FCL Rules

The FCL's rules are similar to other fantasy sports. Each season, owners, or Wardens, draft a squad consisting of conferences, teams, and individual players from the world of sport. Wardens earn points based on the performance of their teams. However, instead of getting points by scoring touchdowns or batting in runs, our teams score points when their 'players' commit criminal acts. It is important to remember that once officially charged by the proper authorities (police, NCAA, league commissioner, front office, etc), all criminals are guilty regardless of whether or not they are later proven innocent.

1. DRAFT:

Each team will draft the following lineup:

2 NFL Teams
2 NBA Teams
2 MLB Teams
2 NHL Teams
2 Legends
1 College Conference
1 Individual sports figure (i.e. a golfer, tennis player, bowler, etc.)

A Legend is a non-active sports figure at the time of the draft. These can include former players, coaches, owners, and assorted nut jobs.

The draft will be held in the weeks prior to the start of the season. A random number generator will determine draft order. The draft will proceed in a serpentine manner.

Wardens get the Summer off and the new season starts in early Fall.

All season related stats are reset at the end of each season. Your all time stats are never reset

You can become a Warden at anytime. If you sign up after during the season you will be kept abreast of all the crime busted by our trusted Wardens. If you show a true interest in joining the elite Maximum Security staff, arrangement can be made for a limited number of new Wardens

A player will be considered a part of a team or conference until such point that he or she is picked up by another team. If he or she is not picked up by another team, he will remain the property of the last team or conference he played for from that point forward. A 10 year statute of limitations will apply. The only thing that will change this setup is if the player is on another roster as a legend or individual at which point that will override the former

BUSTING:

When a crime is committed, Wardens are responsible for busting their own players. This is accomplished by following the menu on the Busted Page. Please include an evidence link from an actual news source (not the NY Post) and any comments you would like to add.

Crimes are cataloged on the Laws page, and, for convenience, they are listed on the first busted page as well. Each count up to 5 counts that each individual is charged for is worth points.For example, two Duke basketball players get suspended for one game for crying like little girls. The Warden with the ACC receives 4 points (2 players X 2 points for a suspension = 4 points.)

The statute of limitations for busting a criminal is 30 days. If a crime is not submitted within that time frame, the points cannot be claimed. The clock starts ticking on the statute of limitations when actual charges are filed, not when accusations are made. If new charges are tacked on at a later date, the clock starts for the new charges at that time, but the date does not change for the original charges.

At the beginning of the season, all crimes start from day one. Wardens cannot go back to any charges filed before opening day.

College busts must be with sports associated with the NCAA. In other words, club teams are not eligible.

Citizen's Arrest: Every league of 10 to 12 Wardens, by nature of the number of teams available to draft, have teams 'left over' when the draft is complete which currently can't be busted. To many crimes were slipping through the net so we have put together the Citizens Arrest system to get these criminals onto the Docket! If a Warden sees a crime out there and no team in their league have that criminal on their roster, then they can make a Citizen's Arrest.

For example, The_Criminal reads an article about the Angel's catcher getting in a bar fight. He further knows no one in his League, Maximum Security, drafted the Angels. He grabs the link, goes to the busted, and submits it as a Citizen's Arrest. Rather than regular scoring, the points will be awarded based on the category of the crime which is broken down as follows.

Nuisance - 1
Small-Time - 3
Big-Time - 7
Serious-Criminal - 15

Crimes Needing Arrests: Any crime committed in the Small-Time, Big-Time and Serious-Criminal categories need an actual arrest in order to make it to the Docket.

Victims Rule: If any warden is personally involved with a bust, that is to say one of the athletes commits a crime on or to a warden the points for that crime will be multiplied by five. On the flip side, if a warden is involved (abetting or committing the crime) in a crime eligible for the docket, they will be penalized 100 points and put on one month probation ( they can't bust criminals for one month )

Olympics: In the month leading up to the Olympics until the closing ceremonies ( or until time is found to remove the Olympic category ) any warden may bust olympic athletes using the Citizens Arrest described above.

Gary Payton Rule:

• If a criminal has his rights traded to another team (Celtics for example), do his busts go to that team before he makes a decision to play for them? Yes, whichever team holds the rights to a criminal will be the recipient of the points.
• If he decides not to be traded and is no longer on the original team (Lakers in this case) does the 1 year clock start for team A (Lakers) or Team B (Celtics)? The team which owns his rights receives his busts.
• Clarification: A criminal's crime goes to the team that owns his rights at the time of the crime. So if a player is traded and a week later it is reported that he was busted for cocaine the team he was traded from will get the points

THE DOCKET:

When criminals are busted, their crimes go on the Docket. Other Wardens have two business days to raise an objection to the crime before the perp is officially sentenced and points are awarded. If there is an objection, it is up to the Chief Justice to weigh the evidence and make a final decision. Lobbying is encouraged from both sides. Remember, the justice system may be blind, but it isn't always fair.

SENTENCING:

Once the crime clears the docket, the criminal is sentenced and points are awarded. For a complete list of point values please see the Laws page.

In order to recognize that fact that it is harder to draft individuals than teams or conferences, points will be double for both Legends and Individual sports figures.

While a certain amount of idiocy is inherent in most criminal acts, there will occasionally be instances where a perp will go beyond the actions of a typical dumb criminal. To reward these exceptional individuals there is a separate category for Idiocy Points. Warden's who think their player's actions fit into this category should bust them for additional idiocy points. These points will automatically go up for peer review by the entire league. If a majority of owners vote 'yes' to the points, they are then awarded. Five Wardens must vote to have a quorum.

WINNER:

There are two levels of competition at once in the FCL. Your criminals are competing with the ten Wardens in the Cell Block and against every other Warden's team. The Top 10 Wardens are
showcased on the front page of the site.

OTHER:

Penalties may be assessed by the Warden Committee to Wardens with twenty or more busts on the Docket. Current Penalties include:

- Paper Work Error ( You screw up filling out the on-line Busting Form )
- Wasting The Time Of The Head Warden.

Penalties are at the discretion of the Committee.