What do I do now (non-paying player)??

[krunchyfrogg]

Here's a little backstory:

I used to run a fantasy baseball league with the guys at my old job. The league ended up causing me a lot of stress, so maybe 3 or 4 years ago, I said I'd play, but not run the league.

The league was run by another guy the past few years and went okay. Not great, because the guy is a complete tool, but it was okay (it really isn't too difficult to run a freaking fantasy baseball league on yahoo).

Anyway, this year, the tool that's been running it completely screwed up, and I decided to swoop in and "save the day" by starting an ESPN.com league. We had always used yahoo, but since this idiot screwed up so bad at the last minute, it was either "play an yahoo, but lose the first week" or "play on ESPN and get the whole season".

I said I'd start the league website, but I was going to take a very hands off approach to the league. I now work about 90 minutes from where I used to, so I wasn't there to collect money or anything. I also had a lot of other personal stuff going on this year... my sister got married, I had my first child, and we had a death in the family. Anyway, I left the day to day stuff (there really isn't anything, is there?) and collecting the cash in the hands of this guy who was originally supposed to run the league. I pretty much only communicated with the guys via text messaging about trades and stuff.

Well, now I find out about 2 weeks ago that one of the guys never paid up. Turns out this guy lost his job about 2 weeks before the draft (again, I don't work there anymore), but he still wanted to play. Now I find out that this dude moved to Canada.

I know I'm never getting the cash from this guy. I've tried texting and calling him numerous times since I found out he hadn't paid, and he never returned a call or text. What's the right thing to do here? It was a $100 buy into the league.

Do I subtract $50 from the winnings of the first and second place teams? -- that doesn't seem fair, they won fair and square and deserve their prize money.

Do I take the cash out of my pocket and pay the two prize winners what they've earned? -- that hardly seems fair as well. I agreed to run this only because we wouldn't have played at all without my participation. I agreed to run this league under the pretense that it was to be very hands off on my part.

Or finally, do I ask the treasurer, the tool who was responsible for collecting the cash to pony up out of his own pocket so the two prize winners get their money?

Let me know what you'd do.