Zaktansky on fantasy football: Veto the veto?

Sometimes fantasy football league commissioners have a tough job. Take, for example, one commissioner, who asked my opinion on a pending trade in his league.

Someone offered Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison for Frank Gore. The trade was pending, based on league votes. Several people had voted to veto the deal, feeling it was too one-sided. The commissioner was wondering what to do next.

Issues such as these can get really messy and can actually ruin fantasy leagues. Deciding on who got the better end of the deal becomes a matter of opinion. One person's idea of a one-sided trade could be another person's idea of a good bargain deal.

The best example I can come up with actually happened in one fantasy league according to someone I met at the fantasy football cafe. One guy, an Eagles fan, wanted DeSean Jackson on his roster and offered T.J. Houshmanzadeh straight up for him. Everyone else in the league thought he was crazy -- T.J. was drafted in the second round -- Jackson in the last -- of their fantasy football draft two weeks before. The Eagles fan insisted that he was getting the better end of the deal, pointing out that Jackson was, at the time, looking more and more like a lock to start in Philadelphia due to receiver injury concerns. The deal was ultimately vetoed.

Now, after two regular season games, TJ has netted just six total points in most fantasy scoring formats (12 in PPR leagues), while DeSean has over 216 yards on 12 receptions and 33 overall points in PPR leagues. Is it fair that the Eagles fan missed out on landing DeSean at what now looks like a good value simply because his leaguemates limited him?

In the Manning-Harrison-for-Gore trade above, I personally don't see the issue. Up front, Manning has been mediocre at best, and many experts are now predicting that he could struggle throughout the season due to offensive line issues. Marvin Harrison has seen a number of targets, but could be considered the No. 3 receiver on the Colts at the moment. There even was a small article on Sports Illustrated's Web site that Harrison's career is about over. Gore, who is a risk in some ways, could technically become a top-five running back this season -- especially factoring in early-season injuries to LaDanian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson along with horrible performances from Joseph Addai and Steven Jackson. I later learned that the guy offering Manning and Harrison also had Jay Cutler on his roster. So what is wrong with dealing some quality depth to improve your starters? The guy obviously can't start both Cutler and Manning each week. Dealing depth for starter upgrades is usually how fantasy championships are won.

The bottom line is that there is no fair, unbiased way to police fantasy football trades if you are going to pick them apart making sure that everyone in the league is getting equal value for their deals. Doesn't that take away one of the main elements of the game: the capitualistic view of managing your team competively and trying everything possible to improve the overall product.

The league commissioner's job shouldn't be to make sure that there is parity in your fantasy league, but that no one is taking advantage of the system and cheating the league. This is why I've always endorsed one simple rule when it comes to fantasy football trades in the leagues I oversee: the only trades that get shot down are those where collusion is strongly suspected.

Collusion, according to Webster's New World Dictionary is: a secret agreement for fraudulent or illegal purpose; conspiracy. Collusion is when two owners in your league get together and decide to make a transaction where one team clearly gets a boost at the expense of the other squad. This typically occurs later in the season, closer to the playoffs and usually happens between close friends or family members in the league. In most cases, a team who has fallen out of playoff contention who makes a fairly one-sided trade to a playoff contender would be a potential collusion case and needs investigated.

In each of my leagues, I state early (before the season starts) to everyone in the league what my viewpoint is on collusion and that trades will be accepted unless I get a red flag or two about the deal. In that case, I request both sides to explain their reasoning for making the trade. If both parties can make a point on how the trade improves their specific roster, I allow the trade. If I still have concerns, I share all comments to the rest of the league, and then there is a vote.

The bottom line is that fantasy football is a game and should be fun for everyone, and that no one should be limited because others may be too short-sighted to see value in a pending trade. The next time that a trade is pending in your league, think twice before hitting the veto button -- or at least take the time to shoot an e-mail to the parties involved and do a little research before you kill out what may be a key trade in someone's fantasy strategy.

Daily Item league off and running

After another successful auction draft, members of the Daily Item fantasy football reader league have survived two weeks of action in what looks to be a very competitive contest once again. New league member Jeff Santer (G-Men Special) currently leads the league with a 2-0 record and 194 overall team points. Other undefeated teams include Ken Hoffman's Kenwins' and, due to a lot of luck and not much at all from LaDanian Tomlinson, my Paige's PicklePackers'.

n E-mail comments to jzaktansky@dailyitem.com

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