Fantasy Dispute

Text of dispute is :
To whom it may concern, Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am writing this e-mail in response to my fantasy league this year and the way they handled the league rules. I was hoping that an outsider with an objective view could help settle something for us. I’ll try my best to keep it brief, but sometimes find it difficult when at the present moment all I see are cheaters….. but anyway here we go. This is the second year of our league, last year was great besides the fact that my team faltered at the end and I won nothing, but our playoff system was six team with three from each division competing for the title. Week one of playoffs gave the first place team in each division a bye so that they had no fear of getting knocked out similar to the nfl’s post season. After all we must reward excellence during the regular season. This year we had twelve teams and it was agreed on draft night to keep the playoff format consistant with the previous year. Then week TEN came around and a poll was sent out by our commish, wanting to know what the league thought about expanding playoffs to 8 teams and eliminating the bye week for the number one seed. The vote was cast and of course most teams that had not secured a playoff birth voted for expanding the playoffs and the few teams at the top of the league voted against. The final vote was 7-3 with two no votes in favor of a rule change. To be honest if we had taken this vote at the start of the season I would have voted for it. The more the merrier right, but I think it is dangerous when leagues start changing the rules mid-season. My brother and I were both already in and he had top seed, set for the bye. As it turned out the two teams that were in the fourth spot in both divisions were the commish and his brother. (Convienent huh?) When we sent out posts or e-mails trying to show our dislike for mid-season rule changes we were bombarded with accusations of being scared and or @#$%ing chickens.. you get the point. So here we are in the last weekend of playoffs and i am fighting for third place and my share of the money which would be 75 bucks. If the rules had not been changed by our “I want to be in the playoffs too” commish I would be fighting for the championship and the top prize of 520 bucks. And my brother would still be in it going for third. We are looking for your opionion on the matter of a week 10!!!!playoff rule changes. The “commish’s” name is BJ and his brother is Brett, if you could encorperate both these idiots in your letter I would appreciate it. Thank you for your time and I hope that you can help me out. Thank you, Blair Hammer Boise, Idaho River Rat League cbs.sportsline.com 12 team, 15 man roster, ppr scoring. -
END——–

 THE JUDGE RULES AS FOLLOWS:

You got jobbed.  A league should not change the rules mid-season unless there is unanimous consent.  A majority isn’t good enough.  Suppose, after a winner has been declared, your league votes whether or not to change the entire format so that all losing teams split the pot?  I imagine the vote would be 11-1, with the one being guess who?

However, it sounds like you have waived the right to complain.  If this issue was posed during week 10, I would order the old playoff rules remain in effect despite the majority vote.  But if you waited till now to complain, it’s too late– simply because teams have made transactions (e.g., add/drops by teams that should have been “eliminated”) after the new league format was announced.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Thank you for using the services of www.FantasyDispute.com

THE JUDGE RULES AS FOLLOWS:

There are conflicting rules in your league– they state, “Trades receiving more than 5 objections are sent to the commissioner for approval” in one place and “Trades with 6 or more objections will be sent to outside commish,” in another. In any case, this trade is OK. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season that Alexander wouldn’t crack the top 20 as a fantasy running back this year? And who thought Favre would be in the top seven? Ordinarily, strict scrutiny should be applied when a top team trades with a team out of contention. But you’ve got a good rule in that there are weekly winners– so really, every team is still in contention. However, even applying strict scrutiny, if the first place team wants Alexander, let him have ‘em. This trade is fine.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Thank you for using the services of www.FantasyDispute.com

Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 2:07 PM
Text of dispute is :
h2h fantasy football league. Trade is Brett Favre for Shaun Alexander. We start 1 QB, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 D, and a combination of 4 RB/WR(must have at least one of each). 7 bench spots…14 teams. Non keeper league……some owners were upset because it was the first place team(getting Alexander) trading with the last place team(getting Favre)…..even though last place team has nothing to play for except weekly high score($20 per week). He is 0-9 but known to be a good owner and trying to get a win so he doesnt go winless. Trade got 6 objections and needs unbiased review. Complete rules description below. ———————————– Draft: • Live Draft, 8/26/07 07:00 pm ET. • 14 Rounds. • Draft robot not enabled - no time limit between picks. Player Pool: AFC and NFC Players. Positions: QB, RB, WR, TE, K and DST. Transactions: • Lineup deadline is 5 minutes before gametime for each player. • Owners may set lineups. • Transactions will lock five minutes before the first game on Sunday. Players whose teams play before Sunday will be locked for the remainder of the scoring period. • Add/drops are handled by a waivers process. • The waivers process runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. • The waiver order resets after each weeks’ games. • Dropped players remain on waivers for at least 1 day(s). • Trades are subject to a 1-day voting period, where at most 5 objections are allowed. Trades receiving more than 5 objections are sent to the commissioner for approval. • No trades can be made after the trade deadline of 11:59 PM ET 11/16/07. (Click Here to set a reminder) • Owners may not make trades during the offseason. Schedule: Playoffs start in Week 14 and last for 3 Weeks. Fees: League Entry Fee: $120 Scoring: Head-to-Head, Points Based System. Ties go to the team with better CmpPct. Scoring based on total stats each period. Ties in the standings are resolved in this order: Winning Percentage, Total Points, Head to Head Record. Scoring for Offensive Categories FG - Field Goals 3 points Plus 2 points for a FG of 50+ Yds FL - Fumble Lost, Including ST plays -2 points Pa2P - Passing Two-point Conversion 2 points PaInt - Passing Interception -2 points PaTD - Passing TD 6 points PaYd - Passing Yards 0+ PaYds = 1 point for every 25 PaYds Re2P - Receiving Two-point Conversion 2 points ReTD - Receiving TD 6 points ReYd - Receiving Yards 0+ ReYds = 1 point for every 10 ReYds Ru2P - Rushing Two-point Conversion 2 points RuTD - Rushing TD 6 points RuYd - Rushing Yards 0+ RuYds = 1 point for every 10 RuYds XP - Extra Points 1 point Scoring for Defensive Categories DFR - Defensive/ST Fumble Recovered (ID/DT/DST) 2 points DTD - Total Defensive and Special Teams TD 6 points Int - Interceptions 2 points PA - Points Against, Total Points Scored 0 - 6 PA = 8 points 7 - 13 PA = 6 points 14 - 20 PA = 4 points 21 - 27 PA = 2 points SACK - Sack 1 point STY - Safety 2 points YDS - Yards Allowed 0 - 49 YDSs = 12 points 50 - 99 YDSs = 10 points 100 - 149 YDSs = 8 points 150 - 199 YDSs = 6 points 200 - 249 YDSs = 4 points 250 - 299 YDSs = 2 points Constitution: 14 Team League-1 Division $120 to play. $800 to winner $400 to 2nd place $120 to 3rd place(semifinal losers meet in week 16 for 3rd place) $20 per week to team with highest score during regular season(paid out at end of season) Draft date is confirmed for Sunday August 26, 2007 at 7:30 PM EST. You play everyone once in one big division!(13 week regular season) Other money is $65 to pay for site(1/2 price this year-more money in pot) and $35 to pay for outside commish. Trades with 6 or more objections will be sent to outside commish. Draft order is set. No draft pick position trades will be allowed prior to draft.
END——–