QFL2 = Communist Little Girls

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted as a comment on the article “QFL2 Almost Collapsed Last Week” (Posted by The Quince on November 9th, 2010), but per request, I am re-posting as a full article.

Wow. I couldn’t disagree more with Tarek’s points.

1. “Fines should be administered if an owner is trying to deceive his fellow owners not for simple mistakes that have no baring on the competition.”

No, fines should be administered for breaking the rules, just as they are in any other situation in which there are rules and fines for breaking them. Simple mistakes are still mistakes, whether you meant to do it or not. If I park my car and forget to put money in the meter, I pay a fine, even if I wasn’t purposefully trying to steal from the county.

2. “If his intent is to deceive then the fines should carry an extra 0 at the end of them or a loss of draft picks.”

By suggesting that fines be based on whether or not someone’s “intent is to deceive” you are making it a subjective call that cannot possibly be proven one way or the other rather than an objective call that can be consistently applied. Are you going to ask the commissioner to review every single infraction, perform research on all the scores and how they may have been affected and then interview people in an attempt to evaluate the character of the owner in question and then come up with a totally subjective ruling that could be as light as warning or as heavy as stripping draft picks? That’s absurd.

3. “maybe a warning needs to be issued before fines are assessed”

You don’t need or deserve a warning because you already have been warned via the rules outlined in the constitution. Why should the commissioner have to waste time reminding people of what they should already know?

4. “fines carry the impression that the guilty party is trying to cheat.”

No, as things are now, a fine does not carry any impression whatsoever because it is totally objective and not subject to the opinions, emotions or interpretations of anyone. You could be trying to cheat, but you might just be stupid or lazy. It doesn’t really matter. If we do as you propose, then we would be changing it so that a fine does carry an impression of impropriety.

If someone has extenuating circumstances that had an impact on the situation, they can appeal to the commissioner. In my opinion, being stupid, lazy, inattentive or just making a simple mistake doesn’t qualify as extenuating circumstances, but that’s up to your commissioner (and it always has been). Regardless, it makes much more sense to have only appeals go to the commissioner for subjective judgement rather than having every single infraction go the commissioner by default.

5. “If our goal is to increase the pot size then change the price on free agents, or trades.”

It is not. The goal in imposing fines is to discourage teams from breaking the rules.

6. “Fines are bad for leagues and creates a poor gaming environment.”

Actually, fines are great for leagues and improve the gaming environment by helping to ensure that teams obey the rules that are in place. The rules were put in place to maintain the competitive balance of the league. Whenever I talk to people who are in leagues that they don’t like, it’s almost always because there are team owners who are apathetic or negligent. Our rules impose penalties and fines on teams who are apathetic or negligent and the result has been that we have one of the most fun and competitive leagues in existence.

7. “Qfl really needs to address this matter in its constitution otherwise you will have the same issues unfold every year.”

We’ve been doing this for 12 years. In that time we have had one team leave. I don’t recall hearing any complaints about fines other than that we needed to be make them more severe (which resulted in the $20 invalid roster fine). Throughout the 12 years, we’ve had a very successful and competitive league with 9 different winners. If an owner doesn’t enjoy being in a competitive league, then feel free to join a standard Yahoo league where there is no possibility of breaking any rules, no fines and no one cares if you aren’t paying attention.

Editor’s Note: The following comments were posted in response to the original comment:

November 10, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Ted says:
Scott, I do not think it could have been said any better. I too was shocked to read Tariq’s take on the situation. I think he owes his league a huge apology for being such a big baby. Who threatens to quit a league in week 9 over a $2 fine?

November 11, 2010 at 1:52 pm
FahQ says:
Tarek – We go back a long way but i really have to disagree with where you’re coming from on this one. I think Scott is right on the money in terms of fines and the way we enforce our rules. There is good logic behind it. – Shane