Another commish problem

[alchico]

2 teams failed to submit a lineup for week 1. Our rules state a lineup MUST be submitted each week or you get the lineup for the previous week. Since this was week 1 there is no previous lineup. In 1 matchup it doesn't affect the outccome but in the other it will.

Putting aside the reasons for not submitting, what would you do?

Since the rules don't specifically address this my only recourse would seem to be to set the lineup according to draft picks until all positions are filled. I've seen this done in several leagues over the years. The rules do stress that a lineup must be submitted to make it fair to all the teams over the course of the year.

I've tried contacting the owner of the team that will lose to the drafted lineup but have not received a response. Do i go to the league and see what they want to do or do i make the decision on my own?

 

Please do not bash the Owners who didn't submit lineups and try to look at this objectively-read post below

Edited September 12, 2008 by alchico

[tonorator]

find a new league?

 

 

i don't like leagues where the owners are not participating. what's the point?

 

aside from that, no lineup, you lose. move on.

[Randall]

I think whatever you choose to do is the right thing to do. You could use draft picks. You could even forfeit the game because they didn't bother posting a lineup.

 

I guess draft picks would be the most fair way to go.

[dfv87]

2 teams failed to submit a lineup for week 1. Our rules state a lineup MUST be submitted each week or you get the lineup for the previous week. Since this was week 1 there is no previous lineup. In 1 matchup it doesn't affect the outccome but in the other it will.

Putting aside the reasons for not submitting, what would you do?

Since the rules don't specifically address this my only recourse would seem to be to set the lineup according to draft picks until all positions are filled. I've seen this done in several leagues over the years. The rules do stress that a lineup must be submitted to make it fair to all the teams over the course of the year.

I've tried contacting the owner of the team that will lose to the drafted lineup but have not received a response. Do i go to the league and see what they want to do or do i make the decision on my own?

As commisioner when I enter the team I put in starters from draft order and backups after that... So we wouldn't have this problem. I would draft order for starters but there should be some penalty to the lazy bum that didn't enter his line up.

[Easy n Dirty]

Never ran into this one myself, but I think the guy who failed to enter a lineup gets a loss and a zero for the week. Seems harsh, but it seems the closest to fair that you can get in this situation.

[cdrudge]

How does it affect an outcome of one of the matcheups? If they didn't submit a lineup how did they get any points?

 

If the rules state that you must submit a lineup, and they didn't, they get 0 points. Tough luck on their part for not following the rules and submitting a lineup.

 

If you want to be generous and are in a forgiving mood, you could fill roster spots by order drafted. But my vote (had I not been the forgetful) would be 0 points and a reminder that they need to submit a lineup.

[Chief Dick]

0 points for first week. I don't care if it doesn't specifically address week one in the rules. It also doesn't say you should enter a lineup for them regardless of criteria.

[cre8tiff]

Sure would suck to lose to a team that didn't follow the stated rules. I say hard code them losses and continue to do so until they get the picture.

[skylive5]

You submit a lineup that ensures a loss for the team not submitting. Not submitting a lineup shows lack of committment to the league....and should not result in a win when the Commish has to step in.

[Big Score 1]

You submit a lineup that ensures a loss for the team not submitting. Not submitting a lineup shows lack of committment to the league....and should not result in a win when the Commish has to step in.

Since your League's rules state that a lineup MUST be submitted each week...

Our rules state a lineup MUST be submitted each week

...me thinks this suggestion by Sky, is the way to go.

[Randall]

Change my response. I have to agree. Do nothing and sent a league email to explain every team has to submit a lineup. Let the software do it for you if no lineup is submitted isn't that what they got?

[Big Ernie McCracken]

It happened once about 10 years ago. The guy was (and still is) a notorious dimwit. We gave him the lowest possible score from each position on his roster. Different circumstance because it was, and still isa total points league. The dope who didn't submit his lineup is still in the league (drafted a monster team this year) and we went ahead and put a rule on the books to cover it (we went with the lowest possible pointson the roster). Of course the rule is named after him.

[skylive5]

Change my response. I have to agree. Do nothing and sent a league email to explain every team has to submit a lineup. Let the software do it for you if no lineup is submitted isn't that what they got?

 

That works only if a lineup was submitted the first week. No submission there is nothing for the software to use.

[Savage Beatings]

Is it that the owner didn't submit a lineup at all, or didn't submit a complete lineup (i.e. missing a player in one position)? I know that in one of my leagues, I forgot to start Plaxico Burress before his week 1 Thursday night game. I subbed in someone else, so I was covered for the week... but I can see how that would be an issue with some teams.

 

If it's a submitted but incomplete lineup, I would suggest just giving a Zero at the position in question. If it's a lineup that wasn't submitted at all, then I would suggest finding an owner that cares enough to maintain his team. Who isn't excited about week 1 of the new season that they would not submit a lineup at all?

[alchico]

The team in question DID try to submit a lineup. He was on the road and did so from his laptop. I didn't want this to be a bashing of the guys due to commitment to the league. Both owners are very active but we had problems getting the league going and finished our draft just hours before the start of the NFL season.

Regardless i don't feel giving the team that won against a non lineup fair to the rest of the league. If and i stress if, the owner was a bum and didn't care, why should one owner for one week get a free pass. It's unfair to the other owners in his division.

If this had happened during the season he would have had to play against the previous weeks lineup. Since i can't go back to last year the draft order seems the way to go.

[Furd]

No starters, no points.

[BearcatTom]

Don't submit, too bad. You get Zero pts. No changing it.

 

The only exception I would make is if a person got sick or a relative or kid got sick that caused them to miss. It would have to be some extraordinary to make an exception.

 

If it was just that they forgot or just didn't do it, too bad.

 

If the person is not motivated enought to sit his lineup for the first week, they probably won't be a good owner anyway.

 

If you award prizes for pts, then in the interest of some sort of fairness, I would enter their players in draft order, recalc the score, and then deduct enough pts so they still lose (penalty for not putting in a line up - how basic is that?) but it would give them some pts for the week.

 

I'm a commish and except for one extreme case where the guy went off the map because his kid went to the hospital and we didn't know it, I've stuck to the rules. Can't cure stupidity, but you can punish it.

[Big John]

The team in question DID try to submit a lineup. He was on the road and did so from his laptop. I didn't want this to be a bashing of the guys due to commitment to the league. Both owners are very active but we had problems getting the league going and finished our draft just hours before the start of the NFL season.

Regardless i don't feel giving the team that won against a non lineup fair to the rest of the league. If and i stress if, the owner was a bum and didn't care, why should one owner for one week get a free pass. It's unfair to the other owners in his division.

If this had happened during the season he would have had to play against the previous weeks lineup. Since i can't go back to last year the draft order seems the way to go.

If he tried to submit but there was a hangup, I would enter what he tried to put in. Otherwise if no attempt was made, I would give a zero.

[Savage Beatings]

Did he try to submit but it was clear to him that it didn't work? Does your website show any signs of this at all (him being logged in at a certain time, etc.)?

 

Or did he know that his submission didn't go through? And if so, why didn't he pick up a phone and call the Commish, or even call another Owner just to have a witness that he was trying unsuccessfully to submit his lineup?

 

Soemthing seems strange here.

[Grits and Shins]

The team in question DID try to submit a lineup. He was on the road and did so from his laptop. I didn't want this to be a bashing of the guys due to commitment to the league. Both owners are very active but we had problems getting the league going and finished our draft just hours before the start of the NFL season.

Regardless i don't feel giving the team that won against a non lineup fair to the rest of the league. If and i stress if, the owner was a bum and didn't care, why should one owner for one week get a free pass. It's unfair to the other owners in his division.

If this had happened during the season he would have had to play against the previous weeks lineup. Since i can't go back to last year the draft order seems the way to go.

 

 

Your rules seem very clear that a starting line is REQUIRED. Filling out the starting line up based on draft order may not result in a line up that would have been submitted ESPECIALLY if one or more flex positions are allowed. In my local league my starting line up was different that the order I drafted players.

 

This is not a pretty situation as I understand exactly what you mean about a team getting a free pass in week 1. That doesn't seem equitable either. But I'm just not sure how you have a leg to stand on per your rules that allows the commissioner to submit the line up after the fact. But such is fantasy football. If an owner starts a player that ends up being inactive his opponent gets an advantage the rest of the league doesn't get. If an owner doesn't submit a line up in week 5 and the week 4 lineup used includes a kicker that is off then his opponent gets an advantage nobody else in the league gets.

 

I'm sorry ... but the way I see it ... the teams that failed to submit line ups get zero. I would have expected an owner to place an immediate call to the commissioner and immediately send a note to the league with his intended starters.

[Jrick35]

The team in question DID try to submit a lineup. He was on the road and did so from his laptop. I didn't want this to be a bashing of the guys due to commitment to the league. Both owners are very active but we had problems getting the league going and finished our draft just hours before the start of the NFL season.

Regardless i don't feel giving the team that won against a non lineup fair to the rest of the league. If and i stress if, the owner was a bum and didn't care, why should one owner for one week get a free pass. It's unfair to the other owners in his division.

If this had happened during the season he would have had to play against the previous weeks lineup. Since i can't go back to last year the draft order seems the way to go.

 

If he has a laptop and he was having trouble submitting his lineup couldn't he have used the laptop to see if your site showed his starters? Or made a phone call?

 

As for fairness to the league with a team getting a win against no starters how fair will it be that same team loses if YOU submit a lineup that may or may not have matched what the OWNER TRIED to submit and that lineup out scores him?

 

There is really only 1 fair solution, the guy who did not get his lineup submitted, loses.

 

One thing that could help in the future would be to change your rule governing owners who fail to submit a lineup. Change it to read that a lineup HAS to be entered EVERY week even if the same as last week and failure to submit a lineup will result in a forfiet.

[jaxfactor]

It happened once about 10 years ago. The guy was (and still is) a notorious dimwit. We gave him the lowest possible score from each position on his roster. Different circumstance because it was, and still isa total points league. The dope who didn't submit his lineup is still in the league (drafted a monster team this year) and we went ahead and put a rule on the books to cover it (we went with the lowest possible pointson the roster). Of course the rule is named after him.

 

IMO, that helps the non-submitter at the end of the season as he will get some points when he should have got none.

 

Al- I know it's harsh, but the rules state that you MUST submit a lineup. I'd give them both zeros.Once they put their first lineup in, this will not happen again as the site should take last week's lineup. But being that they didn't submit their first lineup, it's unfair to the whole league(as points will be involved for tiebreakers, etc.) to plug something in there. JMHO

[skylive5]

I know you are trying to be fair and leaning over backwards to ensure that you are....but sometimes being a Commish brings hard and harsh decisions.

 

If you were to allow a lineup to be submitted after the games were played...where is the fairness to the guy that submitted his on time?

 

Blitz has it right.... the two non-submitters receive a loss.

[jaxfactor]

Just an added note that if available, I have all of the cell phone numbers of all the commishs' I'm in leagues with just in case. He shoud have at least tried to make a phone call and/or leave you a message somewhere.

[alchico]

Your rules seem very clear that a starting line is REQUIRED. Filling out the starting line up based on draft order may not result in a line up that would have been submitted ESPECIALLY if one or more flex positions are allowed. In my local league my starting line up was different that the order I drafted players.

 

This is not a pretty situation as I understand exactly what you mean about a team getting a free pass in week 1. That doesn't seem equitable either. But I'm just not sure how you have a leg to stand on per your rules that allows the commissioner to submit the line up after the fact. But such is fantasy football. If an owner starts a player that ends up being inactive his opponent gets an advantage the rest of the league doesn't get. If an owner doesn't submit a line up in week 5 and the week 4 lineup used includes a kicker that is off then his opponent gets an advantage nobody else in the league gets.

 

I'm sorry ... but the way I see it ... the teams that failed to submit line ups get zero. I would have expected an owner to place an immediate call to the commissioner and immediately send a note to the league with his intended starters.

 

Thanks grits, at least you gave the unpopular route a little consideration.

In this case it is pretty cut and dried as far as the roster choices. It is a 32 team league and and only 9 bench players, plus tmqb, tmk, tmd.

I feel the intent of the rule is to keep deadbeat owners from ruining the league and creating an unfair advantage for a particular team in a given week. I know you can't control every situation without a rule book 10 pages long. I'd venture to guess that if this was week 12 and someone got a free pass and it propelled them into the playoffs over another team, a few of the guys who are saying screw the missing owner would change their tune and would at the very least demand a rule change to avoid the situation in the future, probably more.