As happened last year, neither underdog prevailed in the pro football conference championships today, and so last week's standings become the final standings in our charity pool. Congratulations to our winners:
1. Gary - 78 - $500 to favorite charity
2. Biggest Cubs Loser - 62.5 - $165 to favorite charity
3. Andy - 62 - $100 to favorite charity
4. pdxmick - 61.5 - $75 to favorite charity
5. Gordon - 61 - $50 to favorite charity
If the winners will let me know who those charities are -- they must be section 501(c)(3) organizations -- we'll get the prize checks out this week.
Interesting that only a point and a half separated second and fifth places. Thanks to everybody who played:
Flowers by Dorcas 56.5
AKevin 56
Flowers by Dorcas Husband 56
Larry Legend 54.5
john dull 52
genop 51.5
Broadway Joe 48
Annie 47.5
Drewbob 47.5
Paul 46.5
Hank 40
Doug 38.5
Anthony 38
Jim 37.5
Ricardo 37.5
Sattelihu 37.5
Nick 35.5
PJB 34
Matt 30.5
genop's gal 27.5
Bad Brad 25.5
Michael K. 21.5
Mike G. 13
Eric 12.5
Conrad 12
Bob 8.5
Umpire 7.5
What a wonderful season. It was tons of fun. I was thinking of some other great charity pool ideas, but then I thought about all the work you do for them. We'll wait until next year's NFL season. Flowers by Dorcas almost made it! Had it not been for Seattle!!!
Well, regardless, the money is going to a charity, and that is wonderful.
Thanks for all the work Jack. One thought popped into my mind, based on an observation I believe you made earlier in the year of how simply picking the biggest dog every week would have put you amongst the point leaders. Perhaps a risk/reward system might encourage players to not just hit the big dog button. My suggestion-if your dog wins you get the points if your dog loses you get dinged the point spread. Sorry, as the accountant for the operation I'm sure the idea of more calculations is just what you don't want to hear.
If you took the biggest dog every week this season, by my unofficial calculation you'd have wound up with 65.5 points -- good enough for second place. Five biggest dogs out of 20 came through, though, and I'm not sure that would happen again. Maybe somebody will have to invest a Jackson next year and try it.
Last year, the biggest dog won only three times all season, for 41 points -- not enough to be in the money.
Jack - Don't know about automation per se, but a bit of excel coding might make the lifting lighter if you haven't already employed Excel for your score keeping. If you have friends with pivot table skills that would be the dope. Otherwise there are some other Excel techniques that would work.
Paul: Three out of 20. Two out of the weeks I ran the pool.
Lucs: Oh, I use Excel. But I want gaming software whereby the players' picks are automatically recorded, any time up to kickoff of the first game on Sunday, without my even seeing them. The software would also keep the standings. Kind of what Yahoo does with the various games it lets people set up.
Some day, the underdog pool will be so popular that many, many pools will be running all around the country. It's a great game, and our own Paul Hamann is the inventor. (Quick, get a patent!)
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (10)
Congrats to the winners
Posted by Nick | January 23, 2011 7:27 PM
Ditto. And thanks to Jack for organizing.
Posted by Drewbob | January 23, 2011 7:34 PM
Thanks, Jack. Lots of fun again this year.
Posted by AKevin | January 23, 2011 8:59 PM
Jack,
What a wonderful season. It was tons of fun. I was thinking of some other great charity pool ideas, but then I thought about all the work you do for them. We'll wait until next year's NFL season. Flowers by Dorcas almost made it! Had it not been for Seattle!!!
Well, regardless, the money is going to a charity, and that is wonderful.
Posted by Rudie | January 23, 2011 9:24 PM
Maybe by next season I can get the game automated.
Posted by Jack Bog | January 23, 2011 9:27 PM
Thanks for all the work Jack. One thought popped into my mind, based on an observation I believe you made earlier in the year of how simply picking the biggest dog every week would have put you amongst the point leaders. Perhaps a risk/reward system might encourage players to not just hit the big dog button. My suggestion-if your dog wins you get the points if your dog loses you get dinged the point spread. Sorry, as the accountant for the operation I'm sure the idea of more calculations is just what you don't want to hear.
Posted by Gannicott | January 23, 2011 9:39 PM
If you took the biggest dog every week this season, by my unofficial calculation you'd have wound up with 65.5 points -- good enough for second place. Five biggest dogs out of 20 came through, though, and I'm not sure that would happen again. Maybe somebody will have to invest a Jackson next year and try it.
Last year, the biggest dog won only three times all season, for 41 points -- not enough to be in the money.
Posted by Jack Bog | January 23, 2011 9:55 PM
3 out of all 17 weeks, Jack? Or just the portion of the season you ran your pool?
Posted by Paul Hamann | January 24, 2011 7:44 PM
Jack - Don't know about automation per se, but a bit of excel coding might make the lifting lighter if you haven't already employed Excel for your score keeping. If you have friends with pivot table skills that would be the dope. Otherwise there are some other Excel techniques that would work.
Posted by LucsAdvo | January 24, 2011 8:48 PM
Paul: Three out of 20. Two out of the weeks I ran the pool.
Lucs: Oh, I use Excel. But I want gaming software whereby the players' picks are automatically recorded, any time up to kickoff of the first game on Sunday, without my even seeing them. The software would also keep the standings. Kind of what Yahoo does with the various games it lets people set up.
Some day, the underdog pool will be so popular that many, many pools will be running all around the country. It's a great game, and our own Paul Hamann is the inventor. (Quick, get a patent!)
Posted by Jack Bog | January 24, 2011 10:25 PM