Ask The Commish: Should I Have a Rules Committee?

By Reginald James
Reginald James

Commish,

Should you have a rules committee? I’ve heard other leagues have them, I haven’t really felt the need. No one is asking me to, but I’m curious what your take is. Maybe I’m missing something? This is the third year of our league, which I started.

 

No, you’re not missing anything. If you don’t feel compelled to create a rules committee, then I wouldn’t. You didn’t mention any league difficulties where you wished you had one. If you feel confident that you can handle whatever pops up on your own, I wouldn’t give the idea another thought.

 

I’m a fan of keeping things simple. I’m also not inclined to ask people to do things for me that I know I can do myself. I apply both of these “real-life” sentiments to my fantasy commissioner duties as well. Therefore, I personally would never have a committee of any sort.

 

Meanwhile, there are some fantasy commissioners who will create a committee to help with league disputes. Some will also use a committee to review trades. Maybe they don’t want to shoulder the responsibility dealing with such things on their own. If a league commissioner finds comfort in having a committee take on these scenarios, by all means they should have one.

 

However, ever hear the one about “too many cooks” spoiling the broth - and likely everything else in the kitchen? Consider your fantasy league the kitchen, where you’re the only cook needed to tend to the broth. The more “cooks” you have making decisions about what goes on in your fantasy broth, that you can otherwise handle yourself, the greater the potential for unnecessary issues popping up. You don’t need any conflict sprouting because someone on the committee is making a choice based on their own personal interests rather than what’s best for the league. It’s your league, there’s a reason why you started one instead of playing in someone else’s and no one will have a greater vested interest in doing what’s best for the league than you. It seems like you already have a good feel about what you need, and more importantly what you want. That may change in time, but right now, it sounds like you're all set.

 

On a side note: I’m not a fan of a trade review by anyone other than the commissioner, and I'm definitely against any trade vetoes except in cases of collusion. However, that’s another discussion for another day.

 

Commish,

 

Two guys in our league did a trade, but one of them changed their mind a couple of days ago because their co-manager was told it was a bad trade. They’re asking me to reverse it. That’s not going to happen. Right?

 

Yup. That’s not going to happen. Good call. You don’t reverse trades - unless you’re addressing an issue of collusion. This isn’t a case of collusion. This is a case of buyer’s remorse. It’s also a great example of why two people shouldn’t manage a team together unless they’re good at communicating with each other. Whatever the disconnect was between the two of them is not your problem and definitely not a reason to overturn the trade.

 

Send your questions to The Commish: thecommishshow@outlook.com.