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2017 BWI College Football Pick'Em Contest

Tom McAndrew

Tom McAndrew

Well-Known Member
May 29, 2001
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Once again, I invite you to join the BWI March Madness Pick'Em. As always, the competition is just for bragging rights. There is no entry fee to participate, and you don't win any money for winning the March Madness Pick'Em.

To join, CLICK HERE
(https://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/college)

I caution again that the process I go through to set up a group is not the same as someone that is joining a group. As such, I'm not certain of the order of the process, so if any of the below is out of sequence, please post a corrected order and I'll edit this post.

From the above LINK, select the Join a Group pushbutton

From the Join Group screen, go to the right side.

In the Group ID# field, enter: 7714

In the Password field, enter "pennstate"

Then, select the Join Group pushbutton

At this point, you'll have to create a handle. In Yahoo's lingo, that is your "Pick Set Name." Please try to use your board handle as your Pick Set Name. (Note: I believe the default is to have your e-mail address viewable to all. If you don't want this, then deselect that option.)

I've opted for the weekly slate of games to be:

- the Yahoo default games AND the B1G conference games AND Top 25 games

- tie-breakers will be used each week

- you get to drop your 2 worst scores for the overall competition (season-long)

- the deadline for entering selections is 5 minutes before the start of a game

I have not opted to pick against the point spread, or to rank your games by your confidence level.

Each year, I try to post the final results from the previous year's standings. Alas, I did not attempt to save last year's final results until a month after the Pick'Em last year, and by that time the system would not show me the final results. My mistake.

Week 1's slate is supposed to be available on or after August 28th. At the time of this posting, it has not yet been posted.

Best of luck to all that play!
 
Tom McAndrew said:
Once again, I invite you to join the BWI March Madness Pick'Em. As always, the competition is just for bragging rights. There is no entry fee to participate, and you don't win any money for winning the March Madness Pick'Em.

To join, CLICK HERE
(https://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/college)

I caution again that the process I go through to set up a group is not the same as someone that is joining a group. As such, I'm not certain of the order of the process, so if any of the below is out of sequence, please post a corrected order and I'll edit this post.

From the above LINK, select the Join a Group pushbutton

From the Join Group screen, go to the right side.

In the Group ID# field, enter: 7714

In the Password field, enter "pennstate"

Then, select the Join Group pushbutton

At this point, you'll have to create a handle. In Yahoo's lingo, that is your "Pick Set Name." Please try to use your board handle as your Pick Set Name. (Note: I believe the default is to have your e-mail address viewable to all. If you don't want this, then deselect that option.)

I've opted for the weekly slate of games to be:

- the Yahoo default games AND the B1G conference games AND Top 25 games

- tie-breakers will be used each week

- you get to drop your 2 worst scores for the overall competition (season-long)

- the deadline for entering selections is 5 minutes before the start of a game

I have not opted to pick against the point spread, or to rank your games by your confidence level.

Each year, I try to post the final results from the previous year's standings. Alas, I did not attempt to save last year's final results until a month after the Pick'Em last year, and by that time the system would not show me the final results. My mistake.

Week 1's slate is supposed to be available on or after August 28th. At the time of this posting, it has not yet been posted.

Best of luck to all that play!
Click to expand...

Thanks, Tom. Always fun.
Btw, the title of this thread is March Madness. You might lose some folks who aren't looking closely and realize you're piggy-backing the football contest onto last spring's March Madness.
Or maybe that is just me.
 
Bob78 said:
Btw, the title of this thread is March Madness.
Click to expand...

good catch. I was copying and pasting, while in a rush. Initially the instructions were for the March Madness Pick'Em. I caught that before I posted it, and corrected the instructions. Alas, I forgot that I had also copied the Subject line from the March Madness document.
 
Tom McAndrew said:
the Yahoo default games AND the B1G conference games AND Top 25 games
Click to expand...

I should note that the above is a bit of a change for this year. I'm pretty sure that for the past X number of years, the slate was made up of Yahoo default games AND the B1G conference games. I thought that adding Top 25 games would spruce things up a bit, and could lead to fewer ties having to be settled by the tie breakers.
 
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Tom I'm in I guess but no games to pick yet---did I screw something up??
 
If you've already entered your picks, please go back in. I thought I had chosen the settings so that tiebreakers would be used to break ties. However, when I entered my picks, I noticed that the tiebreakers were not present. I went back and checked the settings, and realized that I had not selected the use of tiebreakers.

So, if you entered your picks before 12:15 am EDT on Wednesday, you would not have entered your picks for the tiebreakers.

Sorry for the confusion.
 
Week 1 Results:

Ktownlion and bdgan lead the field, going 36-3 on the weekend. Due to the tiebreakers, Ktownlion was the winner. sneedram55, BrianS, SFNit, UncleRoyBiggins, erie lion, bytir, twak, phyrst, ncwref, and Nittanyfan333 tied for 3rd, with 35 points. There were 20 contestants, including yours truly, who tied for 4th, with 34 points.

As the contest drops the worst two weekly scores, there isn't much sense in examining the overall competition until at least week 3.

The slate for Week 2 has not yet been posted, so I'm not sure how many games are in the slate, or if there are any Friday games in the same slate.

As always, best of luck to all that play, including twak!
 
lionroar88 said:
What's the holdup with Yahoo releasing the picks? The schedules have been out for years! Or is this due to Irma?
Click to expand...

A mystery to me. The game slates have been slower to appear in weeks 1 and 2 of this season than was the case in prior years. Perhaps it's related to my changing the slate to include 3 components, though that seems like a reach. FWIW, I thought the larger slate was a good thing in Week 1, and will make for a better competition this season. At the same time, it was interesting that one of the reasons I added to the slate this season was to minimize the situations where the tiebreakers determined the weekly winner, and in Week 1 two contestants tied, and the tiebreakers did determine the winner. ;)
 
Week 2 Results:

Cigar lion, Ralphie, and AirForce1 tied for the top score, with 29 points. Due to the tiebreakers, Cigar lion took the weekly honors. Sviatoslav, KnightSlayer, WDLion, SFNit, 26heisman2017, Jrs1024, leinbacker, Mrs. Gambit, NewEra 2014, Oxnox II, and paulrandythomas tied for 3rd, with 28 points. Congrats to the aforementioned, and major kudos to Cigar lion.

As previously indicated, I won't start tracking the season-long competition until after Week 4.

In the real competition, the twakker bested me, as he had 26, and I had 25. That makes 2 weeks in a row that he's bested me by 1 point. Curses.

Week 3's slate has not yet been posted.

Best of luck to all that play, including twak!
 
Tom McAndrew said:
Week 2 Results:

Cigar lion, Ralphie, and AirForce1 tied for the top score, with 29 points. Due to the tiebreakers, Cigar lion took the weekly honors. Sviatoslav, KnightSlayer, WDLion, SFNit, 26heisman2017, Jrs1024, leinbacker, Mrs. Gambit, NewEra 2014, Oxnox II, and paulrandythomas tied for 3rd, with 28 points. Congrats to the aforementioned, and major kudos to Cigar lion.

As previously indicated, I won't start tracking the season-long competition until after Week 4.

In the real competition, the twakker bested me, as he had 26, and I had 25. That makes 2 weeks in a row that he's bested me by 1 point. Curses.

Week 3's slate has not yet been posted.

Best of luck to all that play, including twak!
Click to expand...

Tom, you cost me money. When my wife (Mrs. Gambit) decided to enter this contest I said "OK, just try not to embarrass me" and she asked "What if I do really well?" I responded that if she won just one week, I would take her out the a very expensive dinner at a place of her choosing. Now she's learned a bit about negotiating having been married to a lawyer for 45 years, so she said "Win a week? That's not fair. How many times did you win a week?" Hmmm. I thought about it for a moment and I said "OK, all you have to do is beat Tom McAndrew one time and you get the dinner" and she said "Deal!". Now, I said this Tom, knowing how well you do at Pick'em and I figured I had made a safe bet. This morning, I'm in the shower and she comes in asking "When are we going to dinner?" and I say "What dinner?" and she says "The dinner I get for beating Tom McAndrew at Pick'em'". I get out of the shower and she immediately shows me last week's results. With a big smile, she said "I not only beat him. I beat him by 3 picks!" If there is a saving grace to all this, my wife gets very amorous after a fine dinner with a good bottle of wine.;)
 
Last edited:
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I did poorly enough last year, but this past week was really sucky! Hope week 3 goes better.
 
Tom --

Yahoo is very disappointing again this year. I am guessing that their software has decided to eliminate two weeks based on lower scores now rather than later in the contest. It might have been beneficial for Yahoo to state when this would happen later on in the contest. However, I guess, this is just my biased inclination. Let's see what will eventually happen. In any regard, I will have a better contest next year for everyone.
 
Week 3 Results

Major Hoople took the weekly honors with a score of 33. SFNit had 32, and AirForce1 had 31, while 13 competitors had 30 points. Congratulations to Major Hoople.

As previously indicated, I won't start tracking the season-long competition until after Week 4.

In the real competition, twak and I tied with 29 points.

Once again, it appears that I cost @fairgambit some $$, as Mrs. Gambit bested my weekly score. On the flip side, I seem to be assisting in fair getting a good bit of action, so at least he's smiling. ;)

Week 4's slate has not yet been posted.

Best of luck to all that play, including twak!
 
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Tom McAndrew said:
Week 3 Results
Major Hoople took the weekly honors with a score of 33. SFNit had 32, and AirForce1 had 31, while 13 competitors had 30 points. Congratulations to Major Hoople.
As previously indicated, I won't start tracking the season-long competition until after Week 4.
In the real competition, twak and I tied with 29 points.
Once again, it appears that I cost fair some $$, as Mrs. Gambit bested my weekly score. On the flip side, I seem to be assisting in fair getting a good bit of action, so at least he's smiling. ;)
Week 4's slate has not yet been posted.
Best of luck to all that play, including twak!
Click to expand...

She's doing much better than I expected and is very consistent. I will again stress she is making all the picks herself. I don't even look at them until all the results are in.
If she keeps beating you Tom, both my bank account, and my libido, will be gone.;)
 
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Week 4 Results:

whaaaaaaaany topped the competitors with 28 points. twak and DOTHANLION tied for 2nd with 27 points. 10 competitors, including yours truly, tied for 3rd with 26 points. Congrats to whaaaaaaaany on winning the weekly competition.

this is the 1st week that I will track the season-long competition. SF Nit is in 1st place, with 67 points. Ktownlion is in 2nd place, with 65 points. twak, erie lion, bdgan, sneedram55, phyrst317, PSU Paul, BrianS, john4psu, major hoople, Knightslayer, and MontereyLion are tied for 3rd place, with 64 points. Bob78, Just here for the witty names, bytir, Nittany.Lion, THE Humanist, Fac, UncleRoyBiggins, Nittanyfan333, beaverstadium, Ralphie, rem524, PSU2UNC, AirForce1, ncwref, Steviedpsu, and yours truly are tied for 4th place, with 63 points. Limestone_Lion, phillybilly, Offside Clyde, Mrs. Gambit, retsio, G Dub, cigar lion, leinbacker, Young Lions, sviatoslav, paulrandythomas, rotzc, LastFedaykin, mttopchuck, Cool Bean, Jrs1024, and NitneLiun are tied for 5th place, with 62 points. It's still early in the season, so there will likely be a lot of movement in these standings.

In the big competition, twak bested me, 27 points to 26 points. In the season-long competition, he's also ahead of me, 64 points to 63 points. :(

I did best Mrs. Gambit this week, so fair's wallet is a little heavier, but his love life is taking a hit. Which one is a bigger priority to you, fair? lol

Week 5's slate has been posted, and includes 3 Friday night games.

As always, best of luck to all that play, including twak!
 
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Tom McAndrew said:
Week 4 Results:

whaaaaaaaany topped the competitors with 28 points. twak and DOTHANLION tied for 2nd with 27 points. 10 competitors, including yours truly, tied for 3rd with 26 points. Congrats to whaaaaaaaany on winning the weekly competition.

this is the 1st week that I will track the season-long competition. SF Nit is in 1st place, with 67 points. Ktownlion is in 2nd place, with 65 points. twak, erie lion, bdgan, sneedram55, phyrst317, PSU Paul, BrianS, john4psu, major hoople, Knightslayer, and MontereyLion are tied for 3rd place, with 64 points. Bob78, Just here for the witty names, bytir, Nittany.Lion, THE Humanist, Fac, UncleRoyBiggins, Nittanyfan333, beaverstadium, Ralphie, rem524, PSU2UNC, AirForce1, ncwref, Steviedpsu, and yours truly are tied for 4th place, with 63 points. Limestone_Lion, phillybilly, Offside Clyde, Mrs. Gambit, retsio, G Dub, cigar lion, leinbacker, Young Lions, sviatoslav, paulrandythomas, rotzc, LastFedaykin, mttopchuck, Cool Bean, Jrs1024, and NitneLiun are tied for 5th place, with 62 points. It's still early in the season, so there will likely be a lot of movement in these standings.

In the big competition, twak bested me, 27 points to 26 points. In the season-long competition, he's also ahead of me, 64 points to 63 points. :(

I did best Mrs. Gambit this week, so fair's wallet is a little heavier, but his love life is taking a hit. Which one is a bigger priority to you, fair? lol

Week 5's slate has been posted, and includes 3 Friday night games.

As always, best of luck to all that play, including twak!
Click to expand...
Tom, I’m confused on the season long scoring. Why is the season long leader at 67 points after four weeks?
Are you only counting top 25? Shouldn’t the leader score be close to 100 or there about? Just asking.
 
RWCStateFan said:
Tom, I’m confused on the season long scoring. Why is the season long leader at 67 points after four weeks?
Are you only counting top 25? Shouldn’t the leader score be close to 100 or there about? Just asking.
Click to expand...

The competition rules are that every participant gets to drop their 2 worst scores. I do this so that competitors are not blown out of the water if they miss a week (or 2) due to illness, forgetting to enter picks in time, travel, computer problems, etc.

The "problem" if you will of this approach is that the scoring automatically takes the 2 worst scores out of the season-long standing starting in week 3. It's why I don't even track the season-long standings until after week 4.

I hope that explains why the season-long competition leader is currently at 67 points, even though 4 weeks of competition have taken place.
 
Tom McAndrew said:
The competition rules are that every participant gets to drop their 2 worst scores. I do this so that competitors are not blown out of the water if they miss a week (or 2) due to illness, forgetting to enter picks in time, travel, computer problems, etc.

The "problem" if you will of this approach is that the scoring automatically takes the 2 worst scores out of the season-long standing starting in week 3. It's why I don't even track the season-long standings until after week 4.

I hope that explains why the season-long competition leader is currently at 67 points, even though 4 weeks of competition have taken place.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the explanation! Sorry if I should have known that. My bad.
 
Tom -- can you explain, please.

The specific page with my picks indicates that I had 29 correct. However, the total in the upper right says my 'record' is 26 and 7. HOW does Yahoo change the numbers from 29 correct to 26? This is just one mistake on their part -- are there others?

Thank you for any follow-up.
 
retsio said:
Tom -- can you explain, please.

The specific page with my picks indicates that I had 29 correct. However, the total in the upper right says my 'record' is 26 and 7. HOW does Yahoo change the numbers from 29 correct to 26? This is just one mistake on their part -- are there others?

Thank you for any follow-up.
Click to expand...

I have no clue about that. FWIW, I'm suffering from the same issue. My page of picks shows my total points as 31, but my week 5 score in the upper right of the same page is 28 points, and indicates that I went 28-5. I did have 5 wrong, but it appears that I had 31 right. If this is still an issue on Monday, I'll send a question in to Yahoo.
 
Tom McAndrew said:
I have no clue about that. FWIW, I'm suffering from the same issue. My page of picks shows my total points as 31, but my week 5 score in the upper right of the same page is 28 points, and indicates that I went 28-5. I did have 5 wrong, but it appears that I had 31 right. If this is still an issue on Monday, I'll send a question in to Yahoo.
Click to expand...
Same thing here. Had 31 correct picks but it shows 28.
 
Multiple other Pick'Em groups are reporting the same problem. Yahoo has yet to respond to any of the complaints.
 
Tom McAndrew said:
Multiple other Pick'Em groups are reporting the same problem. Yahoo has yet to respond to any of the complaints.
Click to expand...
Thanks Tom. Time to go back and revisit all prior weeks and keep our own tallies. Glad there's no $ involved.
 
Week 5 Results

Knightslayer, NorCarl Lion, THE Humanist, phyrst, Safety Blitz, and yours truly led the pack with 31 points. Due to the tiebreakers, Knightslayer was the winner for the week. 23 competitors scored 30 points -- very impressive showing by many of you. Congrats to Knightslayer, those aforementioned, and those that scored 30 points.

In the season-long competition, SF Nit remained in 1st place, with 97 points. Knightslayer and phyrst317 are tied for 2nd place, with 95 points. THE Humanist, PSU Paul, erie lion, john4psu, twak, Ktownlion, and yours truly are tied for 3rd place, with 94 points. ncwref, beaverstadium, AirForce1, MontereyLion, BrianS, sneedram55, and major hoople are tied for 4th place, with 93 points. NorCal Lion, paulrandythomas, Offside Clyde,NitneLiun, Cool Bean, Bob78, Nittany.Lion, rem524, bytir, and Ralphie are tied for 5th place, with 92 points. Safety Blitz, psu621, Siggy, retsio, mttopchuck, Mrs. Gambit, G Dub, Limestone_Lion, LastFedaykin, Jrs1024, Sviatoslav, leinbacker, PSU2UNC, UncleRoyBiggins, Nittanyfan333, Fac, and bdgan are tied for 6th place, with 91 points. harjeff, SuperTodd, Nittany Lion Fan, lknojksht, 26heisman2017, rotzc,Young Lions, and Just here for the witty names are tied for 7th place, with 90 points. The Moops, Lionville, bmejnes, WDLion, jtlion, bmw199, cigar lion, and PhillyBilly are tied for 8th place, with 89 points. gwb55tpix, Coach Lun, I'm Your Daddy!, Snags So Cold, and AlohaT are tied for 9th place, with 88 points. Walleye, lionroar88, RocketPSU, RSandersPSU, medixrun, whaaaaaaaany, mmp121, and RWCStateFan are tied for 10th place, with 87 points. It's still really early in the season-long competition, so there should be a lot of movement in the standings in the coming weeks.

In the real competition, I bested twak, 31 to 30. In the season-long competition, we're tied with 94 points.

Mrs. Gambit scored a very impressive 29 this week. Fortunately for fair, that was below my weekly score, so he saved himself some money, though at the expense of his love life. :(

As always, best of luck to all that play, including twak!
 
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Tom McAndrew said:
Week 5 Results

Knightslayer, NorCarl Lion, THE Humanist, phyrst, Safety Blitz, and yours truly led the pack with 31 points. Due to the tiebreakers, Knightslayer was the winner for the week. 23 competitors scored 30 points -- very impressive showing by many of you. Congrats to Knightslayer, those aforementioned, and those that scored 30 points.

In the season-long competition, SF Nit remained in 1st place, with 97 points. Knightslayer and phyrst317 are tied for 2nd place, with 95 points. THE Humanist, PSU Paul, erie lion, john4psu, twak, and Ktownlion are tied for 3rd place, with 94 points. ncwref, beaverstadium, AirForce1, MontereyLion, BrianS, sneedram55, and major hoople are tied for 4th place, with 93 points. NorCal Lion, paulrandythomas, Offside Clyde,NitneLiun, Cool Bean, Bob78, Nittany.Lion, rem524, bytir, and Ralphie are tied for 5th place, with 92 points. Safety Blitz, psu621, Siggy, retsio, mttopchuck, Mrs. Gambit, G Dub, Limestone_Lion, LastFedaykin, Jrs1024, Sviatoslav, leinbacker, PSU2UNC, UncleRoyBiggins, Nittanyfan333, Fac, and bdgan are tied for 6th place, with 91 points. harjeff, SuperTodd, Nittany Lion Fan, lknojksht, 26heisman2017, rotzc,Young Lions, and Just here for the witty names are tied for 7th place, with 90 points. The Moops, Lionville, bmejnes, WDLion, jtlion, bmw199, cigar lion, and PhillyBilly are tied for 8th place, with 89 points. gwb55tpix, Coach Lun, I'm Your Daddy!, Snags So Cold, and AlohaT are tied for 9th place, with 88 points. Walleye, lionroar88, RocketPSU, RSandersPSU, medixrun, whaaaaaaaany, mmp121, and RWCStateFan are tied for 10th place, with 87 points. It's still really early in the season-long competition, so there should be a lot of movement in the standings in the coming weeks.

In the real competition, I bested twak, 31 to 30. In the season-long competition, we're tied with 94 points.

Mrs. Gambit scored a very impressive 29 this week. Fortunately for fair, that was below my weekly score, so he saved himself some money, though at the expense of his love life. :(

As always, best of luck to all that play, including twak!
Click to expand...
I told Mrs. Gambit she is doing very well "for a girl". I hope by the time next week's results are posted she will let me back in the house.:(
 
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I just looked at the standings and I will note, with pride, that Mrs. Gambit is tied with 3 others for the most "dropped points" at 53. That tells me she has been very consistent. :)
 
JoeLion said:
I know I saved my picks the last 3 weeks however when I check my results I get 0. Something is off kilter. Perhaps its me!
Click to expand...

well that sucks. unfortunately, there's nothing you can do, I can do, or Yahoo can do after the fact.

we've had people experience that in the past. My recommendation is to make your picks, and then save them. Then to close the browser window. Then go back to the picks 1 hour later (or some interval later), and verify that your picks are saved.

here's hoping that things go better for you this week.
 
Tom -- PROBLEMS AGAIN....

Per your post suggestion the other day, I made my picks on Tues. and checked just now to see if they were still active. I have a full complement of zero - 0 - according to Rivals (incomplete / 0 for 33 / not entered) and Malwarebytes has just blocked the Rivals site.

We all know Yahoo has major problems, even though we enjoy picking and competing, I suggest we drop Rivals fantasy contest and advertise same, because Yahoo will not clean up it's act. Sorry for the inconvenience, but why should my computer and all others be put at risk because of their inaction.

Check out the following security firms -- https://www.g2crowd.com/products/trustwave/competitors/alternatives -- has Yahoo ever heard about the 'green address bar'?
 
retsio said:
Tom -- PROBLEMS AGAIN....

Per your post suggestion the other day, I made my picks on Tues. and checked just now to see if they were still active. I have a full complement of zero - 0 - according to Rivals (incomplete / 0 for 33 / not entered) and Malwarebytes has just blocked the Rivals site.

We all know Yahoo has major problems, even though we enjoy picking and competing, I suggest we drop Rivals fantasy contest and advertise same, because Yahoo will not clean up it's act. Sorry for the inconvenience, but why should my computer and all others be put at risk because of their inaction.

Check out the following security firms -- https://www.g2crowd.com/products/trustwave/competitors/alternatives -- has Yahoo ever heard about the 'green address bar'?
Click to expand...
I had to fill this week’s picks in twice before it woild accept them. I went in through the link sent to me via email by Yahoo, not from the link Tom has on the board.

What I think is happenning is when going in through the Yahoo link you’ve got to make sure that you also click on your Yahoo account link that opens after you submit the pick. I didn’t do that the first time. Hope this helps a bit.
 
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