Gonzo Football -- Rules

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GONZO
FOOTBALL

2011 Rules

I. OVERVIEW OF THE GAME

Gonzo Football is a postal football simulation utilizing the weekly statistics of actual National Football League (NFL) players. Gonzo Football team owners guide their clubs, which consist of NFL players, through a regular season schedule. The top teams then compete for the Gonzo Bowl Championship. During the off-season, owners may trade with one another, name their players to be kept, and participate in the annual draft as they prepare for the next season.

II. LEAGUE OPERATION

1. Organization: A league consists of twelve teams organized into three four-team divisions, which will be randomly determined for a new league. The person who runs a team is called its owner. The person who runs the league is called the Commissioner.

2. Season Structure: A Gonzo Football season consists of a weekly series of head-to-head matchups between pairs of teams in the league. The game results are determined, and the teams' standings updated, on a weekly basis. The Gonzo Football regular season coincides with all except the final few weeks of the NFL regular season; the Gonzo Football playoffs take place during some of the later weeks of the NFL season.
In each game, one team is at home and the other team is visiting. A home field advantage accrues to the home team in each game.
A "week" is considered to be the interval between two consecutive deadlines during the season, and the draft is considered to take place a week prior to Week 1 of the season.

3. Annual Events: In an established Gonzo Football league, the following events will generally take place at approximately the dates indicated, though exact dates may vary:
First, team owners are asked to sign back up for the following year (before the end of the current regular season). New members are recruited as necessary to take over available teams.
Second, off-season trading is opened for a few weeks (July). During or after off-season trading, teams name their 10 keepers (July). The results of trading and the keeper lists are published, and the draft is announced. After the draft (August), trading reopens and the season begins.
For new or redrafting leagues, the year starts with the draft and proceeds from there.

III. TEAM STRUCTURE

1. Team Assets: Each team has the following assets: The NFL players on its roster, its upcoming draft choices, and a certain amount of Gonzo cash. Teams may trade their assets to other teams whenever trading is open, subject to some restrictions described later.

2. NFL Players: Each team has a roster consisting of a number of NFL players and lines. In these rules, the word "player" refers either to an individual player (quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, or kicker) or a "line" (kick return team, offensive line, defensive line, or defensive backfield) of a particular NFL team. Lines are identified on Gonzo Football rosters by the NFL teams they are part of (e.g. OL, MIA); individual players are identified by first initial or initials, last name, position, and NFL team (e.g. D.Bledsoe, QB, NE). NFL players or lines may be given or received in trade. An NFL player or line cannot be on more than one team in a given Gonzo Football league.

3. Minimum Roster Requirement: The minimum roster requirement for a Gonzo Football team is at least 14 players who can form a starting lineup as described below. This requirement must be met at all times between the draft and the end of the season. A team must retain at least 10 players at the end of off-season trading; of these, exactly 10 must be named as keepers.

4. Maximum Team Size: The maximum roster size for a Gonzo Football team is 22 players. This limit must be adhered to at all deadlines during the season. During the off-season, a team may exceed this limit due to trades.

5. Draft Choices: Each team starts the season with 12 draft picks--one for each round of the following year's draft. Draft choices may be given or received in trade (so that a team may actually end up with more or fewer than 12 picks). A team must always keep enough draft picks to allow it to fulfill its minimum roster requirements. There is no set upper limit to the number of draft choices a team may acquire through trades. During the season, a team can trade away draft picks -- even those acquired from another team -- only after its (nonrefundable) deposit for the following season has been received.

6. Gonzo Cash: Before the start of the pre-season, each team receives $12,000 ("$12K") of a fictitious currency called Gonzo cash. This, in addition to any cash which may have been carried over from the previous season (see below), is the team's Starting cash. During the season, team owners may earn additional Bonus cash by renewing their teams for the following season. A team which renews for the following season will receive Bonus cash in the amount of $12K if renewed in time for the Week 1 results mailing, $9K if renewed in time for the Week 4 results mailing, $6K if renewed in time for the Week 7 results mailing, and $3K if renewed later (but before the final mailing of the season). Each team can receive Bonus cash only once per season by renewing, the cash to be awarded as of the first transaction deadline or results mailing following the arrival of next year's deposit at the Commissioner's office.
Gonzo cash may be used to bid on free agents during the season. It may be given or received in trade. Gonzo cash must be spent or traded in blocks of $1000 ("$1K"). Expenditures or trades which specify a fractional amount will be rounded down to the next lower thousand dollars (exception: amounts of less than $1K will be rounded up to $1K). A team may not spend or trade Gonzo cash which it does not have available (or does not obtain by the deadline at which the expenditure or trade is to occur). Trades involving Gonzo cash that a team does not have available will be disallowed; free agents bids will be reduced to the amount of cash available. Each team in a keeper league will carry over half of its unused Gonzo cash, rounded down to the nearest whole number, to the start of the following season. A team can spend or trade away all of the Gonzo cash it has available, including the carryover cash.

IV. LINEUPS

1. Starting Players: Each team must field a complete starting lineup for each game; there may be no empty slots. The composition of a starting lineup is as follows: 2 quarterbacks (QB), 3 running backs (RB), 3 wide receivers (WR), 1 tight end (TE), 1 kicker (K), 1 kick return team (KR), 1 offensive line (OL), 1 defensive line (DL), and 1 defensive backfield (DB).
Each player's name (including his first initial), position, and NFL team should be given (exception: position and NFL team only should be given for lines). Lineups should be stated in the same order as they appear in the game reports (i.e. quarterbacks, then running backs, then wide receivers, etc.).

2. Bench: A team's bench consists of eight or fewer players on that team who are not in its starting lineup. Team owners should not mention their bench players when submitting lineups. There are no restrictions on the number of players of each position who may be on the bench. Players on the bench will have their statistics reported, but have no effect on the score of the game.

3. Lineup Changes and Defaults: A team's lineup, once submitted, will remain in effect until superseded by changes. An owner who wishes to change part, but not all, of his/her starting lineup should submit only the changes; the Commissioner will consider each position not mentioned to remain as it was the previous week. If a lineup is not received at all for a team in a given week, the Commissioner will use the same one as was used by that team in the previous week, making changes only when necessitated by the team's transactions. Should an owner fail to submit a lineup at the start of a season, an arbitrary lineup will be used for the team.
After the first week of the season, a team owner should submit only his/her lineup changes, not the entire lineup. When making a lineup change, a team owner should state specifically where in the lineup a player should go, not who is replacing whom. (Right: "Running Back#3 will now be Player X." Wrong: "Put in Player X for Player Y.") Players who are remaining in the same place in the lineup should not be mentioned, nor should players who will not be starting that week.
A team owner who has already submitted a lineup modification for a week and wishes to make an additional change should clearly state 1) that s/he has already submitted a change for this week; and 2) whether the new modification supersedes the earlier change or is in addition to it. If this is not specified, the Commissioner may guess!
A team owner who is not sure of his/her previous lineup (for example, due to the resolution of a possible error) should submit the whole lineup just to be safe.
A player received in trade or acquired as a free agent might not automatically be placed into the starting lineup even if he has taken the roster spot of a player who did start. The team owner should be explicit about his new starting lineup when making a transaction which will affect it. If necessary, the Commissioner may arbitrarily select a player of the correct position from the team to fill in and complete a starting lineup.
A team which has any chance of playing in the playoffs in the following week should submit a lineup "just in case". A team submitting a lineup for any playoff game may make its lineup contingent upon the identity of its opponent for that game.
It is permitted (but not required) for teams eliminated from the playoffs to submit lineup changes just to see how they would have scored had they been playing.

4. Players' Positions: Team owners may list their players only at the position they normally play for their NFL teams, as determined by the Commissioner. Any given player may qualify only for one position. Unless otherwise mentioned, the draft lists for a league will be used to determine players' positions. Players may not be played out of position.

5. Bye Weeks: NFL players whose teams have a bye week will not automatically be placed on the bench. A team owner who has a position player in the starting lineup during a bye week will receive all zeros for that player's stats.

V. SCORING

1. Scoring Rules: Scoring in Gonzo Football is based on the attainment of certain goals by the players in a team's starting lineup. Following are the goals and other scoring criteria which must be achieved by a team's starting lineup in a game in order to receive the stated number of points:

Passing (QBs only)
At least 40 completions -- 3 points
At least 450 yards passing -- 3 points
At least 7.5 yards per passing attempt (minimum 10 attempts) -- 3 points
At least two more TDs (thrown or scored) than interceptions -- 3 points
At least 20 completions by QB1 -- 1 point
At least 225 yards passing by QB1 -- 1 point
TDs (thrown or scored) by a quarterback -- 1 point each

Rushing (QBs, RBs, WRs, & TE)
At least 150 yards rushing -- 3 points
At least 225 yards rushing -- 3 points
At least 300 yards rushing -- 3 points
At least 4.5 yards per rush (minimum 10 rushes) -- 3 points
At least 75 yards rushing by RB1 -- 1 point
At least 125 yards rushing by RB1&2 -- 1 point
TDs scored by a running back -- 2 points each

Receiving (RBs, WRs, & TE)
At least 20 catches -- 3 points
At least 28 catches -- 3 points
At least 250 yards receiving -- 3 points
At least 350 yards receiving -- 3 points
At least 75 yards receiving by WR1 -- 1 point
At least 125 yards receiving by WR1&2 -- 1 point
TDs scored by a wide receiver or tight end -- 2 points each

Kicking
Makes all attempted PATs (minimum 1 PAT) -- 1 point
Field goals made (first 2) -- 1 point each
Field goals made (after the first 2) -- 2 points each
Makes all attempted field goals (minimum 1 field goal) -- 1 point

Kick Returning
At least 22 yards per kickoff return -- 2 points
At least 100 total yards in kickoff returns -- 2 points
At least 9 yards per punt return -- 2 points
At least 50 total yards in punt returns -- 2 points
TDs scored by NFL team on kickoff, punt, or blocked kick returns -- 2 points each
NFL team on a bye -- 2 points

Offensive Line
At least 150 yards rushing by NFL team -- 2 points
At least 4.5 yards per rush by NFL team -- 2 points
No more than 1 sack allowed (only if NFL team played) -- 2 points
At least 20 first downs by NFL team -- 2 points
Two-point conversions scored by NFL team -- 1 point each
NFL team on a bye -- 2 points

Defensive Line
Less than 100 yards rushing allowed (only if NFL team played) -- 2 points
Less than 3.5 yards per rush allowed (only if NFL team played) -- 2 points
At least 3 sacks by NFL team -- 2 points
More def. fumble recoveries than rushing TDs allowed by NFL team -- 2 points
Safeties scored by NFL team -- 2 points each
TDs scored by NFL team's defense on defensive fumble returns -- 2 points each
NFL team on a bye -- 2 points

Defensive Backs
Fewer than 18 completions allowed (only if NFL team played) -- 2 points
Less than 180 net yards passing allowed (only if NFL team played) -- 2 points
Less than 6.5 net yards per pass att. allowed (only if NFL team played) -- 2 points
More interceptions than TD passes allowed by NFL team -- 2 points
TDs scored by NFL team's defense on interception returns -- 2 points each
NFL team on a bye -- 2 points

Home Field
Team playing at home -- 2 points

A position player such as a wide receiver is treated as a completely different player than his NFL team's kick return team even if he returns kicks in real life. (Thus, a kick return for a touchdown counts as a touchdown both for the individual player and for the NFL team's kick return unit.)

2. Offensive Score: The offensive score of a team is the sum of its points earned for passing, rushing, receiving, kicking, kick returning, and offensive line.

3. Defensive Score: The defensive score of a team is the sum of its points earned by its defensive line and its defensive backfield, plus 2 points for the home team.

4. Final Score: The final score of a team is the offensive points the team scored, minus the defensive points scored by the team's opponent. A negative final score will be rounded up to zero.

5. Rounding: In determining whether certain scoring goals have been reached, it may be necessary to calculate an average (e.g. yards per carry) to more decimal places than the numbers which appear in the game report. For example, a rushing average of 4.49 yards per carry might be printed as 4.5, since the stat is published to the nearest tenth. In this case, the actual average will be used, and the team will not be considered to have reached the scoring goal (of 4.5 yards per carry) even if the published result indicates otherwise. Team owners who feel that a scoring goal has been incorrectly awarded (or not awarded) should therefore perform the calculation necessary to determine whether this was caused by rounding.

6. Source of NFL Statistics: The Commissioner scores the games using NFL statistics obtained from an on-line sports service. If a disagreement arises regarding the accuracy of the statistics used in generating a game report, the Commissioner reserves the right to investigate and, if necessary, to adjust the score of the game (possibly even reversing its outcome) accordingly. The intent is to produce game scores which are as accurate as the Commissioner can make them. If the discrepancy cannot be resolved decisively one way or the other, the Commissioner reserves the right to regard the statistics obtained through his source as correct by definition.

7. Timing of NFL Statistics: Official scoring changes by the NFL after Gonzo's game results have been determined will not be used by Gonzo Sports.
The stats from an NFL game which is delayed past Wednesday night following the weekend on which it was scheduled to be played will not count.

VI. STANDINGS AND PLAYOFFS

1. Divisional Standings: Teams in a division are ranked from first through fourth according to the following criteria.
A The team's regular-season W-L (percentage) record.
B. The team's W-L (percentage) record within its own division.
C. The team's point differential (PF - PA) during the regular season.
D. The team's points for (PF) during the regular season.
E. The team's remaining Gonzo cash (more is better).
F. A coin flip or other random determination.
Note that head-to-head records are not involved in this ranking system. Ties during the regular season count as half a win and half a loss for the purpose of determining W-L percentage.

2. Playoff Seeding: After the final divisional standings have been determined, the 12 teams in each league are ranked in order to determine the playoff berths and seedings. The top eight teams make the playoffs. The teams are seeded according to the following criteria.
A. The divisional winners and the best second-place team (using criteria B, D and F below) are automatically considered to be the top four teams.
B. The team's regular-season W-L (percentage) record.
C. A divisional winner beats out a second-place team with an identical W-L record.
D The strength in total W-L (percentage) record of the team's division.
E. The team's divisional standing (first, second, third, or fourth place).
F. The team's division (West is best, then Central, then East).

3. Home Field Advantage in Playoffs: Gonzo Football rewards superior regular season performance by continuing to give a home field advantage throughout the playoffs, including the bowl games.

4. Playoff Format: The Gonzo Football playoffs coincide with the final few weeks of the NFL regular season, so that all pro teams are still in action. The playoff format is as follows.
First playoff week (Wild Card Playoffs): The eight playoff teams are matched up so that the #8 seed visits the #1 seed, the #7 seed visits the #2 seed, the #6 seed visits the #3 seed, and the #5 seed visits the #4 seed. The four winners advance to the second week of the playoffs; the four losers are eliminated.
Second playoff week (Divisional Playoffs): The four surviving teams are matched up so that the worst remaining team (based on the playoff seeding criteria) visits the best remaining team, and the second-worst remaining team visits the second-best remaining team. The two winners advance to the Gonzo Bowl; the two losers advance to the Gonzolation Bowl.
Third playoff week (Gonzo Bowl and Gonzolation Bowl): The two teams which won in the second playoff week play for the league championship in the Gonzo Bowl with the worse remaining team (based on the playoff seeding criteria) visiting the better remaining team. The two teams which lost in the second playoff week play in the Gonzolation Bowl with the worse team visiting the better team.

5. Playoff Tiebreakers: Playoff games, unlike regular season games, cannot end in a tie. If the teams' final scores in a playoff game would result in a tie under standard scoring procedures, then the following tiebreakers are used in order. (In each case, the team winning the comparison scores an extra point for the win in overtime.)
A. More total yards (yards passing + yards rushing + yards receiving + kick returning yards (both kickoffs and punts) + offensive line yards rushing - defensive line yards rushing allowed - defensive backs net yards passing allowed).
B Home team gets the win.

6. League Rankings: After the playoffs are finished, the final rankings for the twelve teams in each league are determined. This ranking is used in setting the draft order for the following season. The ranking criteria are as follows (note that the playoffs have no bearing on the league rankings).
A. The team's regular-season W-L (percentage) record.
B. The strength in total W-L (percentage) record of the team's division.
C The team's divisional standing (first, second, third, or fourth place).
D. The team's division (West is best, then Central, then East).

VII. KEEPERS AND DRAFT

1. Keepers: Gonzo Football leagues are perpetual (continuous) leagues in which teams keep 10 players from year to year. Team owners will be permitted to choose the players their team will keep, but if a team does not submit its keeper list in time (or if the team is unowned when the keeper lists are due), the keepers will be arbitrarily chosen. Players not kept will be available in the following draft.
A teams' keeper list must name the players the team is keeping, not those it is cutting.
A keeper list is mandatory. An owner who fails to submit one may be considered to have dropped out of the league.
Each team's keepers must include at least two players from any of the following positions: Kicker, Kick Returners, Offensive Line, Defensive Line, and Defensive Backs.
By agreement of its members, a league may choose to operate as a "no-keeper" league. This means that the league will be treated as new each season--no players will be kept, and all players will be available in each year's draft.

2. Annual Draft: Each year, prior to the football season, teams will acquire new players through the draft. Draftees may include any NFL rookies and NFL veteran players or former players who are not currently on a Gonzo team. Players already on a team in the league, or college football players who have not been drafted by an NFL team, or other football players who are not and never were associated with an NFL team, may not be drafted in Gonzo Football. The draft will have 22 rounds minus the number of players each team kept from the previous year. (A new league will have 22 rounds of drafting.) The draft order in established leagues is worst to first based on the League Rankings as described above.
Each team must draft so as to meet the minimum roster requirements (i.e. so that it can field a starting lineup). A team which fails to do this will have its lowest possible pick(s) negated by the Commissioner and will instead receive players of the appropriate positions.
In an established league, the basic drafting order is the same for all rounds, though owners may trade draft picks and thereby alter the drafting order for certain specified rounds. The draft may be conducted by mail, by telephone (conference call), or by any other method agreed to by the league's members.

3. Mail Draft: In a mail draft, owners generally draft players by position. Each team submits a list stating which position will be taken for each pick it has in the draft. One pick should be made for each of the team's available draft picks; due to trades, this might not equal the number of drafting rounds.
Each team should also rank the players at each position for which it will be choosing a player in this draft. When it is a team's turn to draft, the Commissioner will give it the highest remaining player at the position chosen for that pick.
Some types of conditional choices are allowed in the draft. Complete instructions, lists of available players, and drafting worksheets will be provided by the Commissioner prior to the draft.

4. Phone Draft: In a phone draft, the league members are generally all connected by conference call. The Commissioner will call out each team's name in turn, and the team owner will have a specified amount of time to give his/her pick. Complete instructions, lists of available players, and drafting worksheets will be provided by the Commissioner prior to the draft.

5. Drafts for New Leagues: The drafting order for a new league will be randomly determined, and will correspond to the league's random divisional alignment (East drafts first, then Central, then West). The order will be reversed each round. New team owners will be informed of their draft positions, but will not have an opportunity to trade before the first draft is held.

6. Default Draft Choices: If an owner fails to submit a position list on time for a mail draft (or if a position list fails to name a legal selection at any time during the draft), the position to be drafted by the team during each round will be as follows: Rounds 2, 4, 13, and 16 -- QB; Rounds 1, 3, 14, and 17 -- RB; Rounds 5, 6, 15, and 18 -- WR; Rounds 7 and 19 -- TE, Rounds 8 and 20 -- DL, Rounds 9 and 21 -- DB, Rounds 10 and 22 -- OL, Round 11 -- K, Round 12 -- KR. A team's last pick(s) may be changed by the Commissioner to ensure fulfillment of a team's minimum roster requirements. If an owner fails to submit player lists on time (or if one of the player lists fails to name a legal selection at any time during the draft), a player at the appropriate position will be chosen for the team using the player list of another arbitrarily selected team.

7. Illegal or Impossible Draft Picks: A team whose position list would make it impossible for another team to fulfill its minimum roster requirements (e.g. the last defensive line when another team doesn't yet have one), or whose selection is impossible because there are no available players left at that position (e.g. a defensive line when none are left) will instead receive its next choice on the position list, and all remaining choices will be moved up by one. (If the position list becomes exhausted as a result of this, the team will continue drafting at the last position on its position list unless the owner has listed additional choices beyond its final pick.)

VIII. TRANSACTIONS

1. Making Trades: Team owners may trade with other owners in their league when trading is open during the regular season and the off-season. A trade must involve exactly two teams. Each party to a trade must give up and receive at least one asset (NFL player, draft choice, or Gonzo cash in multiples of $1K), and the transaction must take place completely at a single point in time. Only one of the two teams may give up Gonzo cash. All items given or received in trade must be specifically identified by both parties, and both teams involved in the trade must be clearly identified. A draft pick being traded by a team other than its original owner must be identified by using the name of the team which initially owned it. (Example: if Albany owns and is trading the pick which was originally Boston's Round 2 pick, it must be identified as "Boston's Round 2 draft pick" when mentioned by the trading parties.)
Team owners should report trades only after they have been agreed to in all specifics by both trading parties. Trades which an owner merely anticipates offering or completing should not be reported. Trades contingent upon future events, or which involve movement of items from team to team at more than one time, are not permitted. Trades which are reported as a single trade by one team and as multiple trades by the other team will be considered by Gonzo Sports to be one trade. If that one trade cannot legally go through, it will not be broken down and put through in part, unless both teams agree to this.
Team owners may trade assets which they have acquired, or expect to acquire, in trade at the same deadline. A trade which is dependent upon another trade for success will be nullified if that other trade is not also successfully completed. Team owners may not trade free agents whom they expect to acquire in that week's free agent bidding, since even if the bid is successful, the free agent will not become part of the team until after the deadline. Trades may not be conditional upon the success of free agent pickups being attempted the same week. (A free agent pickup can, however, be used to fill a position deficiency created by a trade.) Trades which would put a team's roster over its size limit during the season should be accompanied by another trade or player cut(s) for the same week, to keep the team's roster within the size limit. Failure to do this will result in a default cut for the team (see below).

2. Confirming and Finalizing Trades: A trade becomes confirmed once the Commissioner has received notification from both parties of the exact trade being made. (This does not mean that the trade will necessarily go through, as it is up to the team owners to make sure it is legal. See the section on trade restrictions.) A potential trade may be rescinded by any party only if the trade has not yet been confirmed. Once a trade has been confirmed, it may not be amended, and will be put through if legally possible. Team owners who wish to amend a confirmed trade will need to make a second trade instead. Team owners who wish to rescind a confirmed trade may do so by both reporting it, but the original trade will still count as one of the three each team is allowed per week. The Commissioner may verify any confirmed trade to any team owner, but will not normally contact a team owner to do this.
A trade which has been confirmed will become finalized, and take effect at the next deadline, as long as it is legal. A confirmed trade will not in fact succeed if it arises that it has been illegally made (for instance, if a team no longer meets its minimum roster requirements because of the trade). Team owners should be careful, therefore, to determine that their trades are legal for all teams involved, or that they will be legal when made in conjunction with other transactions.
A trade which has not been finalized will be discarded after the deadline. After that time, the trade must again be submitted by both team owners in order to occur.

3. Trade Restrictions: Following are the restrictions on trades:
A) A team may make up to three trades per week. The time between the draft and the first transaction deadline counts as one week for this purpose. Each side of a trade may include up to six assets (players, draft picks, and Gonzo cash).
B) During the regular season, a team may not trade so as to fall below its minimum roster requirements, unless that deficiency is corrected by another transaction in the same week, nor may a team at any time trade away so many draft choices that it will be unable to draft to meet its minimum roster requirements. A team may not end off-season trading with fewer than 10 players (the number it needs to keep), and a team must end off-season trading with at least two lines or kickers as described in Rule VII.1.
C) A team may trade draft choices only for the next draft, and during the season may trade away draft choices (even those which originally came from another team) only after its (nonrefundable) deposit for the following season has been received.
D) A team should not, during the season, trade for a player it traded away during the previous two weeks. (For example, if a team trades away Player X in Week 6, then it should not receive Player X in trade until Week 9.) Trades in violation of this rule will be allowed to succeed, but if the violation is brought to the Commissioner's attention, the reacquired player will be considered to have no stats (all zeroes) each week (even retroactively) for the team which reacquired him, until the third week after the original trade.

4. Free Agent Pickups: An available NFL player (one who is not on a Gonzo Football team in the league) is a called a free agent. Free agents must be, or have been, associated with an NFL team and must be identifiable by the Commissioner. Team owners may try to acquire free agents during the regular season by bidding for them with Gonzo cash. Each team may submit a list of up to three available players in order of preference, and the amount of Gonzo cash the owner is bidding for each. A team owner should list his/her bids in descending or equal order of cash; that is, the cash bid on a team's second choice should not exceed the cash bid on its first choice, and the cash bid on the third choice should not exceed the cash bid on the second choice. A team may sign one free agent from its list each week, generally by placing the highest bid on that player.
Each bid is first considered for legality. If a bid is made on someone who is not a legitimate free agent, the bid will be disregarded entirely. If a bid would put a team over its 22-player roster limit (i.e. because the team owner failed to make a trade or cut which would create the needed roster vacancy), it will not succeed. If a bid consists of Gonzo cash in excess of the team's current available balance, it will be lowered to the amount available. A bid of less than $1K will be considered a $1K bid; free agents cannot be obtained for $0K. If a bid larger than $1K is not a multiple of $1K, it will be rounded down to the next lower multiple of $1K. If an owner states a bid as a number of "thousand K", the "thousand" will be ignored. If a bid names a free agent but not a cash amount, the amount will be considered to be $1K (even if the team says something like "bid all the rest of my cash"). If a team does not list its free agent choices in descending order of cash, the amount of cash bid on the second- or third-choice bid violating this requirement will be lowered and made equal to the earlier bid.
Once the legality of all bids has thus been established, all bids are considered in descending order of cash. The highest bid is therefore considered first. The team submitting the bid receives the free agent named and deducts the amount of cash bid from its available total. Lower bids by that team for different free agents, or lower bids by other teams for that free agent, are now disregarded. The process is now repeated for the second-highest bid, and so on until all bids have been honored or disregarded.
Bids of identical amounts by different teams for different free agents are resolved in any order; these will not conflict with one another. Bids of identical amounts by the same team for different free agents will be considered in the order the team owner has listed or stated them. Identical bids by different teams for the same free agent will be resolved in favor of the team which would have the lower (worse) playoff seeding, except at the start of Week 1 of the season. For Week 1 of the season, in the event of such a tie, the free agent goes to the team listed earlier in the basic drafting order for the current season.
Free agent lists may be conditional upon the success of trades being attempted that week, or upon the identities of players acquired or cut in a previous week. A team which picks up a free agent must, if necessary, make a cut at the same time so that the team will not exceed 22 players.
The only free agent bids which will be identified by team are those which are successful. Unsuccessful bids for a player may be published by the Commissioner, but the bidding team will generally not be identified.

5. Free Agent Restrictions: Following are the restrictions on free agents:
A) A team may sign only one free agent per week.
B) A team may list only up to three choices per week. Additional choices will be disregarded.

6. Cuts: A team owner may cut players from his/her roster during the regular season. Cuts are mandatory during the regular season when a team would exceed the 22-player limit as the result of trades or free agent pickups. A team may not cut a player during the regular season if that cut will cause the team not to meet its minimum roster requirements.
A team owner who must make a cut due to a trade or a free agent pickup may choose the player to be cut contingent upon the outcome of the trade or which free agent is signed. The conditions of such cuts should be stated clearly; if they are not, the Commissioner may arbitrarily choose to just cut the first player listed. In particular, it will not be assumed that a list of several players to be cut corresponds to the team's list of free agent bids; rather, the team owner must state explicitly which cut goes with which bid.
A cut which is ordered for the purpose of making room for a free agent will instead be used (if possible) to make room for an extra player drafted or acquired in trade, if necessary, even if this results in the free agent bid being voided. A cut which is ordered to make room for a particular free agent may instead be used to make room for a different free agent if necessary.
A cut which is ordered during the regular season but not required (because the team does not exceed the 22-player roster limit) will not be made unless the team owner specifically requests that a cut be made regardless of whether it is necessary; if this is clearly stated, then the cut will still be made and the team will have one or more empty spots on the bench.
A team owner who bids for a free agent and expects not to need a cut due to losing a player in trade should name a cut anyway just in case the trade does not go through.
Cuts may be made only when free agent bidding is open. Players may not be cut at other times.

7. Nullified Transactions and Default Cuts: If a cut is not named when required to make room for a free agent pickup, the transaction will be nullified. If cuts necessitated during the season by players gained in trade are not named, default cuts will made. Default cuts will be made by arbitrarily selecting players from the team's roster.

8. Timing: Transactions are considered to take place before the week's games are played, so that a team's roster will be adjusted to reflect its owner's transactions before the lineups are set and the game results determined. This means that a player acquired by a team can begin to play the week the transaction takes place, while a player who is cut or traded away by a team may not play for that team in the week he is cut or traded.
Trades are considered to occur before free agent bidding and cuts, even if they are due simultaneously.
A player who has been cut from a Gonzo Football team is eligible to be signed as a free agent the following week.

IX. OWNER-COMMISSIONER COMMUNICATIONS

1. Submission of Orders: The term "orders" is defined to mean a team owner's game lineups, trades, free agent bids, cuts, draft lists, and other communications pertaining to the operation of his/her team. Team owners may submit orders to the Commissioner by mail, telephone, e-mail, fax, or other medium. The Commissioner assumes no responsibility for the failure of any medium to deliver an owner's orders (or, for that matter, material he sends to the owners) in time.
Orders should include the team owner's name, the team name, the league name, the week the orders are for, and (for all except phoned orders) the date. In the event that conflicting sets of orders are received, the set dated latest will be used. If the Commissioner is unable to establish which set is latest, he reserves the right to arbitrarily determine which orders from among conflicting sets will be used.
Orders should be clear and specific. Players should be named explicitly by stating their first initial, last name, position, and NFL team; except for lines, for which the position and NFL team only need be stated. When submitting a trade, the team owner must identify (separately from the trade itself) which of the two teams is submitting it. In the case of written orders, the team owner should take care that the handwriting is legible. In the case of orders left on the Commissioner's answering machine, the team owner should be sure to speak clearly and audibly. Orders which the Commissioner cannot understand may be disregarded. If the omission of a league or a team name, or the inclusion of a wrong league or team name, causes any confusion, the orders may end up not being followed.

2. Deadlines: A "deadline" is defined to be the date and time by which the Commissioner must have possession of a team owner's orders in their final, clearly usable form. The Commissioner will set and publish all deadlines. Deadlines will be strictly adhered to and orders which arrive after the deadline for a given week will not be accepted for that week. The postmark on envelopes containing orders, or the date/time stamp on an e-mail, will not be used to ascertain their time of submission; it's the time of arrival that matters. Team owners should account for the fact that mail usually takes several days and is sometimes delayed or lost, and that e-mail is not 100% reliable, and consider submitting important orders by telephone.
The Commissioner will attempt to set deadlines which allow the members of the league to play the game smoothly and without undue difficulty, while considering also the smooth and unhampered operation of the league as a whole.
The interval between lineup deadlines in Gonzo Football will be referred to as a "week" regardless of the actual number of days encompassed.
The deadlines for transactions during the season will generally be the day before the deadline for lineups. All transactions (trades, bids, and cuts) are due at the transaction deadline, while lineup changes only will be accepted until the lineup deadline. If transactions submitted between the two deadlines are intended for the following week, that should be clearly stated; otherwise the Commissioner may treat them as late (unusable) orders for the current week.
Gonzo Sports is on Eastern Time, and Daylight Savings Time when applicable. Team owners should account for any time differentials when submitting orders.

3. Use of the Telephone: Orders may be submitted by telephone and if need be left on the answering machine. (Exception: Draft lists for mail drafts, and changes to them, will not be accepted over the telephone.) Telephoned orders may be submitted at any date and time of day, restricted only by the league's published deadlines, unless the Commissioner specifies otherwise.
The Commissioner's interpretation of orders submitted by telephone must be regarded as final. Also, the Commissioner cannot guarantee that the answering machine will capture all messages without fail. Telephoned orders are therefore submitted at the risk of the team owner. A league member who submits orders directly by telephone has the right (upon request) to have the orders repeated back to ensure their accuracy.
Gonzo Sports' answering machines automatically hang up if the caller is silent for a few seconds, and messages are limited to four minutes. It is therefore important that team owners who plan to call in orders prepare them carefully in advance and, if speaking to an answering machine, read them clearly and briskly. A team owner who is disconnected for any reason (there will be a loud beep) should call back, reintroduce him or herself, and continue. The answering machines automatically record the date and time of the call; if that time is after the published deadline by even one minute, the orders are considered late and will not be used for the current week.
League members using the telephone to submit orders do so at their own risk. The deadline will generally not be extended to account for the fact that the telephone is busy, or out of order, on deadline day. League members are therefore advised not to wait until near the deadline (i.e. the last couple of hours) to call in orders.
The Commissioner may insist that telephoned orders be submitted at the league member's expense. League members should not call the Commissioner collect, nor at home, for the purpose of submitting orders or otherwise conducting league business. The Commissioner reserves the right to set an early deadline for owners who habitually call close to the deadline, or to limit the number of calls a given team owner may make, or in extreme cases not to accept calls from a given team owner at all.

4. Procedural Guidelines: It is requested that Gonzo Sports team owners follow several guidelines when submitting their orders. A) The team's place name and league name should be given. B) After Week 1, team owners should name only changes to the starting lineup, not the entire lineup. C) Team owners should name only the player going in at a spot in the lineup, not the player being replaced. D) Team owners should avoid submitting the same orders twice (or least state up front that the orders are a duplicate). E) Team owners should avoid habitually submitting orders during the final hour before the deadline.
The Commissioner reserves the right to assess penalties or set limits, if in his judgment a team owner is flagrantly or repeatedly violating these guidelines. Limits on the other items above may be imposed on a case-by-case basis as the Commissioner sees fit. Limits on the other items above may be imposed on a case-by-case basis as the Commissioner sees fit, including setting an early deadline for team owners who habitually wait till just before the deadline to submit orders.

5. Multiple Leagues: Mailed or faxed orders for multiple leagues should be on separate sheets of paper for each league. For mailed orders, only one side of a sheet of paper should be used.

6. Special Types of Mail: The use of special types of mail, such as priority or overnight mail and special delivery is permitted for submitting orders, but caution should be used. These types of mail are not always delivered on time. Priority or overnight mail services often require a signature unless the sender waives that requirement; league members should always be sure to do this when sending orders this way. The Commissioner will not be responsible for going to the delivery service's office to pick up mailings requiring a signature.

7. Duration of Orders: Lineups stay in effect until changed by the team owner. A transaction which fails for any reason, however, will not be used for the following week, and will need to be resubmitted if the team owner so wishes. A trade which does not go through for any reason must be resubmitted by both teams in order to succeed. Free agent bids or cuts submitted for a given week will stay in effect and take priority over later bids or cuts unless it is clearly stated that the previous bids or cuts are being superseded or revoked.

8. Late Orders: Lineups which arrive late may be disregarded if it is clear to the Commissioner that they were not intended for the upcoming week. If it is not clear which week the orders were to be used for, they may be used for the upcoming week.

9. Future Orders: Team owners may submit orders for future weeks. When doing so, an owner should state the words "FUTURE ORDERS" prominently when submitting them, and indicate clearly in which week they are to take effect.

10. Conditional Orders: In certain cases, orders may be made conditional upon earlier or concurrent events. Following are examples of conditional orders which are or are not permitted:
Free agent lists may be made conditional upon whether a particular trade succeeded.
Cuts may be made conditional upon free agent pickups, or upon the success of a trade. (It should be stated explicitly which cut corresponds to which player!)
Lineups may be made conditional upon whether a particular transaction succeeded.
Transactions or lineups may be made conditional upon a player's position eligibility.
Orders generally may be made conditional upon how the Commissioner would rule in a given situation, or on the resolution of a question involving a possible error on the part of the Commissioner.
Orders may not be made conditional upon player or team stats, injury status, or other events not pertaining directly to the league.
Trades may not be made conditional upon free agent bids in the same week.
One trade may be conditional upon the success of another, but two trades may not be mutually conditional (i.e. one of them has to be first).
Lineups during the playoffs may be conditional upon the identity of a team's opponent.
Although a free agent bid may be conditional upon a player's position eligibility, a bid will not automatically be voided if the team owner states the wrong position when making the bid.
Lineup changes which are conditional upon whether the team has a certain player should be written in the format "RB2 is Player A / Player B," which means that the second running back will be Player A if he is on the team, otherwise Player B. Potential free agents can be indicated using the abbreviations "FA" (any free agent), "FA1" (free agent choice #1), "FA1,2" (free agent choice #1 or 2), etc. Thus, the order "WR3 is FA1,3 / Player C" means to play free agent choice #1 or #3 if either is acquired, else Player C, at the third wide receiver position. In any event, the player written on the left (or said first) would take precedence over the one written on the right (or said later). Conditional lineup changes based on bids should be given along with the other lineup changes, rather than with the bids.

11. Third Party Orders: Owners should submit orders to Gonzo Sports directly rather than through a third party. A team owner who wishes to authorize a third party to submit orders for his or her team should so inform the Commissioner prior to the deadline for which the orders pertain. The Commissioner reserves the right to disregard orders submitted through an unauthorized third party, and team owners are never authorized nor allowed to submit orders for a different team in their league.

12. Abbreviations: The Commissioner will use and accept abbreviations which he finds clear, easily understood, and unambiguous. When in doubt about the clarity of an abbreviation, though, the team owner should spell it out. Following is a guideline to some of the abbreviations which will be used in the production of game reports, and which are recommended for use by league members.

ATL -- Atlanta Falcons
AZ -- Arizona Cardinals
BAL -- Baltimore Ravens
BUF -- Buffalo Bills
CAR -- Carolina Panthers
CHI -- Chicago Bears
CIN -- Cincinnati Bengals
CLE -- Cleveland Browns
DAL -- Dallas Cowboys
DEN -- Denver Broncos
DET -- Detroit Lions
GB -- Green Bay Packers
GIA -- New York Giants
IND -- Indianapolis Colts
HOU -- Houston Texans
JAC -- Jacksonville Jaguars
JET -- New York Jets
KC -- Kansas City Chiefs
MIA -- Miami Dolphins
MIN -- Minnesota Vikings
NE -- New England Patriots
NO -- New Orleans Saints
OAK -- Oakland Raiders
PHI -- Philadelphia Eagles
PIT -- Pittsburgh Steelers
SD -- San Diego Chargers
SF -- San Francisco 49ers
SEA -- Seattle Seahawks
STL -- St. Louis Rams
TB -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
TEN -- Tennessee Titans
WAS -- Washington Redskins
NFL -- National Football League
GFL -- Gonzo Football League
AM -- Autumn Madness
USPS -- U.S. Postal Service
$...K -- Gonzo cash (in thousands)
QB -- quarterback
RB -- running back
WR -- wide receiver
TE -- tight end
K -- kicker
KR -- kick return team
OL -- offensive line
DL -- defensive line
DB -- defensive backfield
W -- wins
L -- losses
T -- ties
PCT -- winning percentage
GB -- games behind
DIV -- divisional W-L record
STR -- streak
PF -- points for
PA -- points against
PPG -- points per game
H -- home team
Pts -- points
Cpl -- completions
Att -- attempts
Yds -- yards
YPA -- yards per pass attempt
TDP -- touchdown passes
Int -- interceptions
TD -- touchdowns
Rsh -- rushes
Avg -- average
Rec -- receptions
PAT -- points after touchdown
FG -- field goals
FGA -- field goal attempts
KR -- kickoff returns
PR -- punt returns
Sac -- sacks
FD -- first downs
2pt -- 2-point conversions
Fum -- def. fumbles recovered
TDR -- rushing touchdowns
FA -- free agent
FA1 -- free agent #1
FA2 -- free agent #2
FA3 -- free agent #3
pd -- paid (renewed for next year)
nr -- not returning

X. ADMINISTRATIVE

1. Team Owners: People may sign up to own a team by sending the Commissioner the appropriate league fee or deposit and a team name. The Commissioner reserves the right to decide who may play. A person may not own more than one team in any one league. One person must be the primary owner of each team; a co-owner may be listed upon request.

2. Team Names: Each team should be given a name consisting of a place name and a nickname (such as "Albany Puppydogs") by its owner. After the teams' owners and names are announced during the first off-season mailing, the team name should stay the same for the rest of that year unless the team changes owners.
The Commissioner has the right to ask a new league member to submit an alternate place name or nickname for his/her team if the chosen name might be confused with that of another team.

3. League Fees and Deposits: The Commissioner will charge an annual league fee, payment and acceptance of which constitutes a license to own a team in a Gonzo league for one year. This license entitles the team owner to full participation in the league for that year. This includes the right to draft players, to make trades with other owners in his/her league, to bid for free agents during the regular season, to determine his/her team's lineup each week of the season, to participate in all regular season games and all playoff games for which the team qualifies, and to receive all of his/her league's mailings from the Commissioner. Mailings include game and transaction reports during the season, and off-season announcements such as the names and addresses of team owners, these rules, lists of available players for the draft, draft results, and other pertinent information.
The Commissioner may at his discretion accept a deposit in lieu of the entire league fee, with the understanding that the remainder of the league fee will be paid by a specified date. Payment of this deposit entitles the team owner to full rights of ownership, provided that the balance due is paid by the specified date.
The Commissioner may specify certain actions (such as trading away draft picks or trading after a certain point in the season) which are allowed only by teams which have a deposit in for the following season. A double deposit may be required from team owners who have dropped out of leagues in the past, especially if the person has traded away draft picks and then dropped out, or if the Commissioner has any other reason to believe the person might not return the following season. The Commissioner also reserves the right to charge a larger deposit before allowing a team to trade away several high draft picks, or to require payment earlier than usual if he is concerned about a person's intentions to stay in a league.
Money paid toward one league may at the Commissioner's discretion be used toward a person's balance in a different league, if necessary. In other words, a person must meet his or her obligations in all leagues in order to stay in good standing in any of them. League fees and deposits are nonrefundable and nontransferable.

4. Dropping Out and Retiring: A team owner who drops out may lose his/her team without further warning. Failure to submit orders for three regular season weeks in a row, or failure to submit a keeper list or a mail draft list, or to show up for a phone draft, or to pay the league fee when it is due, may be construed as dropping out. Failure to abide by the rules of the game may also, at the Commissioner's discretion, be construed as dropping out.
If an owner drops out, he/she is not entitled to receive his/her league fee (or any other money) back. If an owner drops out, the Commissioner may offer the team to another party, in the interest of maintaining fairness and parity in the league, and to discontinue sending game reports and other mailings to the original owner.
An owner is considered to have dropped out cleanly if s/he leaves the team with all its original draft picks and informs the Commissioner of his/her intention to drop out prior to the off-season administrative deadline. An owner who drops out after trading away original draft picks, or after the administrative deadline, will be considered to still owe the league fee for that year; if need be this may be taken out of fees or prize credit for the owner's other teams.
An owner is considered to have retired from a league, and not dropped out, if s/he has been active in the league for at least five years, leaves the team with all its original draft picks, and informs the Commissioner of his/her intention to retire from the league prior to the final lineup deadline for the season.

5. Errors: Team owners are responsible for checking the accuracy of league news from the Commissioner pertaining to their own teams, including draft results, transaction announcements, future draft commitments, lineups, and game results. Team owners should report suspected errors to the Commissioner as quickly as possible to expedite the process of correcting them. Generally, the Commissioner will attempt to rectify any errors which are reported within seven days after their publication. Errors which remain unreported and undiscovered past that time may be allowed to stand. The Commissioner will attempt to redress any error in a manner as fair as possible to the owners concerned and the rest of the league.

6. Realignment of Divisions: Teams will be realigned within a league between seasons. The top four teams (based on the draft order for the upcoming season, which is the reverse of the League Rankings from the previous season) will be placed in one division, the next four teams will be placed in another division, and the worst four teams will be placed in another division.

7. Switching Leagues: Team owners are encouraged to retain their own teams, in their own leagues, from year to year. The Commissioner will consider on a case-by-case basis requests from owners who wish to switch to owning a team in another league. An extra fee may be charged for this. The Commissioner may occasionally, due to unusual circumstances, ask a team owner to switch leagues.

8. Ethics: Gonzo Sports is intended to be fun for the people who participate in it, and there is much latitude in the strategies that league members may employ. However, there are certain ethical standards that league members should adhere to for the sake of the integrity and enjoyability of the sport for all concerned:
1. A team owner should make an optimal effort to win (see Rule X.9) each week.
2. Trades should represent an honest attempt to help the owner's own team, and should not involve considerations outside of the team owners' assets in that league. Each trade must stand alone on its own merits.
3. A league member should stay within the normal scope of the fun and competition of Gonzo Sports to achieve an end within the sport. Other participants, including the Commissioner, should be treated in a courteous and sporting manner.
4. The Commissioner's mail and files, both paper and electronic, are private and may not be examined or taken by team owners without the Commissioner's approval.
5. A team owner should not attempt to deceive the Commissioner in any manner pertaining to his/her league. For example, it is not permissible to submit a forged lineup for another team, or for a team owner to represent him/herself to the Commissioner as a different team owner.
6. A team owner should not agree to a trade unless he/she intends to submit it accurately to the Commissioner before the next deadline.
If the Commissioner has sufficient reason to believe that these ethical principles have been violated, he reserves the right to take action to rectify the situation in the manner he deems most fair to all concerned. For example, a trade or lineup change by an owner which in the Commissioner's judgment clearly hurts the owner's own team (thereby unfairly helping that team's trading partner or game opponent) may be nullified. A team owner whose play makes it appear that he/she is deliberately losing may be penalized by being moved back in the draft order. In the event of blatant or repeated violations, the Commissioner reserves the right to remove a team owner from the league, without refund.
A league member who feels that a violation of these ethical principles may have occurred may lodge a complaint with the Commissioner. To lodge a complaint, the league member should explicitly say that that is what s/he wishes to do, and provide the Commissioner with all specific facts relevant to the situation. If the Commissioner feels that the complaint may have merit, he may investigate and, if necessary, act to correct or deal with the situation.

9. Optimal Effort to Win: A team owner may be considered not to have made an optimal effort to win under the following conditions:
1. His lineup for the week includes at least one position player whose NFL team was on a bye; or who did not get any stats, and who appeared in a starting lineup for that week in no more than 25% of all our other leagues.
2. His bench included a position player who could have played in lieu of the above player, and who got positive stats for that week, and who appeared in a starting lineup for that week in at least 75% of all our other leagues.
3. The team ends up losing its game for that week.
4. The team had a losing record prior to that week.
5. The situation is brought to the Commissioner's attention prior to the following lineup deadline..
The above rules can be applied to a team owner who simply fails to change his lineup. A team owner who is found not to have made an optimal effort to win may be penalized, subject to the Commissioner's judgment, by being considered, when the draft order is determined for the following season, to have won that week's game. The penalty will apply only during the drafting rounds for which the team still owns its own draft selection, and it will not apply if the team owner leaves the league before the following year's draft.

10. Prize Funds: A Gonzo league may have a prize fund in addition to the standard league fee. The prize credit will be the total amount of prize money paid by the team owners. The prize credit will be distributed as follows: The League champion (Gonzo Bowl winner) gets 1/2, the second-place team (Gonzo Bowl loser) gets 1/4, the third-place team (Gonzolation Bowl winner) gets 1/6, and the fourth-place team (Gonzolation Bowl loser) gets 1/12. Winnings will be distributed to team owners as credit toward future seasons.
Prize credit will first be used to pay the deposit for the owner's team(s) if not yet renewed for the following season, unless the owner informed the Commissioner prior to the final lineup deadline for the year that he will not be continuing in the league (in which case, the team will be marked "nr" in the final standings). Any amount beyond that may be either refunded or applied to future seasons. The Commissioner will provide a deadline by which the owner must notifiy him if a refund is desired.
The prize credit given for a team which was purchased at a discount will be reduced by the amount of the discount. A caretaker running a team on behalf of Gonzo Sports, Inc. can win prize credit, but Gonzo will first keep up to the amount of all applicable fees which the caretaker did not pay, then award the difference (if any) to the caretaker.

11. League Continuation: In general, Gonzo leagues will continue from year to year with owners given the right to retain their teams from the previous season. A time period will be provided for owners to renew their positions in the league by payment of the league fee (or a deposit) for the coming season. However, either the owner or the Commissioner has the right not to renew the license; nobody is obligated to play, and the Commissioner is not obligated to allow anybody to play.
If a team's owner will not be returning for the following season, the Commissioner will attempt to locate another person who will become the new owner of that team. The new owner will acquire the team and all of its current assets (players, upcoming draft choices, and Gonzo cash). A team owner who does not renew his/her license retains no future rights to ownership of his/her former team.

12. Sharing Teams: A Gonzo team may be jointly owned by more than one person. One person only will be listed as a team's primary owner; but any of the team's owners is entitled to submit orders for the team. There is a charge for extra copies of game reports or other mailings requested for joint team owners.

13. Substitute Team Owners: A team owner is permitted to designate another person (but not another member of the same league) to run his/her team for a period of time if necessary, but may not restrict orders which the substitute owner can submit. That is, the substitute has full control of the team until the owner comes back and resumes control. A team owner who wishes to use a substitute should inform the Commissioner well prior to the substitute's tenure, so that other team owners can deal with him/her. The Commissioner may charge the team owner for any additional expenses incurred (such as sending additional copies of issues to the owner's substitute) as a result of this situation. The Commissioner may limit the number of times or duration for which a team owner may use substitutes.

14. Notification of Changes: Team owners are responsible for notifying the Commissioner of changes in their mailing address and other status which might affect their participation in the league.

15. Postal Strikes: League business will not generally be delayed in the event of a postal strike. If a postal strike occurs in the home country of a league member, the league will proceed as usual and the member will be responsible for keeping in touch with the Commissioner (and other league members, if desired) by telephone or any other available method.

16. Player Strikes: In the event of a strike by professional players, or any other situation which prevents their games from being played on schedule, the Commissioner reserves the right to abbreviate the season (and alter the schedule) as needed to deal with the circumstances. In the event of a largely abbreviated season, a partial refund of the league fee or credit toward the next year's league fee for current team owners may be given as the Commissioner sees fit.

17. Emergency Deadline Extensions: The Commissioner may, at his discretion, extend a deadline without prior notice in the event of an emergency situation at Gonzo's end (such as a power outage, phone outage, e-mail service disruption, or other situation which prevents Gonzo from receiving orders). A deadline extension will be used only if a large number of team owners are likely to be prevented from submitting orders due to the emergency, and only if the emergency spans a significant amount of time on a deadline day.
The deadline will not be extended if the emergency takes place only in the final hour before a deadline -- team owners should not be waiting that long to submit orders anyway. The deadline will not be extended to accommodate team owners who simply couldn't get through on the phone or whose e-mail was delayed. The deadline will not be extended if the emergency ends with plenty of time to spare before the deadline. This rule is for serious emergency situations only.

18. Greater Good Rule: The Commissioner will at all times attempt to act in the best interest of the league, its members, and Gonzo Sports. These rules are to be considered a guideline outlining procedures used in Gonzo Sports, and not necessarily a binding document. If a situation arises in which the Commissioner feels that the greater good will be served by overriding these rules, he reserves the right to do so. Similarly, if a situation not covered by these rules arises, the Commissioner reserves the right to make an ad hoc decision dealing with the circumstance in the fairest way possible.

19. League Rules Amendments: These rules may be amended at any time by the Commissioner's publication of the amendment. The Commissioner will attempt to avoid making rule changes at a time when they would have an adverse effect on the season in progress.

XI. LIFETIME SCORES AND HALL OF FAME

1. Season Scores: After each season, a team is assigned scores based on four criteria:
1. Did the team participate in the Gonzo Bowl or Gonzolation Bowl? If so, did it win? (Score = 10 points for winning the Gonzo Bowl, 5 for losing it, 2 for winning the Gonzolation Bowl, 1 for losing it.)
2. Did the team win, or at least finish second, in its division? (Score = 10 for first place, 5 for second.)
3. What was the team's regular season W-L record? (Score = pct record x 10, rounded down to the nearest whole number.)
4. How did the team place in the "Team Totals" stat (on page 4 of each game report)? (Score = 11 minus team's placement, minimum of 0.)
The scores for each of these items can range from 0 to 10; these four numbers are then added to produce a Season Score for the team. This final score will be between 0 (worst) and 40 (a perfect season).

2. Quality Season: A Quality Season for a team is a season in which it earns a Season Score of 25 or higher.

3. Lifetime Scores: A team's Lifetime Score is all of its season scores added together. The team 's primary owner (the person who is listed first in the league mailings and who receives the league's mailings) at the conclusion of the playoffs accumulates the Lifetime Score. A team owner who drops out of a league or otherwise gives up his status as primary owner forfeits his Lifetime Score even if he returns to the league later. Whenever a team's primary ownership changes hands for ANY reason, the team's Lifetime Score reverts to zero. A team owner who renews in a league which folds anyway, and takes over another existing team the next season to replace the previous one, may carry over his Lifetime Score. But all Lifetime Scores in a new league start at zero.

4. Gonzo Football Hall of Fame: A team owner who accumulates a Lifetime Score of at least 120, including at least three Quality Seasons, makes the Hall of Fame. A Hall of Famer keeps that status for as long as he participates in Gonzo Football.