Ask IHJJR: What To Do About Deadbeat Friends In Your Fantasy League

My fantasy league has been together for years. Half of the guys live an hour away. They never want to pay on draft night. I'm thinking of dissolving the league and starting fresh. My best friend is one of the problems. Should I invite just him to stay? What about last season's winner? I still have our trophy. I feel dickish never letting him have it, but it's not like I expect it back if I kick him out. Do I start a new separate non-cash league for those guys? Help me. Our mutual hatred for Redick says you have to. @tygr20

Thanks for the question Eric. I suck at pretty much everything in life but dispensing fantasy football advice is my Matt  forte.

Fantasy football is one of my favorite hobbies but lets face it....doing a league with complete strangers is boring. It's definitely more fun to start a league with friends so the smack talk is much more competitive. However, organizing ten people to do anything is damn near impossible.

I've been the commish of a league for five years now. It's comprised of friends I've had since grade school, some of our dads, random friends, etc. I love every minute of it.....except for deciding when to do the draft. It's gotta be even more annoying in your situation when people flake out on entry fees.

Now to the solution. You can't pussy foot around when it comes to money. If you've been doing this league for years then your dumbass friends should know how much to budget and when the money is due.

You have a couple options. #1 Disband the league and find some people that can afford it (should be easy to find some folks on twitter). #2 Politely ask everyone if they just want to do a non-cash league. Or my favorite option is #3. Send a friendly yet stern email to everyone in the league. Tell them you want the money at the draft or they aren't in the league. What I do is collect checks from all the participants and have them postdate the checks for December 1st or something. That way you have the money and the cheapskates don't need to come out of pocket for another couple months.

Hope this answers your question Eric. Good luck this season and if you win the league make sure to rub it in their face!!

Have a fantasy football question for us? Shoot us an email at ihatejjredick@gmail.com and we'll hand out some advice like only we can.