Official SFL Ruling on Waiver Violation(s)

CONTROVERSY!! UPROAR!! LEAGUE YEAR MUST BE OPEN!!!  WHY DO I KEEP SCREAMING??

Once again, the SFL league year kicked off with a truckload of controversy.  For those of you who weren't up at midnight on the mad dash to the waiver wire, here is a summary of what happened.

1. The commish announced via Facebook that the league would be opened on Thursday.  That means that the draft would commence on Thursday night.  In that same communication, the commish announced that the waiver wire would be opened for pickups on midnight, Friday night (as Friday turns into Saturday).  
2. This was clarified multiple times via Facebook on the ongoing chat dialogue between all teams.
3. This was not a new rule instituted this year.  In fact, it is a rule that has been in existence for many years - and one that has been the source of much contention for at least five teams over the years: Monkey, Odious Repercussions,  Stickboy, Tampa Bay Rams, and Orlando Blunder.
4. The draft happened, as planned on Thursday night.
5. At 5:15pm, Mrs Commish left for an overnight trauma call at ORMC, leaving The Commish home with the kids until the next morning.
6. At 6:00pm - six hours before the waivers were opened - Orlando Blunder added and dropped a bunch of players.
7. At 7:00pm, the youngest son of The Commish fell asleep and was gently laid in his bed.
8. At 10:15pm, the youngest son of The Commish woke up screaming with a nasty cough.  The Commish moved said child into The Commish's bed and he laid down with him to get him back to sleep.
9. Approximately 10:25pm, The Commish fell asleep.
10. At 11:59pm (Yahoo! time), Monkey made his first signing - one minute before the waiver wire opened.  
11. At 12:00am, The Commish's Facebook messaging blew up with multiple complaints by Stickboy, Odious Repercussions, and Monkey.
12. At 6:22am, The Commish was awaken by his youngest son.  Soon thereafter, Mrs Commish came home.  The Commish checked his phone and saw the uproar.
13. At 8:00am, Orlando Blunder checked in on the league page and explained his actions.

As the league has investigated this chain of events, they have found several mitigating factors that must be taken into account.  

• All of the communication about the draft and waivers were send out via Facebook.  But, NONE of it was posted on the league page.  This was a major failure on the part of The Commish.  
• Most people check their Facebook only slightly less frequently than they breathe.  However, some teams in our league do not.  And one team - Urban Plunge - does not even have a Facebook page. By strictly communicating via Facebook, The Commish unfairly left several teams out of the information circle.  These teams include: Tampa Bay Rams, Urban Plunge, Orlando Blunder.  
• The Commish was planning on being up at midnight to police the waiver signings.  He also planned on locking all the teams from making pickups until midnight.  However, he failed on both accounts.  He ended up falling asleep with his son, so he was not up for the waiver blitz.  And he forgot to change the settings, even though he got on Yahoo! to do just that early Friday morning.
• Orlando Blunder has been very diligent in checking the league page for weeks.  He and The Commish had talked about just that fact on Sunday at church.
• There is no posted clock on the Yahoo! page.

After taking this all into account, here are the league's findings.

• The Commish's ineptitude is reaching legendary status.  He consistently makes stupid decisions and fails to follow through on the simplest of tasks.  It is truly a miracle that his individual still is able to function in the civilized world.  Perhaps this begins to explain why he is such a mammoth failure as a human being, if he cannot control something like Fantasy Football.
• Orlando Blunder was operating in good faith based on the information at his disposal.  Something as important as the league draft and waiver rules should have been posted on all possible media sources - Facebook, League Yahoo! page, SFL blog.  To limit it to Facebook was discriminatory to several teams - and yet another example of The Commish's raging ineptitude.
• Monkey was not trying to circumvent the waiver process.  If he was, he would have moved before 11:59.  That can easily be written off to his computer being on a different clock.  
• Having a waiver wire open at midnight, while cute in its mimicking of the NFL, is actually quite a stupid decision.  It eliminates fair participation for people who have small children, people who have to wake up early, people who have social lives, and narcoleptics.  Again, the fault for this must be squarely placed on The Commish's shoulders.  

PENALTIES AND PLAYER DECISIONS

1. All transactions from yesterday's fiasco have been nullified.  All players have been returned to their original teams.  As a team owner, please check your roster to make sure you have the same rosters that was originally drafted.
2. The new opening of waiver transactions will be SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2001 at 3:35pm.  Hopefully this will land in between everyone's church responsibilities on Sunday.  It should give you enough time to go to church and hear a stirring sermon, eat at Tijuana Flats or Sonny's with your close companions, get home and changed into your comfy sweats, and get a cool refreshing beverage before the league opens.  It also should take place before you have to get your not quite as fancy clothes back on for evening services.  It is completely impossible to find a time that is equally fair to all teams - if it is during the day during the week it favors college students (Da Bus),  losers who stay home all day (The Commish), and slackers at work (Mean Green).  If it is at night, it favors anal retentive people who take fantasy football way too seriously (you know who you are).  
3. Once again, the waiver wire will be opened 3:35pm, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011.
4. All teams will remain locked until that point.  The league will unlock teams when the LEAGUE CLOCK reads 3:35pm.
5. In the mad rush for claiming players, the right to sign people will be determined by the traditional waiver rules.  Basically, if two teams both want to sign Carson Palmer and enter claims at the same time, the team with the lower waiver ranking will get the player.  These rankings are listed on the standings on the front page of the league.  These waiver rankings are usually based on the inverse of the draft order before the season starts.  Once the season starts, these ranking are determined by current record and who signed someone last.  
6. All penalties exacted for this set of rule violations will be seen in this waiver ranking.
7. The Commish, for his complete ineptitude and stupidity will suffer the brunt of the penalties.  His team will be locked until Tuesday, September 6, 2011.  He also will be listed last in the waiver rankings (as opposed to his current 5th place).
8. Orlando Blunder will be moved to the 11th spot, as opposed to his current 9th place in penalty for his signing players early - even though he was not completely informed of the dates.
9. Monkey will be moved to the 4th spot, as opposed to his current 3rd spot for his signing of players one minute early.
10. From now on, all vital league information will be posted on Facebook, this blog, and the league page.  That may just be a link to this blog.  But there will at least be a note posted on all three sites.  On the league page, please check both the message board and commish's notes sections.
11. If anyone feels this is unfair, please contact The Commish personally.  He still has phone privileges during his banishment.