It happens every year in almost every league. Somewhere around the 7th or 8th game of the season, some owner realizes that there is no way that his team is going to make the playoffs or be in the money this year. Maybe he drafted Mike Vick and Jimmy Smith the weekend before they were injured and suspended (respectively). Or maybe his Stud D and TE drafting strategy turned out to be as stupid as it sounds.

But, he has not lost total hope. He knows that there is still next year. Specifically, there is next year's draft. If your league, like most, determines next year's draft order based on the previous year's record…then the team with the worst record typically gets the first overall pick in the draft. If you are in a dynasty league or keeper league with multiple keepers, the first overall pick in the draft could be a huge windfall in your next draft (remember the guy in your Dynasty League last year who landed Clinton Portis in the rookie draft? Enough said).

What is Tanking?

When an owner intentionally throws games in order to assure his team ends the season with the worst overall record (thus assuring themselves of the first overall draft pick) he is said to be tanking.

Before we go any further, let's make it perfectly clear to you rookies out there who don't already know this…tanking is bad sportsmanship on the same level as cheating. If you believe otherwise, then I implore you to stop reading now. I'm sure there are some small children you could be swindling out of their lunch money somewhere.

"But I don't control how well my players play each week. How could I possible tank a game?" There are numerous ways to tank games. I'm reluctant to list them here, in case I give any of you out there any bad ideas. But since I believe the vast majority of Footballguys.com readers are honorable, I'll list them anyway so that you all can be better prepared to call an owner out if you suspect he's tanking games:

• Starting Injured Players - watch for owners who leave their starters in the lineup despite injuries. Starting a healthy Mike Alstott is better than starting Marshall Faulk if he's out with an injury.



• Benching their Stud Players - so, Marshall Faulk's healthy, and you bench him for Larry Centers, you are probably tanking. A guilty owner may claim he's "playing the matchup" that week, but how could you ever justify starting Johnny Morton over Marvin Harrison?



• Not Benching players on their Bye-weeks - Clinton Portis has a bye in Week 10. However, you don't adjust your roster and thus start a player who's not playing that week. Sure, you might have had to start Moe Williams instead, but at least he was playing that week.

Any time an owner deliberately puts out anything other than his best lineup, he is tanking. Some owners even resort to outright giving up on a season, i.e., they quit adjusting their roster all together. They ignore bye-weeks, injuries, and math ups. Indifference is just as insidious as tanking.

Why Tanking Is Wrong

First and foremost, tanking is wrong because it undermines the integrity of the games and the league. But let's examine some other ramifications that tanking could have on your league.

• The effects it has on other teams - tanking games can seriously affect the standings and playoff race of other teams. I remember two seasons ago in our Battle of Evermore League, we had a team go into tank-mode around week 9. The last weekend of the regular season, Team A and Team B were in a virtual dead heat for the final playoff spot in their division. Team A needed a win and Team B loss to make the playoffs. A Team B win would automatically propel them into the playoffs. The problem was that Team B was playing Team Tank. Because Team Tank was tanking, Team B was virtually guaranteed a win. As it turns out, Team did win their game. If Team Tank had started the logical lineup and not tanked, he would have beat Team B. But Team B easily beat the rigged roster of Team Tank. To say that Team A was livid with Team Tank is to say the least.



• Defeating the purpose of the draft order - as with the NFL, the purpose of a FFL draft should be to help the worst teams get better through the draft. However, if the team that is tanking is a middle tier team, he is going to screw the worst team out of bettering his already really-bad team. Granted this mostly just applies to Keeper and Dynasty Leagues. Especially if your Keeper League keeps a significant number of players (our BEM League requires each owner to keep 5 players from the previous year's roster).

How to Prevent Tanking in your League

I think that any right-thinking and honorable FFL team owner can agree that tanking can only harm the integrity of your league. The following suggestions have worked for various leagues that I have been involved with in the past:

• Gentleman's Agreement - The easiest and least controversial method to avoid tanking is to discuss it at your annual team meeting (if you don't have an annual team meeting, that is an entirely different topic…but you should). Bring it out into the forefront. Discuss why it should be discouraged, and then have each owner commit to the other owners not to tank games, and vow to start their best lineup every week of the season. This method works best amongst a group who knows each other fairly (or very) well. It is less effective for online groups who may or may not really know each other.



• Imposing Fines - This can be imposed unilaterally and fairly across the league, and serves as a measure to keep all teams involved with their team every week. Simply impose a modest fine (not too much as to bankrupt, but just enough to catch your attention) for each transgression where an owner starts a player who is either on a bye-week or is on the IR. This might snare an owner who just forgot or did not get around to adjusting his starting lineup for that week, and wasn't intentionally tanking…but hey, you gotta pay attention to your lineup every week.



• League Control of Team - Does your league have a contingency plan in it's rule that stipulates what happens to abandoned teams (if you don't you should. We had a close friend die in the middle of one of our Rotisserie Baseball League's two years ago…an extreme example, I know, but it can happen. Or more likely, sometimes a player just quits caring and just quits playing)? If your team has such a policy, then you can threaten that team with the League taking over his team if he attempts to tank another game. This is an extreme measure, and should only be resorted to if the owner is obviously tanking and does not plan on stopping.



• Playoff or Lottery System for Draft Spots - In our 10-team league, 6 teams make the playoffs, and 4 do not. To prevent those bottom four from tanking games, we have instituted a Draft Lottery Playoff. It takes place during the first and second rounds of our Regular Playoffs. The non-playoff teams are ranked: Worst team plays Team 4, Second Worst Team plays Third Worst Team. The winners of the first week play in Playoff Round 2, and the winner of the playoffs gets the first overall draft pick the following year. The advantage of this system is twofold. First, it keeps teams fighting for positioning until the very end of the season. You'd much rather finish 4th to last and get to play the last place team then vice versa. Secondly, it keeps these four teams interested and involved in the league's season for two more weeks of the season.

Tanking hurts the integrity of any league, and should not be tolerated. If this is a problem in your league, talk about it. If that doesn't work, you might have to resort to a harsher policy to prevent it.