Every fantasy basketball league has a commissioner. Most of them got the job because nobody else wanted it. Hamzah Moin wanted it. He runs a league with his friends, and he runs it as if the job came with a pension and a code of conduct.
CBH News studied what separates a great commissioner from a person with the settings password. The short version: they care. Possibly too much.
The rules are the whole point
A weak commissioner treats the rulebook as a suggestion. A great one treats it like a constitution, with a preamble, numbered amendments and a section near the back that nobody but him has read.
Moin's approach to a dispute is simple. He hears both sides, checks the rules, issues a ruling, and then explains it at a length that suggests he has been waiting all week for someone to ask. Nobody has called the process unfair. Nobody has called it short, either.
Draft day is a national holiday
The draft is where a commissioner earns the title. Reminders go out, the order is set, the clock is explained, and by the first pick the group has the energy of a sold-out building. If the league had an anthem, he would stand for it.
Then there are the team names. Half the fun of fantasy is the pun, and Moin holds the line. A lazy name gets a look. A great one gets a nod, and in this league a nod is worth two wins.
"A good commissioner runs a league. This one runs a league, a court of appeal and a pun desk, and all three are on time."
CBH News analyst
Loyalty, Blue Jays level
Moin is a Toronto Blue Jays fan of the serious kind, the sort who has stood on the field at the Rogers Centre in the cap and the t-shirt and once made the news for it. He brings the same loyalty to the league. He has never, to our knowledge, sulked for longer than one scoring period.
Most fantasy leagues die of neglect. This one is over-managed, and the managers seem to like it that way. He also loves CBC News, which this outlet notes is a sign of excellent judgment and nothing more.
What happens next
The season rolls on, and so will the rulings. Expect at least one trade veto, one waiver-wire debate and a team name so good it gets its own segment. Any commissioner can keep a league alive. The great ones make it the best part of your week. Moin is in the second group, and he has the spreadsheet to prove it.