Initial Conditions

The title of this post doesn’t really roll off the tongue. Sorry about that.

There is only one serious question in fantasy football:

Picking Ronaldo. Is it ethical?

I quote Gav Marshall (who I haven’t met) from the league forum of “manager’s select”:

I want a team which consistantly [sic] scores points, but that I enjoy watching. This means I refuse,contrary to all conventional wisdom, to just throw Ronaldo in as captain and sit back and watch.

This is a noble way to play, but alas many of the teams in the bottom half of “manager’s select” (including his) are Ronaldo-less. A friend of mine said that;

Having Ronaldo in your team is just cheating!

Which, although clearly untrue, has a certain point to it. I would be interested to see what percentage of points Ronaldo earns in each team he’s in, as I imagine it’s quite high.

However: being dependent on one player is not a Ronaldo-exclusive issue, as Frank Lampard is also a big-hitter in terms of points scoring, and according to the stats, is in as nearly as many teams as Ronaldo. This may be as a result of people building their teams around him as opposed to around Ronaldo (who was injured at the start, catching many people out) who would surely be in more teams if he wasn’t crocked at the onset.

So in conclusion, nobody should be stigmatised for picking Ronaldo, however, doing so is often as a result of an unwillingness to try out other ideas and trying to win without him is an honourable exploit to try, though is likely to end in tears. Which is what you probably knew already. Sorry.