Being the person in charge is never an easy job. The commissioner of a fantasy football league has to the person who takes care of the money, tracks all of the statistics, deals with all of the owners and makes judgments regarding the rules of the league. The buck always stops with them. Sometimes the rulings are not always popular, but they are a necessary part of the smooth running of any organization, especially those which deal with the dollars of competitive owners. Fortunately the main league I am involved with has a commissioner who is even handed, has a fine sense of humor, an eye for detail yet posses the skills to deal with a variety of owners. Due to his commitment the league has been in operation for a decade with a hard core group of loyal owners who are as competitive as sharks with blood in the water; he also happens to be my brother.

I have been the commissioner of various leagues in the past, but for the last few years I have gladly played the role of owner. No more did I have to deal with the hours it takes to crunch the weekly stats, make sure they were accurate then assure every owner they were getting a fair shake. Instead all I had to focus on was my team, my results and my finances. Although I had the frustration of living with what I had drafted, traded or acquired during the season, I did not have to deal with what everybody else drafted, traded or acquired. Instead I could live with the blissful stress I invited into my living room every season along with the frustration which sometimes accompanies it. This was to change. The world of the commissioner which I had walked away from was to be foisted upon me. By the time I had finished my stint I did not want to walk away from the job, I wanted to run as fast as my aging legs and torso would allow me.

Before the season started the entire league knew our commissioner was going to make a trip requiring weeks away from cyber space or even land lines. In his stead, I was to act as commissioner managing the extensive web site, all transactions, finances and the weekly tasks of obtaining player results. I knew the shoes I had to fill were large, but being a former commissioner from the "box scores" days of fantasy football along with possessing a master's degree in technology integration, I would be prepared for the daunting task ahead.

Before he left he shipped me all of the information for the web site and I handled a week with him here just to make sure the system was up, running and in place. With his help all went fairly smoothly. I missed a couple of stats which owners were more than polite to point out. These were fixed with little disruption, then our commissioner caught his flight out of the United States to parts isolated and unknown. I had been briefed on some of the quirks of the owners, now I was left on my own to deal with four weeks of the season. Despite the preparation and briefings, they in no way prepared me for the reality I was about to face.

I knew some of the owners in the league from my distant past. A handful of them were friends my brother has had since his high school days. I knew some better than others as we had all interacted at some point in our history. The rest of the league owners are people I had never seen because of the physical distance between them and myself. This distance was about to grow with some, narrow with others.

Two of the members of this league are also brothers. For the purposes of this piece they will be referred to as Rod and Todd. Rod and Todd are highly competitive, patient yet funny people, unless you happen to be the commissioner of a league where they play. Never did I think I would be dreading the daily ritual of opening my email, but this all changed for this brief period of time. Between Rod and Todd my email became near clogged with desperate messages regarding player acquisition, scoring questions and final results regarding team performance. They became a two headed monster from which there was no escape leaving only a single option; deal with them directly.

Their emails easily fell into a few categories; acquiring a player which had already been drafted or picked up as a free agent, acquiring a player who was an obscure one week wonder, refusing to accept they were over their limit of players on a team or whining about the week's strategy for themselves. Combined they were to become the bane of an already over loaded individual…me.

Despite the fact there are ten pages of owner rosters and a transaction page longer than Al Capone's rap sheet, they would consistently attempt to pick up a player which was already claimed. Some weeks they would go for two or three. The players were not marginal starters; they included the entire Packer's receiving corps, running backs like Jerome Bettis or Lee Suggs. These were players established in the league with names having marquee value. A quick glance at the available information would have saved hours on the part of the commissioner, but they rarely went there. Their consistent lack of research led to hours of research on the part of the commissioner if for no other reason than to identify the owner who held the rights to the player so they could possibly talk a trade deal with them. Of course the trade deals never came to fruition making the efforts on the part of the commissioner to facilitate this communication go for naught.

Everyone likes to discover a hot player on the rise, but they took this to a new level of frustration. They were selecting players so obscure it required marathon sessions at NFL.com to discern exactly how to spell the names then figure out what specific NFL team had them. I learned a lot about some of the marginal players in the league, but it was information I never wanted to know. By loading up on these players they packed their rosters beyond the league limit of twenty requiring more emails telling them they were beyond their roster limit. Of course pointing this out led to discourse as they would count up their players, including defense, and claim they were well within the limits of the league. The frustration level became so high I had to decide whether to just let them play who ever they wanted, or just let it go; I let it go. To my surprise none of the other owners complained. This particular mess was left to the "real" commissioner to clean up upon his return.

After acquiring all of these players, Rod and Todd were faced with the same predicament all fantasy owners face week to week; who in the heck do I play? I have never felt it the place of the commissioner to advise owners on strategy or to share information regarding injuries or player movement from week to week. After all, the commissioner is another owner and information is power. By asking a commissioner to act as advisor violates the neutrality position a commissioner must have to have the appearance of fairness. As much as I hated to say, "Be like everyone else and make your own call," I found myself being honest from time to time and sharing information with them. Aside from the fact I felt like a nun in a whore house, I would have been even the wrong owner to ask for advice as I am scrambling this year and will probably not make the play-offs while they are hovering near the top of the league.

The worst morning I had with Rod and Todd was coming into my office then facing eight emails from the two of them. The messages ran the full gambit of the norm for these two including counter orders for their orders making me want to reach for something stronger than aspirin to start the day. Fortunately it was the last week of my tenure and I took solace in the fact I would not have to do this again. I muddled through their mess, posted what I could on the site, emailed them back with the bad news most of the players they wanted were already claimed then prayed for my brothers quick and healthy return; it happened.

With many apologies, and as much humor as I could muster, I turned the whole mess over to the real commissioner who was suffering mightily from both jet lag and bronchitis. Within three days after his arrival he was being badgered by Rod and Todd and I could take a deep breath. It took him about a week, but everything was straightened out with an air of diplomacy and firmness I lack. Once again the league was in capable hands allowing it to run smoothly while alleviating me of the responsibility of dealing with this gruesome twosome.

I write this piece not to whine, or even demean these two truly wonderful and funny individuals, but to make clear the commissioner has, in the words of President George Bush; "A hard job." Given the competitiveness of fantasy football and the logistical requirements of running a quality league, it is upon the owners to be as self sufficient as possible to alleviate some of the pressure faced by the person at the top. It is wonderful to just be an owner again with some real time to actually begin to think about writing articles as well as music. The best part was being able to sleep without grinding my teeth or having to face the barrage of email every morning. If asked again, I would serve as commissioner but not before I went online to order a few weeks supply of Valium to get me through the experience.

Accepting power or responsibility, then employing it wisely, requires a special person. If you have a great commissioner be thankful; they are rare deserving your respect and cooperation. As an owner it is best to practice the 3 R's; Respect, Research and Responsibility. They make the job of commissioner easier and the league a better place to play.