Random Thoughts From a Fantasy Football Nerd

Sunday, Dec 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm ET

From giving out the first ever FFN Grinch of the Year award to extending the fantasy season, here are the random thoughts running around my head. Enjoy.

There's a new spelling for ridiculous and it's spelled F-I-D-E-L-I-T-Y. I would have written about this earlier, however I was at a loss for words. Fidelity fired employees for playing fantasy football. The reason? According to Vin Loporchio at Fidelity: "We have clear policies that relate to gambling. Participation in any form of gambling through the use of Fidelity time or equipment or any other company resource is prohibited. In addition to being illegal in a lot of places, it can also be disruptive. We want our employees to be focused on our customers and clients." First of all, I wouldn't consider fantasy football to be a form of gambling, nor does FSB. The only thing Fidelity got out of this is a black eye and lower employee morale. With an estimated 18-20 million US adults involved in the game, I'm sure Cameron Pettigrew isn't the only Fidelity employee playing. Fidelity - for firing employees for a pathetic reason during a tough economy and right before the holidays, you get the FFN Grinch of the Year award. Congratulations. You've earned it.

Eric Mangini hints at new contract for Cribbs. What in the world is Mangini waiting for? I, along with a million other people, watched the game Thursday night and we all saw Cribbs basically become the entire Cleveland offense. Seriously. What about Brady Quinn? Nope - he had very little to contribute. Cribbs IS THE OFFENSE. Give the man his money.

NFL.com's Inactive report has been a pretty reliable resource for game time decisions. For the early games today: Matt Ryan's OUT. Devin Hester's OUT. Mike Sims-Walker is IN. Percy Harvin is OUT. Jake Delhomme is OUT. Tom Brady is IN. Mark Sanchez is OUT.

Want to keep playing fantasy football? Check out FantasyPostSeason.com and let me know what you think. If anyone needs an extra player for your post season league, let me know.

If the Vikings win the Super Bowl, will Brett Favre finally retire?

I hope Andre Johnson comes out of the monster closet. It's a well known secret that the guy is actually part beast and I'm personally projecting a monster day from him with 150 yards and 2 scores today. Basically - I like him as the #1 WR this week.

Another monster...I hope Chris Johnson sees the 2,000 yard mark this season. I sure wish I could go back in time and grab him with my first pick in every league. I'd also be sure to laugh at the guy who took Matt Forte with his first pick. Until then, I can only laugh at the guy in the mirror.

Good luck to Peyton Manning who should pass Warren Moon on the all time passing yards list today. Take a second and appreciate it. You've earned it.

Thanks to Melissa at TheFootballGirl.com for recommending the FFN Lineup Analyzer.

Good luck to all this week.

Joe

Join the Discussion

Nerd CommentedDec 13, 2009 11:00 am

I did send a media request to Fidelity for comments on the Grinch of the Year award. I'll let you know what they say.

mrock CommentedDec 13, 2009 11:00 am

woah - good guess on Andre Johnson. he already has more than that and it's only in the first half.

i think my 401k is with fidelity. i didn't know that they did that. a company can fire anyone that they like whenever they want but that's a horrible thing to do for that reason. i have a friend that works there and i'll tell him to stop playing.

fiman CommentedDec 13, 2009 11:00 am

I can't believe this. I've been working for Fidelity for 3 years and I don't want everyone to think that they are a bad company. There are so many great things about our company that can't be taken away by this. We have great benefits and people. We work hard for our customers. It's a big institution and I'm sure that guy probably did something else to warrant his termination.

I don't agree with what Fidelity has done if it was done exactly like those articles. I would be very embarrassed otherwise, but oftentimes there is another side to the story and I just want your readers to know that.

Nerd CommentedDec 13, 2009 11:00 am

fiman - thank you for highlighting the fact that there's always more than 1 side to the story. I like to say that there's 3 sides: yours, mine, and the truth. I'd like to do a follow-up to this and I'd like to get Fidelity's take on it.

From what I've read, it would be highly suspect if those employees were significantly abusing company time or resources. The Monday after Thanksgiving has been coined "Cyber Monday" because it's usually the biggest online sales day of the year. I assure you that most of those customers spending money on that day are doing so from work. I hope Fidelity will be consistent and check their logs for all of those employees who visited Amazon.com, Walmart.com, etc. I guarantee you that there's a far more significant amount of lost productivity from the huge number of people who would be caught doing that.

The point here is that employees are going to spend a small portion of their time doing non-work related things. It's inevitable and it becomes a quality of life and morale-related issue. It can breed resentment if not handled correctly.

I'm all for having the policy but the punishment definitely doesn't fit the crime. The timing is also ridiculous and the whole situation makes Fidelity look like a heartless company. Perhaps their heart is two sizes too small.

adeehr CommentedDec 13, 2009 11:00 am

I agree with the Chris Johnson comment there Nerd....oh yea....4 our of 5 leagues I did pick him. And in one league with the 20th pick. I bet all other 9 owners who passed on him twice feel silly. Not to mention I also got AP with the first pick. :)

Nerd CommentedDec 15, 2009 11:00 am

Looks like I don't have to try and shed light on Fidelity's decision.

Front page of Yahoo! Now that's powerful.