DiploBall 3, Week 4 Recap: Bring Out Your Ted!

Wow… if taking a beating was an art form… I’m pretty sure we would all have useful liberal arts degrees. 

1^st Place: Ted (536 points)
The only person who came out relatively undamaged this week was Ted and have you looked at the Week 4 ‘Picks Matrix?  Ted got all of the NCAA games correct… for which he scored some serious points and proved himself untouchable in the NFL games, missing only 4 games total for the week.

And I should also point out that Ted’s victory marks the first week this season where our weekly winner’s last name isn’t ‘Schutz’.   Ted, congrats!  (PS: Ted, if adoption paperwork arrives don’t worry about reading it… just sign and send them back to me.  You’re new SS card will be in the mail shortly after).

2^nd Place: Me (516 points)Little by little!  Any week I end up ahead of Jim and VJ is a good week.

3^rd Place: Jim Schutz (506 Points)
Jim, you may have overtaken Dad in the overall standings this week… but rest assured.  You will not be a repeat champ this season!  I smell victory!

Honorable Mention:  Ryan (498 points)
Honestly, Ryan should how made the leader board this week.  He only missed 5 games this week, which was better than both me and Jim.  Hats off to Ryan!

Loser of the Week:  dnibarger (52 points)Wow… that’s rough.  I don’t know what else to say… but that’s mighty rough.

Reminder:  South Florida and Pitt play Thursday night.  Don’t forget to make your picks!

Happy picking folks!  I’ll talk to you next week!

DiploBall 3, Week 3: The Good, the Bad, the PoolTracker

Now that we’re three weeks into the season I hope everyone is getting the hang of PoolTracker.  I also hope the tip I sent out last week was helpful.   I only heard back from Rada, but I’ll assume it helped the rest of you as well.  However, if any of you are still having problems getting PoolTracker to accept your picks/weights please let me know!

1^st Place: VJ Schutz

*Yawn*, yeah yeah yeah… what else is new?  Honestly, my dad should be banished from Atlanta, DiploBall and the Schutz family for picking the Eagles for ‘4’ points. 

2^nd Place: Jim Schutz

Although I want to yawn again, Jim only missed three games with is pretty impressive!

3^rd Place: Jp

Hmmm… Nate… weren’t you supposed to take care of VJ and Jim for me this week?  Seriously… I was counting on you.

Honorable Mentions: ‘dnibarger’

Only two players went 15 for 16 in the NFL games this week: dnibarger and President Malaise.  However, dnibarger gets the Honorable Mention for being LESS conservative than our 39^th President.  Seriously, dnibarger’s LOWEST weight for an NFL game was 23 points!  Although he only ended up in 14^th place, with this kind of accuracy we could end up seeing dnibarger on the leader board some day.

Last Place: Jeff

Seriously… ‘The Room’ was that bad… that’s why you deserve being in last place for two weeks in a row!

Missing In Action: Tashkent1

Eric, can you reach out to T1?  This was his second week in a row only picking NFL games.  I’m wondering if he is making his picks too early or too late.  Thanks!

That’s it!  Short and sweet!  Take care everyone and happy picking!

DiploBall 3, Week 2: The Rise and Fall of Rada

Well… since all of our DiploNewbies seem to have gotten the hang of game weighting this round, I may have been inclined to describe Week 2 as ‘great’ or even ‘fantastic’… but after watching the Falcons game Sunday afternoon I can only think of one descriptive word… and it’s not fit for mixed company.

So, I think I’ll just keep my mouth shut and get to the recap… besides; my home leave ends in two days and the movers are in my house as we ‘speak’.

On with the recap!

1^st Place: VJ Schutz (552 Points)

Well, my pops has done it again.  And yes… I regret inviting him to join DiploBall.  Last season I talked him into joining an NFL Pick ‘Em League one of my cousins runs.  I was the two time reigning champ in that league… until dad came alone.  Erg!

2^nd Place:  Jim Schutz (538 Points)

Yep, that’s right, DiploBall 2 champ Jim is back in second place for the second week in a row.  As long as he stays in second I won’t have to revoke his DiploBall 4 membership.

3^rd Place:  Nate (532 Points)

Honestly, I had a feeling Nate would be a wildcard.  He only missed two picks last week; however his weighting for those two games completely derailed his momentum.  I’m not surprised, in the least, that he was able to break-up the Schutz leaderboard stronghold this week… but Nate, do me a favor… bump one of the other Schutz’s out of the top three next time!

Last Place:  ‘Steak n Potatoes’  (-36 Points)

Yo, Steak!  Between you and me, I don’t believe your loss is legitimate.  I think you made an honest error that we can all learn from. 

For the good of the group, Steak made his picks before the NCAA games were posted; which means he ONLY made picks for the NFL games and his maximum weight was ONLY 16 (down to 1).  Opps!

Always remember, this is a hybrid Pick ‘Em League that includes both NFL and NCAA games, DO NOT submit your picks until that week’s NCAA games have been posted.

Steak, just remember, your worst 4 weeks don’t count, so you’re still in it!

True Last Place:  Jeff  (24 Points)

Okay, so if Steak’s loss isn’t legitimate that means someone loss IS legitimate; someone who actually submitted picks for all games and still earned 182 points LESS than John Robbins (who game in 3^rd to last place)... The legitimate loss should also go to the person who made me watch “The Room” with him two nights ago!

Jeff, on a scale of 1 to 552 I give “The Room” a 24… which also happens to be your score for this week!

Honorable Mention:  Rada

Did anyone look at the standings after the Saturday college games?  Rada was in first place and she hadn’t missed a single game!  Actually, the most impressive thing about Rada’s picks was the fact she actually weighted them.

For those of you who are new, Rada has never weighted a game in her life, until now!  If she can get her NFL weights under control, she might be able to make a run.

Honorable Mention:  A Rose

We can’t quite describe last week’s big loser as ‘worst to first’ but 7^th place is REALLY good for a second week player who is still figuring out how DiploBall works.  Congrats!

Honorable Mention:  Tashkent1

Tash gets the nod for going against the grain and picking three major NFL upsets… or at least games the majority of us tanked.  Tash picks Buffalo, Washington… and… well… that other team that played in the game I don’t want to talk about.

Have a great week everyone!  The next time you hear from me I will be coming at you from beautifully hot and humid Suriname!  Happy picking!

DiploBall 3, Week 1: Descent into Madness

Now that the season has actually begun I would like to officially welcome everyone to the third season of DiploBall!  There are over twenty players this year and a LOT of new faces, so welcome and enjoy.  And as always if you have any questions along the way please let me know (even if we haven’t officially met).

For the newcomers, the first thing you’ll need to get used to is my weekly update honoring the best and worst of each week of play.  However, since this is our first week with a new service provider I’ve received a number of emails from folks with questions, so before I start my traditional recap, let’s do a little housekeeping first:

Housekeeping

Joining PoolTracker

Joining DiploBall is easy.  Simply follow the following instructions:

-Click on this link:  http://www.PoolTracker.com/join.asp?poolid=58073

-Enter this pool credential information.

                The Pool ID is: 58073

                The Pool Password is: DiploBall3

How do I log on to PoolTracker and make my picks?

1.       Visit www.pooltracker.com

2.       Click ‘Log in’ on the upper right hand side of your web browser.

3.       Log in:

a.       Username: Your email address.

b.      Password: If you have only logged on once, your password is probably your email address.  For some reason PoolTracker uses your email address as your default password until you change it.

c.       Changing your password: click ‘My Profile’ located at the top of the webpage.

4.       Once you log in to PoolTracker it will automatically take you to your ‘My Pools’ page.  (Note: ‘My Pools’ is also an option at the top of the webpage if you get something else or want to jump back to this page.

5.       On ‘My Pools’ you’ll see a box dedicated to DiploBall with three important options:

a.       Picks: Click on this to make and edit your picks.

b.      Picks Matrix:  Click on this to see EVERYONES picks, weights, and the weekly standings.

c.       Results: This is where you’ll find our season standings.

What does ‘Drop Worst 4’ mean on the Results page?

The Good News: Your worst four weeks will be dropped for your final season score.

The Bad News: Your worst weeks will be based on points earned, NOT percentage of correct picks… which pretty much makes the rule pointless because almost all of our ‘worst’ (lowest scoring) weeks will be the NFL Play-Offs and the Super Bowl.  I will honor the rule this season, but don’t expect me to keep it for next year.

The OTHER Good News:  If you know someone who might want to play… they can pretty much join any time in the next three weeks and still have a fighting chance for the title.

What is Live Updating and can we get it?

‘Live Updating’ is a feature that will update your scores live while games are being played, however live updating is not available with PoolTrackers FREE pool…

Currently, our leagues standings are updated every night after all the games are played… probably around 2am EST.

That said, it is possible to turn on ‘Live Tracking’.  Based on the size of our league it would cost $60 ($3.00 per person) to turn it on.  HOWEVER!  I can’t stand the idea of charging for DiploBall AND trying to collect money from people living all over the world would be a huge pain in my rear… plus I don’t even know how many of you care about ‘Live Updating’.  So, I have no plans for turning it on for the whole group unless there is a benefactor among you.

But, I will tell you this.  PoolTracker offers an Individual ‘Live Updating’ Plan, it is $7.95 for the whole season.  So if you are interested in having ‘Live Updating for yourself and you abstain from Starbucks for a couple days, you’re all set!

Why isn’t there college games listed on our remaining weeks?

Be patient… there will be college game… they are always posted on Tuesdays.

PoolTracker ONLY used the NCAA College games featuring the coming week’s Top 25 BCS ranked teams… which is always changing and isn’t announced until Sunday night.  It looks like PoolTracker needs Monday to get organized, but as of Tuesday this week, our college games were populated into the system.

Well!  Thats it!  Now for a VERY abbreviated tongue-in-cheek Week 1 Recap:

DiploBall 3, Week 1 Recap

First Place: ME!  As the DiploBall 1 Champion and am officially putting the league on notice.  I’m out for blood!

Second Place: Jim Schutz, my brother and DiploBall 2 Champion.  Now… technically, Jim and I scored the same number of points, however, Jim lost the tiebreaker.

Third Place: Papa Schutz… yes, the man who fathered both DiploBall Champions took third place… which begs the question… is picking the outcome to football games a genetic trait?

Last Place:  Amy… Well… Amy, what can I say?  We’ve never met… so I will take it easy on you.  But as you can probably see… weighting your games is the MOST important thing in DiploBall.  Better luck next week!

Honorable Mention 1: EricC.  Eric is a DiploBall veteran and came in 4^th place this week, but that’s not why he gets the honorable mention.  Eric is ‘Da Man’ for being the only person to pick Baylor for the win!

Honorable Mention 2: Ryan.  Back for his second season of DiploBall, Ryan missed getting his picks in for the Thursday and Friday games, however, he still managed to pull out a 15^th place finish, beating four other players.  Not bad for late picks.

Honorable Mention 3: Rada!  You didn’t come in last!  Odlichno!

Have a great week everyone!  And happy picking!

Don’t forget!  Week 2 games start TOMORROW!

-Jp