Changing the match-ups mid contest was monumentally disrespectful to everyone who set their line-ups for last 6 months. It is a grinding effort to reach the play-offs where competition is (and should be!) more than just an exercise in the auto-accumulation of points.
As with players in the game, superstition is involved. Willpower and intent matter. When a match was close between my team and Tony's I could feel his strength of mind, and for this I called him a Jedi. These contests are personal! Often when two teams clash they will outpace everyone else in the league while one bests the other by a fraction of a point. This is how the match between Toronto and Chicago was shaping when it was abruptly interrupted.
I was looking forward to my playoff match-up with Chicago for months and feel intensely that I have been cheated by what amounted to fixing one mistake with another. Commitment to expanded play-offs needed to happen before they started. Once a contest has begun it should be sacred, and at this point the integrity of the contest is all that matters.
Polling GM's on the fly amounted to little more than lip-service. A veneer to justify a decision that had already been made. The reality is that it was a profoundly arbitrary and heavy-handed action. At this point I am questioning my continued involvement with the league and demand an acknowledgement that this kind of mismanagement is not acceptable. Why should I maintain my activity and commitment if this kind of meddling is permitted?
Slack I completely agree and would have loved to hear this sooner but had to make a rash decision to try and make sure the playoffs were followed through the way the rules have stated since expansion. I wish someone would have caught this, myself included, before playoffs started or when I posted those potential matchups back when I did but unfortunately that did not happen either.
I honestly didn't know what to do and as the commissioner I have to differ to the rules even if something seems like the better call in mine or another's eyes..
I'm very sorry this happened to all involved but as the rules stated this should be the way it is now and someone winning in another manner would feel tainted due to commissioner error.
