2013 HFA Logo RULES
AND
REGULATIONS
AND
GENERAL
INFORMATION

MEMBERSHIP AND FEES
- The basic cost for a team for the 2013 season is $75.  The $75 fee includes $12.50 for the team's contribution toward the CBS Sports website fee and $62.50 for the team's contribution to the league prize fund.  The $750 prize fund will be distributed as follows:  $350 to the league champion, $120 to the winner of the Commissioner's Award for best regular-season record, $100 to the loser of the championship game, $75 to the winner of the consolation game, $55 to the loser of the consolation game and $50 to the team in either the second or third playoff tier which scores the most points aggregate in the two playoff weeks.
- The entry fee for the Pick To Click competition is $25.  Participation in this side game is optional.  The amount of the prizes for first and second place will depend on how many league members enter.  The first place team will win 80% of the total prize fund and the runner-up will win 20%.

LEAGUE STRUCTURE
- The league will again consist of twelve teams divided into three divisions:
   
HALAS  DIVISION LOMBARDI  DIVISION ROONEY  DIVISION
Del's Griffins
Gamblerz
Marko's Maniacs
Prospectors
BG Buffaloes
Deviates
Proglodytes
Shark Attack
Kodiaks
Scott Morask - TBA
Why Me
Ghost of Rat Salad

- Head-to-Head Format - In the first three weeks of the regular season, play each team in your division.  In the next eight weeks of the regular season, play each team in the other two divisions once.  In the final three weeks of the regular season, play each team in your division for the second time.

- Redraft - New rosters are selected at the beginning of each season.  No "keepers"
- Commissioner - Ralph  -    847-298-4267 (h)    847-271-2882 (c)     commish@hfa5.com

DRAFT
-  We strive to hold the league draft each year on the weekend before Labor Day weekend.
- The draft is straight serpentine, meaning the team having the first pick in the first round has the last pick in the second round. Draft order is determined by the combination of regular-season finish and performance in playoffs, and selection of draft position by individual team owners according to that determined order.
- On draft day we use a draft board provided by CBS Sports.  There are stickers representing every player (color-coded by position)  which each team owner uses to make his selections.  Once the sticker has been applied to the draft board, the selection is final.  No Exceptions.  Owners are responsible for checking out last-minute injuries.
- Each team owner has 60 seconds per round to make his pick.  There are 15 rounds to the draft. At the end of each round there will be a five-minute break, and at the end of Rounds 3,6,9, and 12 there will be a minimum 10-minute break.  This means the draft will last over 4 1/2 hours.  These are guidelines, and the commissioner reserves the right to enforce these time-limits as he sees fit.  
- Each team must draft a "legal roster."  A roster is legal only when there is at least one player (or DST) eligible for each positional slot.
- NOTE:  In the event an owner cannot make the draft and is unwilling or unable to draft by phone, his picks will be made in the following positional order using the best available player at that position from Dave Richard's latest Top 200 from the CBS Sports website:  RB, WR, QB, RB, WR, QB, RB, WR, DST, TE, K, QB, RB, WR, WR.


ROSTERS
- Rosters will consist of 15 players.  For each game, 9 players will be designated as starters and the remaining players will not be active for that week's game.
- Teams must start players in the following positions for each game:  One Quarterback, Two Running Backs, Two Wide Receivers, One Tight End, One "Flex" position which can be a Running Back or a Wide Receiver or a Tight End, One Kicker, and one Team Defense/Special Teams.  There are no restrictions on the positions of players in reserve.  A team owner can adjust his starters any time up until five minutes before the beginning of a player's game, although the league website warns that there may be a slight variance, so it is best to try to get your lineup finalized a little earlier than that.
- Roster changes are handled by a waiver process.  The waiver order resets after the final game of each week, and is based on the reverse order of the standings at the end of that week.  Players may "drop" and "add" as many players as they like beginning Tuesday morning.  Waivers are processed and the "drops" and "adds" which have been approved by the waiver process are completed.  The waiver process continues through to the beginning of the first game of the week.  The initial post-draft waiver order will be in reverse order of position drafted in the first round.
NOTE:  If you accidentally drop the wrong player in an Add/Drop process through a click of the mouse mistake, you must let hte commissioner know IMMEDIATELY and I will fix the error for you.
- There is no provision for injured players.  You may keep them on your roster as a reserve or drop them into the free agent pool.

TRADES
- For the first five weeks of the season, "open trading" will be the rule.   Due to the limitations of the CBS Sports website (the inability to change the trading rules on the website after the season begins), the website will generate a voting process like it will after the fifth week.  So during the first five weeks of the season, do not cast any votes on trades. 

- From weeks six through ten, trades will be subject to a voting process for approval.  If there are six or more objections to an agreed-upon trade, that trade will not be approved.  

NOTE: Trades are subject to the time limitations that the website imposes for the voting process, even during the open trading weeks. The commissioner will not manually push through trades early under any circumstances. 

NOTE: No player traded away by a team can be re-acquired by that team for the rest of the season.  

 - After the tenth week of the season, no trading will be allowed.

SCORING
Please refer to the "Rules" section under the "League Home" tab on the league website for a complete listing of all the scoring categories and the number of points to be earned.

BREAKING TIES
- Games during the regular season that end in ties will be allowed to end in ties.
- Games during the playoffs that end in ties will go to tiebreaker to determine who wins the game.  The first tiebreaker will be the total of the points earned by the two highest-scoring reserves.  The second tiebreaker will be the total of the points earned by all of the reserves.  The third tiebreaker will be a coin flip.
- Standings ties for division winners, wild card winner, and playoff seeding will be broken by the result of  head-to-head competition during the regular season..  The first tiebreaker will be total points scored by the team during the regular season.  The second tiebreaker will be highest score in any individual game.  The third tiebreaker will be a coin flip.
- Ties for best regular-season record (for the Commissioner's Award) will be broken by total points scored during the regular season.  In the event that the total points tiebreaker results in a tie, the Commissioner's Award will be shared (and prize money split) by both teams.


PLAYOFFS
- The regular season will run from NFL weeks 1 thru 14.  Each team will play each of the three other teams in their own division two times in the regular season, and each of the eight teams in the other two divisions one time.  
- The team with the best record in each division, along with the second-place team with the best record from the three divisions (the wild card), will advance to the top tier of the league playoffs to determine the League Champion.  In the first week of the playoffs (NFL week 15) the first-place team with the best record will play the wild card team in one game, and the other two first-place teams will play in the other game,  The winners of those two games will play in the Championship Game in NFL week 16, and the losers of those two games will play in a consolation game to determine the 3rd and 4th place standing.
- The eight teams that do not play in the top-tier playoffs will be re-seeded according to their final regular season records.  Teams 5 thru 8 and teams 9 thru 12 will also play a two week playoff round structured the same as the top tier playoffs.  These playoff rounds will not have cash prizes at stake, but they will determine position in next season's draft.  The winner of the bottom tier of the playoffs (teams 9 through 12) will draft first, and the winner of the middle tier (teams 5 through 8) will draft second.  Draft position three will go to the loser of the game between the first-round winners in the bottom tier, followed  by the winner of the consolation game of the bottom tier, followed by the loser of the consolation game of the bottom tier, followed by the loser of the game between the first-round winners in the middle tier, followed by the winner of the consolation game of the middle tier, followed by the loser of the consolation game of the middle tier.  

LEAGUE WEBSITES
The web address on CBS Sports for our league is:      heritage05.football.sportsline.com
The web address for our league home page is:      www.hfa5.com
Be sure to add both our CBS Sports home page and hfa5.com to your 'favorites' or 'bookmarks'

RESPONSIBILITIES OF FANTASY OWNERS
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Since we are all friends, there is not much to worry about in this regard.  
- The most basic responsibility one takes on in joining a fantasy league is to commit to giving a good effort for the entire season. Very simply, watch your rosters, make at least some effort to make them better throughout the season, and make sure you're not starting an injured player or a player on a bye week.  If you decide you really don't want to play anymore, or if life circumstances prevent you from giving the game any attention, contact the commish and we'll find someone to take over your team, temporarily or pemanently.  No hard feelings, rest assured.  It happens. Much better than not letting anyone know.
- Also important:  Please let the commish know if you find an area in the rules that is ambiguous or confusing.  No one is perfect, not even the commish!
- Remember, it's just a game.  Again, we're all friends, and trash talking is fun.  Don't take anything personally, and by the same token, don't cross any lines you wouldn't want crossed with you.  Good-natured ribbing is always appreciated and encouraged!

 RULES CHANGES
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After each season, each team owner will have the opportunity to post suggested changes and revisions to our league rules, roster limits, procedures, policies, etc.  All proposed rules changes will be voted on by each returning league owner,.  Rules changes will require a 65% majority to pass. 

SIDE GAME
Pick To Click  is an optional season-long 16-week "side game" which will cost $25 for the season to enter.  At the end of the season, the winner will collect 80% of the prize money and the runner-up will collect 20%.

Each week, the team owner chooses one of his players to compete in Pick to Click for his team that week.  The number of points that player earns according to the league website for that week will be the points earned for the owner's team in Pick To Click that week.

The selectrion of a position and a player is limited as follows:

QB - twice during season
RB - four times during season
WR - four times during season
TE - twice during season
K - twice during season
DST - twice during season

NO INDIVIDUAL PLAYER MAY BE CHOSEN MORE THAN TWICE FOR THE SEASON, so if you acquire a player in an 'add' or a trade, you have also acquired his accumulated "plays" season to date.

A player chosen as Pick to Click for a given week does not have to be listed as active for his HFA team that week. His point totals as a reserve will be used.

Complete week-by-week selections and results will be e-mailed to each participating owner.  There will be a chart showing each team's scoring for each week, what positions and what players they have used up.  The team owner is responsible for e-mailing his selection to pick@hfa5.com by 10 a.m on Sunday.
NOTE: If your Pick To Click player is playing on Thursday, be sure to e-mail that pick before gametime.
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HFA