Me, the GM . . . HAL, the manager . . . tanking??

[The Jerk Store]

I recently joined a live draft league for the 2009 set. I showed up for the draft, chose the players I wanted, participated in waivers, put together a scrub-less team (I have three players under 2 mil (Omar Vizquel, Matt Weiters, and Eric O'Flahterty) and a roster of 28) . . . in other words I drafted what I feel is a very competitive team.

I decided to not set my lineups/rotation/strategy/player settings and let HAL run the show. Basically, I acted as GM and I hired HAL to manage. (maybe I am Drayton Moore and I hired Trey Hillman . . . )

I e-mailed the league with my intentions, saying I've never tried letting HAL manage and was curious on how he'd make his lineup decisions, etc and asked if anyone had tried this before.

One manager e-mailed back and said he's seen it done, with little success, and wished me luck (and said I'd need it).

Another manager e-mailed back and said this was considered TANKING and that I am required to manage my team.

I respectfully disagree with the tanking statement, as I did my best GM impersonation and constructed an at least decent team and I am not purposely making any settings/roster moves to try to lose.

Thoughts? The league starts tonite, so if I am wrong and my plan IS considered tanking I should probably take action sooner rather than later.

[The Jerk Store]

I suppose I shouldn't post this without a link to the team in question:

[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=294405[/url]

[Salty]

Ill recap what I said in the league-
If it wasn't an option for a person to let HAL manage then its up to TSN to have settings where this isn't possible- to me punishing the user would be akin to entrapment.
I personally wouldn't do it for more than a few games- but I will defend the right to do so- to the death of my 2 TOED SLOTH team.

Salt


I really can't believe this has even caused a big controversy in our cursed league.

[l.strether]

To avoid tanking, you have to try to manage to win and adjust your managing to best prepare your team for each separate team you face. If you let HAL manage everything and do no managing to try to improve your chances according to the differences between opposing teams, you are not playing to win and you are throwing games: you are tanking.

This is not a controversy, it is not entrapment (lol), it is a disagreement for Bernie to settle or not settle. But letting Hal manage the whole season is tanking that season

[AeroDave10]

I don't know what these other managers are seeing. This is not "tanking" at all. You're not trying to lose or giving away great players for bad ones or mismatching your players to the stadium or anything like that. I see a lot of stupid strategies in SOM; it doesn't necessarily mean they're "illegal" or "unethical".

I don't see anywhere in the rules that it says you have to adjust your strategy to each opponent or make changes as the season goes along. In fact, the best strategy typically seems to be to have a great draft and pre-season and then have faith that you did a good job and wait out any poor starts knowing that they'll turn things around.

[l.strether]

[quote:239d5041a2="AeroDave10"]I don't know what these other managers are seeing. This is not "tanking" at all. You're not trying to lose or giving away great players for bad ones or mismatching your players to the stadium or anything like that. I see a lot of stupid strategies in SOM; it doesn't necessarily mean they're "illegal" or "unethical".

I don't see anywhere in the rules that it says you have to adjust your strategy to each opponent or make changes as the season goes along. In fact, the best strategy typically seems to be to have a great draft and pre-season and then have faith that you did a good job and wait out any poor starts knowing that they'll turn things around.[/quote:239d5041a2]

Waiting out a poor start (ok) is not the same thing as doing nothing (not ok), and rules do not have to specifically spell out all connotations of a disallowed activity (such as tanking) to make clear what is not allowed by those rules. Also, trying to win poorly is still trying to win, and THAT is what is required. Doing nothing with your team is not trying to win; it is trying to not win as one can (if not as one will); therefore, it is tanking.

[artie4121]

Jeez, I agree with Getowtamypot and Dave. It is a valid option, and frankly, none of anyone's business.

I personally think that HAL is definitely able to win games that I can't win. Frankly, I can and have screwed up my own team WAY more effectively than HAL ever could.

The idea that this is "Tanking" is ridiculous. You manage your way, let everyone else pay their $25 and manage the way THEY want. We know what tanking is, and letting HAL Take the rudder ain't tanking.

"Tanking." :lol:

Artie

[l.strether]

[quote:5605629537="Artie412"]Jeez, I agree with Getowtamypot and Dave. It is a valid option, and frankly, none of anyone's business.

I personally think that HAL is definitely able to win games that I can't win. Frankly, I can and have screwed up my own team WAY more effectively than HAL ever could.

The idea that this is "Tanking" is ridiculous. You manage your way, let everyone else pay their $25 and manage the way THEY want. We know what tanking is, and letting HAL Take the rudder ain't tanking.

"Tanking." :lol:

Artie[/quote:5605629537]It is exactly everyone's business in a league if a player decides to not differentiate his managing according to the opposition and just keep Hal the same on the same options the whole season. Letting Hal "take the rudder" is tanking because you are not helping him with the rudder; you are not playing. Whether or not you are a poor helper is irrelevant. You help Hal, you play to win; you refuse to help Hal, you tank.

[DOUGELKE]

I don't know if it's tanking or not. I spent 3 weeks in the hospital last december and with Hal running my teams did get 1 championship, so I don't know either way

[voovits]

Plain and simply put, it's not tanking. It's a perfectly valid strategy.
As I stated in the post on the other forum, it's actually a widely used strategy in the mystery card game as HAL already knows the season each player is using, and we don't.
I know it's not a mystery card league, but if the strategy is valid there, it should be valid in any other league.
Whether or not it's a [b:ea7d2df0e7]good[/b:ea7d2df0e7] strategy in a league like this is another topic of discussion, but it's perfectly legal.