hoops23;560352 wrote:I run a league with 11 of my closest friends. It's annually a pretty decent sized winner take all pot and this league has been a 12 team league for several years.
Well anyway, last season, one of our friends asked if his four buddies could join to try out a 16 team league. Now, we're all cool with these other guys as they've hung out before, so we had no problem with it.
Now, in a 16 team league, overall talent is pretty sparse, so every good player turns into a very valuable piece.
As time goes on, 2 of the 4 dudes completely fall out of the race for the playoffs. Then the fishy shit starts kicking in... You see both of the winners trying to make trades with the losers. I'm talking trades that made me want to slap the hell out of all involved.
So, we have a league vote for EVERY trade, if it's vetoed, that's final.. Naturally, the trades were shot down. That's when the fun started. All 4 of them start posting messages about how the league was against them..blah, blah, blah...
The worst team even dropped his entire team. It was a total mess. One thing lead to another and there is a full fledged war going on between a few of the long standing league members and these 4 dudes who joined up. So, enough was enough and I eventually just kicked them 4 all out at around week 10.
Never again. 12 teams is enough anyway, and much more calmer when you know you can trust everybody to play it the right way.
With a winner take all pot like that I'd probably never do a 16 team league anyway. 8-12 is the best IMO. And I'd only do 6 or 14/16 team leagues if it was for fun or if the buyin wasn't too much and atleast top 3 paidout. The most fun I ever had tho was in a 24 team league(not for money of course haha).