Also a big thanks to @Dan_Theman! This was the highlight of this season for football for sure. I think we all had fun picking losers in this game.
So, now that we are done I can share my thoughts.
First of all, for a first-go at this, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I think keeping it simple was the best option. However, by the last quarter of the season it became obvious there was no way I was going to meaningfully improve my standings. At the most I would only get 4 or so more points, and I couldn’t close the gap. That made me lose interest.
In the forum before the split, we picked winners for each game. That was good because it gave me multiple options for getting points.
I don’t know the best way to make it so someone can get multiple points per week without adding complexity. I was thinking betting on the spread, or picking the team with the better odds to lose, but that means someone needs to keep an eye on Vegas odds.
I also think the reset should happen before each playoff game so someone isn’t locked out of the super bowl, or at the least the super bowl resets.
Hell yes!
Yes, big thanks, this was the highlight of my NFL week once the Packers shit the bed.
You guys are making me feel all warm and fuzzy. Much appreciated. I’ll have the final standings (and prize announcements) hopefully done by tonight!
edit - and any feedback or ideas are appreciated for next year!
This was a lot of fun. Thanks for setting it up and running it.
I think next year, doing something to add weight to the playoffs would be better. Maybe moving to a point system of sorts. Correct picks in the regular season are worth 1 point. Wildcard round are 2 points, divisional are 3 points, conference champs are 4 points and superbowl is 5 points?
Something to give folks in the middle of the standings a better chance to move up.
There is truth. The last week or two, and playoffs, I went into full homer/ eff you mode. Picking the Pats, because I hate the Pats. It was less a strategic ‘pick a winner’ and more a ‘This is who I want to lose’
Of course I’m also the guy who correctly guessed the Chargers when they lost, but had Oakland win the week I picked them. Jerks.
One thing I think might help would be some bonus system for picking good teams. Like there should be more glory in correctly getting the Chargers, Chiefs, or Rams to lose during the regular season than there is in getting the Jets or Raiders.
I can see a few ways of doing this. One is a bonus point for picking a team with more than X wins correctly. Maybe only starting week 8, picks. Team over .500 and if they lose you get a bonus.
The other may be picking an underdog. Based on record. So picking a 1-5 Raiders team to beat a 2-4 Buffalo would be worth more than a 5-1 Pats beating up a 2-4 Tampa. Would make picking close divisional games worth it too. How many people, who weren’t being homers, would pick the Vikings to lose to the Bears week 14? Unless all the ‘good’ choices had already been used not many would.
Rams Chiefs was one of the more explosive games this year. Nobody was going to touch it. But under my theories, if you are down in the standings? Maybe you give it a good look.
Thanks Dan! Chaotic job herding us cats!
And next year the Vikes will be in the Superbowl!
The Browns will be honored to meet your team there ;)
Pssstttt…
Kirk Cousins is your quarterback.
I’m happy to pile on the “thanks to @Dan_Theman” train! Thanks for running this, it was a lot of fun.
And I will flap my arms and fly to my solid gold skybox to watch the game with Albert Einstein. ;)
The only problem with this system is I don’t see a way to do it without giving @Dan_Theman more work during the season. Unless we pick a few teams at the beginning of the year, like the Jets, and picking them to lose against any team other than another designated loser, either doesn’t yield point, or yields half a point.
Another option is to also bet against another player. If someone picks the Pats to lose, I could take that bet, and get a point if the Pats win or something.
Which the more I think of it, being able to pick multiple losers each week is one easy way of getting more points.
Thanks for running it @Dan_Theman!
My “foolproof” alphabetical pick system turned out to be exactly as effective as math says it should have been.
Allrightythen. This is quickly becoming too similar to the whole fantasy football issue of over complicating things (for me, obviously). Loser Bowl should be a straightforward and simple picking of the loser. Tricking it up with weighted picks or whatever kind of removes the simplicity and enjoyment for me. It’s more of a simple and friendly thing than getting too involved with stats/scores/whatever. The level of depth I want is where we were this year. Maybe the only thing I’d consider is making two picks a week just so you have to pick every team at one point during the year. But even that seems a bit too complicated for what I’m looking for.
That said, big thanks to DT and everyone for playing and making this year a fun ride.
I’ll add to the thanks to Dan for putting this all together. I’ll also add a thank you for dragging me out of completely lurking to actually posting once in a while! Of course now the NFL season is over, so I can go back to being a lurking curmudgeon!
Fixed that for you :)
(Don’t I know it --The “King of Mediocrity” himself. Makes me weep.)
Grrr Grim! You Bears are supposed to be terrible! You RUINED it for us this year with that defense and that fancy new QB!
Hey, can you send Khalil Mack to the Browns this year? I’m pretty sure that’s how gifting is supposed to go; pay it forward and all that, lol.
My solution is simple but perverse: give an award for last place, for the worst record. That way those who find themselves throwing in the towel on getting to the top of the standings would switch their mentality. They simply start picking teams that they actually think will win and if that team wins, they get a “loss,” thus furthering their descent. In a battle to pick losers, the last place team wins a consolation prize of some sort by being the biggest loser of them all!