Entry #7: Everyone Hates Me – How I Have Become the Most Despised Fantasy Player in all my Leagues

Over the first few weeks of the season, I have come to the stark realization that nobody likes me.  The only guys that don’t have hate towards me are the new guys.  Everyone else wants me to go 0 and 13.  The hate that I have received in the form of vitriolic message board posts in 2 of my leagues has caught me off-guard and it got me thinking…. Why does everyone hate me?  I have matured a bit over the years so I don’t do all these things now, but I did do them in the past.  Below are the top 5 reasons why I have become the most despised fantasy player in my fantasy leagues.

Reason #1:  I have horrible draft etiquette.  All 3 of my fantasy drafts are offline.  We get together, eat, drink, and draft over the course of a few hours.  Draft day is one of the most exciting days of the year.  Better than Christmas when I was a kid.  I am overly excited and antsy for the draft to take place.  I have to say that I am the most prepared drafter in the room and it usually takes me 2 seconds to make my selection.  After a couple beers, I start to get impatient and bored, especially when people take 4 minutes to make their 3^rd round pick.  Without fail, in the 3^rd or 4^th round of any draft, someone makes a horrendous pick.  I am usually the guy cracking a wise comment like, “Hey man, great pick, he was my 28^th ranked running back!”  Due to my arrogance and loose tongue, the hatred starts at the draft.

Reason #2:  Nobody likes to hear how bad their team is.  The hatred increases the following day with the unveiling of my draft grades.  In 2 of my leagues, I think I am Mel Kiper Jr. and usually put up draft grades for every team the day after the draft.  This takes about 2 hours and I give a grade, odds of winning, and best pick/worst pick analysis.  At first, people loved the draft grades.  After a couple years, certain people hated them.  Year to year, I usually give the same people decent grades while others get horrible grades every year.  The people consistently getting Cs and Ds hate me.  This year, I got about 3 posts in my big league responding to how horrible my draft grades are and how much they hate me.       

Reason #3:  I prey on the weak.  As I stated in my previous post on trading, I have made a living on making great trades over the years.  In my church league, I have had 2 of my trades vetoed in the last 2 years because everyone hates me and nobody wants me to improve my team.

Reason #4:  If I have his handcuff, I let the other owner know through email, IMs, or texts.  If I have a person of value to another owner, I let them know… constantly.  For example, if I owned Rashard Mendenhall (before he blew up this wk), I would have definitely sent an instant message to the guy who owned Willie Parker letting him know that Parker was hurt and how badly he needed Mendenhall.  I would probably send them a menacing update off Rotoworld that stated how bad Parker’s turf toe was and how he has lost a step anytime this sort of news came out.  The daily barrage really annoys owners and gets them scared.  The purpose for this is to try to bait the owner into trading with you.  I might even pick up a player solely to trade him to an owner who would value him.  This is pretty terrible. 

Reason #5:  I have a fantasy blog.  I’m sure the players in my leagues are thinking, why does he have a blog??  He doesn’t know more than me!

Although I was a little taken back by the hate at first, I love it now.  It will make winning that much sweeter.  I am in the doing well in 2 of my leagues but am not doing too hot in my 3^rd.  If my team ever turns it around in that league….. watch out.