Your fantasy league's draft order should be a reward for being the absolute worst.
By @tatelol · Sports
I'm in a long-running fantasy football league and one guy wants to introduce a 'loser's playoff bracket' to decide the draft order. I think it's the dumbest idea I have ever heard.
The full story
We're in a 12-man keeper league, been running for over a decade. It’s serious. Last place has to get a terrible haircut chosen by the league champ. There are stakes. But now, one guy is trying to ruin the entire thing. He's proposing that we change how we determine the draft order for non-playoff teams. Instead of the worst record getting the #1 pick (the only correct way), he wants to have a 'consolation playoff bracket' for the six teams that miss the playoffs. The winner of THIS loser bracket would get the #1 pick. It is, without a doubt, the dumbest idea I have ever heard. His argument is that it 'keeps the bottom teams engaged until the end.' Engaged in what? A meaningless side-quest for a participation trophy? The entire point of finishing last is the punishment mixed with the single, solitary reward: you get the first shot at the next generational talent. You suffer through 14 weeks of misery, watching your first-round pick tear his ACL in week 2, for the promise of the #1 pick. It's the light at the end of the tunnel. It's the system that gives bad teams hope. This proposed system rewards mediocrity. You could have a truly awful, 2-12 team, but then you get unlucky in week 15 in the pointless loser bracket. Meanwhile, the guy who coasted to an 8-6 record and just missed the real playoffs gets hot for two weeks and wins the #1 pick? Get out of here. It completely invalidates the entire regular season for half the league. It's a classic case of someone who is perpetually mid trying to create a system where being mid is rewarded. The guy who proposed it is never good enough to win, but never bad enough to get a top-three pick. He lives in that 7-7 purgatory and he wants to drag us all down with him. I will die on this hill. Let the losers be losers.
How people voted
- Facts — 27% (13 votes)
- Depends — 42% (20 votes)
- No Way — 31% (15 votes)
Readers say “Depends” (42%) — 48 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@heyokay — sounds like you guys take this really seriously.
@brynnlol — My main league does this and the guy who got last still came in last in the consolation bracket lol.
@tom — Is the guy who proposed this consistently finishing in 7th or 8th place?
@yarakindof — Absolutely agree. You're completely right to be upset, that guy is trying to ruin a good thing.
@yaralately — participation trophies.
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