Another "What To Do" thread (1 Viewer)

[davearm]

So this is my second year in a mid-stakes ($50 entry) 12 team redraft neighborhood league. Pretty casual crowd - wide range of sharkiness but nobody's too serious about the thing.

Anyway last year the top 4 teams made the 2-week long playoffs.

According to a preseason email from the commish, there were no changes to the rules this year, and all season on the "rules" page it's stated "Playoffs start in Week 14 and last for 2 Weeks."

I finished first so when I checked into the live scoring last night I was assuming I was up against the #4 team this week. Lo and behold, six teams are listed as playing this week: 1v6, 2v5, and 3v4.

You know what's coming next right. The commish finished in 5th place, tied in record with team #4 but behind in total points, 1360 to 1341.

So I check the "rules" page again and sure enough, "Playoffs start in Week 14 and last for 3 Weeks."

So I go and have the "get this" convo with the wife, and by the time I sit down at the computer again, the setup's been changed again! The joker's figured out that he can't have all 6 teams playing so now 1 and 2 have byes and it's 3v6 and 4v5 this week. (Mind you this is all happening long about the second quarter of the ballgame last night.)

WTF, right? So during the game last night I emailed a couple of the guys I know:

Question for you guys.

Do you recall the playoff format changing from 4 teams to 6?

Maybe we all decided on this at the draft or something and I just forgot.

I hope that's the explanation anyway.

Meanwhile a few minutes later an email from the commish comes across with the subject "Playoffs - Round 1 this week. Top 6 teams in..." and inside he mentions "Playoffs start this week and last for 3 weeks. With an odd number of teams I have to give the 2 best teams a first round bye and then have the winners play the top 2 teams who were on bye."So far, no word from either of the guys I emailed.

What next? Raise a fuss? Let it go? Wait and see?

TIA!

 

[kinghill]

I'd probably head over to his house and punch him in the face in front of his wife and kids.

 

[TakiToki]

You should at least inform him that six isn't an odd number.

 

[Oh Yes!]

You should at least inform him that six isn't an odd number.

we have 2 byes in my stupid league. 6 team playoff. xplode!

 

[fsufan]

i said it before and i will say it again

a good commish is hard to find

 

[Phurfur]

Play to win and be done with this league. I don't know if I would even pursue this after your email. Concentrate on your team so you can win it all.

 

[encaitar]

I would wait to get confirmation from another player before I did anything. It may be that they did infact decide to change it to 6 during the past offseason and you just missed it. If another player does confirm your suspisions, however, then you need to give a message to the league that you will not be back next year as your commish is not trustworthy.

Take a screen shot of your rules page though and save it. If he changes this rule, he might be willing to alter a few others if his game is close and a slight rule change will give him the win. I always save the preseason rules if I'm in leagues with guys I don't know too well.

 

[Londo]

Why don't you simply give him a call and honestly ask if you missed the announcement of a rule change? It is, after all, his job to answer these types of questions. If this is a casual/friendly league, there shouldn't be any problem with opening a dialogue about it. If he explains that he acted unilaterally, you can then feel free to let him know you don't think that was a good idea and punch him in the face in front of his wife and kids.

 

[Maik Jeaunz]

Play to win and be done with this league. I don't know if I would even pursue this after your email. Concentrate on your team so you can win it all.

this.

 

[Birdie048]

Why don't you simply give him a call and honestly ask if you missed the announcement of a rule change? It is, after all, his job to answer these types of questions. If this is a casual/friendly league, there shouldn't be any problem with opening a dialogue about it. If he explains that he acted unilaterally, you can then feel free to let him know you don't think that was a good idea and punch him in the face in front of his wife and kids.

Give him a chance to clarify his actions or to explain it in case you missed something. Mistakes happen, but deceit is unacceptable. If there a rule about not changing the League rules/By Laws until during the off-season, you have a legitimate claim for him to retract his change and return the structure to the previous format. You can also suggest that he step down as commissioner since his actions are not in the best interest of the league and appear to be motiviated by personal gain. If he does not change the playoff or step down, play to win and kick their butts. When it's time to start next season and pay up, inform them that you can not trust the commissioner and are exiting the league. Punching him in the face in front of his wife and kids could result in him adjusting your starting line-up and roster. Wait until you have collected your winnings and then punch his lights out!

 

[dudaman]

The pet rabbit boiling in stew worked for Glenn Close.

 

[ratbast]

I'd probably head over to his house and punch him in the face in front of his wife and kids.

i remember

 

[Chicago Hooligan]

This sucks, but you are approaching it the right way by sending that email to some other owners first. I wouldn't call the commish -- sounds like he's not a close friend, and this is a casual league. He'll respond to an email or league messageboard topic.

If it were a random/low-stakes league you could do the "waive all players, post photo of balls on forum and split" move. Not so, here. A playoff loss due to the fudged scheduling would be hard to swallow and I wouldn't blame you if you choose not to play next season. But, ideally, you'll win it all and then insist that the league put ironclad rules in place for playoff qualification and tiebreakers in the offseason for the future.

 

[davearm]

Just sent the commish an email:

Curious when the change from top 4 teams to top 6 teams was made. This sure caught me by surprise. I expected this week was 1v4 and 2v3, and next week was the championship, like it was last year.

I'll be interested to see his response.FWIW, I confronted him on another issue at the start of the year. We held our draft on the night of the Thursday opener... actually we drank, ate pizza and watched WAS and NYG as we made our picks. Anyway at the end of the draft one guy had neglected to take a kicker. Inexplicably, the guy dropped a mid-round pick (DeSean Jackson) to grab a K. Instead of going into the waiver pool, an hour after the draft had ended Jackson was on the commish's roster. I challenged him on it and his explanation was that "there is no waiver process before the season starts." Uh, OK. We were sitting watching a game during the draft, shouldn't that be a pretty strong indication that the season had started? Anyway, I suppose technically Philadelphia's season hadn't started, giving him an exceedingly weak leg to stand on, so I let it drop.Point being, this playoff hijinks wasn't a complete surprise.

 

[BigDave]

I wholeheartedly concur a good commish is hard to find.

This guy has no right to change the rules as he sees fit to accomodate his desire to be in the playoffs.

I would ask the other owners again. I would review the emails during the year to see if he made a prior announcement that you missed. If not, then I would kick his ### for being a low life cheatin commish! Seriously, that was WRONG WRONG WRONG.

He needs to justify or send his butt out of the league for good!

 

[davearm]

This sucks, but you are approaching it the right way by sending that email to some other owners first. I wouldn't call the commish -- sounds like he's not a close friend, and this is a casual league. He'll respond to an email or league messageboard topic.

If it were a random/low-stakes league you could do the "waive all players, post photo of balls on forum and split" move. Not so, here. A playoff loss due to the fudged scheduling would be hard to swallow and I wouldn't blame you if you choose not to play next season. But, ideally, you'll win it all and then insist that the league put ironclad rules in place for playoff qualification and tiebreakers in the offseason for the future.

What's interesting is that having a bye this week actually works in my favor. The #4 team already has a pile of points thanks to Vincent Jackson and Nate Kaeding from last night, with several favorable matchups yet to come (ADP, TJones, Rodgers, Dallas Clark). Good chance I'll lose if the correct schedule is upheld.That doesn't change my opposition to the commish's actions whatsoever.

 

[BigDave]

Be careful what you wish for with your "new schedule".

Last year I had pushed for the following schedule that was the same as the year before:

Team #1 and #2 had byes. Team 3 played 6 and team 4 played 5.

Next round, winner of 3vs6 plays #1 seed and winner of 4vs5 plays #2 seed.

Another owner argued we should change the rules and reseed. I argued, we needed to do that before the season and get other owners agreement. So, we left it the same.

You guessed it, I'm #1 and play #3(he beat6) and sure enough I lose. IF I had agreed to the reseed I would be holding the trophy right now!

 

[duece2626]

Be careful what you wish for with your "new schedule". Last year I had pushed for the following schedule that was the same as the year before:Team #1 and #2 had byes. Team 3 played 6 and team 4 played 5. Next round, winner of 3vs6 plays #1 seed and winner of 4vs5 plays #2 seed. Another owner argued we should change the rules and reseed. I argued, we needed to do that before the season and get other owners agreement. So, we left it the same. You guessed it, I'm #1 and play #3(he beat6) and sure enough I lose. IF I had agreed to the reseed I would be holding the trophy right now!

Shouldn't the #1 seed play the lowest seed remaining, with the #2 seed playing the highest seed left?

 

[davearm]

Be careful what you wish for with your "new schedule". Last year I had pushed for the following schedule that was the same as the year before:Team #1 and #2 had byes. Team 3 played 6 and team 4 played 5. Next round, winner of 3vs6 plays #1 seed and winner of 4vs5 plays #2 seed. Another owner argued we should change the rules and reseed. I argued, we needed to do that before the season and get other owners agreement. So, we left it the same. You guessed it, I'm #1 and play #3(he beat6) and sure enough I lose. IF I had agreed to the reseed I would be holding the trophy right now!

Quite frankly I'd rather lose this week using the correct schedule than let the 5 and 6 teams have a chance using this rigged schedule.

 

[jcuadrado]

open the can of whoop on this dude...hurt him bad.

seriously...just play to win and start your own league next year...

 

[trout]

I would wait to get confirmation from another player before I did anything. It may be that they did infact decide to change it to 6 during the past offseason and you just missed it. If another player does confirm your suspisions, however, then you need to give a message to the league that you will not be back next year as your commish is not trustworthy.

Take a screen shot of your rules page though and save it. If he changes this rule, he might be willing to alter a few others if his game is close and a slight rule change will give him the win. I always save the preseason rules if I'm in leagues with guys I don't know too well.

A little too late now for the OP, but this is something I always do. I'll take a screen shot or print the rules either right after the draft or during the first game...just to have a hardcopy.

 

[Black]

Shouldn't the #1 seed play the lowest seed remaining, with the #2 seed playing the highest seed left?

Depends...if you don't re-seed after each round, then no. Alot of times the brackets are just fixed at the beginning, so you are sort of locked in.

 

[davearm]

Be careful what you wish for with your "new schedule". Last year I had pushed for the following schedule that was the same as the year before:Team #1 and #2 had byes. Team 3 played 6 and team 4 played 5. Next round, winner of 3vs6 plays #1 seed and winner of 4vs5 plays #2 seed. Another owner argued we should change the rules and reseed. I argued, we needed to do that before the season and get other owners agreement. So, we left it the same. You guessed it, I'm #1 and play #3(he beat6) and sure enough I lose. IF I had agreed to the reseed I would be holding the trophy right now!

Maybe you just mistyped it, but if you're going to fix the bracket and not re-seed, then #1 ought to play the 4/5 winner, not the 3/6 winner.

 

[BigDave]

Be careful what you wish for with your "new schedule". Last year I had pushed for the following schedule that was the same as the year before:Team #1 and #2 had byes. Team 3 played 6 and team 4 played 5. Next round, winner of 3vs6 plays #1 seed and winner of 4vs5 plays #2 seed. Another owner argued we should change the rules and reseed. I argued, we needed to do that before the season and get other owners agreement. So, we left it the same. You guessed it, I'm #1 and play #3(he beat6) and sure enough I lose. IF I had agreed to the reseed I would be holding the trophy right now!

Maybe you just mistyped it, but if you're going to fix the bracket and not re-seed, then #1 ought to play the 4/5 winner, not the 3/6 winner.

We didn't reseed after each round and had the scheduled fixed. #1 played the winner of 3 versus 6. If we had #1 play the winner of 4 versus 5 as suggested, then if #6 beat #3, #1 wouldn't be playing the lowest seed. We should have reseeded, but had never done that before so we left it alone. This year it's corrected.

 

[Twilight]

Shouldn't the #1 seed play the lowest seed remaining, with the #2 seed playing the highest seed left?

Depends...if you don't re-seed after each round, then no. Alot of times the brackets are just fixed at the beginning, so you are sort of locked in.

MFL doesn't do a re-seed automatically, you have to do it manually. So I can understand just letting it go.