We don't play no games

Fantasy sports are a serious business, and are developing a surrounding culture that resembles anything but fantasy.

From Slate:

Fantasy sports are developing a real adjudication system. The sports are a hybrid of real player stats combined in fake teams. Several Web sites now offer to settle disputes over draft picks, trades, and other roster moves for real, through small, fees ($6 to $10). Rationales: 1) Fantasy sports have become a real, $1 billion business, with money at stake in its disputes. 2) It's supposed to mirror real sports, and real sports have legal arbitration. 3) Fantasy leagues have developed constitutions, so somebody has to be authorized to interpret them. 4) Participants have conflicts of interest, so it's better to authorize outsiders. 5) You don't have to get a real law degree to be a fantasy sports adjudicator—yet

Pretty neat stuff... I'd like to think that if there were any problems in my various leagues we could all be sane and mature enough to hash it out ourselves. That said, my leagues are generally made up of people I personally know. Were more money on the line, and were the participants all unknown to one another, I could certainly see how a 6 buck investment to get a fair hearing would make perfect sense.