At Long Last, The League Meeting Summary

It's been almost a month since my last blog entry, and I apologize for the lenthy hiatus. I will try to avoid these, but my brain has been fried by a payroll software conversion. On the bright side, I am now a master of ADP's PayExpert product! Anyway, here's the recap of the 9/23, which was filled with much love, laughter, tears and profanity:

1) Joe Emmert's long reign as the league commissioner is officially over after this season, and the office will die will him. He will now be known as Honorary Commissioner & Founder Emeritus. His sole remaining duty will be to maintain the league's history and statistical archives, which I think we can agree is a task that none of us has the mental strength or free county worktime to perform. It was agreed that a majority vote of the three-member Council will now be the final word on deadlocked league matters. Ongoing, any changes to the league structure, operations and constitution will be decided by a majority vote by league members; the council will make the final decision in case of ties. Since the council has now increased in importance, we decided to recall the current membership and put it to a new vote. We need to vote for three people this time, since we're electing a completely new council. We mentioned a two-week window for a vote, but since it's been in limbo, why don't we just make the voting deadline two weeks from this Sunday (October 28th)? Joe English is the only person to officially announce his candidacy, although I did establish an exploratory committee for the purpose of receiving federal election funds. I'll follow Joe's example and throw my hat into the ring. All others who want to run should e-mail the league as soon as possible, and as a parting gesture, let's have the soon to be former Commish tabulate the votes. Farewell Joseph, We Hardly Knew Ye!

2) The Constitution: Christian's first draft was a good jumping off point, but we agreed that the league needs to finalize and ratify an official draft. The next blog entry will be regarding ideas for the Constitution, so if you have any thoughts, you need to post them there. Sometime in November or early December, we'll take a vote on every section/new idea and then we'll post a preliminary "final" draft. The deadline/final voting for this was established as January 31st, 2008; once the final vote has occurred and any changes are made, we will post the final document on the website.

3) Minor Leagues: Christian referred to this idea as a "pussy way to go", and the majority of the league agreed. As it stands, there will be no minor league system.

4) Respect for Fellow GMs: It was agreed that this should be done without having to create any rules and regulations. Since earlier this year, we've had good league relations and no hurt feelings, other than a little violin-playing pantomime that set off yours truly at the league meeting. We agreed to tone down the attack e-mails and phone calls after GM decisions that we don't particularly like, and we'll create a media section on the website. I'll add a link, and if anybody wants to write a column, either infrequent or on a regular basis, send it to me and I'll post it up. The idea is to keep it tongue and cheek and not be rude.

5) League File: One computer should be the official league system, and Christian agreed to maintain this. After each round, an .lzp file with just that round's games will be sent out and posted on the website. We'll maintain an archive for the entire season's rounds on the website as well.

6) Missing Series Deadlines: We agreed to hold back on establishing a system of penalties for missing games, but we did see this as an ongoing problem. The view of the league was that we're all big kids and that we don't need a parental figure telling us to get things done. As a compromise, we agreed that league members will e-mail me midway through the round to update the status of unplayed series; I will write a blog entry for the round letting everybody know what's happening. As a sidenote, we've been doing a good job of getting games in since the league meeting.

7) Redrawing Divisions: Nobody saw the value in this, so for at least another year, the divisions will stay the same.

8) DH Rule: Even Loren, the guy who proposed this idea, felt this was a bad idea. No DH!

9) E-mailing Series Results: Starting next season, we agreed to start sending out the game results in a .ZIP archive rather than as individual files. I will post a blog entry that explains how to use .ZIP files so that we can all practice this before the start of the '07 games. Also, we will make sure to check off the standard subsets for each game, and the box score and play by play files should be sent along with the game files. Can someone explain how we get these files to come up? I know it's a game option, but I honestly don't know how to do it either. Prior to next season, we'll post a "How to" for each of these tasks.

10) 25 Man Rosters: Starting next year, we agreed that prior to roster expansion, all series will be played with the same 25 man roster from start to finish, with the exception of injury replacements and players returning from injuries.

11) Waiver Pool: It was agreed that a team's day in the waiver pool rotation is a commodity that has to be treated like a player. If a team wishes to trade their spot to another team, they must at a minimum trade the pick for another asset of value (player, draft pick, another waiver pool day in the current or subsequent season).

12) Trade Deadline: We agreed that the current system works fine. In order for a traded player to be eligible for the postseason, they must be traded prior to the trade deadline. Players can be traded after the deadline, but they will not be eligible for postseason play with their new team.

13) Post-Season Rosters: We agreed that rosters for each series should be handled individually. No changes can occur to a roster during a series, except in case of injury, but the rosters can be changed between one round to the next.

14) Injuries: Other than the "Great Lockout" in the mid-90s, this is the single most contentious issue in the history of the league. After much arguing, shedding of tears and a spontaneous performance of Weideman's 3rd Violin Concerto, we came to a tenuous agreement to change the schedule format, beginning next season. To limit the importance of injuries, there will be three days off between each series. This will be an experimental format that will be revisited after the 2007 season. I can't wait for the next league meeting!

I think that covers everything from the meeting, but if I missed anything, please comment. It was great to get everyone together, even if we were a little heated at times. I can't remember the last time we had 10 of 12 managers together in one place (although I'm pretty sure that Loren's house will now be unavailable for future league meetings!). Hopefully, we can get back to some of our annual traditions next season, like the All-Star game, league barbeques, and boxing matches!