win $1,000. If you win 16th? 50 bucks. That's it. If you finish 331-580, $8, a whopping $3 more than your entry fee. Most DFS players would rather have a more evened out payout with less going to the top overall prize. I'd think by dispersing the winnings more evenly it would help keep more players in the game for a longer period of time and thus grow the industry.
Did I miss anything obvious? Hit me up on Twitter @KCPayne26