There is Nice...And There is NFBC Nice

[DOUGHBOYS]

I consider myself a nice enough guy. I try not to say anything abrasive to folks to get them riled. I exchange chit and chat, making especially sure that the other fellas points are made. Nice enough.
And everybody I met in Las Vegas gave me the same feelings as I walked away from them to meet more 'nice enough' guys.
Still, we're not.
At least not in NFBC life. Just real life.
We play a game that does not allow us to be nice. I mean sure, if we were with the other 14 Managers in our league, secured in a room, forced to be nice to each other, I bet we could pull it off.
At the same time, there might be more lies than truths being told.
But, we're not locked in that same room.
We're in front of our computers.
An NFBC player in front of a computer is dastardly. Unflinching. Unforgiving. And expects the same.

So when somebody like Victor Martinez or Jason Werth goes on the dl, we don't tell our competitor, "Gee, I'm sorry you lost one of your best players". We may tell that lie if we were in that room, face to face. Thankfully, we don't have to lie.
So, what we do is give our real reactions...

1. RELIEF
Thank you fantasy Gods, it's not one of MY players, we say.
No matter how selfish or unselfish we are in playing this game, relief is always the first emotion.
If we were nice guys, we'd truly feel bad for the teams with a loss.
Instead, relieved that it is not our team effected.

2.EXAMINATION-
It is that time of year where the standings start to mean something. Now that we know it is not OUR player, we want to see who owns that player and how deeply this Manager is hurt.
Personally, I do little examination. To me, it's fruitless. With five days to go in the season, I may be rooting for the team who has a Jason Werth or Victor Martinez to pass another team in homers or rbi, giving a competitor one less point.
If so, I'd look back and think how stupid I was for rooting for the injury to begin with.

3.EFFECTS-
Closing a door on a dl'ed players means the door opens for another player. Is Michael Taylor available?
Who gets the lions shares of VMart's at bats?
These are questions that could be advantageous to us.
Do we care about the roster that has to carry the now benched Werth or VMart?
Nope, that's their problem.


4. FAAB-
If somebody gets hurt during the week, it will effect faab.
The team who lost a player may have to replace the position. He'll usually spend more than the necessary amount to guarantee obtaining a suitable player. His competitors know this as well. If a fella owned Werth and only had five players eligible to play outfield, his competitors will know that he's probably willing to spend top dollar on the best available outfielder. And that if the competitor wants the same fella, he will raise his bid as well.
Who needs him more? The fella with the injured player, most likely.
Do we care? In a word, NO.

5. STRATEGY-
The competitor who pays the extra money to get an outfielder over his Werth-less competitor may have one or more motive's.
He could want the outfielder for his own team. Knowing that the outfielder is better than both his fifth and even fourth outfielder.
Or, it may be a category that he is looking to bolster.
Or, he just may not want the Werth-less team to have that outfielder.

That last sentence sounds mean.
But as said, we're not the nice guys that we seem when shaking hands in Las Vegas, New York, or Chicago.
When it comes to strategy, we're bastards.

I could have even added another result.
EXHALTATION.
When younger, I was guilty about being happy that somebody was robbed of a player in that lineup.
I know of some that still do a fist pump to see a player on another team, hurt.
I do not because we really have no idea if that injury really helps or hurts us until those last five days of the season.
But, some of us are happy that ANY competitor hurt by injury, reckoning that it is a good thing for them.


In the NFBC, Winning isn't everything, it's the ONLY thing.
I've seen Gekko called every name in the book. In the end, he wants to win. Period.
We all do.
Its been said that nice guys finish last.
My reckoning is that in the NFBC, that cannot be true.
If that truly was the case, nobody in the NFBC would finish last.