Thoughts from the commissioner

greenspun.com : LUSENET : G's Fantasy Football League : One Thread

What is wrong with the league? I have thought about this long and hard and I have come to the conclusion that there isn't much wrong with it and what is wrong can be easily corrected.

The biggest problem is owners lose interest once they are out of the money. Only one owner has continued to turn a team in once it was clear he couldn't win and thats was Jay (thanks). Everyone else stopped making moves or turning their lineups in around week 9 or 10. There is not much to play for once you are out of the money. Some owners make personal goals like I did last year when I was in last place. I just wanted to beat my wife, Matt and Marc, but I am committed to this league no matter what, because I have to do the scores and manage the league. It is easy for the rest of you to let you lineups go from week to week and to pay less attention to it. So how do we solve this. I think the best way to solve this is to provide more chances for owners to win money. This is why next year I want to institute weekly money for whoever has the highest score for a week. This would give everyone a chance to win some of their money back no matter how far they are out of 1st-3rd. I also want to give 4th place something. This would mean less guaranteed money for 1st place, but since the 1st place owner will probably win a lot of weeks it doesn't pull much if any away from their winnings.

Another method would be to go to a playoff system, but I am opposed to this because the most important games of our season isn't necessarily the most important for the NFL. If we went to the playoffs this year, there would be a good chance that I nor Kevin would win because are best players would be sitting out the last week of the season so they can rest for their playoffs. I think this would be unfair, because Kevin and I clearly have the better teams this year. With that said, if enough owners in the league wanted to go to that system, I would consider it.

Another problem is getting a response to trades. There isn't much we can do about this. Unfortunately not everyone in our league has the internet and others are just hard to reach. It makes it difficult to communicate sometimes. I know how frustrating it was for the Kris/Chris team because they wanted to make moves, but sometimes other owners wouldn't respond to them. I would like to think we could do better next year, but there is no guarantee that we will. I can guarantee more participation from Danny next year who is finally back from the Army and Clayton claims he will be wired next year. For the rest of the league I can't say.

Another problem is many owners feel there is no way to catch up after you fall behind because there are no players left in the league to pick up. We can correct this easily enough by limiting the number of players will can keep on a roster. I want to lower the roster to 15 next year which would free up an additional 36 players from this years rosters. This should provide enough of a talent pool for a big pick up to be made in week 4-6.

All other problems stem from the ones I mentioned above. There were a healthy dose of trades this year. Clayton made several blockbusters, so did Marc, Jay, Kevin and Myself. There were plenty of free agent moves up until the latter weeks. So those weren't the problems this year.

So I feel the league isn't fading away and with some minor adjustments we can fix all the problems some of you are complaining about. There will be a league next year. I know Kevin, Clayton, Matt, John, Kristie, Danny and I will be in it. I hope the rest of you decide to play. If not, thank you for playing this season and good luck in whatever league if any you join next year. These are my thoughts, I would be interested in what you think.

One last thing. Kris and Marc said they were having a "blast" on their on-line leagues, (potential winnings- $Zero). I am having a "blast" in this league (potential winnings-$150.00 to $350.00). I wonder if it has to do with being in the running for 1st place? Let me know.

-- Anonymous, December 14, 1999

Answers

O.J. Lambright ? or SAD III

G,

This is a stunning admission! I am shocked that you would admit in a public forum like this that you actually resorted to beating your wife last season in order to deal with your frustrations. Haven't you learned anything from OJ? This is not the type of behavior I am talking about when I say "awaken the giant within". Kristy, just understand that this is not your fault and you have done nothing to deserve this treament.

TR

-- Anonymous, December 16, 1999


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