Commish Help Please

[Easy n Dirty]

In my local league, one of the owners submitted a lineup without a QB. It was unintentional error on his part. Our league rules state that if you fail to enter a lineup, you get the previous week's lineup (minus any players who are in Thursday/Saturday games in the current week), but it does not specifically address the situation where an owner submits a starting lineup with 7 players (our rules require 1QB, 2RBs, 2WRs, 1TE, 1K and 1Def, for a total of 8).

 

So the question is, should this team be stuck with a zero at the QB position, or should he get the QB he started last week?

 

Just to complicate matters - if he gets a zero, he will likely lose this week, whereas if he gets the points from Eli Manning (last week's QB), he would likely win. The outcome of his game has absolutely no bearing on his team, as he has already made the playoffs and his seeding will be the same regardless of the outcome of this week's game. However, it does have a bearing on seedings of other teams, specifically which team gets the only first-round bye in our playoffs.

 

All thoughts are appreciated, thanks.

[Yukon Cornelius]

In my local league, one of the owners submitted a lineup without a QB. It was unintentional error on his part. Our league rules state that if you fail to enter a lineup, you get the previous week's lineup (minus any players who are in Thursday/Saturday games in the current week), but it does not specifically address the situation where an owner submits a starting lineup with 7 players (our rules require 1QB, 2RBs, 2WRs, 1TE, 1K and 1Def, for a total of 8).

 

So the question is, should this team be stuck with a zero at the QB position, or should he get the QB he started last week?

 

Just to complicate matters - if he gets a zero, he will likely lose this week, whereas if he gets the points from Eli Manning (last week's QB), he would likely win. The outcome of his game has absolutely no bearing on his team, as he has already made the playoffs and his seeding will be the same regardless of the outcome of this week's game. However, it does have a bearing on seedings of other teams, specifically which team gets the only first-round bye in our playoffs.

 

All thoughts are appreciated, thanks.

 

eeek

 

is it fail to enter a line up or fail enter a valid lineup??

[WorstCoachingEver]

You have to go by the league rules. Submitting a incomplete lineup is equal to failing to submit any lineup at all. If it says you have to put in last week's QB (Eli in this case), so be it.

[Grits and Shins]

In my local league, one of the owners submitted a lineup without a QB. It was unintentional error on his part. Our league rules state that if you fail to enter a lineup, you get the previous week's lineup (minus any players who are in Thursday/Saturday games in the current week), but it does not specifically address the situation where an owner submits a starting lineup with 7 players (our rules require 1QB, 2RBs, 2WRs, 1TE, 1K and 1Def, for a total of 8).

 

So the question is, should this team be stuck with a zero at the QB position, or should he get the QB he started last week?

 

Just to complicate matters - if he gets a zero, he will likely lose this week, whereas if he gets the points from Eli Manning (last week's QB), he would likely win. The outcome of his game has absolutely no bearing on his team, as he has already made the playoffs and his seeding will be the same regardless of the outcome of this week's game. However, it does have a bearing on seedings of other teams, specifically which team gets the only first-round bye in our playoffs.

 

All thoughts are appreciated, thanks.

 

 

 

I'd say the act of submitting a lineup precludes him from carrying over any players. He did NOT fail to enter a lineup he failed to enter a complete lineup ... those are two different things.

[xMRogers]

had this happen once years ago and put in a rule that if it does happen like this, you get last weeks player unless on bye/hurt, in which case you get the player fantasy sharks would have chosen (through MFL)

 

Problem for you - we actaully have that rule now (when it happened first time, we allowed the guy to use his last weeks player. Ended up not mattering)

 

Because it is such just an obvious "missed the check box" sort of thing, I'd allow the player that went last week, or even at least the worst possible player he could have chosen (meaning not a backup, but if he had three starting qb's, the one that did worst)

[Grits and Shins]

You have to go by the league rules. Submitting a incomplete lineup is equal to failing to submit any lineup at all. If it says you have to put in last week's QB (Eli in this case), so be it.

 

 

I dis-agree. This owner went to the lineup page and submitted a lineup, albeit an incomplete lineup. The rules don't say anything about a partial lineup being invalid. And certainly if this was your intrepretation the owner would have to accept the ENTIRE lineup from the previous week and NOT just 1 player.

 

If the owner's QB from last week was Grossman should his negative score for this week be included?

[Sharpie]

 

I'd say the act of submitting a lineup precludes him from carrying over any players. He did NOT fail to enter a lineup he failed to enter a complete lineup ... those are two different things.

 

 

+1

 

He should have to play without a QB. It was not intentional but still an error that coach, and the rest, should live with. OR you would have to put the entire prior week's lineup in..not just one player.

[Piranha-z]

I dis-agree. This owner went to the lineup page and submitted a lineup, albeit an incomplete lineup. The rules don't say anything about a partial lineup being invalid. And certainly if this was your intrepretation the owner would have to accept the ENTIRE lineup from the previous week and NOT just 1 player.

 

If the owner's QB from last week was Grossman should his negative score for this week be included?

 

 

 

I agree with G&S here. It's not like he forgot. He was actually in there and made some picks. I don't know how this kinda thing could happen. I always check and double check my line-ups, sometimes changing it 3-4 times before Sunday.

 

When we have something like this happen, we usually take a vote and figure it out for that time, and then put a new rule in place for next year if need be.

[kcmast]

I dis-agree. This owner went to the lineup page and submitted a lineup, albeit an incomplete lineup. The rules don't say anything about a partial lineup being invalid. And certainly if this was your intrepretation the owner would have to accept the ENTIRE lineup from the previous week and NOT just 1 player.

 

If the owner's QB from last week was Grossman should his negative score for this week be included?

 

+1

[Bier Meister]

 

 

Because it is such just an obvious "missed the check box" sort of thing, I'd allow the player that went last week, or even at least the worst possible player he could have chosen (meaning not a backup, but if he had three starting qb's, the one that did worst)

 

 

 

i agree... or possibly taking an average of all starting qb.

[Slusy]

If he submitted a lineup, then that's what you need to go with. It's his responsibility to check his lineup for completeness before the games start, not yours.

 

Let's put it this way: Let's say that he submitted a lineup with McNabb as his QB the week after he went down with the ACL injury. Would you leave the lineup as-is or would you substitute another QB? Because this is essentially the same situation. I'd be willing to bet that you'd chalk it up to him not paying attention and leave it as is; that's the same thing you should do here.

 

He should just consider himself lucky that he wasn't fighting for the last playoff spot...

[Bronco Billy]

Man, this seems simple.

 

The guy submitted a lineup. His lineup doesn't have a QB entered. Give him a 0 at QB, let the chips fall where they may, and address the situation in the offseason by adding a rule.

 

Anything else predisposes something that is not covered by the rules and harms an owner intentionally by action through the league.

[Chargerz]

I would vote to keep his lineup as is. He screwed up and has to pay the penalty for not designating a QB. Then in the off-season your league will have to rule on what to do with this situation in the future.

Edited December 4, 2006 by Chargerz

[Easy n Dirty]

Man, this seems simple.

 

The guy submitted a lineup. His lineup doesn't have a QB entered. Give him a 0 at QB, let the chips fall where they may, and address the situation in the offseason by adding a rule.

 

Anything else predisposes something that is not covered by the rules and harms an owner intentionally by action through the league.

 

 

I agree, I thought it was pretty simple too, and I initially ruled that he gets a zero from the QB position. Seemed very clear cut to me. A couple of owners disagreed, so I went and consulted with some other long-time owners in our league, who concurred with the my initial take. So I already made a ruling on this, which was essentially exactly along the lines of what Blitz says above - I'm just posting the question here as more of a sanity check than anything.

 

Another question - for those of you whose leagues have rules specifically addressing this situation, what is the procedure in your league?

 

Thanks for the responses so far - good point on the McNabb example, I hadn't thought of that but it is a somewhat similar situation.

 

Regarding the notion of giving him the worst QB score on his roster, or even giving him the average of all starting QBs as someone suggested - this to me is tantamount to rewriting the rulebook in week 13, I can't see doing that. And the idea of giving him the average of all starting QBs raises all sorts of additional problems, where a franchise with sub-par quarterbacks could intentionally omit the QB position...all IMHO.

Edited December 4, 2006 by Easy n Dirty

[Piranha-z]

I agree, I thought it was pretty simple too, and I initially ruled that he gets a zero from the QB position. Seemed very clear cut to me. A couple of owners disagreed, so I went and consulted with some other long-time owners in our league, who concurred with the my initial take. So I already made a ruling on this, which was essentially exactly along the lines of what Blitz says above - I'm just posting the question here as more of a sanity check than anything.

 

Another question - for those of you whose leagues have rules specifically addressing this situation, what is the procedure in your league?

 

 

 

We have a rule that if you leave a roster spot empty, it's your loss. Stick with that.

[Slusy]

I agree, I thought it was pretty simple too, and I initially ruled that he gets a zero from the QB position. Seemed very clear cut to me. A couple of owners disagreed, so I went and consulted with some other long-time owners in our league, who concurred with the my initial take. So I already made a ruling on this, which was essentially exactly along the lines of what Blitz says above - I'm just posting the question here as more of a sanity check than anything.

 

Let me guess; the owners who were complaining are the same ones who would have benefitted from him starting a QB this week, right?

[Chargerz]

Another question - for those of you whose leagues have rules specifically addressing this situation, what is the procedure in your league?

 

Before we went on-line with MFL our rule was an incomplete lineup went submitted as is.

[Azazello1313]

i give him the QB he started last week, or at the very least the lowest scoring starting QB on his roster. only a complete dick like grits would force him to swallow the goose-egg.

[Easy n Dirty]

Let me guess; the owners who were complaining are the same ones who would have benefitted from him starting a QB this week, right?

 

 

 

Not entirely - nobody is complaining too loudly, and while the one owner who loses the first round bye is disappointed, he's being a good sport.

[Grits and Shins]

I agree, I thought it was pretty simple too, and I initially ruled that he gets a zero from the QB position. Seemed very clear cut to me. A couple of owners disagreed, so I went and consulted with some other long-time owners in our league, who concurred with the my initial take. So I already made a ruling on this, which was essentially exactly along the lines of what Blitz says above - I'm just posting the question here as more of a sanity check than anything.

 

Another question - for those of you whose leagues have rules specifically addressing this situation, what is the procedure in your league?

 

Thanks for the responses so far - good point on the McNabb example, I hadn't thought of that but it is a somewhat similar situation.

 

Regarding the notion of giving him the worst QB score on his roster, or even giving him the average of all starting QBs as someone suggested - this to me is tantamount to rewriting the rulebook in week 13, I can't see doing that. And the idea of giving him the average of all starting QBs raises all sorts of additional problems, where a franchise with sub-par quarterbacks could intentionally omit the QB position...all IMHO.

 

 

We accept lineups as submitted ... even if there are off week players (which does occur), injured players (LaMont Jordan was started the week after he went on IR), or no player. MFL warns the owner when the lineup is insufficient.

[Grits and Shins]

only a complete dick like grits would force him to swallow the goose-egg.

 

 

Or like EnD since that was his ruling ...

[Easy n Dirty]

Before we went on-line with MFL our rule was an incomplete lineup went submitted as is.

 

 

 

How does being online with MFL change anything? The league in question here is on MFL. My experience is that MFL will warn an owner if he submits a starting lineup with too many players, but not if he submits an incomplete lineup (unless there's some sort of preference box that I should be checking off somewhere).

[Grits and Shins]

How does being online with MFL change anything? The league in question here is on MFL. My experience is that MFL will warn an owner if he submits a starting lineup with too many players, but not if he submits an incomplete lineup (unless there's some sort of preference box that I should be checking off somewhere).

 

 

MFL does warn owners when the lineup is incomplete ... I have my leagues set up that way. However, if you allow a flex position or allow submission of partial lineups then you may not get a warning.

[Chargerz]

How does being online with MFL change anything? The league in question here is on MFL. My experience is that MFL will warn an owner if he submits a starting lineup with too many players, but not if he submits an incomplete lineup (unless there's some sort of preference box that I should be checking off somewhere).

 

Our setup has a warning to owners if they submit an incomplete lineup. There is a box somewhere that you can check to do that. (I'll try to find out where, but by the time I find it, someone else will probably have told you already.)

[i_am_the_swammi]

Our league rules state that if you fail to enter a lineup, you get the previous week's lineup (minus any players who are in Thursday/Saturday games in the current week), but it does not specifically address the situation where an owner submits a starting lineup with 7 players (our rules require 1QB, 2RBs, 2WRs, 1TE, 1K and 1Def, for a total of 8).

 

 

I am of the opinion that if he failed to submit a valid line-up, in essence, he failed to submit a line-up at all.

 

I am surprised your league software allowed this line-up to go through....in Sportsline, it will give you an error message if you fail to submit a valid line-up.

 

Notwithstanding, I'd vote to have his enitre line-up from last week active for this week (minus his TH players). Your rules clearly spell out the consequences of being a dope. I mean, how hard can it be to set a valid line-up? I know we all make mistakes, but usually, you have to pay for your mistakes.

 

At the very least, give him a "0" for his QB spot this week, and make sure your rules regarding "invalid" line-ups are spelled out for your 2007 season.