Fantasy Football Last-Place Punishments Can Be Funny, Disgusting ... and Sometimes Both
San Francisco Giants play-by-play announcer Dave Flemming finished last in his fantasy football league in 2022. The punishment for his last-place finish? Flemming had to work three innings as a bat boy for the Giants during a game this summer.
How is that a good punishment? It’s safe to say most fantasy football managers would love to be a bat boy at a Major League Baseball game.
With Week 15 upon us, the fantasy playoffs are set to begin in most leagues – which means last-place finishers will be set after the Monday Night Football doubleheader. For leagues that feature devilish last-place punishments, some fantasy managers will be sweating out these last two games of the fantasy regular season.
We’re not sure if Titans rookie quarterback Will Levis has been playing fantasy this season, but the league he played in last year when he was at the University of Kentucky had a brutal booby prize: The last-place finisher had to eat a package of uncooked hot dogs.
Not all punishments are disgusting. One of the more popular punishments involves having to spend 24 hours at a Waffle House – but you get to trim one hour off that penance for every waffle eaten.
Some leagues would rather send their cellar dwellers to a nicer eating establishment, which would increase the potential for embarrassment. Take this guy, for example. He had to be seen at a high-end restaurant – with a large teddy bear as his date.
We asked some SI Fantasy readers to share their last-place punishments. This one was multifaceted. We don’t love the idea of letting someone make your first-round pick for you next season – sounds like a good way to ensure another last-place finish – but we like the draft-day attire…
An engraved glass with our league logo and “Dead Ass Last” on it, winner gets to pick your first round pick next year, and…..you wear this at the draft! pic.twitter.com/b6IPKWVqxl
— 2017 & 2022 Champs (@Astrosfan201) December 8, 2023
We don’t like the idea of someone else making your first-round pick for you, but it does seem fair punishment that a last-place finish costs you the right to name your team the following year (the poop helmet is a bonus)…
Loser has the wear the poop helmet at next years draft and the winner gets to place the poop trophy anywhere they want in your house and it has to stay there no matter what!! And winner picks your team name the following year!! pic.twitter.com/Uq3bzKNJZm
— Dominic Ozenne (@Decoco_Ozenne) December 9, 2023
Plenty of leagues force the last-place finisher to make sure the neighborhood is well aware…
Neighborhood league full of Dads. Last place has to put this beauty in their front yard for the year. pic.twitter.com/C5HlxQylUD
— Andrew Grinaker (@206andrew) December 8, 2023
Many leagues feature a trophy of some kind for the winner, so a very practical punishment is forcing the last-place finisher to pay for shipping costs to send the trophy to the champion. Especially for leagues that feature managers from all over the globe, this can be quite painful. One of our readers relayed the story of a league in which the trophy was based in Canada and last year’s champ was from New Zealand. Shipping the trophy there cost more than $300.
Ouch.