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Viva Murillo!

Some 12-team leagues don’t have 12 real teams anymore. They have 12 lineups, but just 11 actual owners, or maybe even 10. It might sound crazy, but some owners have bailed on their teams just a month into the season.

You have to wonder what they were even thinking, preparing during the off-season, joining a league, focusing on the draft and setting lineups for weeks—all for nothing. Well, maybe they weren’t thinking, and maybe they didn’t really do all those things. Maybe they didn’t do any off-season preparations, or really pay much attention to the draft. Maybe they just felt like joining another league, had some extra money or needed a draft fix and didn’t care who it was with. Or maybe an 0-3 record demoralized them to the point of abandonment. In any case, when things didn’t go so well or Lady Luck turned her back on them, they ran away.

There’s no point in harping on what losers they are, but there is value in identifying them immediately. Their non-presence can ruin the competitive balance of your league. A driftwood team that starts bye week or injured players doles out free wins like candy. That isn’t fair to the teams that face real opponents, and since playoff spots often come down to just one game, it could mean an inferior team makes the post-season.

The one bright spot is that you had plenty of opportunities this past weekend to identify these abandoned teams. Tennessee, Jacksonville, Washington and New Orleans were all off, so anyone starting guys like Reggie Bush or Clinton Portis have a red flag next to their name. And the silver lining in all of the early-season injuries is that anyone starting Andre Johnson or Steven Jackson has identified themselves as an owner who isn’t paying attention.

Don’t let them float along the schedule, ruining the league week after week. Inform the commissioner, send an e-mail or call them out on the league’s message board. This week. Let everyone know that a problem exists and it needs to be dealt with immediately. After all, there’s a chance that it was a one-week thing. Maybe they somehow lost Internet access for a couple of days, or a family emergency didn’t allow them to check their lineups. Life can be unpredictable, so these things do happen. But if that’s not the case, Plan B needs to go into effect.

Your league does have a Plan B, right? If an owner bails out during the season, there are contingency plans to make sure the league doesn’t suffer? If not, there are only a few days to right the ship.

Fortunately, it’s not that hard. You either find a fill-in who is willing to take over the team and do their best to keep it competitive, or you eliminate the team from the schedule entirely. Instead, you can have their opponent play against the league average that week. If they beat it, they win. If not, they lose. It’s not perfect, but it is fair.

What isn’t fair is letting the team drift for the next 10 weeks. In week 5, a new batch of injuries could change lineups, and four new teams are on the bye. Watch your league for orphaned franchises, contact these owners for an explanation and address the problem before it alters your league’s playoff picture.

If your league has a tried-and-true method for dealing with abandoned teams, please mention it below. You can also reach Michael Murillo at vivamurillo@gmail.com.

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