It has come to my attention that is a limited uprising in our league at the moment. It amazes me how everyone thinks they can do a better job than the guy who is already in the position of power. I had every intention of writing this before, but I sprained my ankle this week and so my attention has been elsewhere as my ankle started to look like that guys face at the end of Green Street Hooligans. This post will be to address the haters, questions, and concern of the members in our league.
Also, Jack gave me "a week or two", so I'm still within his timeline, and have not been ignoring him, just formulating my thoughts.
First off, I want to apologize for not posting Week Recaps for the majority of this season. Things have been busier than expected, but I will do my best to update you all every week from now on.
In reply to Mike's quest for current rebellion, here are the arguments you lay forth (some worthy, others not so much), and here are my rebuttals:
1. Stopped doing weekly reviews.
I fully acknowledge I have not done the week in reviews in many weeks. I do want to say however, that since when has this become a duty of the commissioner? This has always been Jack's thing that he does, and this summer I decided to try my hand at it since I was bored. Furthermore, everyone has the ability to write week in reviews, not just me and Jack. If you did them yourselves you would know how much time and effort it actually takes to write quality posts for this blog.
2. Not answering the questions in the reviews.
Here is my answer finally. And half the time, they're not questions. They're just constant insults directed towards me.
3. Mishandling of money.
Yes, the distribution of winnings has been a little rocky, but I have covered that with those who have won money in this league. Second, I had every intention of charging 20 dollars for the league this year, but that was when we were going to have an actual live draft. I see four of the member of the league frequently, and the others at random times. It would be virtually impossible to collect league fees when we don't all meet at one time, especially when people were leaving so early, and in some cases going abroad. I recognize I still owe money to some members, and I will make sure to get that money to them.
4. "Un-Goodell like" ruling
Mike, before you accused me of being too lenient and undecisive. Then I start making more strict rulings and everyone is up in arms about it. What do you want? You can't have it both ways.
5. The Request of a New Commissioner
Here's the deal: although I will step down if that's what the league decides, I do want to make the point that two of your nominations have already had the position of commissioner. Joe was the commissioner for baseball two years ago, and although there were no speedbumps, it had to be one of the most boring season of all our fantasy leagues. There was no interaction with the commissioner, no week recaps, no debates over what stats should and shouldn't be included, etc. Joe constantly changes the stats to whichever ones he wants, as is evidenced by his request every year to change the scoring for fantasy football (EVERY YEAR). Luke had attempted to organize a fantasy basketball league if I am not mistaken, and that had not gone so well. Jack is the only candidate who has yet to have the post, but if i had to guess I don't think he would enjoy it as much, because he would not have a higher power to constantly gripe about and argue with.
Now onto Mr. Ries's litany of inquiries:
1. Which stats to incorporate in non-Football (meaning baseball) leagues:
I have tried to comply with everyone's desires when it comes to stats in fantasy baseball. Admittedly, there have been some categories that should not be included (fielding percentage in particular), and I am of the opinion that less stats are better. If we include every statistic that everyone (by everyone I mean Joe) wants, than it tends to get ridiculous when it comes to trying to score matchups and such. Though I do appreciate that holds have put more emphasis on middle relievers, the holds stat is so fluky, it is virtually impossible to predict. Check the holds leaders for each year, they're never even close to the same guys. I have listened to and respected requests for the additions and subtractions of different categories, but most these requests come after we have already drafted or I have not had any input from others. I cannot add and subtract stats after the draft because that may completely change how some people draft.
2. How much each football stat is worth (leaving the big one until the end)
I have met Joe's EVERY request when it comes to changing how many points each stat gets. I am a man of the people in that regard (except for fractional points, which I will get to later). Joe has been the only one who has ever come to me to change the points system (minus Jack and fractional points), and I have changed them as requested.
3. How to order the draft and keeper leagues
I combined these two topics because they are similar in nature. Everyone agreed this year to a keeper league, and in my opinion I think it went very well and increased interest for the entire year, and allows us to make draft day trades (in which I was a part of). Also, in the case of keeper leagues, I think the system of having the draft order be the reverse of the final standings worked very well, as there has never been more parity in our league before. In the future, I would like to expand to three or possibly four keepers, as it brings more strategy into play when making trades both in and out of season.
4. Stance on which managers to allow in/out of leagues.
This issue actually came into play this year when Joe took it upon himself to give the league ID and password to Grimmer without my approval. Although it ended up working out OK because Danny was one of the more active members of the league, I do not think this can continue. I believe we have a strong core of guys to continue in this league, and any additions that might be made should be with a guy everyone is familiar with. The league is not as fun when there is someone we don't all know (for instance, the year we brought in the St. John's baseball player, Skluzchek or however you spell his name). I do think those that are in the league have an obligation to continue to check their lineups, unless you are Tony McDonald, because we all know we need one guy we can rip for being so inattentive that Chin-Ming Wang is still in his starting lineup.
5. Health Care (I mean fractional points)
Who knew this would be such a controversial topic. Before I address my objections for fractional points, I do want to state the fact that I did allow a vote on this premise for this season, not enough votes were cast, and thus it was not allowed. I refuse to change things when we don't get at least 8 votes cast out of the 10 members of the league. I don't think that's too much to ask. Now, my objections to fractional points are as follows:
a) It ruins part of the fun-Part of the fun of fantasy football is sitting there watching a game and yelling and screaming for your running back to get five more yards so you get that one extra point. Fractional points completely ruin this aspect of fantasy football (which I believe is why fantasy football is so addicting).
b) It ruins the ease of scoring- I enjoy being able to hear a guy's stats and being able to calculate his fantasy score on the spot. If someone has 92 yards rushing, I like being able to know he scored 4 points, not 4.6 points and trying to integrate that into my team's points for the week.
c) There are not fractional points in any other league-you don't get half a run if a guy reaches second base, or gets two thirds of a strikeout anytime a pitcher gets two strikes on a batter.
d) Ties are a part of football- The NFL has ties, and since fantasy football is supposed to (somewhat) imitate real-life football, why can't there be ties in our league? If there were someway to pick two players from your bench as tiebreakers, I would be all for that method, but Yahoo! doesn't allow for that. Fact is, ties happen, and it's part of sports.
e) We have already voted on it as a league- As I have already stated earlier in this column, we voted on it as a league, and not enough votes were cast. It's funny I get tarred and feathered for a taking a couple of weeks off of participating in this league, yet we couldn't even get 80% of our members to vote on something that some think is so crucial it needs to dethrone the leadership of the league. What is this, the French Revolution?
Well I think that is enough to chew on right now. I won't leave any media in this post, but I will make sure to do a Week Recap and post my thoughts and links for the week.
Until then, Viva la Armchair!!