Commish Question Here

[Harden1313]

I know this is for trades and the like but I was hoping to get an opinion on this.

So for my first league I am the commish and we have three guys who aren't checking their lineups, have IR guys on the bench etc. What do you do with something like that? It sucks the fun out of it.

My choices boil down as I can see to either:

A. shrug and move on
B. Edit the lines for the teams that have stopped checking daily.
C. Edit lines and manage all aspects of said teams.
D. Try to find somone who wants to pick up a team
E. Kick them out...which I don't know is possible and brings up questions of where the players would go.

Sigh.

[Axeman33]

Have you attempted to contact them?

My first suggestion is to contact them and inquire about their commitment. Their reply should offer some help to your problem.

If you dont get a reply, I guess you also have your answer. Simply send them one more email informing them that since they did not reply within an acceptable amount of time (I wouldnt give them more then a week) that their team is no longer their problem and thank them for their time. I would then go on a search for a replacement GM for the vacant team.

[LawMan]

Inactive owners suck however I don't think you can do much. I'd nicely ask them to smarten up and encourage them to put a little effort (even if its only once a week they can grab a hot player and set their lineup for the whole week). Explain it's more fun if everyone commits a little time. If it's not what they signed up for and they aren't willing to put any effort perhaps try and find a replacement owner.

I wouldn't go to the extreme of tinkering with their lineup as that could put you in a conflict of interest, especially when you play their teams, and frankly that's a lot of time and effort you shouldn't have to expend.

Finally if they don't change and you can't find a replacement owner set their best players in the starting lineup and run it as a "ghost team" for the year and replace them next year. I was in a league with 11 teams my very first year and when we couldn't find a 12th owner we made a team who autodrafted and never changed his lineup. It was ok as it balanced the league out but the best part was if you ever lost to Casper you took a trash-talk ass whooping from the rest of the league .

Good luck.

[Yardsale]

That sucks.

(1) Contact them
(2) If they continue to neglect, try to find new GMs
(3) If you can't find new GMs, I would set their rosters (no add/drops/changes) for them - maybe my pre-draft ranking (if there is conflict)
(4) Next year - set penalties for neglectful GMs (penalty pay or dismissal from league)

It's really hard to enforce such rules postfact

Good luck, man.

[Harden1313]

I've been thinking about doing that and just naming the teams "Ghost Team 1" and "Ghost team 2". The complete ghost team I can handle, it's the half assed ones who set their lineup every other week that piss me off. I always end up playing them when they have logged back on after a week of getting stomped 14-0 by one of my rivals. At least if everyone can have a easy week against them it would be more fair hahaha!

[PrairieDog]

Is it a money league? Sounds like it isn't but if so then let the season play out and when its done just let them know you are finding new GM's who are active enough to at least set their lineups. Even if its just a fun league I would let the season play out and make GM changes in the off-season. Just my 2 cents.

If you haven't heard anything from them then setting their lineups is probably not a bad idea - if a team is consistently an easy win it gives the GM's playing them an unfair advantage, especially in a shortened season.

/edit - duh, just realised this is a one year league...in that case maybe finding replacements asap is the best option if they aren't even responding.

[mister_mcgoo]

if they don't shape up in a week I'd boot em, it ruins the league for everyone...I always make sure any league I'm part of has strict league rules defined for this kind of thing so that there is no arguments or confusion on it.
You might be hard pressed to find replacements but if you can't I'd have a draft lotto to randomly determine draft order and then toss all the extra players into the pool and let your GMs draft em.

My best advice is to stick to either groups of friends who you know you can count on in one-year leagues or go with full keeper league for $$$, that's the kinda motivation you often need to get good GMs and keep them. The good leagues I've been in it takes a couple years to weed out the deadwood and then you have just an awesome, competitive league. Now we sometimes hafta replace a GM occasionally but its never for lack of participation, its always personal reasons on their side (like going back to school, no time, etc)