League Rules, Regulations and By-Laws

Go Zone Rules and Regulations

I. Name and Purpose. The football league prediction organization shall be known as the Go Zone. It's purpose is to provide a blog for members of the O'Leary Gonyea families as well as relative and friends who are invited and accepted by the league.

1. All members must be United States Citizens. 
2. Members in good standing, called Full Members, are eligible for all benefits from the league, unless expressly stated by the Commissioner's Office.
3. Members not in good standing are called Guest Members. Guest members may pick each week, but cannot received any special benefits until their membership is upgraded to Full Member.
4. Guest Members are so designated by the Commissioner and are not eligible for perfect week bonus points.
5. A Full Member may be designated a Guest Member for non-payment of dues, for lack of fidelity to the league and the league office, and for any other transgression the Commissioner deems sufficient for member demotion.
6. Guest members cannot win the season or the playoffs until they fill out the admission forms and pay their dues.

II. The Organization. The league shall be administered by the commissioner, who serves at the will of the members, representing them in all decisions and rulings. All decisions and rulings can be appealed to the Senior Advisory Council (SAC).

1. The Commissioner's duties are to publish weekly game schedules, member picks, league observations and weekly results.
2. The Commissioner may keep a running score for each member and publish the scores weekly.
3. In the event of conflicting member picks, the most direct communication with the Commissioner will prevail.
4. The Commissioner will preside at all SAC meetings and be responsible for publishing the results of each meeting.
5. The Commissioner will appoint members to the SAC on an ad hoc basis.
6. Only the Commissioner can call a SAC meeting, although members may request one.
7. The commissioner will use money from the league dues to purchase trophies and present the Chappie and Millie awards after the season is completed.
8. Only the Commissioner can nominate members for real and honorary titles and only the SAC can vote to accept them. The Commissioner has veto power in all SAC votes.

III. Commissioner Qualifications. The position of Commissioner is open to all members, with the following stipulations:

1. He must be a natural born citizen of the United States.
2. He must available to the media at all times.
3. He must receive a majority of votes from the Senior Advisory Council (SAC).
4. He must be of strong and clear moral values.
5. He must convene SAC meetings on a regular basis.
6. He must insure the use of the Go Zone blog for league communication.
7. He must post pick charts for each weekend's games.

IV. Members and Picks Protocol. Members must join the GoZone blog after being invited by the commissioner. Once  invited and accepted, the member must become a follower of the Go Zone blog.

1. Members must make timely picks for each week's games. Picks will not be accepted during a weekday game or after the start of the Saturday/Sunday game package.
2. Members who do not pick a weekday game will get receive an incorrect pick.
3. Members who do not communicate their picks to the commissioner or someone designated by the commissioner one hour before the start of games on Sunday will receive one point lower than the lowest member total for that week This will be done thrice. After that, the member will be ineligible for the season.
4. Members may publish picks by text, blog post, email, phone, survey or any other method approved by the Commissioner. Members who use another members email to communicate on the Go Zone blog should clearly identify who they are.
5. Members may provide individual picks, or indicate that he/she wants all the favorites, all the home teams, all the away teams, all the underdogs or all the picks of another league member, except in the case of the superbowl.
6. Members must pick using official team nicknames and in the same order as the main office publishes before the Thursday game(s). Lists must be vertical in format.
7. Members shall keep their identifying images current.
8. Members dues are $10.00 per year. The Commissioner will use this fund to secure trophies. All monies in this fund can be used at the Commissioner's discretion.
9. A winning pick receives 1 point. A winning Monday Night pick receives an additional point. In the event of a tie game, no points are awarded. A Full Member  picking successfully every game for the week during the regular season receives 3 additional points for that week.
10. The Ghost Rule: all picks must be in 60 minutes before the first game of the package.
11. The online Pick Chart will be available for members to make their picks until 12:00 on Sunday.
12. The Omaha Rule: no picks can be changed after the picks are published on the Go Zone. Member may call or text to check that their picks are accurate. In the case of league error, picks will be adjusted based upon the picks chart submitted to the survey website. 
13. The underdogs for each playoff game will be underlined at the time the picks chart is published. No change in underdog status subsequent to picks chart publication will be recognized by the league.

V. Penalty Points. Penalty points are points taken away from members totals.

1. The Commissioner shall have the power to penalize members for a variety of reasons at his discretion, including but not limited to improper order of picks, member fraud, unconscionable incivility, failure to respond to member inquiries, lack of respect to the Commissioner. Conduct detrimental to the league may result in loss of points and/or picks.
2. The Commissioner can suspend one to three points for any member who picked against the Pats prior to the playoffs..
3. Penalty point assessments and suspensions are appealable to the SAC.

VI. Awards. Members with the most points during the regular season and the most points are the end of the playoffs will receive awards.

A. The regular season winner will receive the Millie award.
B. The overall season winner will receive the Chappie award.
C. The awards will be purchased by the commissioner from the dues fund.

VII. Pick Etiquette. Members are free to pick whatever team they feel will win. However, a tacit rule is that members do not pick against the Patriots.

1. Members are not to make fun of other members' picks, especially upon hindsight.
2. Members who see errors in picks for themselves or others are to communicate that to the commissioner on a timely and respectful basis.

VIII. Picks of the Week. The Commissioner shall observe and publish exemplary picks from members' picks, to be known as Picks of the Week, or POW.

1. A pick is a pick of the week if he/she alone made the successful pick, or if other members limited to 2 picked it as well.
2. No pick with more than 3 members picking it is eligible for POW.
3. A successful pick against the Patriots is not eligible for POW.

IX. Amendments and Changes. The League Rules, Regulations and By-Laws shall be amended by the Commissioner and/or the SAC at their discretion.


X.  Code of Ethics. Members agree to a civil discourse using the blog.

1. No member shall refer to the Commissioner as a "tyrant," or the morally equivalent.
2. No member shall refer to other members as "filthy animals" or the morally equivalent.
3. No member shall accuse another member of accepting funds for endorsing the Commissioner and his fine work for the league.
4. .No member shall refer to the Commissioner as "Satan" or the moral equivalent.
5. No member shall bring litigation against the league or the Commissioner without the Commissioner's expressed written consent.
6. No member who is a professional gambler shall be admitted to the league.
7. No member may have legal representation during league investigations.
8. No member shall use kaka words in postings. Doing such will result in am investigation of moral turpitude.

XI. Positions of Honor. The SAC shall, at their discretion, name league members to positions of honor with a simple majority vote.