Maybe overhauling the moderation approach to negative rep wouldn't be a bad idea? If people are attacking each other via rep, just stay hands off as a mod team. Kind of a "you make the bed, you sleep in it" approach. You don't need to protect everyone's feelings. Lots of websites have it, but those websites don't engage in as extensive moderation as this one either (not a criticism, its just that Cyclone Fanatic's level of moderation is much, much higher than the typical sports message board).
Negative rep is a pretty good tool for keeping people in line. Instead of having Cyclone Fanatic be a police state where the mods rule everything, it gives the users a little more power to create the environment they want to create, and generally keeps people from being complete d-bags. I would think this would cut down on work for the mods too. Just let people know right away that they don't come running to the mods like a crying child just because someone thinks they're a tool, and you don't have to spend a ton of time with it. If people can't handle it, they probably shouldn't be on message boards to begin with.
Just my $.02.
