Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2013 August 21

= August 21 =

Fantasy football- insider betting
So I realize that insider sports betting for people who can influence the outcome of a game they bet on is illegal. Does the same carry over to fantasy sports leagues with entry fees (and thus, prizes)? For example, if an american football coach decides to sit all of his players but one so that he'd win his fantasy championship game (let's assume there's no real life issues at stake), could he be fined and/or suspended? Buggie111 (talk) 00:57, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
 * This will vary according to the sport and precise rules. In major league baseball, for example, the behavior would not violate the flat ban on betting on baseball games in Major League Rule 21(d), but it would violate Major League Rule 21(a) because the coach would not be giving his best effort to winning.  See the rules here (this is a little out of date, I don't know if there has been any change in the rules since 2008).  If the activity were egregious enough, it might also subject the coach to prosecution, probably for wire fraud.  John M Baker (talk) 14:27, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Betting on baseball is forbidden in organized baseball. I doubt betting on one's sport would be tolerated within any other sport, either, as it opens the door to big trouble. There's really nothing to stop a participant of one sport from betting on a sport he has no connection with, although it's not usually greeted with joy by the folks who run the sports. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:38, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Betting on football games is also verboten. Article IX, item (C)(12) of the NFL Bylaws (see here) basically says that no owner, coach, player, or other employee shall attempt to influence the outcome of any part of the game for the sake of winning money in any pool or wager.  A fantasy football team where money is on the line certainly qualifies as a "pool or wager", and as such, any player or coach who altered his decision making for the sake of his or another's fantasy football league pool would be in deep, dark doo-doo.  -- Jayron  32  23:54, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
 * (let's assume there's no real life issues at stake) - How is this scenario possible? --Onorem (talk) 23:56, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
 * If a coach were a member of a Fantasy Football league where one of his own coached players was on the fantasy team of another person in his league, he could sit that player and penalize his fantasy league opponent by not playing the player he had the control over. That is baldly and obviously against the NFL bylaws (see my cite above) and as such, would plainly get the coach in some serious shit.  -- Jayron  32  23:58, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
 * I meant something like "The coach of said team has already qualified for the playoffs in his real-life sports league, and is now just playing for pride. Thus, he can afford to lose a real life game in order to win in fantasy". Buggie111 (talk) 03:28, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
 * There is no such thing. The bylaws make no such mention of "games which don't count for playoff seeding" or any such thing.  Every game has implications for a myriad of reasons (player performance bonuses, chance of injury, hiring and firing over team and player performance, etc.) and every game is under the same restrictions against gambling of all forms.  -- Jayron  32  11:57, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Right, so we can go in and argue about the nitty-gritty. In a coach's eyes, the two most important things are playoff seeding and injury. Benching all of his first-stringers in a meaningless game (for the coach), like Week 17 for the Green Bay Packers in 2011 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Green_Bay_Packers_season#Week_17:_vs._Detroit_Lions), is an example of what I'm talking about. Buggie111 (talk) 16:43, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Right, and if he did so while winning a shitload of money in his Fantasy Football league, he'd be fired. -- Jayron  32  17:38, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Nice to see that we're on the same page. Buggie111 (talk) 20:07, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
 * It's called the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference desk. :)  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  20:41, 24 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks?...but yeah, I understood the premise of the question...except for the 'let's assume there's no real life issues at stake' part. There is no situation I can think of where there's no real life issues at stake in the game. --Onorem (talk) 05:19, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Airplane Repo
Hi, There is a new show called Airplane Repo on the Discovery channel. I cannot find anything about it on the website.

Thank you,

Phillip Stalnaker — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.177.116.190 (talk) 19:31, 21 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia doesn't have an article Airplane Repo, although it is namechecked as a red link in several articles. This is because nobody has written about it here yet.  If you don't fancy creating an account and tackling the task yourself, you can list it at Requested articles, although it's unlikely to happen quickly.  You can also put together a draft, with sources, and post your material at Articles for creation as the raw material for an article.  Failing that, you must resign yourself to waiting until the subject inspires somebody to start writing. I fixed the indent on your question above so it displayed correctly.  -  Ka renjc 21:33, 21 August 2013 (UTC)