##### _ Ideas for Post Season Contest _ ###
As has happened almost every year of the post season, super bowl contest, this year we see two people at the top, one ahead by one pt. and the other ahead of the next by a pt. Now we all know that in order to win, the top person usually picks the team they think will win and the 2nd place person picks the opposite team and depending on the outcome, one of those two will win the contest and the rest have no chance.
As it happens I am in 2nd place this year so I don't mind too much as I've never even been close to winning this post season contest.
However, in order to make things more interesting for everyone in the post season -- and to make the SB pick meaningful, I would like to throw out an idea or two for tweaking the rules of the post season contest, as well as seek input from the rest of the group on how to make this last pick of the year -- the SB -- still meaningful to many while not taking away from the difficult task of actually being in one of the top 2 slots going into the SB pick.
One idea would be to give 20 pts. to anyone picking the actual winner of the SB, give 20 pts. to anyone who correctly predicts the exact final score, and finally to give 10 pts. to anyone who gets the final point spread correct, i.e., if the final score is 27-24 Denver, anyone who predicted Denver to win 27-24 would get 40 pts., anyone picking Denver winning by 3 pts. (10-7, 17-14, 43-40, or whatever) would get 30 pts. and anyone who picked Denver but missed the score or pt. spread would get 20 pts. -- everyone else would get zip, zero, nada, rien, nuthin...
That would give most people a chance to win the contest rather than just the top two in the standings. If those pts. are too much, we could go with 10 pts. for the winner, 10 pts. for the correct score and 5 pts. for the correct pt. spread, or 20, 15 and 10... or 15, 15, and 10 or 5 -- or any combination.
In the above idea, I'd prefer to keep the total possible score for the SB pick to 25-30 so that the first rounds of the playoffs are still meaningful. Another option would be the current 20 for picking the SB winner and 5 for getting the score/spread right. In any of the above scenarios, the 2nd place person would be able to pick the same team as the 1st place and still have a chance to win, as would many more people further down the standings.
I am open to other ideas suggestions, but want to keep the basic format/rules relatively the same as we now do for every round of the post season.
Please think about it and let me know any ideas you like or if you like any of the ideas I proposed above. Just to be honest, this won't necessarily be a democratic decision -- my vote will be the one that counts because I have to figure out the winner, but I am truly open to any ideas and one person may come up with the perfect suggestion that I'll decide to adopt for next year -- or several people may come up with that perfect idea.
Either way, I do want to hear from anyone who cares! |
