This month is a very special in my league. On every other month, when the 28th day of the month comes around, it’s due day. That’s the day our stats are due to our commissioner. Not February. This month is, I guess, our off-season.
But that doesn’t mean we’re not busy. Oh no. There is, of course, the usual trade talk between all the managers. Besides that though, this is the time to present proposals to be voted on during the annual league meeting. Our annual league meeting takes place about ten minutes before our rookie draft (our draft weekend is fast approaching on March 12th-13th).
Our commissioner wisely made an executive rule regarding league proposals. All league proposals must be proposed PRIOR to the league weekend. I believe this rule came about from frustration of managers formulating half-baked proposals on the fly and flinging them out during the league meeting. I’ll give Mike, our commissioner, credit. He holds to that rule. “Hmm, that sounds like might work”, he say, “bring it up next year.” Mike can be such a lovable hardass.
I’ll tell you a secret… I love our league meetings. And I think I’m the only one. Everyone else in the IAL dreads them. Maybe it’s the sense of order or maybe it’s simply that for once in the year, all ten of us sitting at the same table trying to make decisions that affect our league.
Our constitution speaks to how amendments are enacted in two entries:
1) Amendments may be made before the start of a season by a majority vote.
2) Rules on player usage shall go into effect for the following season by a majority vote. For a player usage rule to go into effect for the current year, a 75% margin must be achieved in a subsequent vote.
“Rules on Player Usage” would be any rule that changes how a team uses its players (i.e limits rules, rules such as the DH, roster changes etc). Rule #2 is put into place so that managers would have a year to reshape their team if necessary, to accommodate the new rule. If there was overwhelming support for the player usage proposal for the current year, the 75% margin allowance is there.
Our league is becoming more and more “hands-off” when it comes to the game. The prevailing thought is “Vote No” when it comes to any new modifications. But that doesn’t mean we won’t have plenty of proposals to discuss. We already have a couple on the table.
Personally, I don’t mind.
