CommishRx: Don’t Be Like Bob – The Tale of a Suspicious Draft

A couple of years ago someone messaged me during my live podcast and described their commissioner doing something that they probably shouldn’t have done. CommishRx is here to help bring clarity to a sticky situation!

Their story is one of my favorite examples of what I’m talking about when I discuss the importance of fantasy commissioners embracing the concept of being transparent. In this instance, it demonstrates a clear case of a lack of transparency, and the trouble it can cause. But do not worry – CommishRx is here to help!

Clear and Present

I’ve discussed “Rule #3: Be Transparent” in the past. This simply means a commissioner is upfront with any official business that they engage in. They communicate fully and openly with the members of their league.

Shady commissioners certainly need to be called out for their actions. However, even commissioners with the best intentions will sometimes be unfairly accused of wrongdoing. Sometimes it comes with the job.

Anything you do can be called into question which is why it’s important for fantasy commissioners to do their best to keep everything they do above-board, in other words, be transparent.

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Pulling a Fast One

Let’s call the commissioner of this tale, “Bob.” Bob created the draft order for his fantasy football league, by pulling team names out of a hat.

Turns out, that Bob ended up with the first overall pick. Seems innocent enough, right?

According to the person who contacted me, the problem they had with Bob, wasn’t that Bob pulled names out of his hat.

The problem, you see, was that Bob told everyone that’s what he did. No one could confirm this because he did it without anyone present. There were no witnesses.

That’s not being transparent.

Was Bob telling the truth? Maybe. Had he cheated? Some felt that he might have. Could they have simply trusted him? Yes. His actions however, did nothing to encourage that trust.

Maybe Bob is a trustworthy guy, and maybe he did exactly what he told them. The problem is that he couldn’t prove it. He acted in a way that was extremely hard for him to defend.

How were they ever to be sure that Bob got the highly coveted first pick legitimately, and didn’t just select it for himself instead?

They couldn’t. He couldn’t prove otherwise. Game over.

Reality Bites

In our own past, some of us have been accused of things that we didn’t do. And, unfortunately for some of us, our word was not enough as we tried to defend ourselves. There was nothing we could say to pull our accusers away from the dark side.

Similarly, it didn’t matter if Bob actually did the right thing. His word was all he had when his accusers decided to challenge him. It wasn’t enough.

His lack of transparency instantly caused league tension. Most importantly, the untenable predicament that Bob found himself in was completely avoidable.

Commissioners, you do not want to set yourself up like that. Don’t be like Bob. Be transparent.