Contents 1.0 Objectives 2.0 Pregame Preliminaries 3.0 During Play 4.0 Post-Season/Playoffs 5.0 Post-Season Awards 6.0 Rosters 7.0 Undetermined Rulings 1.0 Objectives 1.01 General managers of each team shall submit lineups of players in an attempt to win a series of thirteen games, qualify for post-season play, and--in post-season play--win three consecutive games to be awarded the championship. 1.02 Winners of individual games shall be determined by whichever team has the highest score at the end of regulation play (Monday night) according to league scoring policy. See 3.03 for further detail. 1.03 The Most Important Rule of All 1.03 Enjoyment of the season is the primary goal. Going 0-13 while remaining in the good graces of your fellow owners and being openly welcomed back at the following year's draft shall be seen as a more successful season than finishing 16-0 with the title while fellow owners debate kicking you out because you are a jackass. 2.0 Pregame Preliminaries 2.01 Prior to each game, the general manager of each team shall submit a lineup of eligible players to the commissioners office. Only eligible players will be allowed to earn points for their team. 2.02 Lineups shall consist of the following: 1 Quarterback 2 Running Backs 3 Wide Receivers 1 Tight End 1 Place Kicker 1 Defensive Unit No other combinations are acceptable. 2.03 Individual players' positions shall be determined by their official designation found at CNNSI.com. If an owner feels one of his players should be eligible to play at another position, he may appeal to the commissioner's office by making a case via email. 2.04 Any players purposely played out of position will earn no points. 2.05 Lineups must be submitted in full before the first game begins on Sunday morning except when players are involved in Thursday or Saturday games. General managers may submit only the individual names of players taking part in a Thursday or Saturday game before said game and submit the remainder of the roster prior to Sunday's games. 2.06 Substitutions may be made up until the game for either player involved in the substitution (the player being substituted and the player whose lineup role he shall fill) begins. After either game begins, no substitutions may be executed. 2.07-2.09 The Tarpon Rules 2.07 Should a general manager fail to submit a lineup on any given week, the lineup submitted for the previous week shall be used again. The commissioner's office will not make substitutions based upon injury, bye weeks, or any other mitigating factor. a) If a general manager purposely fails to submit a lineup to take advantage of repeating the previous week's lineup--as in the case of forgetting to name a starter who played on Thursday or Saturday--the commissioner may substitute players at his discretion. 2.08 Should a general manager fail to submit a lineup for two consecutive weeks, the commissioner's office will appoint a committee of three owners unaffected by the outcome of the game in question and assign them the task of determining a lineup for the absentee general manager's team. 2.09 Should a general manager fail to submit a lineup for four consecutive weeks, the team shall be revoked and reassigned to a new owner/general manager. 2.10 The Paul Justin Decision 2.10 Should a general manager submit a lineup which appears to be intentionally poor, he has the right to question the owner as to the reasoning behind the substandard lineup. Should he determine the lineup is purposely underpowered, he may submit the roster to an appointed committee of three owners unaffected by the game in question with the assignment of determining a lineup that lives up to Buccaneer Football League standards. 3.0 During Play 3.01 Points shall be earned by players based upon their performances in games played primarily on Sunday mornings and afternoons. Regular games shall also be held on Sunday and Monday nights. Occasionally, games may be played at other times, including--but not limited to--Thursdays and Saturdays. 3.02 The score for each Buccaneer Football League contest will not be final until all games for the week have been completed. 3.03 Points shall be awarded to individual players based on the following scales:Offensive Scoring Touchdown 6 20 Passing Yards 1 15 Receiving Yards 1 10 Rushing Yards 1 Other Positions Pass Reception 1 Pass Completion 1 Pass Incompletion -1 Points After Touchdown (Pass, Run, Catch) 2 Point After Touchdown (Kick) 1 Field Goal < 40 Yards 3 Field Goal 40-49 Yards 4 Field Goal 50-59 Yards 5 Field Goal > 60 Yards 6 Interception Thrown -3 Fumble Lost -3 Touchdown Play 25-49 Yards +1 Touchdown Play > 49 Yards +2 Defensive Scoring Touchdown 6 Safety 6 Fumble Recovery 3 Interception 3 Quarterback Sack 2 Opponent's Yardage > 201 10 Opponent's Yardage 201-250 7 Opponent's Yardage 251-275 5 Opponent's Yardage 276-300 3 Opponent Shutout 10 Opponent's Offensive Score 2-7 7 Opponent's Offensive Score 8-14 5 Opponent's Offensive Score 15-21 3 Defensive unit scoring shall also include special teams accomplishments. a) Pass incompletions will only be subtracted from completions and no other values. b) No more than ten (10) points can be earned for completions minus incompletions. 3.04 Offensive scoring will count toward a team's score while defensive scoring will be deducted from the opponent's score. 3.05 The winning team will be the team whose players have tallied the most points at the end of regulation play. Ties will stand during the regular season. 3.06 Owners are expected to double-check scores. If an owner finds an error, he is required to report it within 72 hours of the posting of final scores. Errors reported after 72 hours will be at the discretion of the commissioner to make changes. 4.0 Post-Season/Playoffs 4.01 Each team shall play every team in its division twice and every team in the other division once. The current season's schedule is available at the Buccaneer Football League web page. Individual team schedules are available on their own pages. 4.02 At the end of thirteen weeks of play, the top three teams in each division according to record will advance to the playoffs. 4.03 The team with the best record in each division will be the regular season division title winner and be awarded a bye for the first week of the playoffs. The second and third place teams will play each other in a Wild Card game within their own divisions. The winners shall advance to face the regular season division title winners in the Division Championship game. In the case of tied records, the following criteria shall be used to determine ranking order: a) Head to head record. b) Total scoring for the season. c) Divisional record. d) Head to head score. e) Points scored in divisional games. f) Difference between own points and opponents' in divisional games. g) Difference between own points and opponents' in non-divisional games. 4.04 The winners of the Division Championship games will face each other in the Bucco Bruce Bowl. 4.05 The winner of the Bucco Bruce Bowl will be declared the Buccaneer Football League Champion. 4.06 The following criteria shall be used to settle in the case of a tie game. a) The team amassing the most total yardage (not including defense) will win. b) Should the result still be tied, the team whose kicker hit the longest field goal will be declared the winner. If both kickers' longest field goal is the same, the second longest and so on shall be compared. c) Should both kickers hit an equal number of equally distanced field goals, the defense with the most kick and punt return yardage will be the determining factor. d) If both return teams are equal, the three highest scoring bench players from each team will have their scores added to the final score. e) Should the score remain tied, the owners of the deadlocked teams will predict the winners--against the spread--of all NBA and NHL games played on the Tuesday following the tied result. f) If both end up with an equal number of correct guesses, the owners will continue to pick NBA and NHL results every day until the deadlock is resolved. 5.0 Post-Season Awards 5.01 Hugh Culverhouse Memorial Cup shall be awarded to the owner of the team that wins the Bucco Bruce Bowl. a) The cup shall remain in the possession of the winning owner until the following year's Bucco Bruce Bowl is decided. b) Should the winning owner require the Cup to be shipped to him, he will be expected to pay any applicable fees. c) The winning owner will also receive a plaque which remains the property of that owner beyond the championship reign. 5.02 Lee Roy Selmon Award shall be awarded to the individual determined to have most positively affected his team's outcome during the regular season. Both total scoring and average "per game" scoring shall be taken into account. 5.03 Doug Williams Award shall be awarded to the individual determined to have most positively affected his team's outcome in the Bucco Bruce Bowl. 5.04 All-BFL Team shall be awarded to the top individuals at each position during the regular season. The team shall consist of one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end, one place kicker, and one defensive unit. Both total scoring and average "per game" scoring shall be taken into account. 5.05 Ricky Bell Memorial Trophy shall be awarded to the individual determined to have most unexpectedly affected his team's outcome during the regular season. Both total scoring and average "per game" scoring shall be taken into account along with draft position. 5.06 Alvin Harper Cup shall be awarded to the individual determined to have been the biggest bust during the regular season. Both total scoring and average "per game" scoring shall be taken into account. 5.07 Tony Bouie Plaque shall be awarded to the individual determined to have posted the best statistical value in his first year of play in the Buccaneer Football League. 5.08 John McKay Memorial Trophy shall be awarded to the top coach in the league. 5.09 Executive of the Year title shall be bestowed upon the general manager determined to have best affected his team's success during the regular season. 5.10 Lee Roy Selmon Bowl shall be held following the Bucco Bruce Bowl, pitting the top players in the McKay Division against the top players in the Williams Division. Total scoring, average "per game" scoring, and general manager voting shall be taken into account for determining rosters. 6.0 Rosters 6.01 Each teams roster shall be made up of no more than twenty active players. a) Teams may retain the rights to players who are injured or otherwise unable to play by placing them on the Inactive List. Players on the Inactive List will not count toward the twenty players on the active roster. 6.01 a (i) - The Jack Decision i) Teams may sign one and only one undrafted player who is injured or otherwise out to the inactive list in the hopes he'll be healthy before the season's end. Any player signed to the inactive list cannot be cut before being activated and must spend at least one week on the active roster once activated. b) When any player on the Inactive List is declared eligible to play, he must be activated within 72 hours or will be placed on waivers by the commissioner's office. c) Transactions which would cause a team's roster to exceed 20 players will be considered void. 6.02 Players must be waived in order to be given their unconditional release. The waiver period is 24 hours. When a player is placed on waivers, the team with the worst record in the league will have the first opportunity to sign said player. Should they refuse, the team with the second worst record will be able to sign him and so forth. 6.03 General managers may trade players to other teams in exchange for other players, draft picks, or a combination of the two. All trades are subject to the approval of the commissioner's office. a) Players may be exchanged for other players, draft picks, or a combination of the two. 6.03 b - The George Clarification b) A traded player's contract status does not change upon trade to another team. 6.03 c - The Wombat Amendment c) Should the commissioner feel a team is making trades which are not in the best interest of the league, he may void them. d) General managers/owners may protest a trade by submitting an email to the commissioner's office. A ruling must be made before the next game. e) No trades may take place after 12:01 AM of the Sunday of the tenth week of play in the BFL season. Trading may resume immediately following the culmination of the Bucco Bruce Bowl. 6.04 No changes may be made to rosters during play. Rosters shall be frozen from kickoff to midnight Wednesday following the games. During that time, general managers shall submit claims to the BFL Front office on unclaimed players via phone or email. On Wednesday, claims shall be awarding in order of record, beginning with the worst team and finishing with the first. a) Each team will get to sign one unclaimed player at a time. b) Should an owner release or place a player on injured reserve to sign a player who has already been claimed, the previous transaction shall not take place to prevent an owner from losing the former player. 6.05 Each season, a draft shall be held to fill the rosters of each team. A draft order shall be drawn up by the commissioner's office based upon the final records of the previous year. The team with the worst record shall draft first, the second worst second, and so forth through the first four places. After that the order shall be determined based upon placing in the playoffs. On the next round, the order shall be reversed. These two orders shall be alternated and repeated until all ten teams have twenty players on their rosters. 6.06 Before the annual draft, each team shall retain three players from the previous season's roster. These players shall remain with their current team and not be made eligible to be drafted. a) A player retained for a second consecutive year shall have a value of 1.5 players when counting toward the three players who may be retained. b) A player retained for a third consecutive year shall have a value of three players when counting toward the three players who may be retained. c) A player may not be retained for a fourth consecutive year and must be made eligible to be drafted. 6.07 Any player who has been made available to the league through the draft and is not currently on a roster, whether active or inactive, is eligible to be signed as a free agent. Players currently on other teams' rosters or not previously available through the draft (college rookies) cannot be signed. 6.08 Teams must announce retainees a week before the draft, though changes will be allowed in the case of injury up until the beginning of the draft. 6.09 The commissioner's office must be notified of all off-season roster moves. 7.0 Undetermined Rulings 7.01 The commissioner's office has the right to decide on any topic not specifically covered in these rules. 7.02-7.02a The Robby Rules 7.02 Should an owner or any othe team official discover any "loopholes" to the rules, or any manner in which these rules may be skirted so as to go against the spirit of the rules, that owner is required to contact the commissioner and help to rewrite said loophole to prevent anyone from taking unfair advantage. a) Any owner or other team official found to be exploiting any loopholes or violating these rules shall be subject to possible suspension or expulsion from the Buccaneer League.