Post by Cincinnati Bengals (Chris) on Mar 9, 2022 23:35:23 GMT -5
Per the League Activity Rules, any manager who "Fields a lineup with inactive players, when the opportunity existed to replace them with active players on your bench, it will be logged by League Managers, you will be given a warning, and after multiple such occasions, you will be removed from the league." Last year, our San Francisco 49ers manager, Nate, had multiple such occasions of setting an inactive. He was warned, per the league rules, when he did so. We generally like to handle replacing members in the off-season, if at all possible, simply because it's less work for us during a busy time, and also, less complicated from a league and records perspective. Thankfully, Nate was still setting lineups for much of the season, allowing us to follow this practice with him. The problem came in Week 13, when, he not only started inactive(s), he ended up throwing the game. Now is the time for the league to visit the decision to be made about Nate's league membership, as a result of the aforementioned issues.
Before we delve into Nate's thrown game, I think it's worthwhile to provide a little history on throwing games in our league's history. In 2021, we had a total of three thrown games (Two by LAC (Daphud), and one by Nate). While Daphud was booted from the league for inactivity/not responding to the league managers when we reached out to him trying to make contact/let him know about his lineup issues/instructed him to fix them, he, as well as Arizona (Multiple managers) were removed due to inactivity/not setting lineups. Unfortunately, there is no part of the league rules that specifically mentions throwing a game (Something that we will need to legislate however we decide, and get put on the books going forward), though previously, in the instance of a league member throwing a game, that manager has been removed, either immediately, within a time period following the inability to contact that manager, or at the end of the season. So, although there is ample evidence of managers being thrown out for throwing games (As it is generally understood among league managers throughout our history that this falls in line with inactivity/not setting lineups, and is for the good of the league, and within their powers, to do so, as league managers have always had the final say on league membership matters), technically, per the league rules, those managers are being kicked out for inactivity/not starting their lineups.
As it pertains to Nate's thrown game, here are the circumstances:
Those are the facts that pertain to this case. As was the case with Charlie a year ago, as it's a scenario that's more complicated than a league member who just disappears (Like Daphud and the ARI managers, and frankly, the majority of managers who leave or are forced out) we have decided to leave the decision on Nate's league membership up to the league. Please take the time to vote so that if the decision is made to expel him from the league, we will have an accurate accounting of how many and which teams are available going forward. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Before we delve into Nate's thrown game, I think it's worthwhile to provide a little history on throwing games in our league's history. In 2021, we had a total of three thrown games (Two by LAC (Daphud), and one by Nate). While Daphud was booted from the league for inactivity/not responding to the league managers when we reached out to him trying to make contact/let him know about his lineup issues/instructed him to fix them, he, as well as Arizona (Multiple managers) were removed due to inactivity/not setting lineups. Unfortunately, there is no part of the league rules that specifically mentions throwing a game (Something that we will need to legislate however we decide, and get put on the books going forward), though previously, in the instance of a league member throwing a game, that manager has been removed, either immediately, within a time period following the inability to contact that manager, or at the end of the season. So, although there is ample evidence of managers being thrown out for throwing games (As it is generally understood among league managers throughout our history that this falls in line with inactivity/not setting lineups, and is for the good of the league, and within their powers, to do so, as league managers have always had the final say on league membership matters), technically, per the league rules, those managers are being kicked out for inactivity/not starting their lineups.
As it pertains to Nate's thrown game, here are the circumstances:
- While Discord is not the official record of the league, Nate is in the Discord server, has posted there before, and was warned (As were all other teams) about setting lineups on multiple occasions, including Week 13. The playoff scenarios were also mentioned on several occasions, stating what he, Arizona, and Minnesota would have to do to make the playoffs.
- As a result of his thrown game, MIN (Matt) missed the playoffs. Had Nate set his lineup, MIN would have made the playoffs. His exclusion from the playoffs was a direct result of the thrown game.
- Per instructions from league managers, MIN continued to set his lineup. As it turns out, had Nate not thrown that game, MIN would have made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game (Which he would have lost).
