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Marc Dee's Open Letter to our Fantasy Leagues (lightly-edited for spelling):

For the longest time this has been nagging on me. If you wish to skip the informalities, go to the bottom of this article. But as one will find out by reading this, there is more to it than just cutting to the chase.

These leagues have been a great fun for us for a long time. They have brought about the best and the worst parts of everybody. They’ve seen our most competitive moments and our most crushing losses. We’ve had a lot of fun with these three - Basketball, Baseball, and Football – leagues.

But if you’re like me, there are aspects of these leagues that have strayed away from what used to be the purity of playing the fantasy sports we so desperately loved. Politics have entered the realm of fantasy sports. I’ve always been a person that welcomes open discussion on topics not just fantasy but life as well. Where else could we go to a forum of friendly faces and talk about the topics we all have questions/concerns about?

But in that we have gotten away from the true meaning of what it means to play fantasy sports. Rule changes, adaptations of unbroken features, and motivation to conform the league in the name of “competitive equality” have strewn these leagues far thinner than I think anyone had originally anticipated. It’s not about playing the sport and beating your buddy anymore. It’s about how we can stop certain forms of trading. How can we paint someone into a corner and destroy their credibility. How much authority does one person have and how can they use that to their advantage. How can we create a system that renders one owners’ strategy useless. How many people can we get FOR us to be enough to have a following in order to propose a new idea to the league and a week later have a vote on it. It’s become a platform for ulterior motives more than about the flawlessness of what this game once was.

We, in that, have created this ourselves. We are too deep within the forest now to even enjoy the beauty of the trees. We were once approaching the forest with awe and majestic anticipation and turned into a battle of tribal survival, so focused on what happens within the forest rather than admiring the trees and everything in it.

We have turned this into something it never should have become.

These are leagues with great owners that have been playing in leagues that have been getting less and less what they want. Gradually, they have succom to the changes of the masses. Some of those changes have bettered the league. A lot of those changes have caused owners frustration and the time and energy it would take to allow their voices to NOT JUST be heard, but considered and followed up with, have left them voiceless and unmotivated. The fact that it’s even gotten to that point has been a frustration for some, because it shouldn’t have been an issue to begin with.

And those great owners stay in these leagues because of a number of different reasons:

*Time tenured
*Amount of work they’ve put in
*Teams they have built
*No where else to go
*No one else to play fantasy with
*It’s what they’ve always done

Whatever the reason, they have compromised.

GEAR SHIFT:

I have been in talks with a number of different owners throughout these three leagues. I have expressed these concerns and potential solutions. The majority of those owners have been overwhelmingly supportive of something different. They want to get back to playing the sport of FANTASY.

*** I am proposing the start of a new league. ***

New baseball, new basketball, new football. No keepers. Fresh draft every year. And, most importantly I think, getting back to just playing fantasy sports.

You don’t have to give up your current leagues if you don’t want to. Those interested may want to play in both; or just one. It’s up to you. We’re savvy enough owners, it would be more than easy to start a new league.

Enough talk. Anyone who is interested, please post a personal message to me in that respective league if you wish to come aboard. You may also contact me via text message (number follows). If you want to call and talk about this, I am more than willing. This is not something just conjured up over the week and posted on a whim over the weekend. This has been months and months of thinking, planning, and hopefully, for those who wish for something better, executing. If it works out and we can get 12 owners, we’ll draft for baseball in a few weeks.

Tell your friends. Let’s get them involved in fantasy. The first 12 owners to come to me in each league are in. Let’s have some fun.

Thank you for your time. Keep it Real!

Marcus Dee