I imagine that the origins of fantasy football played out something like this:

It’s fall in the 1950’s. A quick glance down one of the many picturesque streets in this small town (the one that this piece of fiction is taking place in) reveals an odd occurrence. A mass exodus is taking place, with neighbor after neighbor departing their home, trudging through fallen leaf piles; laughing among one another. Eventually it becomes clear where all these people are heading, the football stadium. It’s a Sunday, after all, and Vince Lombardi’s Packers are ready to play. One by one they all file into the stadium, take their seats and get ready to watch football’s greatest team (at that time).

The game begins and everything is going smoothly. The Packers are methodically moving the ball down the field, running their signature sweep “right down the alley!” Two men–we’ll call them Mike and Steve–are watching the game together. Mike is bored; he’s not really a Packers fan, more of an overall football fan. He expected a closer game than the one that’s playing out on the field, so he decides to try to make it more interesting for him. He starts betting on which player will score, placing $10 or so down on the “locks,” i.e. Taylor, Hornung and Starr.

Steve, not sure how to approach this game but always willing to call someone’s bet, says “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll take the Bears.” That’s who the Packers were playing, by the way (they weren’t exactly the Monsters of the Midway at this period). Well, the Packers continued to blow out the Bears, and it became clear to Steve that he was going to be out of quite a good amount of money if things kept going this way. So in somewhat of a masterstroke, Steve called a desperate audible, deciding instead to take the backups to Starr, Hornung and Taylor. And what you know, on the Packers next offensive series, Dick Butkus gets mad and takes all three out in successive plays (remember, this never happened). The Packers backups play the rest of the game and actually play better than the starters, scoring more TDs, putting Steve ahead of Mike and letting him win some money. Thus, a multimillion dollar industry is born.

Notice Any Problems Here?

This truly fake story underlines a key facet of fantasy football. You can win by profiting off of injuries. Is it a flaw in the game? Well it depends on how you look at it. If you start a wide receiver because the main running back on the same team is out figuring that that particular team will have to pass it more, well that’s not bad at all. That’s a valid strategy.

Furthermore, if you happen to have a “backup” RB on your team that you start frequently (since there are so few true No. 1 RBs) and the starter gets hurt, thereby making you profit from an injury, well that’s not bad either. You didn’t hope for the injury, it just happened, giving your guy a few more touches. There are situations, however, that just kind of reek to me of ill will, situations in which it appears to me that an ethics code is present in fantasy football.

Don’t believe me? Well unless you want to be a fantasy jerk, there are ethics which should be followed in all leagues. Here’s an example of what constitutes a fantasy jerk. You’re in a draft, past the first four rounds, leaving few “guaranteed” starters left to choose from. So naturally, this is when people start taking flyers on talented players who are relative unknowns. Justin Forsett, Robert Meachem, Jacoby Jones and the like. Everything is going smoothly when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, one guy starts taking backup RBs. Not just any backup RBs either, the guys who serve as handcuffs for the few true studs in the league–the guys who rarely come off the field.

So in other words, this owner is injury poaching. They’re intentionally picking players in the off chance that the guys ahead of them will get hurt. They’re being a fantasy jerk. When sports writers write about why they hate fantasy football and the adverse morals it presents, it’s because of people like these. While the rest of us are going on a limb to pick the best players, this person is using little creativity and imagination. They’re ruining the fun. They’re turning this game into something ugly, into something that benefits from the injuries of another human being.

Now I don’t want to sound hypocritical, I’ve picked up backup RBs when the players ahead of them got injured, but I do it when I know the other guy is injured. Sure, I’ve profited from injuries as everyone who has played football has. I had one monster week two years ago when I was able to start Mewelde Moore and Dominic Rhodes, both of which were backups at the time filling in for their injured starters.

These were both waiver wire pickups as well, I didn’t actually draft them hoping that at some point an injury would occur. This, I believe, sets me a part from my fantasy jerk. I don’t try to “out think” my opponents by selecting players that I know will need an injury to see playing time (though injuries are extremely common in such a violent sport), I try to “out smart” them by picking players that I believe will have breakout years.

Here Comes the Judgment…

Benefitting from injuries has always been a part of any fantasy sport, but it’s not always been ugly. It’s your team, and you can do whatever you want with it, but I just want to make a plea. Please don’t go injury poaching, try to enjoy the game and your draft by doing a little bit of homework, know who the possible sleepers are and where you can get them.

Above all, don’t be a fantasy jerk. You’re better than that, right?