I think that many people might never give a second thought to their own team's playing order, but I have found that WHO you play each week is literally HUGE when it comes to the end of the league and where each player places in the standings.
Also, the leagues that I play in generally pay out extra money for the people who finish in first, second, and third place, along with individual trophies for first, second, and third place. One league does these two things and also the top player on each team at the end of the season gets to play in a separate “all-stars” tournament, with a chance to win even more money.
I've found that it's especially important to eliminate any biases in the playing order when you have a really strong team, where all 5 players are in the top 10 in the league, like is normally the case for our team.
Here is an example. Our captain one year insisted on playing FIRST each night. This was a league with 5-man teams, where the Away Team rotates down each round so each player only plays 3 of the people on the other team. While it's true that each team can put their players in any order in the line-up that they wish, the vast majority of teams arrange it so that their player with the highest average plays the last game of the night, the second highest average the second last game of the night, etc.
Therefore, if the captain of the team always plays FIRST in the line-up every night, they most likely will always be playing the 3 weakest players on the other team. This happened one year, and the captain, who was nowhere near the strongest player on our team, ended up with just three weeks left, with only a few games lost and all alone in first place in the league. Well, another player better than the captain and me insisted that the captain play last in the order for the last 3 weeks. And guess what happened? He lost his next 7 out of 9 games and ended-up second in the league.
For this very reason, I always insist that the highest average that week play the last game of the night, and the second highest average that week plays the second last game of the night, etc. And I'm normally the top player on our team, so I usually end-up playing the toughest players each week. But I insist on it, because it's fair for everyone else on our team. And if a player passes me for the high average, then the next week they need to play last. It helps to even out the finishes for all of the players on our OWN TEAM by the end of the year.
So now on to this year. We are playing in a new league, but the payouts for an individual are just like I mentioned above. The one difference in this league however, was that the highest averages on each team MUST play each other all 3 games. The second highest averages on each team MUST play each other all 3 games, etc. So the rules themselves are setup to eliminate most biases with the playing order.
So far so good. Except for one case. When two people on the same team have the exact same average. This happened to me twice this year. A teammate and I were tied for second in the league with the exact same average and with only 2 weeks left to play. And, we just happened to be playing a team where their player with the highest average was WAY better than their player with the second highest average. So whichever one of us got to play the much weaker player, was a HUGE favorite to win all 3 games and have a lock on second place in the league for the next week. (And the two teams we had to play to finish the season were the weakest teams in the league. So whoever on our team was in second before the last two weeks, had a really good chance to win all of their games and cinch second in the league and maybe even get first place in the league).
Now is where things went off the rails. Earlier in the year when the guy with the same average and I were tied before, we flipped a coin to see who had to play the strongest player on the other team. And the last time, I lost the flip and I played the stronger player. So far so good.
So now this new night that we were tied, I grab my teammate and pull out a coin to flip it, and he starts to hesitate. I told him that we did this last time and it's the only fair way to do it. I proceed to flip the coin, he called it, and he lost the flip. So far so good again. I'm now happy and thinking that I might have a chance to catch the guy in first place in the league.
But then our captain showed up. My teammate started to whine to the captain telling him that I wanted him to play the other team's top player. So I jump in and mention that we flipped for it like last time, but that he lost this time. The captain then proceeded to put my name down next to their top player and said that it's, “for the good of the team”. WTF?
I then started to protest a bit and then the captain literally lied to my face and he told me that I'm listed before my teammate on the standings sheet because I have more total wins, and that the guy who runs the league told him that since I have more total wins, that I'm ahead of him. So I stopped protesting and I played the top player. I was a huge favorite to beat the weaker player all 3 games, but I only beat their strongest player 2 games. My teammate also won 2 games, so we were tied again for the next week. (The last time my teammate played their top player, he only won 1 game. So obviously he wanted to have an easier night so he could stay in second place). The captain is better friends with my teammate too, so he sided with him and overruled our coin flip.
And in case anyone says that it WAS actually better for our team if I played their strongest player. I was a big favorite to beat the weaker player 3 games and my teammate beat their strongest player 1 game the last time that they played each other, which if this happened again, we would have gotten 4 total wins between us. That's exactly the number of wins that we got with me playing their strongest player. My teammate and I each won 2 games, for a total of 4 wins. So my teammate playing the weaker player was only really better for HIM, and not for the team. Lol
So I found out the next day from the guy who runs the league, that not only did he never tell our captain that I was ahead because I had more total wins, but that there is nothing to break a tie in this league. If you're tied, you're tied. So now I'm really pissed off. My captain lied to my face to benefit the other teammate and screwed me out of a chance to maybe catch the guy in first place.
I then informed the team in a group text message that the guy who runs the league told me that there is no tie-breaker and that he agrees that the most fair way to handle a tie is to flip a coin. Then you eliminate any bad karma of someone wanting to play the weaker player. You are just accepting the randomness of the coin flip and you play whoever you need to. And my team was basically ignoring anything that I told them. Like they didn't care and like I was just crying about it.
I admit that I'm very competitive. We just started playing in this league and I really wanted to take first-place, or to at least get as high as I could. The weird thing to me is, I was sure that my other teammates would jump all over the other teammate for crying to the captain to overrule the coin flip, but instead, they all were against ME and acted like I was the one crying. This whole experience left a really bad taste in my mouth and I'm pretty sure that I won't be playing with any of those guys ever again.
Am I being super anal or petty about this? Or should I be mad that my teammate and captain basically tried to give my teammate second place in the league, pretty much by decree?
Has anyone else had a similar experience? Where certain teammates insist on playing the weakest players every week? Do you mind if they then end-up tops in the league, while you've been struggling and trying to grind out your wins against all of the top players?
(I've got to say, the older that I get, the less and less tolerant that I am with any kind of unfair situations, BS, or lies. This one I think got the best of me, as small or insignificant as it may seem to some). So let's hear all of your opinions!
Also, the leagues that I play in generally pay out extra money for the people who finish in first, second, and third place, along with individual trophies for first, second, and third place. One league does these two things and also the top player on each team at the end of the season gets to play in a separate “all-stars” tournament, with a chance to win even more money.
I've found that it's especially important to eliminate any biases in the playing order when you have a really strong team, where all 5 players are in the top 10 in the league, like is normally the case for our team.
Here is an example. Our captain one year insisted on playing FIRST each night. This was a league with 5-man teams, where the Away Team rotates down each round so each player only plays 3 of the people on the other team. While it's true that each team can put their players in any order in the line-up that they wish, the vast majority of teams arrange it so that their player with the highest average plays the last game of the night, the second highest average the second last game of the night, etc.
Therefore, if the captain of the team always plays FIRST in the line-up every night, they most likely will always be playing the 3 weakest players on the other team. This happened one year, and the captain, who was nowhere near the strongest player on our team, ended up with just three weeks left, with only a few games lost and all alone in first place in the league. Well, another player better than the captain and me insisted that the captain play last in the order for the last 3 weeks. And guess what happened? He lost his next 7 out of 9 games and ended-up second in the league.
For this very reason, I always insist that the highest average that week play the last game of the night, and the second highest average that week plays the second last game of the night, etc. And I'm normally the top player on our team, so I usually end-up playing the toughest players each week. But I insist on it, because it's fair for everyone else on our team. And if a player passes me for the high average, then the next week they need to play last. It helps to even out the finishes for all of the players on our OWN TEAM by the end of the year.
So now on to this year. We are playing in a new league, but the payouts for an individual are just like I mentioned above. The one difference in this league however, was that the highest averages on each team MUST play each other all 3 games. The second highest averages on each team MUST play each other all 3 games, etc. So the rules themselves are setup to eliminate most biases with the playing order.
So far so good. Except for one case. When two people on the same team have the exact same average. This happened to me twice this year. A teammate and I were tied for second in the league with the exact same average and with only 2 weeks left to play. And, we just happened to be playing a team where their player with the highest average was WAY better than their player with the second highest average. So whichever one of us got to play the much weaker player, was a HUGE favorite to win all 3 games and have a lock on second place in the league for the next week. (And the two teams we had to play to finish the season were the weakest teams in the league. So whoever on our team was in second before the last two weeks, had a really good chance to win all of their games and cinch second in the league and maybe even get first place in the league).
Now is where things went off the rails. Earlier in the year when the guy with the same average and I were tied before, we flipped a coin to see who had to play the strongest player on the other team. And the last time, I lost the flip and I played the stronger player. So far so good.
So now this new night that we were tied, I grab my teammate and pull out a coin to flip it, and he starts to hesitate. I told him that we did this last time and it's the only fair way to do it. I proceed to flip the coin, he called it, and he lost the flip. So far so good again. I'm now happy and thinking that I might have a chance to catch the guy in first place in the league.
But then our captain showed up. My teammate started to whine to the captain telling him that I wanted him to play the other team's top player. So I jump in and mention that we flipped for it like last time, but that he lost this time. The captain then proceeded to put my name down next to their top player and said that it's, “for the good of the team”. WTF?
I then started to protest a bit and then the captain literally lied to my face and he told me that I'm listed before my teammate on the standings sheet because I have more total wins, and that the guy who runs the league told him that since I have more total wins, that I'm ahead of him. So I stopped protesting and I played the top player. I was a huge favorite to beat the weaker player all 3 games, but I only beat their strongest player 2 games. My teammate also won 2 games, so we were tied again for the next week. (The last time my teammate played their top player, he only won 1 game. So obviously he wanted to have an easier night so he could stay in second place). The captain is better friends with my teammate too, so he sided with him and overruled our coin flip.
And in case anyone says that it WAS actually better for our team if I played their strongest player. I was a big favorite to beat the weaker player 3 games and my teammate beat their strongest player 1 game the last time that they played each other, which if this happened again, we would have gotten 4 total wins between us. That's exactly the number of wins that we got with me playing their strongest player. My teammate and I each won 2 games, for a total of 4 wins. So my teammate playing the weaker player was only really better for HIM, and not for the team. Lol
So I found out the next day from the guy who runs the league, that not only did he never tell our captain that I was ahead because I had more total wins, but that there is nothing to break a tie in this league. If you're tied, you're tied. So now I'm really pissed off. My captain lied to my face to benefit the other teammate and screwed me out of a chance to maybe catch the guy in first place.
I then informed the team in a group text message that the guy who runs the league told me that there is no tie-breaker and that he agrees that the most fair way to handle a tie is to flip a coin. Then you eliminate any bad karma of someone wanting to play the weaker player. You are just accepting the randomness of the coin flip and you play whoever you need to. And my team was basically ignoring anything that I told them. Like they didn't care and like I was just crying about it.
I admit that I'm very competitive. We just started playing in this league and I really wanted to take first-place, or to at least get as high as I could. The weird thing to me is, I was sure that my other teammates would jump all over the other teammate for crying to the captain to overrule the coin flip, but instead, they all were against ME and acted like I was the one crying. This whole experience left a really bad taste in my mouth and I'm pretty sure that I won't be playing with any of those guys ever again.
Am I being super anal or petty about this? Or should I be mad that my teammate and captain basically tried to give my teammate second place in the league, pretty much by decree?
Has anyone else had a similar experience? Where certain teammates insist on playing the weakest players every week? Do you mind if they then end-up tops in the league, while you've been struggling and trying to grind out your wins against all of the top players?
(I've got to say, the older that I get, the less and less tolerant that I am with any kind of unfair situations, BS, or lies. This one I think got the best of me, as small or insignificant as it may seem to some). So let's hear all of your opinions!
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