Random League Assignment Process

In order to come up with random league assignments I use a process that I inherited when I took over as commissioner - using https://www.random.org/lists/ to generate a random order from our list of participants at a pre-publicized time and then posting the results immediately with a timestamp here on the Discussion Forum. It seems to have worked well for the most part, although it does however result in you as participants trusting me as commissioner as I am also a participant in the tournament. I don't know why someone in my position who clearly spends a lot of time and effort into making this a smooth running tournament would somehow use this process to help my own situation, however I have unfortunately been accused by a tournament participant of fixing the results of the random league generation. Every year we have participants who end up in 3 out of 4 leagues together - it may seem unlikely but random is random and it happens. To some this is evidence that I am fixing the results. I really don't know what to say to persuade people from feeling this way other than they have to trust me that I have no reason to cheat with this - the list you see are what's generated.

This is a very disappointing situation for me. Perhaps being a commissioner and a participant in the same tournament is not possible. However, you have to know that without people like myself there wouldn't be any tournament because it requires volunteers to make it happen. In any case, my love for this tournament has taken a hit. And any personal success I have in this tournament has lost meaning if people are going to question the fairness of my success.

If anyone has any suggestions for how to generate league assignments in future years please let me know.

Also, if there is someone willing to be commissioner of this tournament next year, please let me know now as it would be easier to start transitioning that now while this year's in still going on.

Juiced JC

The reality is a person who has no integrity in themself can’t imagine it in someone else.

I support Juiced JC and whatever process he uses!
I have been in the Mystery tournament for the past 4 years and have not had any whiff of funny business!

You're doing the right thing the right way. If you get any more complaints, my vote would be to involve SOM and if necessary boot them from the tournament. You aren't paid, you are a volunteer, and we appreciate what you do.

Fully support Juiced JC. It's incredible what you do with this tournament and how smoothly things go. Please continue doing it!

The accusation is insulting. But really while some players may have more experience than others, everyone is on the same, equal footing in whatever league they land. We all have the same salary cap and player pool to choose from...and the fact that we are drafting/trading/dropping and adding players without even knowing which of 5 seasons they are using means that the "good" and "bad" managers are all subject to the same random good or bad luck. I guess you could use your phone to record your computer screen as you run the randomizer process and the results are first displayed...then upload that video to YouTube where butthurt managers could analyze it like the Zapruder film. Anyway...thanks for what you do...now could I please have a word about my very difficult draw in 90s league #7?

OK so I did some analysis on this and it turns out we have 13 pairs of participants who have been in 3 of the first 4 leagues together, including one participant (canauscot) who has been in 3 of 4 with two different people. So what this says to me is that with 14 leagues of 168 people there is a much higher probability of this then we had assumed. There's got to me a math whiz in this group that can speak to the probability here. In any case, this has made the decision clearer to me that we will be sticking with the assignments that the randomizer gave us and will not be taking action on requests for league trades/moves. Also, I had been thinking of making a rule to ensure that no one ends up in 4 out 5 leagues together when it comes time for the 2000's, but given how many pairs we have here it is likely to happen and might take a while to get a "clean" random list with such a rule. Here is the list of pairs that have been in 3 out of 4 leagues together:

laughren.francis and The BC Manager
ducyacy and WJS6768
rickburr and Rigged Splits
mharing424 and stephenlavery
CirrhoticLiver and djkalle
somwillis1 and naitrey
AdamKatz and canauscot
sfitzg5555 and HOFManager
Jimmy_C and Brent65
Runnin Rebel and canauscot
jaywalker72 and swades
stratorat and bkr1974
Juiced JC and jddoug

To believe that Juiced has done something wrong with the league assignments, you have to think that he has no problem being in leagues with Rigged Splits, Pushpin, Ciachefpete, Jimmy James, RJ Newman, AdamKatz and other fine players but it is important to him to identify one person that he thought he could beat out for 11th place.

The reality is a person who has no integrity in themself can’t imagine it in someone else.

Very true. Also, it seems that the person who made the accusation apparently did so anonymously, presumably by sending a message. If I thought some was fixing a tournament I was participating in, and I had good reason and/or proof to think so, I sure as heck think I would be making my accusation public from the get-go. But again, that might require integrity.

This just comes across to me as some sort of sour grapes. I completely understand why you’re distressed by it, as you obviously have put in a ton of (unpaid) hard work to make this thing run as smoothly as it has. Also you seem to value your reputation among your peers, which as far as I’m concerned you don’t have to worry about at all.

It’s been awhile but I’ve occasionally come across managers who seem to want to ruin the experience for everyone else by complaining or making a scene. I used to take the bait, now I just mute them and move on. I can only hope that the issue dies the quiet death it deserves and that it doesn’t cloud your view of being the commissioner. I for one appreciate what you’re doing and how well you’re doing it.

This tourney has been run great for years under JuicedJC. 168 people join the tourney every year now. Seems like there is about 1 rotten apple in the bunch each year. I believe the great majority of the rest (probably all 166 of the others) believe this is a fair, well run tourney. I've been in this tourney for years and there is open communication throughout. Without volunteers being the commish who also play in the tourney, I don't believe it would happen at all.

Now, everyone, let's have fun!

Chuck