Prime and Masters Owners Learn the Hard Way: NEVER TRUST THE DEFAULT SETTINGS

In what can only be described as another triumph of modern fantasy-football administration, free-agent bidding in the QFL Prime and QFL Deuce leagues ran early this week.

Free agency was run at 4:00 PM.

Why?

Because nobody changed the setting.

Why didn’t anybody change the setting?

Because the NFL decided that Wednesday football was a good idea.

Yes, Wednesday.

Apparently Thursday isn’t early enough anymore. Sunday isn’t enough football. Monday Night Football isn’t enough football. The NFL has now decided that fantasy commissioners need to restructure their entire week around the possibility that someone might decide to play football on a day normally reserved for work, school and regrettable midweek drinking.

And QFL owners paid the price.

THE SETTING THAT NOBODY TOUCHED

The problem was beautifully simple.

The QFL free-agency system was configured to process bids based on the existing league settings.

The settings were not changed.

Therefore, the system did exactly what it was told to do.

Free agency ran at 4 PM.

Which is precisely the sort of thing that happens when you combine fantasy football owners with technology.

Cue confusion.

Cue outrage.

Cue the traditional QFL response:

“Wait… what happened?”

AND NOW… THE COMMISSIONERS

This is where things get interesting.

It remains unclear what the QFL Prime and QFL Deuce Commissioners are going to do about the early free-agency run.

Will the results stand?

Will the commissioners attempt to rerun the process?

Will bids be restored?

Will everyone simply agree that this is what happens when Wednesday football enters our lives?

At press time, QSN has no idea.

And apparently neither does anyone else.

The commissioners now face the unenviable task of deciding what, if anything, should happen next.

There is no shortage of opinions, naturally.

There is, however, a shortage of people willing to accept responsibility.

WHO IS TO BLAME?

The investigation has uncovered several suspects.

Suspect #1: THE OWNERS

The owners had access to the settings.

The owners could have changed the settings.

The owners did not change the settings.

This is compelling evidence.

Suspect #2: THE COMMISSIONERS

The commissioners presumably could have reminded everyone to change the settings.

They apparently did not.

This is also compelling evidence.

Suspect #3: FANTRAX

Fantrax, meanwhile, appears to have committed the unforgivable crime of doing exactly what the settings told it to do.

Classic software behavior.

Absolutely suspicious.

SUSPECT #4: THE NFL

But let’s be honest.

This is the real culprit.

The NFL has spent decades establishing a sacred football calendar:

Sunday.

Then came:

Monday.

Then:

Thursday.

And now:

Wednesday.

At this rate, QFL owners should probably expect Tuesday Night Football sometime before Week 4.

WEDNESDAY FOOTBALL: THE ENEMY OF FANTASY ADMINISTRATION

Wednesday football is fundamentally incompatible with the QFL.

Fantasy owners need time to:

• Study injury reports
• Watch practice participation
• Read 47 fantasy analysts
• Convince themselves a backup running back is about to become a league winner
• Submit an unnecessarily complicated free-agent bid
• Forget to change the league settings
• Blame the commissioner
• Blame Fantrax
• Blame the NFL
• Eventually blame Wednesday

And that last step is where we are today.

THE REAL PROBLEM

The QFL has always operated under the assumption that everyone knows when free agency happens.

Unfortunately, “everyone knows” is not an actual league setting.

And neither is:

“Surely someone changed that.”

That’s not a setting either.

The actual setting was apparently still sitting there, waiting patiently for Wednesday football to expose the entire operation.

And expose it, it did.

THE NEW QFL RULE

Effective immediately, QFL owners should assume that any day can now be a football day.

Monday?

Football.

Tuesday?

Probably football.

Wednesday?

Apparently football.

Thursday?

Football.

Friday?

Somehow football.

Saturday?

College football.

Sunday?

Football apocalypse.

The only safe day may now be Tuesday morning, and even that is questionable.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

That’s the million-dollar question.

Or, more accurately, the $100 salary-cap question.

The 4 PM free-agency results are now sitting there, and it remains unclear what the Prime and Deuce commissioners will decide to do.

For now, owners can do what QFL owners do best:

Speculate.

Some will argue the bids should stand because the system followed the settings.

Others will argue that the early run created an unexpected advantage.

Still others will simply blame Wednesday.

That last position currently has the strongest emotional support.

THE LESSON

The QFL Prime and Deuce free-agent fiasco ultimately teaches us an important lesson:

If the NFL keeps adding football games to random days of the week, QFL owners are going to have to start paying attention.

And if you’re a commissioner, maybe check the settings.

And if you’re an owner, maybe check the settings.

And if you’re the NFL…

STOP PLAYING FOOTBALL ON WEDNESDAY.

QSN FINAL VERDICT

Nobody changed the setting.

Free agency ran at 4 PM.

The commissioners now have to figure out what to do.

Wednesday football exists.

Therefore:

WEDNESDAY FOOTBALL IS STUPID.

Case closed.

Until Tuesday Night Football.