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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

DiploBall 3, Week 17: Here We Go Again!

***** Week 18 Starts TONIGHT!!!  *****

***** GET YOUR PICKS IN PRONTO! *****

Wow, these last couple weeks have felt like a marathon.  No time to relax… just pick!  And this week is going to be HUGE!  Week 18 has 37 games, making it the biggest week of the season!  With this many points up for grabs anything can happen.

That said; it looks like my luck may be starting to run out. 

I normally don’t take a lot of chances on my picks and play a pretty conservative game, but by midseason I came to the conclusion that my only chance to overtake Jim and VJ was to play against my strengths… meaning ‘fish for upsets’.  I’ve done this unsuccessfully in previous years, but this season things were really looking good.  By week 16 I had managed to cut VJ’s lead from 138 to 32 points.  However… week 17 didn’t really work out the way I hoped… now VJ is enjoying a 60 point lead.

This is totally my fault of course, more so than just making bad picks.  Normally, I make my picks on Tuesdays and just let them be.  However, this week, I think I freaked out a little and I fussed with my weights too much.  The picks I played ended up looking very different than the initial picks I submitted on Tuesday… and it hurt me in the long run.

Anyway, all and all, I’ve been really happy with how I’ve been playing these season.  I’ve totally learned from my week 17 mishap… and I’m ready for the week 18 showdown.  Goonies never die!

1st Place: EricC (11)

Speaking of Goonies never dying.  Eric will not go quietly into the night!  I think being eliminated from the DiploBall Legacy League focused Eric and prepared him for battle.  Since his elimination three weeks ago, Eric has finished in the top two position of the DiploBall Pick ‘Em League.  Awesome job man!

2nd Place:  President Malaise (7)

More DiploBall Legacy League news:  A big congratulations goes out to Jason for winning our inaugurate year!  If you actually read these weekly recaps you’ll know Jason eliminated Eric to claim the fourth (and final) spot in the playoffs.  And being the fourth seed certainly didn’t intimidate him… because he drove his team all the way to victory!  Perhaps we’ll see another underdog rise-up and claim the Pick ‘Em victory!   


3rd Place:  Ryan (8)

A great showing for Ryan… although he did pick the Saints… sure, I know the Saints won and his 15 point pick was correct.  But… yeah… securing a third play finish by picking against the Falcons is never going to ingratiate yourself to me.  However, since the Falcons clinched a spot in the playoffs, even though they lost, I forgive you.  

NCAA MVP of the Week: ARose (12)

Hats off to ARose for being the only person to pick all 5 bowl games correct!

NFL MVP of the Week: Pac12Bear

Pac12Bear had the second best NFL week, just behind EricC.  Unfortunately, Pac tanked the bowl games, leaving him with a very unbalanced week.

‘Most Correct Picks’ Honorable Mention: VNIBarger (15) and Tashkent1 (20)

Oddly enough, neither of our top picks winners made the point’s leader board this week!  Keep this in mind as we move into week 18.  Weighting your picks is VERY important!

‘Random Pick Of the Week’ Honorable Mention:  Jeff (21)

Jeff has had a very rough season, and frankly, week 17 wasn’t any different.  However, Jeff was the only person to pick Minnesota over Washington.  And that is worth recognizing.

Last Place:  Robbins (17)

Well… this is yet another example of how important weights can be.  Robbins picked 13 games correctly and came in 20th place.  However, Hess also picked 13 games correct and came in 11th place.  And interestingly enough, President Malaise can in 2nd place with 14 correct picks.  The margins we’re working with here are very small.

Have a great week everyone!  Happy picking!
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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

DiploBall 3, Week 16: No Rest for the Weary

***** Week 17 Starts TONIGHT!!!  *****

***** GET YOUR PICKS IN PRONTO! *****

Perhaps my melancholy, last week, was a bit premature.  Sure, there are considerably fewer points at stake for a couple weeks… however; I completely overlooked the potential impact of this year’s (new) Jeopardy style scoring.  Only six players ended Week 16 with positive numbers, twelve players ended the week with negative numbers, and two players (BigCat and President Malaise) ended with ‘0’ even though they made picks for every game!  Believe it or not, week 16 affected the season standings for eight different players… in both positive and negative ways.

Crazy week!  I’m feeling energized again.

New Rule:  I received quite a bit of positive feedback about the proposed new rule I sent out yesterday, so I think we’re going to move forward and make it official.  And for those of you who missed yesterdays email here is the quick and dirty of how it will work: 

1.       If you have a perfect week, regardless of the number of games available, you will get to reverse an incorrect pick from a previous week.

2.       To keep this simple, if you are eligible for a reversal, I will automatically do it for you based on the following criteria:

a.       Your highest available missed point value.
b.      Games from your worst four/droppable weeks will not be eligible.  (There is no sense reversing those scores that won’t end up counting in the long run).
c.       I will announce which games have been reversed in the following recap.

1st Place: Ted Craig (4)

This was a big week for Ted.  Although he only earned 64 points this week, he took the win and successfully edged out BigCat, reclaiming 4th Place in the season standings.

2nd Place and Most Correct Picks: EricC (11)

In a week where most players should have just stayed in bed, Eric took a solid second place and earned the Most Correct Picks top honor, with 12 out of 19 correct picks!

3rd Place:  Jp (2)

Once again, any week where I can whittle away at my dad’s lead is a good week, even if it’s only by 6 points.  In the last five weeks I’ve managed to gain 106 points on him and I only have 32 points left to go!  It’s going to be fierce!

NCAA MVP of the Week: Rada (16)

No one got all three bowl games correct… and only three people got two of them correct.  But Rada gets the edge for the MVP by earning 12 points off of her two correct picks.  And this might not sounds like much… but one person actually scored a -54 points on those three games.  Brutal!

NFL MVP of the Week: Tashkent1 (20)

So… I didn’t want to name any names… but Tashkent1 is the guy who took the header in the Bowl games… HOWEVER!  He also took third place in the NFL games!  Almost earning enough points to dig him out of that hole!  9th place isn’t bad when you end the week with -4 points!

‘Random Pick Of the Week’ Honorable Mention:  Ryan, VJ Schutz, & Jim Schutz

In a week this bad… it’s a miracle that anyone was able to keep their head above water.  And with only six people finishing the week on the positive side, it’s safe to say that all of their correct picks were random… and thus, it is only right to recognize the other three folks who managed to earn a point this week.

Last Place:  Jeff (20)

Wow… poor Jeff.  I’ve got nothing.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

DiploBall 3, Week 15: *Yawn*… Huh?

Urg.  The one problem we have always had with Diploball is how to handle the lull following the end of college regular season, when the number of games drop from 32 to 16… and so does the maximum point values.

In previous years, when CBSsports hosted DiploBall, we did things offline to make it more exciting; like double the points for the NFL only weeks and run separate pools for the bowl games and NFL playoffs.  But then again, CBSsports didn’t support post season play.  Plus, the process of doing all that offline was pretty time consuming… even more time consuming than my annoying transcendental weekly recaps.

Pooltracker, on the other hand, runs a fully integrated game; regular and post season for both leagues (NCAA and NFL) together.  The switch to Pooltracker has meant a lot less work for me… but I’m still annoyed by the lack of points during week like this.

When I first contacted Pooltracker almost a year ago, I asked if they could make the top points value of each week 50 so there was at least some sort of consistence… especially during the post season. 

They said they couldn’t, but since this was also an issue with CBSsports, I moved DiploBall to Pooltracker anyway, since they could at least offer a fully integrated season.

However, this whole drop in available points is really bothering me… and I don’t really know how to fix it.  Frankly, there is no way to fix it this season… we’re just going to ride it out.  Perhaps my annoyance is premature and things will pick-up again when the Bowl Games really pick up.  But who knows.  Even with the Bowl Games starting, we still only have 19 games coming up this week.

I think I’m going to reach out to PoolTracker again about beefing up the maximum points… but if anyone knows of another hosting site that can give me everything I want (and more), let me know.

Anyway, it really was an exciting week for football!  The Giants beat Dallas taking over the division title.  Chicago lost again putting Atlanta and Detroit into Wild Card positions.  It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

******** Please Note *********
The Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl schedule for Tuesday, December 20th is not on this week’s list of games.  It will appear NEXT week.  So, the official start of the PoolTracker week is Tuesday (NOT Thursday)… don’t miss getting your picks in!
Anyway, enough of my melancholy.  Here is a VERY abbreviated recap:
1st Place: Pac12Bear, President Malaise, and VNIbarger

Major three way tie this week!  All by people who could use the extra push at the end of the season!  Pac12Bear actually take the title of the week for winning the MNF tie breaker!


2nd Place: Rada and Badger

Another tie!  Congrats!


3rd Place:  EricC

I admit it.  I neglected to give Eric ample praise when he took second place the weekend before Thanksgiving.  I was busy, and like today, I didn’t put in much time to giving you all a proper recap.  However, since this has been a rough week for Eric, just barely missing the playoff cut for the inaugural season of the DiploBall Legacy Fantasy League, I figured I should take a moment to celebrate Eric for making it onto the leader board this week.
And in doing so, I figure it would be rude to point out that President Malaise, who took one of the 1st place spots in DiploBall Pick ‘Em is also the guy who edged Eric out of the playoffs in the Legacy League.  That would just be rude, so I won’t say anything.

Last Place: Tashkent1

… ummm… yeah… I got nothing.
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Wednesday, December 07, 2011

DiploBall 3, Week 14: Sweet Revenge Realized!

So… the Falcons may have lost this week… but so did the Lions and Bears!  So my Wild Card dreams are still intact! 

Well folks, the NCAA regular season is over and it looks like we have a week before the Bowl games start… so this will be a lighter week with only 16 NFL games.

Some of you have been asking how the Bowl Games will work… especially the games scheduled for Tuesdays or Wednesdays.  “Which weekend will they be lumped with?  The weekend before or after?”

It’s a good question and I’m not 100% sure.  I would like to assume that PoolTracker uses Thursday as the start of the week so we don’t have to scramble getting our picks in… but we’re not going to know until for sure until it happens.

Also, in honor of the conclusion of the NCAA Season I’ve included our NCAA season standings at the end of the recap.

1st Place: VNIbarger (15)
This was a power house week for VNIbarger.  After coming in 2nd place in the NCAA games and garnering the highest point’s percentage accuracy rate in the NFL games, VNIbarger walked away with a well earned victory.  However, it didn’t come without a fight…

2nd Place (Most Correct Picks): Rada (16)
… Rada was only 6 points behind!  Most weeks out Overall Pick’s Champion relies on their success in only one of the two leagues; NCAA or NFL.  However, this week Rada picked the most games correct in BOTH leagues making her picks victory undisputed!

3rd Place:  Jp (2)
For the two years my brother Jim has played DiploBall I have NEVER been ahead of him in the season standings… except after week 1 this season when we actually tied and PoolTracker listed me first because my guess for the total score of the Monday night game was closer for the tie breaker… but that doesn’t really count because I still didn’t have more points than he did.  That is until now!  Revenge is mine!    Dad!  You’re on notice!

NCAA MVP of the Week:  Robbins (17)
Robbins had a really great college week!  He tied with Rada’s 9 out of 11 NCAA picks victory AND tied with her again for the NCAA point’s victory.  They both earned 156 from those games!

NFL MVP of the Week: Hess (10)
Another big week for Hess!  Just like Robbins, Hess tied Rada’s 12 out of 16 NFL picks victory and ended up in 2nd place for when it came to NFL points.

‘Random Pick Of the Week’ Honorable Mention: Jp (2)
I have to give the honorable mention to myself this week.  I was the only person to pick Kansas City over Chicago, I put 22 points on the game, and I did it on purpose!  Because I am insane and I want to win that bad!  Actually it was a calculated risk that I made last Friday morning.  I originally intended to change my Philly pick to Seattle as well, but I totally zoned and forgot they played Thursday night!  Oh well, Kansas City is back on my Christmas card list! 

Last Place:  Jeff (20)
In one of the most bazaar showings in DiploBall history, Jeff lost the week, only scoring 34 points, however, he moved up a ranking from 21st to 20th place in the season standings.  Very strange!  Perhaps Jeff should add Tashkent1 to his Christmas card list for neglecting to make his picks!

Also worth noting, Eric ‘RollTide1’ Parker came in second-to-last place tumbling from 4th to 7th place in the season standings.  That’s rough!

NCAA Regular Season Points Standings
1. VJSchutz
4320
of
5760
75.00%
2. Jim Schutz
4188
of
5566
75.24%
3. Jp
4088
of
5496
74.38%
4. Ryan
4047
of
5987
67.60%
5. BigCat
3953
of
5431
72.79%
6. Ted Craig
3950
of
5448
72.50%
7. RollTide1
3840
of
5336
71.96%
8. President Malaise
3749
of
5451
68.78%
9. Hess
3645
of
5335
68.32%
10. EricC
3620
of
4962
72.95%
11. Nate
3460
of
4864
71.13%
12. Robbins
3305
of
5737
57.61%
13. vnibarger
3260
of
4700
69.36%
14. Steak n Potatoes
3166
of
4806
65.88%
15. Big Dave
2847
of
4429
64.28%
16. Rada
2777
of
4203
66.07%
17. Jeff
2519
of
4267
59.03%
18. PAC12BEAR
2495
of
4019
62.08%
19. mbounds
1975
of
2747
71.90%
20. Tashkent1
1918
of
2992
64.10%
21. dnibarger
960
of
1548
62.02%
22. Skiclimb2011
162
of
344
47.09%

NCAA Regular Season Points Standings
1. BigCat
219
of
267
82.02%
1. VJSchutz
219
of
267
82.02%
2. Jim Schutz
218
of
267
81.65%
3. Badger
217
of
267
81.27%
4. Jp
213
of
267
79.78%
4. RollTide1
213
of
258
82.56%
5. President Malaise
212
of
264
80.30%
5. Ted Craig
212
of
267
79.40%
6. Ryan
209
of
263
79.47%
7. Hess
206
of
257
80.16%
8. Robbins
205
of
264
77.65%
9. Rada
203
of
248
81.85%
10. EricC
202
of
267
75.66%
11. ARose
199
of
255
78.04%
12. Nate
197
of
236
83.47%
13. Steak n Potatoes
191
of
247
77.33%
14. Jeff
188
of
238
78.99%
15. Tashkent1
175
of
214
81.78%
15. vnibarger
175
of
211
82.94%
16. Big Dave
171
of
212
80.66%
17. PAC12BEAR
149
of
193
77.20%
18. mbounds
94
of
118
79.66%
19. dnibarger
87
of
106
82.08%
20. Skiclimb2011
14
of
19
73.68%

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