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Sometimes you make a decision that you know is going to be controversial, and if you're smart, you've already thought through a lot of the arguments you might receive, and therefore, you're ready to defend your decision. Then there are other times when you're completely blindsided by the outrage over what you had no idea was a controversial call. Such was the case in the Dutch town of Breda, where they recently celebrated the groundbreaking of a new planned housing development.

One of the streets in the new community was going to be called St. Fiacrius Court. And once the name was announced, there was outrage. Nobody who had planned to move into the new homes wanted to live on a street with that name. Why? Who was St. Fiacrius and why had he caused such animosity? Well, he's the patron saint of gardening. Born in Ireland, he achieved fame by figuring out exactly which herbs were the most capable of making you "feel groovy," and as word got out, a lot of people tended to follow him wherever he went. I guess you could say he was the Jerry Garcia of his day, only without the guitar.

Legend has it that one day he was accused by a strange woman of being "beguiled by witchcraft" and so outraged was St. Fiacrius that from then on, he refused to even look upon any female. It is for this reason he is said to also be known as the patron saint of venereal disease sufferers. However, none of these were the reasons the new tenants were outraged. No, they were just embarrassed to be living on a street that, if said quickly, sounded like "St. Viagra's Court." The equally bizarre remedy? The powers that be agreed to change the name to Hofhage Court, which nobody had any problems with, despite the fact that the new name sounds suspiciously like the act of breathing fumes to get a buzz. Somewhere in his herb garden, St. Fiacrius smiles.

J.K. from Texas writes us in need of a decision on whether or not a certain strategy is kosher or not. "I have been playing fantasy football with the same group of friends for five years now. Everyone in the league is very competitive. Our playoffs last six weeks starting in Week 11 and going until Week 16, with each round lasting two weeks. This year Owner A has clinched first place and plans to bench his best players and start his backups in the hopes of losing just so Owner B misses the playoffs. (Owner B needs Owner A to win in order to make the playoffs, but Owner B's team is a "scary team" and he'd rather just eliminate him now. Is this a legit thing to do in fantasy football?"

Let's see if we can avoid any controversy with our reply to you, J.K. If it were me, I'd simply try and win the game, just like I do every week. Clearly Owner A has a good team because he has locked up the top seed. He shouldn't be afraid of any owner. But even if common sense tells me that I have a better chance to win against a team that has Jason Campbell, Ryan Grant and James Thrash in their lineup than a team featuring Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson and Chad Johnson, I have absolutely no control over how those players will perform when I face them. This past weekend proved that old axiom "on any given Sunday" as Campbell, Grant and Thrash severely outplayed their more highly feared counterparts.

You're not an NFL team and you don't get to pull the old "resting my starters" argument (which I've heard more than a few times as a defense to this type of tank job) out of your bag of tricks. Just because they're not in your lineup doesn't mean they are safe from injury. Don't try and be cute. Start your best lineup and try to win the game rather than try to outthink yourself and get a karmic whupping in the playoffs the following week when your plans go awry. It's stupid.

Now, having taken the stance that you shouldn't tank the game, my next comment may surprise you. There's absolutely no reason why this owner shouldn't be allowed to start his backups instead of his studs if he wants. If he were in last place and were losing intentionally in order to try and get a better draft pick, I'd be a little more leery of the move. Here, we're talking about an owner who has "earned the right" to name his playoff opponent and if he wants to try and arrange it within the rules of the game, so be it. He shouldn't be allowed to start injured players or set an illegal lineup, but other than that, let him sit Tom Brady and start Brodie Croyle. For one thing, it's no guarantee to work. He can snicker all he wants that he's sure to lose now that he's benched LaDainian Tomlinson and started Darren Sproles, but that smile can turn to horror quickly after a couple of kick returns for TDs, can't it?

The reason you can't do anything to this guy is simple. You can't tell an owner who he can and can't start. Once you open that door, you've set a precedent that any lineup decision -- any hunch -- is to be questioned and possibly stopped. Seriously, what do you do when you tell this guy that he has to start his best players? Who are they? Who is the judge? Under what circumstances then could anyone ever start their backups? Do you want to be policing this kind of thing every week? Can you imagine an owner coming to you and complaining that his opponent submitted a lineup with Cedric Benson in it, but that he had left Peterson on his bench, and since Peterson is better, he should have started him instead? Of course, he's only going to be complaining after the fact, and after AP gets hurt and puts up worse stats than Cedric the Not-So-Much-An-Entertainer. But you've already said you have to start your best players, so why did you not step in and change the lineup?

It's a can of worms, my friend. The best way to police this kind of action is to simply let it work itself out. You're in a keeper league with the same group of friends. That's terrific. The guy who gets bumped from the playoffs will likely not be pleased with Owner A's tactics. Perhaps there will be some others who also think it's a fairly not-so-nice thing to do. Guess what happens next season? Guess which owner suddenly can't get anyone to trade with him? Guess which owner finds himself needing Owner B to win his game to make the playoffs and finds Owner B has decided to start Jared Lorenzen and Reagan Mauia?

Let the patron saint of just desserts have his day in the sun. The shadows will find him soon enough.

All rise … The Court has now adjourned!

A.J. Mass is a fantasy football, baseball and college basketball analyst for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him here.