There's always next year ...

The title is not a reference to your title chances in fantasy football. It's about your league's rules and settings.

Assuming you've got a commissioner who's willing to listen about improvements, this is the perfect time to think about things you'd like to change.

In my league, we've got a healthy thread on our message board full of suggestions. It was started by me after Eddie Royal scored two return touchdowns -- and I, as a Royal owner, did not get credit for them because special teams touchdowns were rolled in with defenses. Granted, I should have known that, but I felt annoyed enough to fire off a rant on the league board that also included something on defensive TDs not being worth enough.

Soon, people chimed in with some good ideas: adjusting the points awarded for yards, adding points for first downs, adding IDPs (individual defensive players) and adding a nominal amount for return yards.

This is also the time when commishes should be on owners who haven't paid the league dues as we're at the midway point. Trying to collect after the season is over is very difficult -- my football league nearly dissolved after a fill-in commish botched the money situation and the winner didn't get all his money.

In my league, the worst teams have a 3-5 record and the best has a 6-2 mark, so no team is out of the playoff race (the top 8 teams qualify). This parity has kept all the owners involved, so they shouldn't jeopardize a playoff spot by not paying up.