Tufft's quote: "It takes a very good commissioner for HBD to work like it's supposed to. IMO, that's a flaw."
That's more along the lines of what I'm getting at, tufft. Not placing BLAME on the commisioners, but placing RESPONSIBILTY on them. When you take on the task of commisioner, you inherit the good (if there is any) and bad aspects of the role, and need to consider how you will respond down the road when it gets to be a tougher responsibility. It's a job (sans pay), and you shouldn't take the job if you don't think you can perform well. Some perform well initially, but real life gets in the way. Guys just need to recognize when it's the right time to turn over the reigns to someone else for the good of the world.
Also, reading my previous post from yesterday after I wrote it, it does seem like alot of procedure to have a probation period, etc. Perhaps a simple owner vote one week after rollover (if still too many openings) to proceed forward as a 24-team (or whatever size) world is all that is needed. In that cirscumstance, a different schedule, playoffs, etc would take over, but that would be part of the vote consideration. I'm guessing most owners just want to get things going versus waiting two months, so those worlds would proceed as smaller leagues and there would be less overall openings to fill.