Are You Ready For Some...

...FOOTBALL!?!? (And manners.)

My first draft is (hopefully, if I can get the password in time) tonight, courtesy of the shul league I'm in. Next week I have draft Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. I'm also in my old office spread pool, survivor pool, possibly the shul survivor pool, and of course, Year XIII of Ezzie's NFL Pool, which anyone who is interested should e-mail me for an invite to and details. I am ready for some football. :)

As an aside, sometimes little things like fantasy football and pools can tell you a lot about a person. I've been running my pool for a long time, and it sometimes resulted in me eating money when people dropped out or forgot to pay, or thought they'd paid, and it became difficult trying to collect because I didn't necessarily have a way to get in touch with them. Partly because of that, partly because it's standard, and partly because of the work involved, I get my entry free, though I don't take a cut. But I never had a situation like I had this past year with two new guys.

After a few weeks, when their money still hadn't arrived, I e-mailed them on the e-mail addresses they used in the league. No response. I posted on the message boards - no response, though they were still putting in picks each week, so they could easily have seen it. I put it on the pool. I finally asked the people who they'd gotten the invite from for their personal e-mails, and tried them that way; one never replied despite repeated attempts.

The other, though, was even more disgusting. After first avoiding my e-mails, he finally replied that he thought he'd paid - via PayPal. After noting that there was no such payment (after triple-checking even though I already knew), he argued that perhaps he sent it to the wrong person but he'll "send 100 again". Except... the league is $125, and $150 if it's late. ($100 is if you get in early, as most people do.) I noted this, and he got upset, arguing that he never knew it was more than $100 and he'd only pay $100. I pointed out that the invitation clearly states the price, and that as there is no other way to join, he had to have received it. He then tried to argue that "well I was told 100 so that's all I'm gonna pay." After I said no to that, his next argument was that he never knew I get a free entry, it's "not right", and that he's not paying because of it. After I noted that this was rather standard, and nobody had had an issue the first 11 years of my running the league, he tried to complain that the invitation doesn't say that I take a free entry (though it's in the league settings), then he claimed I take "a lot of money" from it. When I asked what he's referring to, he said something about my taking $400 from the pool. I noted that was false, and again asked him to pay up. He still hasn't replied to any e-mails since.

Meanwhile, he continued putting picks in the rest of the season, even after refusing to pay. You can't get much more disgusting than that... though another guy is trying.

He was in my pool for a few years and I was in his; we traded entries. After I informed him that this year I would be passing on joining his, he started spamming everyone in my league with invites to his league - without ever asking me or them if he could e-mail any of them. I only found out because a couple guys mentioned to me they were getting all these e-mails from him. Gross.