Note: This entry does not address my predilection for Sheena Easton and Elizabeth Hurley.
The first week in June, I assembled what I thought was a pretty good FanDuel fantasy golf squad. With the Memorial due to tee off at roughly 6 AM, I did a 3 AM check to make sure that none of my six golfers had pulled out at the last minute. Everyone appeared to be present and accounted for.
I slept for a few hours, and when I awoke and looked at the standings, I did a "What-the-bloody-hell?" Jason Day had evidently taken some practice swings, his back had flared up, and he had pulled out right before his tee time. Just lovely. That left me with five golfers. Those familiar with FanDuel golf contests know that it's virtually impossible to win, and very difficult to cash, with just five golfers. But that's the situation in which I found myself.
Fast forward to the close of the tournament's third day, and I was somehow not only cashing, but actually a threat to crack the Top 10. Unbelievable. Through three days, John Rahm has scored more points for me than any golfer I have ever taken. He's been brilliant. He's six shots clear of the field heading into the final day. Then he signs his scorecard and is informed that he has tested positive for Covid, which means he is disqualified.
You have got to be kidding me. Well, the final day comes and goes, and my golfers, although four in number, almost cash for me. But not quite.
Later in the week, I put pitcher Max Scherzer on my FanDuel baseball team. Scherzer is one of the top pitchers in major league baseball, and his salary is high, but I want him. I check before the game to ensure that he's starting. He does indeed start, pitches to two batters, and calls it a day due to some discomfort.
And thus ended my week in fantasy hell. This was one time my fantasy would definitely have been better served with Hurley rather than a hurler.
My Fantasy Feelings
Those familiar with me know that I'm not a big fan of the concept of fantasy sports. I feel there is something intrinsically antithetical to team sports when individual statistics become the focal point of team sport conversation, perception, and how people watch the games. When irrelevant late-game stats padding is perceived as more important than team play and the goal of winning, then team sports has devolved into a crass narcissistic exercise in personal accounting.
In a perverse way, the primacy of individual conspicuousness as the face of American team sports fits hand in glove with an out of control consumer culture that tries to sell "I" as the crux of all existence. Philosophically, that's why I'm anti fantasy sports. From a practical standpoint, however, I have additional concerns.
The Slimy Underbelly of American Fantasy Sports
Back in October, 2015, Joe Drape and Jacqueline Williams of the NY Times published a fine DraftKings/FanDuel expose. This piece and previous exposes detailed how employees of FanDuel and DraftKings, while ostensibly not allowed to play at the company for which they worked, basically swapped insider information with each other. The FanDuel employees played at DraftKings, and the DraftKings employees played at FanDuel.
With access to percentages of how many contestants took which players, these employees were able to use insider trading to dominate the contests. Those employees and associates were able to leverage their insider knowledge to such an extent that, using mass entries with an economy of scale, the top 10% of contestants were able to wrangle the majority of the money. And, if anything, I'm understating this.
Nothing has really been solved since then. Any remedies put in place since the exposes can be easily sidestepped.
Just the other day, July 15, I received email notice of a class action suit against DraftKings. I'm eligible because I made a first time deposit prior to January 1, 2018. The email states:
"Plaintiffs allege that DraftKings falsely advertised its product as a fair, 100% legal, easy to win game of skill that players could win if they practiced, studied, or worked on, and falsely advertised that players first deposit of up to $600 would be immediately matched."
Suggestion
I think if DraftKings and FanDuel were forced to publish their prize distribution to individuals while publicly identifying the players with mega-entries, much of the fantasy bloom would be off the rose. That would be my recommendation. Full disclosure of prize money distribution. Until then, DraftKings and FanDuel are black boxes sucking money from the general public while lining the pockets of insiders and their associates.
Bob Dietz
July 24, 2021
