The Constitution (Dictatorship) of “Beat the Champ” Fantasy Football

Table of Contents

1. Preamble (New Dictatorship 2006)
2. Team and Coaches
3. League Operation
4. Player Draft
5. Rosters
6. Starting Lineups
7. Transaction/Trades
8. Injured Reserve
9. League Governance (The Committee)
10. Extraordinary Situations (New Dictatorship 2006)
11. Scoring System
12. Amendments
13. Amendment A: Keeper League Rule
14. Amendment B: Inactive Player Syndrome (NO LONGER IN USE over ruled for 2005)
15. Amendment C: Last Week Winner (Voted in for 2005)
16. Amendment C-a: Last Week Winner (Modified) (Voted in for 2005)
17. Amendment D: Champ Becomes Next Years Commissioner (Voted in for 2005)
18. Amendment E: World Record Payouts (Voted in for 2005)
19. Amendment F: Rules for Draft day regarding Keepers (Voted in for 2005)
20. Amendment G: Trade Deadline (Voted in for 2005)

Preamble

"Beat the Champ" Fantasy Football League is now under dictatorship rule.  The people have been over taken and have lost all power to vote and make changes to this government.  As of July 16th 2006 Toad and Controll have taken over this league.

We have taken over the responsibility to create, add, subtract and maintain this league going forward.  This will give us the power to change the rules before every season and to resolve any issues during the season. 

We are modifying the constitution to reflex this new Government over throw.  

We still want input from the members of this league.  However, Todd and I will have final say “no questions asked”.

We will still maintain the constitution to keep Todd and me in check.

We, the People of the “Beat the Champ” Fantasy Football League, in order to promote a more perfect game, disregard domestic tranquility, scout obscure players in far away places, spend inordinate amounts of time and money on sports magazines and web sites with questionable value, peer endlessly over columns of stats, and curse inaccurate injury reports, hereby establish this Constitution as the Official Rulebook for Fantasy Football play. 

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 I. Teams and Coaches

·         There are as many teams as we can find coaches not to exceed 15 unless over ruled by majority vote (See section Extraordinary Situations). 

·         All coaches from the previous year are automatically re-invited unless an extraordinary situation occurs (See section Extraordinary Situations). 

·         If there are more than 15 people that want to play then the Dictators Committee must decide who is invited and who is not.  (See section League Governance (The Committee)).

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II. League Operation

·        Fee: $50 + ($125/number of coaches) (Note: $125 goes toward purchasing yahoo plus features). Example, with 12 coaches the total fee = $60.  This fee may change over the years to compensate for inflation and or recession.  The Dictator Committee can set this fee at the beginning of every new season. (See section League Governance (The Committee)).

·         Prizes: 1^st – 50%, 2^nd – 25%, 3^rd – 15%, 4^th- 10% of  total pot at the end of the year (total pot equals all entry fee + all transactions fee + all late fee – weekly payouts – yahoo plus features)

·        Weekly winners receive $4, $3, $2, $1 for each week they score the most pts 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th place respectfully.

·        Length: The season lasts from Week 1 to Week 17 of the regular season.

·        The league is based on an overall scoring system.  The person with the most points at the end of the season wins the league.  The Champ is placed on the coveted “Beat the Champ” trophy and is the keeper of the trophy until the end of the season.  It is the responsibility of the keeper of the trophy to engrave the new Champs name and year on to the trophy no later than the beginning of super bowl Sunday.  The trophy is then graciously handed over to the new champ no questions asked (You have the option to make a speech).  The new champ automatically becomes a member of the Committee by default (See section League Governance (The Committee)).  Also, and most importantly, the next season is named after the Champs Name and is known as “Beat (The New Champs Name) the Champ”.

·        Tiebreakers: In case of an overall tie at the conclusion of the season, the team with the most 1^st place weekly finish wins overall.  However, if this still results in a tie then the team with the most 2^nd place weekly finish, wins overall.  If it is still a tie then the player who drafted later in the draft wins.

·        All payout will be delivered on or before Super Bowl Sunday.  But most likely at the Greer’s Super Bowl party.

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III.  Player Draft

·    The draft will be held at the Dictator's Commissioner’s house or Online (Yahoo Sports).

·        The entry fee (example $60) must be given to a Dictator member of the Committee by draft day.  (NO EXCEPTIONS!!!).  Every day you are late is an extra $5 fee.  

·        The draft order is determined by last years finish. Last place drafts first, Second to last picks 2^nd and so on until the Champ picks last.  New coaches will draft after the champ.  New coaches draft position will be determined at random order either from drawing numbers from a hat or from a random generator on web site (i.e. yahoo).

·        Owners build their team through a traditional “snake” draft.  Draft picks in odd numbered rounds are selected in the order of 1 through number of coached (i.e. 12).  Even numbered rounds are reversed and selected total number of coaches (i.e. 12) down to 1.  For example, the owner who gets the 1^st overall pick in the draft would also get the 24^th and 25^th picks.  Likewise, the owner with the 12^th overall pick would also get the 13^th draft pick.

·        The draft consists of 18 20 rounds.  Once a draft selection has been presented to the Commissioner or Computer web site, it cannot be rescinded.  Even if you miss click.  Even if you have Computer problems or Network problems.  To avoid a complete draft disaster it is highly recommended that you setup your pre-draft order before the draft starts.  

·        There will be a 90 second time limit for each draft pick.  This limit is enforced unless voted for on a majority rules basis (See section IX.  Extraordinary Situations). 

·        You can draft any 18 20 players at any position you choose.  However, drafting 18 20 TEs is not recommended.  You would be wise to draft the minimum starting roster. (See sections IV Rosters)

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IV. Rosters

·        The maximum roster is 18 20 players

·        The minimum starting roster consists of the following: 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 RB/WR, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 DEF, 1 DB, 1 DL.  There are 9 extra positions on the roster reserved for bench and IR.  These players may be from any position.

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V. Starting Lineups

·        Starting lineups consist of the following:  1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 RB/WR, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 DEF.

·        The deadline for submitting starting lineups is before your player’s team starts a game.  It is each coach’s responsibility to make sure they start their players on time.  Be careful because not all NFL games are played on Sunday.  Remember that some games are played on Thursdays, Mondays and Saturdays.  If you forget to start a player after a game has started it is too late.  However, if for some reason you are unable to start your team because of extenuating circumstances (Sick, Vacation, Computer down etc.).  You may contact the Commissioner or a Committee member to start your team for you as long as you do so before your players begin play.  If you are the Commissioner or a Committee member you must contact someone other then yourself stated above.

·        Regular Starting Lineup:  You are responsible for submitting a starting lineup each week.  If you start a player and he is on a BYE week you are out of luck.

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VI. Transactions / Trades

·        Definition of a Transaction/Trade:

                                                               i.      If you drop a player

                                                             ii.      If you add a player

                                                            iii.      If you trade a player

·        Every Transaction/Trade cost a $1.

·        You can make as many transactions or trades that you want.  (Remember that it will cost you a $1).

·         The Commissioner will decide fairness of a trade or transaction.  The Commissioner reserves the right to veto a trade or transaction.  If the coaches involved in the trade or transaction feel that the Commissioner is being unfair then they may bring their grievance to the Committee to petition a League wide vote.  If a single member on the Committee accepts the petition then a League wide vote will process under the laws and guidelines spelled out in the Extraordinary Situations sections.  (See section Extraordinary Situations).

·        The trade reject time is 2 days.  After this period has passed the Commissioner may no longer veto the trade or transaction.

·        There is NO trade end date deadline.  Amendment G: Trade Deadline Trade Deadline as 13th week of the season (after bye weeks have completed)

Waivers

·        At any time during the fantasy football season, you may drop a player from your team. All players dropped from a team's roster are immediately placed on waivers. During this waiver period -- two days -- anyone in the league can claim the player. So, if a player is dropped on a Wednesday afternoon, all managers can claim him until Friday at 11:59 pm PT. The player will then be assigned to their new team roughly 4-8 hours after the claim deadline.

·        The length of the waiver period is 2 days.

·        If more than one manager claims the same player, the team that is highest on the Waiver Priority List is given the rights to the player. The priority list is initially set based on the reverse of the draft order. However, each time you add a waived player to your roster, you are pushed to the back of the list, so the team with the lowest waiver priority will always be the team that completed the last successful waiver claim. This "rolling" list stays in effect for the entire season.

·        If nobody claims a player during the waiver period, he becomes a free agent.

·        If you place a player on waivers, you cannot reclaim that player until after the waiver period has expired. If, however, you decide that you do not wish to waive the player, you can cancel the transaction provided it has not yet been processed.

Free Agents

·        All un-owned players who have cleared waivers are free agents and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. All claimed players will immediately be added to your bench. It is up to you to move them to starting positions.

·        You can drop players without replacing them, but you can only pick up players without dropping anyone if you have fewer than the maximum number of players on your roster. You will never be allowed to exceed your league's roster limit.

·        If you drop a player from your roster, he will immediately be placed on waivers. You will then not be allowed to reclaim the player until after the waiver period expires.

·        Before the start of the season, all un-drafted players will be treated as free agents.

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 VII. Injured Reserve

·        We do not keep track of IR players.  This is why we have 9 bench players.  Traditionally we used to have 7 bench players and allowed for 2 IR players.  However, it was too difficult to keep track of when a coach put a player on IR and when the coach took a player off IR.  Thus it was decided by the Committee to set the bench players to 9.

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 VIII. League Governance (The Committee) Dictators

The members of the Committee are selected based on the following:

1. The one year past Champ.

2. The second year past Champ.

3. The coach with the First pick in the draft.

§         If for some reason the current Champ or the past Champ or both do not return then next past Champ is selected until the committee consist of 3 members.  If there are no more Champs to choose from then the coach with the second pick in the draft and on down the line until we have 3 coaches on the committee.

·        The job of the committee is to watch over the Commissioner and league. 

·        If for some reason during the season the Commissioner fails to follow the rules set forth in this Document “The Constitution of Beat the Champ Fantasy Football” they have the right to call upon the Extraordinary Situations Section.  The Committee need only have 2 of the 3 members to in act this. 

The Commissioner/Dictator is vested with the following powers:

1. Interpret the Constitution as they sees just and fit

2. Settle all position eligibility disputes

3. Preside over draft and settle draft disputes

4. Act a treasurer.  Collect all monies and payout accordingly

5. Provide timely weekly reports and status

6. Maintain integrity of the league and its owners

7. Approve or Deny all transactions

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IX. Extraordinary Situations (New Dictatorship)

·        Amendments to the Constitution are allowed.  Only Amendments brought forth from the current acting committee are allowed.  For an amendment to be passed, 2/3 of the league owners must approve of it.

·        If an owner is considered by the Commissioner to be conducting himself in a manner not in the best interest of the league, he may be removed.  However, a warning is issued first.  If the warning fails and 2/3 of the league recommends the owner to be removed he can be dismissed.  This applies even to members of the committee. 

·        Any other grievances or issues brought by the Committee under the extraordinary situations will be decided by a 2/3 majority league vote.  This includes impeachment of a Commissioner.  

·        This league was founded on the idea of conducting our game of Fantasy Football at a very competitive level.  Each team owner is a major part of this process and is essential in making the league a success.  The main thing to remember is to have fun… and maybe if you’re good enough you’ll win some money and get your name put into the history book and onto the trophy.

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 X. Scoring System

Passing Yards (20 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (6)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing Touchdowns (6)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)
Reception Touchdowns (6)
2-Point Conversions (2)
Field Goals 0-19 Yards (3)
Field Goals 20-29 Yards (3)
Field Goals 30-39 Yards (3)
Field Goals 40-49 Yards (4)
Field Goals 50+ Yards (5)
Point After Attempt Made (1)
Sack (1)
Interception (2)
Fumble Recovery (2)
Touchdown (6)
Safety (2)
Block Kick (2)
Kickoff and Punt Return Touchdowns (15)
Points Allowed 0 points (15)
Points Allowed 1-6 points (10)
Points Allowed 7-13 points (7)
Points Allowed 14-20 points (4)
Points Allowed 21-27 points (1)
Points Allowed 28-34 points (0)
Points Allowed 35+ points (0)
Tackle Solo (1)
Tackle Assist (.5)
Sack (1)
Interception (1)
Fumble Force (1)
Fumble Recovery (1)
Touchdown (6)
Safety (2)
Pass Defended (1)
Block Kick (1)

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XI. Amendments:

1. Amendment A: Keeper League Rule (NO LONGER IN USE Dictatorship ruled for 2006)
2. Amendment B: Inactive Player Syndrome (NO LONGER IN USE over ruled for 2005)
3. Amendment C: Last Week Winner (Voted in for 2005)
4. Amendment C-a: Last Week Winner (Modified) (Voted in for 2005)
5. Amendment D: Champ Becomes Next Years Commissioner (Voted in for 2005)(NO LONGER IN USE Dictatorship ruled for 2006)
6. Amendment E: World Record Payouts (Voted in for 2005)
7. Amendment F: Rules for Draft day regarding Keepers (Voted in for 2005)(NO LONGER IN USE Dictatorship ruled for 2006)
8. Amendment G: Trade Deadline (Voted in for 2005)

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Amendment A: Keeper League Rule: (NO LONGER IN USE Dictatorship ruled for 2006)

·         Roster size: 18 players. No injured reserved. There are no roster restrictions except that you must draft enough players at each position to field a starting lineup on opening day. With a roster size of 18, it is expected that 1 or 2 young players will be included on each team's roster during the season to develop into keepers.

·         Each team can keep from 0 to 2 players. The first year, it's possible that because of poor drafting or poor team management, a team may not have any players they wish to keep.

·         Any players drafted in rounds 1 - 2 of the previous year cannot be keepers.

·         Players can be kept a maximum of 3 times. For example, you can draft a player in 2001, and then keep them for the next 3 years: 2002, 2003, 2004. In 2005, this player must go back into the draft pool of players.

·         For each player you keep, you must give up a draft pick 2 rounds higher than the player's draft position the year before.

If you keep an undrafted player (a free agent) from the previous year, you must give up your 12th round pick. Players that were drafted and then cut still maintain their draft status.

Example 1 : You draft Thomas Jones RB Arizona in round 9 in 2001. He becomes the starter and you decide he's one of your keepers. In 2002, you must give up your 7th round draft pick (he becomes effectively your 7th round pick) to keep him. In 2003, he becomes your 5th round choice, and if you keep him for a third year, you must give up your 3rd round pick in 2004.

Example 2 : You draft S. Morris, WR KCC in round 4 in 2001. You decide to keep him. In 2002, he becomes your 2nd round draft pick (you give up a 2nd rounder). In 2003, because his draft status was round 2 in the previous year, he is no longer eligible for keeper status and is returned to the draft pool.

·         If you do not have a draft pick for the correct round to give up keeping a player, you must give up the next higher draft pick. This can happened if you trade away a draft pick during pre-season or have 2 keepers that have the same draft status from the previous year.

Example 1: You decide to keep your draft pick in round 14 from the previous year and you also want to keep a free agent. Both require that you give up your 12th round draft pick. Since you only have one 12th round selection, to keep both players, you must give up picks for rounds 11 and 12.

Example 2: You want to keep a player you drafted in the 5th round last year. You also traded away your 3rd round pick during pre-season. To keep last year's 5th round pick, you must give up your 3rd round pick this year. Since you have no 3rd round selection, to keep this player, you must give up your 2nd pick.

·         When the draft is complete, the draft position the player ends up at will determine next year's draft position status.

For Example: You have 2 free agents you want to keep. Based on the rule above, you will have to give up a 12th and an 11th round pick to keep each. If the draft completes with your 2nd keeper being your 11th round draft pick, and you decide to keep that same player next year, you will have to give up a 9th round pick to keep that player the following year.

Moral: Put your best keeper free agent in the 12th round slot.

·         Non-Returning Teams and New Coaches: Coaches that do not return will forfeit their team to new coaches.  The new coaches will be assigned a non-returning team based on random order by picking numbers out of a hat. The new owner will get the old team’s current roster of players and their current draft position. If no new owner can be found and the league is willing to play with less than the full amount of teams, the rosters of the non-returning teams will be returned to the draft pool. Every team that drafted after the non-returning team will move forward in the draft order.   If for some reason there are no non-returning teams available for the new coach then that coach gets to pick one player that was not drafted in the first round the year before and is not a keeper on any other coaches’ team. They will use up a 12^th round pick.

Important Date:

·         NFL Week -3: Declare Keeper Deadline
Keepers can be declared at anytime. Three (3) weeks before the draft is the Declare Keeper Deadline. At that time, your keepers will be placed into their correct draft position and will be considered DRAFTED. Your draft pick for that spot is consumed (used).

Exception: If because of injuries/demotions/suspension/retired or other reasons, your keeper status changes, the commissioner may allow you to regain your consumed draft pick spot on draft day.  But this must be communicated to the entire league at minimum one day before the draft. 

Trading:

·         All trades must be approved by the commissioner.

·         Keeper Status follows the traded player.
When trading players, the players draft status (position) and keeper status (years he can be kept) is traded with the player.

Example: In 2000, you drafted MIN QB Culpepper in the 7th round. His keeper status is as follows:

Since his draft and keeper status follows him to whatever team he is traded to, he can only be kept for the 2001 and the 2002 season. 2003, he must go back into the draft because his draft position, which rises 2 rounds each year got too high. If this team could have drafted him in the 8th round, Culpepper could have been kept the full max of 3 years.

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Amendment B: Inactive Player Syndrome (NO LONGER IN USE - Overruled by Vote)

·        Inactive Player Policy: Many times a player is a game time decision as to whether he plays or not.  Just like a Real Life Coach, a Fantasy Football coach should have the right to know what players are going to play and what players are not going to take the field before the game starts.  If an owner submits a player and that player does not play, another player on the fantasy team is used under ONE condition… “The original player did not take one snap (or play at all).”  If, however, a starter plays but gets hurt in the middle of the game, the owner is out of luck.

·        How this will be handled.  The commissioner must judge that the following act above did in fact occur.  If so, the commissioner will modify the position depending on the options below.

                                                                                                               i.      Option 1: Every coach has the option to post a replacement priority list every week.  The coach must post the list to the Yahoo message board before the first game of the new week begins.  For example, if in week 5 there is a Thursday game you must post this list before the first game starts.  You also have the option to post a priority list to span multiple weeks but this must be stated in the post.

                                                                                                             ii.      Option 2: The player on the bench with the highest Yahoo over all rank will replace the IPS.  THIS OPTION ONLY APPLIES if a coach fails to post a replacement priority list or chooses not to post a replacement priority list.

·        An example, let’s say Marshall Faulk is questionable before the game starts.  And Martz tells the press that Faulk will play for sure.  So that FF coach starts Faulk.  However, Faulk doesn’t take the field.  After the game completes the FF coach contacts the Commissioner with this information.  The Commissioner examines the situation and determines that Faulk did not play.  The commissioner looks at the FF coach’s team and sees that on the bench are two RBs (S Davis rank 18 and C Martin rank 45).  If both players played, the Commissioner modifies the FF coach’s line up to reflect S Davis as the RB for that week (see Option 2).  Even though C Martin had 5 TD and ran for 300 yards.  However, if the FF coach submitted a replacement priority list before the first game of the week with C Martin before S Davis then the Commissioner would modify the FF coach’s line up to reflect C Martin (see Option 1).

·        If a coach posts a replacement priority list then Option 1 is in affect.  The act of posting a replacement priority list means the coach prefers Option 1 over Option 2.  Therefore, if it turns out that Option 2 would have yielded more points they are out of luck.

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Amendment C: Last Week Winner

To try and keep the league competitive and give those poor coaches that are at the bottom of the rankings a chance at some money we have the amendment “Last Week Winner”. 

If you get 1st place in the last week of the season you win. 
The winning coach gets all his/her transactions back.  This achieves two things:
Coaches will be more inclined to make more transactions during the year in hopes to win the last week. 

Amendment C-a: Last Week Winner (Supplement)

Last Week Winner Eligibility:
In order to be eligible for “Last Week Winner”, a team can not place in the Top 4 (in the money).

If, a team in the Top 4 wins the last week, then the “Last Week Winner” prize would go to the next highest placing Non-Top 4 team.

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Amendment D: Champ Becomes Next Years Commissioner: (NO LONGER IN USE Dictatorship ruled for 2006)

I know this one is probably not a fan favorite.  However, in order to make this league everyone’s league we need to share in the fun.  What better way to do this than to automatically make the Champ next years Commissioner. 

Being Commissioner is easier than it ever. The internet and the committee makes being Commissioner easy.  At least compared to how it used to be when all stats were taken out of the newspapers (Before I joined the league that’s how this league was run.  And I thought I was obsessed).  Plus, we have gone out of our way to make being commissioner as simple as possible.

We need people to step it up because we need fresh new ideas.  We figure that if someone wins the league they are probably Fantasy Football savvy and would make a great commissioner.  In fact the last two Champs have already been commissioner.

We don’t want this league to become a Dictatorship.  With the same old people as Commissioner every year.    HA HA very funny it did become a Dictatorship

With all the awards and money you receive as Champ it’s the least you can do.
 

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Amendment E: World Record Payouts

We are handing out awards this year.  However, to make it even more exciting we would like to attach some monetary value to it. 

We would like to take 5% of the pot every year and apply to the world records for the year.  For example, let’s say the total pot is $800 then $40 would apply to world record pool.  If we had 4 world records, that year each world record would get $10.  If no world records were broken that year then the $40 would go into next year’s world record pool.  This would go on until a World Record was broken.

2003: 20 world record *Total number of World Records.  First year to keep track
2004: 14 world records broken (that includes a tie for DEF)
2005: 4 world records
2006: ?

As the years pass by it will be harder to break a World Record. 

 
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Amendment F: Rules for Draft day regarding Keepers (NO LONGER IN USE Dictatorship ruled for 2006)

In order to keep the online Draft viable we need to enact a new Amendment. 

The Problems:

1. What happens if someone accidentally picks up someone else's keeper?
2. What happens if someone forgets to pick up their keeper?

1.) If someone accidentally picks up someone else's keeper during the draft he or she will forfeit their draft pick. At the end of the draft the commissioner will move the keeper back to the original team.  The only exception to this is if a coach forgets to pick up their keeper at the appropriate draft spot (See #2).

For Example, lets say Sean has Willis McGahee as a keeper and must use draft pick #5.  However, in round 3 Pat picks up Willis McGahee.  At the end of the Draft the commissioner will move Willis McGahee back onto Sean's team.  As a result Pat will have wasted his 3rd pick.

2.) If a coach forgets to pick up their keeper at the appropriate draft spot they will lose the option to reserve this player.  At that point any other coach can pick up that player without any penalty.

For Example, lest say Sean has Willis McGahee as a keeper and must use draft pick #5.  However, in round 5 Sean fails to pick up Willis McGahee.  At that point, Pat realized that Sean didn't pick up Willis McGahee and he picks up Willis McGahee in the 6th round.

It is recommended that to avoid accidentally picking up another coach's keeper that you create an exclude list before the draft starts.  Yahoo has this option so that players on the exclude list will not show up in your draft.

 
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Amendment G: Trade Deadline

Supplement to section VI. Transactions / Trades:

Establishment of Trade Deadline as 13th week of the season (after bye weeks have completed). No team to team trades will be allowed after the 13th week. Players can still add and drop players from the list of free agent players.

 
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