Easy E
08-17-2004, 01:57 PM
Having just been bullied into it by the 2003 defending champ, Wake up CALL (with his "psychological warfare training"), I'm thinking about resurrecting our NFL handicappers challenge for this year.
For those of you not in the know, last year the 2003 "Pimpin' Picks" contest was run in the following manner:
<font color=" blue">- I posted the official 2+2 point spread weekly for each game, based on what I could get from the Stardust online, along with a posting deadline
- Each player had to post 4 games with their picks, ranked from 4 pts to 1 pt, by the deadline
- Point spreads must be beaten, just like in real life, in order to get your points for that game. Ties were the same as losses- 0 points.
- Perfect week was 10 points (4,3,2,1)
- Regular season only- no preseason, no post-season. Big Al's "Shoe-Ins" always welcome at any time, of course!
- Auto-fading scalfie's picks was considered too easy and cost a -2 deduction ( wait, I just made that last rule up... /images/graemlins/wink.gif ) </font>
We did this just for a fun challenge and to learn from one another... well, bragging rights were involved as well /images/graemlins/grin.gif
At the end of last year, I posted the following potential 2004 adjustments to comment on:
1) TIES- Losing all of the points when the spread ends up in a tie seems a bit harsh (ask Big Al). However, I don't think it seems that fair to give half-points, either. A 4-point pick tie is worth as much as a 2-point pick win (and only the latter made anyone any money in the real world). Any suggestions?
<font color="green"> [ Suggestions were to subtract losses, add wins and 0 points for ties.] </font>
2) I'll have to remember to keep the win-loss records next year. That will be a more revealing indication of a handicapper's skills than the average per week.
<font color="green"> [dummy me decided the challenge wasn't ENOUGH work last year.... ] </font>
3) Should we use money bets next year, instead of points? Total bankroll would be a REALLY good indicator of betting mastery. One idea that was rejected for this year's Challenge was to have a $500 or so bankroll to spread out among the four games (that would solve the tie issue, since you'd "gain" by not losing money). Year-end winner would have the most money- ties broken by win-loss record.
And if we wanted to be really anal about it, we could include the vig...
<font color="green"> [While the bankroll portion might make sense- we would have to max the bets on each team so someone wouldn't bust out of the challenge in the first week and be done- I don't think the vig actually serves a real purpose for this contest. Winning one $400 bet or winning a $300 and a $100 is the same amount of vig, so who cares to track it?] </font>
<font color="red"> [At one point, I thought about a "UPF vs. 2+2" component but dropped it as too much added work... but I'm an idiot who can be talked into a lot of things, so ???] </font>
-----------------
So, I'm reopening the floor to suggestions for this year:
I) Do we have any interest?
II) Should we keep the "Pimpin' Picks" name?
I'm in favor of retiring it, since the poster who it was named after (fatherpimp) dropped out part-way through last year and has disappeared to my knowledge.
Add to my suggestions or vote for them:
"OGF Challenge" or "OGF Pick'em"
"Shoe-In Pick'em Challenge" ( may be copyright issues to work out here)
" [Defending champ's initials] Pick'em Contest" > "WuC Pick'em Contest" for this year (on second thought, forget that one!)
"2+2 NFL Challenge"
III) What should be the format?
Here are my 3 suggestions- add to them or vote on them:
One- <font color="blue"> Old School, Improved: </font> 4, 3, 2 and 1 pt picks again (or, if you prefer dollars- $400 through $100). Wins add points, losses subtract points from the total
Two- <font color="orange"> Old School, No Negativity: </font> Each week you get 10 points added to your bank. Picks are 4,3,2,1. Same scoring as above, but if you lose every one you don't have to stare at a negative score and average (perfect week would be 20 pts, a "scalfie week" would be 0)
Three- <font color="green"> Real World, New School: </font> Total bankroll is $20K. Each week you can bet up to a total week's wager of $1000 (across any number of games). Year-end contest ties at the end of the regular season can be decided by betting on the playoffs in some manner.
Okay, the polls are open! All initial comments, votes and catcalls must reply here and are due by Monday, August 23rd. We may go through a second round to pick a final method if voting is close.
"Too" Easy "to push around" E
For those of you not in the know, last year the 2003 "Pimpin' Picks" contest was run in the following manner:
<font color=" blue">- I posted the official 2+2 point spread weekly for each game, based on what I could get from the Stardust online, along with a posting deadline
- Each player had to post 4 games with their picks, ranked from 4 pts to 1 pt, by the deadline
- Point spreads must be beaten, just like in real life, in order to get your points for that game. Ties were the same as losses- 0 points.
- Perfect week was 10 points (4,3,2,1)
- Regular season only- no preseason, no post-season. Big Al's "Shoe-Ins" always welcome at any time, of course!
- Auto-fading scalfie's picks was considered too easy and cost a -2 deduction ( wait, I just made that last rule up... /images/graemlins/wink.gif ) </font>
We did this just for a fun challenge and to learn from one another... well, bragging rights were involved as well /images/graemlins/grin.gif
At the end of last year, I posted the following potential 2004 adjustments to comment on:
1) TIES- Losing all of the points when the spread ends up in a tie seems a bit harsh (ask Big Al). However, I don't think it seems that fair to give half-points, either. A 4-point pick tie is worth as much as a 2-point pick win (and only the latter made anyone any money in the real world). Any suggestions?
<font color="green"> [ Suggestions were to subtract losses, add wins and 0 points for ties.] </font>
2) I'll have to remember to keep the win-loss records next year. That will be a more revealing indication of a handicapper's skills than the average per week.
<font color="green"> [dummy me decided the challenge wasn't ENOUGH work last year.... ] </font>
3) Should we use money bets next year, instead of points? Total bankroll would be a REALLY good indicator of betting mastery. One idea that was rejected for this year's Challenge was to have a $500 or so bankroll to spread out among the four games (that would solve the tie issue, since you'd "gain" by not losing money). Year-end winner would have the most money- ties broken by win-loss record.
And if we wanted to be really anal about it, we could include the vig...
<font color="green"> [While the bankroll portion might make sense- we would have to max the bets on each team so someone wouldn't bust out of the challenge in the first week and be done- I don't think the vig actually serves a real purpose for this contest. Winning one $400 bet or winning a $300 and a $100 is the same amount of vig, so who cares to track it?] </font>
<font color="red"> [At one point, I thought about a "UPF vs. 2+2" component but dropped it as too much added work... but I'm an idiot who can be talked into a lot of things, so ???] </font>
-----------------
So, I'm reopening the floor to suggestions for this year:
I) Do we have any interest?
II) Should we keep the "Pimpin' Picks" name?
I'm in favor of retiring it, since the poster who it was named after (fatherpimp) dropped out part-way through last year and has disappeared to my knowledge.
Add to my suggestions or vote for them:
"OGF Challenge" or "OGF Pick'em"
"Shoe-In Pick'em Challenge" ( may be copyright issues to work out here)
" [Defending champ's initials] Pick'em Contest" > "WuC Pick'em Contest" for this year (on second thought, forget that one!)
"2+2 NFL Challenge"
III) What should be the format?
Here are my 3 suggestions- add to them or vote on them:
One- <font color="blue"> Old School, Improved: </font> 4, 3, 2 and 1 pt picks again (or, if you prefer dollars- $400 through $100). Wins add points, losses subtract points from the total
Two- <font color="orange"> Old School, No Negativity: </font> Each week you get 10 points added to your bank. Picks are 4,3,2,1. Same scoring as above, but if you lose every one you don't have to stare at a negative score and average (perfect week would be 20 pts, a "scalfie week" would be 0)
Three- <font color="green"> Real World, New School: </font> Total bankroll is $20K. Each week you can bet up to a total week's wager of $1000 (across any number of games). Year-end contest ties at the end of the regular season can be decided by betting on the playoffs in some manner.
Okay, the polls are open! All initial comments, votes and catcalls must reply here and are due by Monday, August 23rd. We may go through a second round to pick a final method if voting is close.
"Too" Easy "to push around" E