Is Your Commish is Cheating? -- The Red Flags

[IatricSB]

Originally posted by CDL Commish
-Commishes that change their lineup in the middle of the sim. If their star SS goes down during a sim, some commishes will make changes to their lineup right away and not wait until after the sim. This is unfair since all other owners obviously have to wait until after the sim to make their changes.

Amen! I agree with all your points Matt. Good post.

[Tito]

darn that's bad grammar. just noticed that. forgot to take out the 'is' when I turned the subject into a question.

Is Your Commish Cheating?

A Commish with bad grammar and spelling, now that's a red flag.

[crackpott]

Thought I'd pipe in on this, as having a team with 120 wins in a season gets me suspected of this (naturally).

I agree if you think your commish is cheating, just leave. Two of my owners seem to think it without having any real proof, but they refuse to leave. They'd rather stay and just be a pain in the ass.

Anyway, things I try to do...

I don't trade with new guys. If I feel I MUST... I'll ask 5 or 6 different people in the league (whoever is online at the time) if it's a fair deal for the other team to ensure i'm not screwing them over.

In things like Free Agency or Coaching bids or whatever, I make sure I stop bidding at least 12 hours or so before I end bidding so I can't just "sneak" a bid in.

I lose. Over and over. Okay, this isn't on purpose but having a team that wins 120 games might be a sign that cheating goes on, but to have that team constantly bounced out of the playoffs is a good sign against it... and absolutely maddenning for me. Bug in OOTP?

The problem with leagues like mine (talent only) is you REALLY have to trust the commish, because they can cheat and go unnoticed. That's why I don't understand why the two who think I'm cheating stay in the league. Regardless, there's evidence against this at times (the contract I signed Barry Zito to... ugh.)

It all comes down to trust, really. If you don't trust your commissioner, it's likely not to be fun and you should just leave. Ultimately, it's a rare case when you can be certain that a commish is cheating, but there have been some good methods mentioned to check for it. I encourage you that if you do think your commish is cheating, not to make a big scene out of it though. Simply leave... make up some reason. I know it pisses me off to hear people even suggest I'm cheating simply cause of the amount of work I put into the league, and to hear that just bothers me, as I assume it would other commissioners. But if your slight suspicion turns into something that you can't just ignore... you have to leave.

[treedom]

Your points are well taken crackpott. There is just one part I don't agree with. You are encouraging people not to "not to make a big scene out of it" and to "make up some reason" and leave quietly. While that may seem like sound advice on the surface, I take issue with it. If these things weren't made public, where would we find our entertainment?

[crackpott]

Originally posted by treedom
Your points are well taken crackpott. There is just one part I don't agree with. You are encouraging people not to "not to make a big scene out of it" and to "make up some reason" and leave quietly. While that may seem like sound advice on the surface, I take issue with it. If these things weren't made public, where would we find our entertainment?

Let me rephrase... I stick by my statement if it's a mere suspicion that you can't ignore, but if you find actual proof of cheating, by all means make a big thing of it.

Better?

[deh34]

as a relatively new commish (just about five months now) i actually find it's harder to have a good team. after i put all the time in to run the sim, i have little time left over to actually research my team and make the best decisions the way i would have if i wasn't the commish. my team is definitely worse off.

i do worry a whole lot about appearing honest and owners trust in me. one thing i do feel terrible about is during my first ever off-season i had to process the draft three times and now all the rookies have "drafted in x round in 19xx..." three times in their player histories. i screwed up twice. we had a live draft and i was processing the draft live into the game, but then after the draft i realized that i had to import the team's export files and FA offers (We were running FA and the draft at the same time). all the exports were invalid because of this. so i had to download the last league file and start over. then i fixed that mistake, but i tried to do the rookie trades from the draft pick trades. i released one player so he would be picked up by the team who actually drafted him. i forgot we were in the middle of FA and the other team could not sign him. in fact, the player wanted a big time contract. ugh... so i had to fix that mistake and run the whole thing a third and final time. i felt so terrible about this but i didn't see any other alternative. sometimes what looks like cheating could just be terribly embarasing mistakes!

one thing i do in my league which i think is a great idea (wasn't my idea) - during FA, after every sim - before any other owners export their FA offers, i email a password protected text file with my offers to all the owners. at the end of FA, i email the password out. i definitely like this idea.

also, my team is like 4 games out of first after the first half of the season, but if my team were to ever make it to the playoffs, i would change the password for the league and give it to another owner to run the playoffs.

i was also thinking of forming a review board that gets to veto any of my team moves, but how do you broach the subject "hey guys, in case i cheat...." ya know? doesn't bringing it up make it appear as if you had the desire or thought to cheat?

[crackpott]

Originally posted by deh34
i do worry a whole lot about appearing honest and owners trust in me. one thing i do feel terrible about is during my first ever off-season i had to process the draft three times and now all the rookies have "drafted in x round in 19xx..." three times in their player histories. i screwed up twice. we had a live draft and i was processing the draft live into the game, but then after the draft i realized that i had to import the team's export files and FA offers (We were running FA and the draft at the same time). all the exports were invalid because of this. so i had to download the last league file and start over. then i fixed that mistake, but i tried to do the rookie trades from the draft pick trades. i released one player so he would be picked up by the team who actually drafted him. i forgot we were in the middle of FA and the other team could not sign him. in fact, the player wanted a big time contract. ugh... so i had to fix that mistake and run the whole thing a third and final time. i felt so terrible about this but i didn't see any other alternative. sometimes what looks like cheating could just be terribly embarasing mistakes!

See? When we ask cheaters for an excuse, it's not "there isn't one..." THAT is in excuse. That happens, it's understandable. Saying "I wanted St. Louis to win" is not only laughable in it's concept, but it's cheating anyway.

[holyroller]

Well, I can only speak for myself here, but I don't try to avoid the perception of cheating, per say, I just don't do it. Even if I am succesful (so far I haven't been), I feel that the truth will set me free. Since I don't cheat, there can be no evidence to the contrary. I love both of my leagues and I think that shines through in how I conduct the league business. Owing to this, I don't think anyone would suspect me of anything. Regardless of that, perception is certainly something to keep in mind.

There are a few very simple things that you can do to avoid the perception that don't affect your chances of winning in either direction. All of them relate to a very simple principle that I think all comishes should live by. Be transparent, always. I send my free agent and coach/scout offers to the league presidents the night before the respective periods begin. If there is any dispute or suspicion, the presidents can simply bring out the e-mail to the league and note the date. End of dispute. I post the results of all my contract negotiations, blow by blow. While this doesn't eliminate the possibility of cheating, it does make things more out in the open. The fact that when I offer a player a deal and he rejects it, and post that along with the fact that I won't offer him another contract should give a clue. Also, like LL, I do not initiate trade discussions, at least generaly. Every so often I will initiate one, but never for their best player or anything. As an example, I initiated discussions for Alvin Dark in the PWBL and ended up sending Russ Meyer for him. Both were prospects at the time. Dark is now an above average 2B while Meyer is a stud starting pitcher. If I could have that one back I may take it. I think the key is to simply keep in mind that since you are commissioner, perception is nearly as important as reality. If you don't cheat or take advantage of n00bs, you likely have nothing to worry about, but if the perception is that you do, you may still have problems.

Regardless, one important thing to keep in mind is the fact that comissioners do have inherent advantages over other owners. Even if everything is done above board, that still exists. For example, in the PWBL, each and every player was edited prior to the initial season for historical accuracy. Each year I manualy edit the rookies so that their fielding, duration, and speed ratings are close to reality. Last season, I even edited a few players current hitting ratings. Especially considering the fact that the PWBL is talent only, this gives me an advantage. While other owners could only speculate about the current ratings of Minnie Minoso and Monte Irvin, I knew them. Even for the players whoes current batting ratings were not edited, I did each of them by hand so I have seen every players ratings in depth and even set them while other owners would have to view every player one by one. In the case of the players whose current batting ratings were edited, I simply will not draft them. In the case of the others, there is simply nothing I can do about it. It is a small advantage, but an advantage nonetheless.

In the end, I think there is an important balance to be reached. For owners, you must trust your commish. If your commish seems to be doing things that are unseemly and you aren't comfortable, quit. On the other hand, you should be sure that the commish is cheating before you go out accusing him of it. If you have some evidence or strange and unexplained happening, by all means go public with it. Otherwise, just quit and call it good. For the commish, first of all, and obviously, don't cheat. Secondly though, do not create the perception that you are cheating. Be honest and open and you have nothing to worry about. If you aren't cheating and are completely above board, your owners will trust you and the league will be enjoyable for everyone. In the end, that is what we are all after.