Darth Irish Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I honestly don't know what to say about everything here. I have not been around as much as I used to. I will completely cop to that. When the league started, I was single, working a BS job where I could be on nightly and think about fantasy football all of the time. One law school degree, a 12 hr/day job and three kids later, I do not have the time to be on nightly throughout the day, nor do I get to hop on the cOmputer at night. Bottom line, Lucas and Dex are right. It is supposed to be fun. A nice distraction from real life. Do I wish that I checked out whether there were roster limitations on D/ST and stopped all of this before it happened? Absolutely. But I didn't and the result is all of this bickering and arguing. I will take full responsibility for that, and I apologize that what should be a thread of pointless smack talk and bitching about missed opportunity has become what it has as evidenced in the preceding posts. At the end of the day, I would prefer it to be as Lucas remembers it to be. I doubt we can get back to that. However, if we can take a step back and realize that this is supposed to be fun and not make arguments about a fantasy football league so personal, we may be able to get back to it. Seven years this league has been going on. That is impressive in its own right considering that none of us live in the same place, and we have international members. I'd like to keep it going, and I'd like to keep it going with this group. I think it would be silly to blow up the league for a miscue on my part. What I'm getting from all of the previous posts is that there needs to e stronger leadership. If that's the case I will step up my game. But remember, if a commissioner has to step in, there is always going to be someone who is not going to be happy about it. For the record, Lucas is right about the Constitution trumping league settings. That was the purpose of drawing it up. However, I have never that I can remember changed a setting of the league once games for the week have started. I would say, and I hope you all agree, that this is the first time this particular situation has come up. I am sorry the league settings do not match the constitution, and again I will readily accept full responsibility for not checking it. It will be changed today. But seeing as there is a charge for a commissioner to take control, let me say I will not change a lineup after the fact, nor will I change a league setting after games have started. The other issue that I think is apparent from the posts is that certain contributions from members are unappreciated. Let me state that this league does not exist without Lucas. He has taken considerable time when I have none to ensure that the league runs smoothly. Most especially as it pertains to the draft. He also created the Book of Statistics, which is ridonkulous. I personally like the season previews as well, and I recognize they are for entertainment only. Same goes with Lohr. Lohr took the lead on the rookie system and supplemental draft, without even being asked. He just volunteered. Considering we all only know each other from the innerwebs, this is not always going to run smoothly. I can say if a decision needs to be made, I will make it, but I honestly hope that it does not. However, the arguments stop. If anyone feels slighted by others opinions, then I will apologize the the offended on behalf of the offensive party. My whole ramble doesn't solve anything, and I cannot hop into a Delorean and change it. If you want more from the commissioner, I will try to provide it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Lohr Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Lucas, if it's not simply because I disagreed with you, then I have absolutely no idea why you're pissed at me. As you know full well, it's actually been the three of us - you, Rock, and me - doing the heavy lifting this offseason. I tried to get people to vote on issues, I did everything in my non-existent power to help keep the draft moving along, I ran the supplemental draft, and I made out the schedule. I've not always been happy with things, decisions did not always go my way, and I've had many of the same frustrations as you have. I've simply kept calmer about it all. However, I fully agree with you that the lack of leadership here has been very disappointing. I don't doubt that Irish & UKLK care about the league and Irish has certainly showed in the past that he has the necessary skills. However, a third key part of being commissioner is the ability to stay on top of things. Instead of rolling in after the fire's been blazing for awhile and attempting to put it out, you need to prevent the fires from happening whenever possible. If RL time limits prevent you guys from doing this, it's understandable and nobody would fault you for putting RL above NN - but then maybe this isn't the best time for you to be commissioner. If you take the job, then you commit to being able to do it. That leaves the other 7 owners. The amount of effort required by you is minimal and that's exactly what most people give. So, I'm not really sure where any "lack of fun" comes from. Many people seem to get frustrated by the process of rule refinement and changes. All I can say to that is that if we had better organization and full participation, it would be much, much smoother. I agree with Rock that we need to have the owner meetings right after the season. I think it should be the month after the season ends: with 3 weeks to bring up & discuss issues; to make and discuss proposals. Near the end of that time, the commish can make or have made the final proposals to be voted on and we will have one week to vote. This should all be mandatory and anyone who doesn't participate without an extremely valid reason is, in effect, declaring "I don't give a crap - I'll live with whatever you guys decide". Based on this, whether something passes should be decided not on a majority of the owners, but of the votes. If only half the league decides to participate in the process, then 4 "yes" votes will not only be a majority, but a strong 2/3 majority - and the people who didn't vote better not say boo about any of it later. You get three weeks to join in the discussion and an entire week to stop in and vote. After that, don't even bother making a single negative comment. Bottom line, if you're not part of the solution, you are the problem. I don't know about the rest of you, but a well-run, smoothed-out process and a league full of active, involved owners sounds like a recipe for fun to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Once my wedding has passed, I can actually help if need be. I've helped run fantasy leagues before (any of you guys remember nAw?) So I do know a thing or two about this kind of thing. That said, I also know that's it's not always as easy as everyone thinks to take the time to run a ship like that. Props to anyone for their efforts when they have a full plate at home and at work to go along with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Irish Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Let me just say in response to all of that that commissioner is the most thankless job I can think of. No one cares when everything's working, but when something pops up -- watch out. If you want to throw your hat in and take over, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowDog Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 So, I'm not really sure where any "lack of fun" comes from. Let's say you and I are playing a game of "touch move" chess. We're supposed to be playing for fun. We both want to win, of course, but we're playing for fun. I reach out to move my Queen, who's in danger of being taken. My fingers accidently brush against a rook, which almost falls over. I hesitate because of this, see it won't fall, and continue moving my hand to pick up the Queen. You say "Hey! You touched the rook, you have to move it." Now, I didn't announce my intention of moving my Queen beforehand, and I did touch the rook first, and because I hesitated it could look like I was going to move the rook, then at the last second saw my Queen was in danger and changed my mind. So you'd be well within your rights to object and force me to move my rook and only my rook. You'd be within your rights and technically correct. Whoever, it should be obvious what my actual intentions were, especially after I explain it. After hearing my explanation, you'd still be within your rights to force me to move my rook so you could capture my Queen and probably win the game. You'd be 100% correct, the rules are on your side, and you'd be within your rights to insist this. But if you press it, you're sucking the fun out of the game. That's kinda what happened here, except that in this case Lucas was asking for a decision a full two days before the games began and he never got an answer. However, the people who objected ARE correct. The rules are on their side and they're 100% correct to object. But Lucas' intentions were clear, especially after he explained himself. Unless you're saying he was actively trying to cheat and then lied to cover this up. Unless you believe that, then Lucas' intentions were clear and he was prevented from doing this before games started because the commishes were missing in action. So, are you guys well within your rights to object? Absolutely. You're technically correct and the rules are on your side. But to press the issue when his intentions are clear does suck the fun out of this for me. Maybe it doesn't for anybody else, but it does for me. And this isn't the first time we've had this kind of thing happen and it's just not as much fun for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I wasn't trying to press the issue. We went equally back and forth between his assertion that picking up a 3rd defense absolutely meant intended on starting it, and my assertion that it did not and that he didn't insinuate it until after the game started. Then my win/loss record was dragged into the equation. Then the term "dense" was thrown in there somewhere. I didn't want this whole mess to go down. I just wanted the line to be drawn somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Lohr Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 As I said here and to the commissioners before, I don't think it really matters if he intended to play them or not, because I don't think it was a legal move to pick them up in the first place. That was my main issue. Given that, the rest of the argument is like a cow talking. I didn't say anything publicly at first, because I thought (hoped) someone in authority would address it. Lucas is right: if he had gotten an answer beforehand, any debate would have been much less complicated and we would have avoided it impacting the score of the game. Irish, you're absolutely right that you have not always gotten the credit and thanks you deserve. I do think, though, that some of us have made a conscious effort in the last year or two to change that, though. Not only in public displays, but by putting in the time and effort to make your job easier. By your own admission though, you have not had the time to devote to doing the things here that need to be done. UKLK showed enthusiasm when he took the job of co-commish, but honestly, his impact has been minimal. Personally, I always found the 2 commissioner system a bit odd, but that's another discussion entirely. The point here is that when neither one is doing what's required and it's left to a few people with no actual authority to try and keep things running, there is a problem. Can either of the commissioners actually deny that we have a problem? Do you think things are running as smooth as they could? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowDog Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Not to derail things, but what the Hell does "like a cow talking" mean? Never heard that in my life and google was no help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Irish Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Moo **tch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Dragon Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I'd just like to say that I'm going to be much more active this next preseason than I've ever been. For the past 4 years I've had leave during the middle of the draft, and I've missed out on discussions about certain things that decided how the league plays out. This next year I'll be done with my job that has pulled me into the middle of no where for the last 4 years, and will be more involved. and while I haven't been posting much in this thread this year, I'm certainly lurking in here and am aware of what's going on. So what I'm trying to get at is that I'm coming into a place where I can help out with making this thing run smoothly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas1138 Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Despite what it all came from, there has been some positively terrific feedback over the past few posts. I told Irish on facebook, and I want to say it again here: Any bitching about commissioners is NOT personal. I know how busy Irish is, and I know that UK was thrown into the fire with little to no backup. I get that 100%. As Dex said, obviously RL trumps fantasy football too, we all understand that. I genuinely like everyone in this league. Even people I bitch with. I told Texascat the other day, there isn't one person on nightly that hasn't gotten on my (or someone else's) nerves over the past 10 years I've been posting. When you're close with people, **** will eventually hit the fan at one point or another. That's why you don't live with your best friend your freshman year of college. In my ranting I wasn't trying to single any one person out, even being a direct response to Ex and Eric. The point I tried to make, which Dex picked up on, was that as a group: we have stopped taking things easy and started to be kinda dicks to one another over the past year and a half or so. I was speaking about the group as a whole, and by no means was I excluding myself. I noticed it first last season right as the year was beginning. It was snide remark after snide remark from a variety of people. We have to change that if it's going to stay any fun at all. Dex's post above illustrated my argument (before I got pissed) perfectly. Sure, could I have spelled out that I planned on starting the Chargers? Yes. Are you within your right to say that I should have? Yes. Should it have been necessary? I really don't think so. If this is a game among friends, which I have always considered it to be, I would think that there would be some leeway offered, especially considering the time frame of it all. To Irish's point about not changing settings after the first game of the week has started, that's fine I get that, and again would have been totally okay if we would've known that before Sunday. I'm incredibly stressed right now. I'm 6 weeks into law school with mid-terms coming up, paper due tomorrow, I'm trying to avoid a break-up (and failing!), I have no time for anything. And yesterday sucked for me. Like incredibly badly so that led to a blow-up. Rock has said before, the reason he stepped down as commissioner was because it wasn't fun anymore. It was stressful to him and he couldn't afford to be stressed out by something that was supposed to be fun. That's where I'm at. I can't be stressed by this, just can't. I want to continue to participate but not if it's going to stress me out (beyond cursing every bone in Steven Jackson and Jeff Fisher's bodies). Also Ex, had no idea you were getting married. Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Irish Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Mother ****ing real life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Yup...it's real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Lohr Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Yeah, Ex, what Gar said! (It shows how out of touch I've been lately that between here and FB, I didn't have a clue, either!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I haven't posted much about the wedding on Facebook since over the summer when we were selecting caterers, the venue, and all the fun stuff. It's next Friday and I'm stoked! But I will be remembering to set my lineup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowDog Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Not to derail things, but what the Hell does "like a cow talking" mean? Never heard that in my life and google was no help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Lohr Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 OK, Dexter, relax. I was just coming to explain. And yes, my reference was accurate in spirit, though not to the letter... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLwYpSCrlHU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Irish Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 So can we get the group circle jerk going or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Dragon Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Only if there is a talking cow involved. Also known as your mother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas1138 Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Finally. I tried to let someone else have it this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas1138 Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 One of my all-time favorite moments from college was when some buddies and I were at my apartment and we had gone out HARD (like $120+ bar tabs in a college town) the night before and were planning on just taking it easy. Then these girls texted us and told us we had to go to this party and we were still a little bit undecided when our other buddy came out of his room in his boxers holding his bong and was just like "let's just take it easy, you guys want to smoke?" Not 45 minutes later we may or may not have done that and the 5 of us drank two handles of liquor and we're on our way to this party. My friend Josh looked at me and with the straightest expression on his face goes "Well that escalated quickly, didn't it?" College, $40,000 a year, one year at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groove terminator Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I went to Oktoberfest, that's a legit excuse for being drunk & not around enoughGT wins the argument! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Lohr Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 If memory serves, the very first thing Irish did when his reign began was establish that any excuse to be drunk is a legit excuse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groove terminator Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 My memory serves nothing at the moment, photos from Oktoberfest proves that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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