REMEDY NEEDED FOR ILLEGAL IR PICKUP

[h86ward]

I am the commissioner in a 12 team league with all the same owners for the past 3 or 4 seasons. Regular season is 13 weeks long. Playoffs are week 14 thru 16. Last year, the rule was added that there could not be any regular add/drops after week 13. You are only allowed to add another player if you have a player on your team that is ruled out with an injury. Cannot be questionable or doubtful. The player that you pick up must be the same position as the injured (out) player on your team. And you must play the player that you pick up for at least that week. For this season it was stated at the beginning of the year that all rules and scoring will stay the same from the previous year. There was absolutely no changes to any thing. I also reminded every team on the message board at the beginning of week 13 about the playoff add/drop rule. Ok here it is. The guy that I am playing picked up Hixon and dropped T. Edwards on Thursday (week 14). When I saw this on the same day I immediately sent a message to the entire league explaining that this was a rule violation. I reversed the transaction on Thursday. Because I haven't cleared the message board from last year, I was able to make reference the original date of the rule and the reminder dates from year year and this year. That was done. I was thinking everything was understood because the owner didn't say anything. No beef. Then today on Sunday morning the same owner dropped A. Gonzalez and added Hixon. Gonzalez was questionable at the time. At least two hours before the first games of the day I wrote on the message board that I would reverse the transaction again.

[h86ward]

This time I returned Gonzalez to his team. I left Hixon on his team. I did this because I was leaving the house and would not have access to the computer. I put on the message board that if Gozalez plays, Hixon would be removed from his team. Of course Gonzalez plays. When I got back home this afternoon I removed Hixon from his team. Right now he is beating me by 8 points with that empty wr spot. I have kicker Bryant left and he is done. If Bryant gets me nine points should I win. Or should I allow him to put in Gonzalez. Or should that spot just get a big fat zero. My co-commissioner thinks he should get a zero for that spot. That is what I am leaning towards too. Because money is involved it could get ugly. What do guys think? Also a team gets -35 points for open active spots on their team. He had an opportunity to correct his team. He was on the message board this morning also, so he was aware. Help me out.

[bungle613]

Allright, I think I got all that. First, I don't like the rule but oh well, that is not your issue.

Due to the fact that there was some confusion and uncertainty with this transaction I would err on the side of allowing him to have Gonzo on his starting roster. If at 11:30 when the inactives are declared the absolute decision should have been made and Hixon removed from his squad once Gonzo was not listed.

I think there were mistakes on both sides. Based on this quote

I put on the message board that if Gozalez plays, Hixon would be removed from his team

it could be either I am simply removing Hixon or I am removing Hixon and putting Gonzo back as a starter. Personally, I would have left it alone and not adjusted his roster at all until after the games were complete.

[ABA316]

Sounds like the owner was given more than fair warning and did what he wanted. No mercy.

BTW what site do you use? ESPN and Yahoo are what I've done in the past and both allow you to lock adds.

[h86ward]

I use CBSSportsline. I gave the owner fair warning at around 10 A.M. I was getting ready to go and would not have access to a computer. The owner had at least almost two hours to correct this. I tried to cover all bases in case Gonzalez actually would not have played. The owner knew the rule and at eleven thirty or so should have done the right thing. I could not put Gonzalez in his lineup because he also had Braylon Edwards on the bench.

[ABA316]

I would say you did what you could given the circumstances. Fact of the matter is the owner was given fair warning in my opinion..what I mean is, the original issue (although you fixed it then) happened on Thursday so the owner was on notice at that time.

[Rabbit]

Rules are rules, and this guy contravened them knowingly. Almost in-your-face. Your mistake was leaving Hixon on his roster. That turned it from a clear violation into a discussion. As commish, you need to be forthright and definite.

This is the sort of thing you should recuse yourself from and use your co-commish BTW.