Am I being irrational? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

icarus · 02-12-2006, 12:09 AM

Okay here's the situation. Bear with me.

One of the Yahoo hockey pools I'm in had a live draft back in September, as they tend to do. More or less half the people in the pool were online during the draft, a number of them were on their laptops in the same room at the time.

Now if you those of you who do the Yahoo pool thing remember, Ovechkin was not available at the time of the draft as he had not yet played his first game, NHLPA licensing yada yada yada. Neither were guys like Phaneuf, Richards, Carter, etc. (for some strange reason Crosby was in).

Anyways, when it came to his selection in about the 4th or 5th round of this pool one of the guys who was in the room with the others at the time declared "I'm drafting Ovechkin now"--even though he wasn't available. There was no agreement in place at the time that you could draft players who weren't there. I was online, and he typed it into the little chatroom box; of course I thought at the time, well of course he won't end up with Ovechkin, the guy with the highest waiver priority will probably claim him.

He used the actual pick to take another player--probably one of the best available at the time.

As expected the guy with the highest waiver priority claimed Ovechkin as soon as he became available in the pool. But that guy just happened to be the pool administrator so the person who had laid claim during the draft accused the administrator of rigging the pool so that he would end up with Ovechkin. Long story short, the administrator caved in and changed the waiver priority so that buddy actually ended up with Ovechkin after all, and he didn't even drop the player that he technically selected in that round.

I complained at the time but no one else responded. I might have raised even more of a fuss but I was leading the pool at the time, so I thought it might have been bad form.

Well as we all know Ovechkin has proven to be a scoring machine and is the guy's best player. And now he has moved into first place, and could win the cash prize if he stays there.

So tell me this:

1. Am I off-base when in thinking this is shenanigans? No one else has complained about it.
2. Am I being too whiny by raising the issue again now that he has taken the pool lead (deposing me in the process)?

Wow that situation took longer to explain than I expected. If you have actually read this far, thank you for your time. What do you think?

ken0042 · 02-12-2006, 12:16 AM

I don't think you are being irrational, but IMHO the time to raise a complaint would have been at the time buddy picked him up.

Think of it this way- would you be complaining if had pooped the bed this season? (obviously no.)

icarus · 02-12-2006, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken0042

I don't think you are being irrational, but IMHO the time to raise a complaint would have been at the time buddy picked him up.

Think of it this way- would you be complaining if had pooped the bed this season? (obviously no.)

Well I did complain when he actually did end up with him, and nothing came of it.

I didn't say anything when he laid his claim during the draft, firstly because I wasn't sure if he was joking, and secondly because I didn't think he really would end up with Ovechkin, considering there are nineteen other people in the pool who theoretically should also have had a chance at him on waivers.

The situation is uncannily like Florida drafting Ovechkin with their 9th round pick in 2003. No one complained at the time because they knew he was unavailable, but if Florida had actually ended up with him you could be sure that all the other teams would have raised a stink about it.

postal · 02-12-2006, 12:32 AM

If this is actually a pool with real money prizes, this sort of thing should have been taken care of prior to the draft taking place. Did you have to pay online to yahoo or was it simply a private draft among friends where someone collected all the money. Pretty unfortunate turn of events for you though. As much as it does suck for you, I think the opportunity for you to do something has passed by. Maybe talk to the administrator and see if he's willing to trade you his best player to even things out...after all, he should have made a stance from the getgo.

icarus · 02-12-2006, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by postal

If this is actually a pool with real money prizes, this sort of thing should have been taken care of prior to the draft taking place. Did you have to pay online to yahoo or was it simply a private draft among friends where someone collected all the money. Pretty unfortunate turn of events for you though. As much as it does suck for you, I think the opportunity for you to do something has passed by. Maybe talk to the administrator and see if he's willing to trade you his best player to even things out...after all, he should have made a stance from the getgo.

We all contributed to the pot at the outset, it wasn't like an online payment.

I'm not looking for a remedy at this point in time (I am still in first place in another pool with an even larger prize), I just want to know whether I am alone in my thinking that this is shady.

FireFly · 02-12-2006, 08:40 AM

Not alone, it is shady. At the very least, the guy he picked in that round should have been dropped off his team when he got Ovechkin.

RogerWilco · 02-12-2006, 10:37 AM

That is pretty shady. For this to have been legit, all the pool members would have to agree before the draft that he was available for draft. Then you would all have to of agreed that the person who drafted him would have to take some non factor player that round, like some one who is NA. There is no way what happend here was legit.

If you have a pool in future years you really need to pick a new league administrator.

Cowperson · 02-12-2006, 12:51 PM

Your complaint is completely legitimate.

Since money is involved, you should gather the other people in the pool together in a protest unit - presuming they agree with you - and force the issue.

Cowperson

Pagal4321 · 02-12-2006, 01:29 PM

Yes sir, you have a legitimate complaint there.

You can't just claim you are drafting a player who isn't available. In all of my Yahoo leagues it was common knowledge that getting the last pick meant getting Alex O.

habernac · 02-12-2006, 03:05 PM

pools can get pretty stupid, even when money isn't involved. In the future, have the rules set up in stone, try to plan for every conceivable problem. And in the end, the pool administrator should have the final say. I'm probably done with pools after similar stupidity earlier this year. Too much whining and BS. Too bad, as some of the pool formats are pretty damn cool out there.

mykalberta · 02-13-2006, 11:45 AM

I had a similar problems in a couple of free NFL drafts.

My policy in these pool types is I stay with my picks until the end, no trading etc.

In one pool I ended up taking 4 quality running backs. 1 as a full back, 2 as running backs and one as a 5th reciever.

A couple of guys starters got hurt and as such they proposed deals with me. As my guys were all fine, but 3 were effectively bench sitters they only offered me crap. I could see they were in a bind so I would offer package deals (say 1 RB + 4th WR for they guys 2nd WR etc) they all cried foul. After a whole boatload of fo BS I have decided to never ever do an NFL draft ever again.

You are in the right, the admin should have never caved. If I were you I would get some more people together to bitch about it. The guy who picked AO is an obvious tool looking to gain advantage.

MYK

Bobblehead · 02-13-2006, 06:49 PM

That's ALWAYS my strategy. Get the best RB avaiable first 2 or 3 rounds, then QB, then RB again. I hope that the other guys get in a bind. Then they lose, or I score a great player for one of my needs.
I always laugh when they try to offer me junk and reply, "I could have had him when I was drafting but I still like the guy I took".

I got Ovechkin in my league, and I specifically didn't pick up players so I could get to the top of the waiver wire. Luckily, the guy who was first on the waiver wire didn't submit a pick, so I got Ovechkin. But I would have been ****ed if the commissioner screwed me over like that.