Salvatore Bagatelli's Football Pool
The Playoffs
Rules to Salvatore Bagatelli's Football Pool during the Playoffs:
The only differences between the regular season and
the playoffs are as follows:
1) Once you have lost a game, you're out.
2) Total Points in the Super Bowl will be used as a tie-breaker
in the event that more than one player picked the Super Bowl Winner in Week
4. If no one picked the Super Bowl winner, those players who were still alive
going into Week 4 will be declared co-winners, the total points won't matter.
(example: Assume that 5 people pick the NFC Champs to win the Super Bowl and
no one picks the AFC Champs. The total points will be used as the tie-breaker
IF the NFC wins the Super Bowl. If the AFC wins the Super Bowl, since those
5 people LOST that game and no one picked the right team, they will be declared
co-winners.)
3) If you can't pick a team because the only teams left
you have already picked, you will get an automatic loss for that week. (example:
Suppose you pick the Miami Dolphins in Week 2 and they win. Then you pick
the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3 and they win, becoming the NFC Champs. But
in the AFC Title Game, the Miami Dolphins win. Since you have already picked
the Dolphins in Week 2 and the 49ers in Week 3, you won't have a team available
to pick in Week 4, so you are done.
Week 3 Results/Week 4: Here's the deal: If the Patriots win, WRK
is the winner hands down since he's the only one left who can pick them.
Therefore, he doesn't need to worry about total points for the tie-breaker.
If the Rams win, the total points will be used to break the tie between SM,
JSC, and the Big E (regular season co-winner). If the total points for the
game is 46 or less, SM is the winner; 47 or higher and JSC and the Big E
are co-winners. Good Luck to all, especially the Patriots.
Week 2 Results/Week 3: 1/2 our players didn't make the cut to week
3 as the Bears and the Raiders lost. It will be interesting to see how many
are left standing after this weekend. Smart money says it will be down to
11, but this season smart money has lost more than it's won, so who knows?
We could be down to as few as 2 if it's Philly vs New England in the 1st Superbowl
ever played in February BECAUSE JSC won't have a pick for Week
4.
Week 1 Results/Week 2: We are down to 28 as 4 players dropped out
thanks to the Dolphins. The pool will be trimmed even more as 11 players
picked the Bears vs 3 for the Eagles and 8 picked the Patriots vs 3 for the
Raiders. The only other 3 picks were for the Steelers, so if the Ravens win,
we can take 3 more off the list. We could be down to as little as 6 by next
week, but I sure hope it's more like 14, 17, 19, or 22.
Week 1: We have 32 players but only 31 picks so far as MTM left work
without letting me know his pick. This means there will be at least 1 Late
Breaking News tomorrow night. There will be at least 2 players out after Week
1 because someone has to win between the Ravens and the Dolphins. I bet most
of you know who I'm pulling for, but if you don't I plan on wearing a shirt
to work Thursday supporting the team I think will be the Super Bowl Champions.
I also plan on wearing a shirt Friday that supports who I believe will be
the Super Bowl Runner-ups, so if you see me both day's, you'll know who I
plan on picking in Weeks 3 and 4. 13 players feel the Bucs will make it 0-21
in games below 40 degrees while 8 feel the Raiders will avenge thier loss
to the Jets. There aren't any 49er fans either, unless some people are saving
them for later on.Late Breaking News: MTM is in with my prediction
for the Superbowl Champs: the Miami Dolphins.
Rules to Salvatore Bagatelli's Football Pool:
Each week, each player in the pool picks 1 team to WIN it's game outright
(no spot, no ties). More than one player can pick the same team. Once you
have picked a team, you can not pick them again for the rest of the season.
If your team wins, you are still alive in the pool. If your team loses or
ties, you will be given one more chance. Once you have picked your 2nd losing
team, you're done. The last player still alive in the pool is the winner.
If there are 2 or more players still alive at the end of the season, they
are declared co-winners, irregardless of if they have 0 or 1 loss.
Color Coding of the table:
The Team(s) in BLUE are the bye team for the current
week. Picking a bye team to win is an automatic loss.
Week Numbers Blocked in RED indicate losses.
Names Blocked in RED indicate players no longer alive in the pool.
Week Numbers in BLACK indicate the current
week's picks. Week Numbers Blocked in BLACK indicate wins. Names in BLACK
indicate players still alive in the pool.
Week 17 Results: Congrats to our Co-Champs:
the Big E and RAP.
Week 16 Results/Week 17: For the 3rd year in
a row, we have at least 2 players still in the hunt going into Week 17. The
bottom line is this: if both players either win or lose, they are co-champs
(the Big E was a co-champ in 1999). If only one wins, he's the champ and the
loser is the runner-up. Good luck to both and get ready for the playoffs.
Week 15 Results/Week 16: Both survivors are
still surviving heading into the end of the year. This week, the E takes the
Dolphins (I hope he's right) and RAP takes Da Bears. I'm getting tired of
trying to figure out what more to say to make this entertaining.
Week 14 Results/Week 15: There was talk a week
ago Thursday that these guys were willing to settle for a tie and were going
to pick Detroit last week. Too bad they chickened out. RAP survived the Jets
scare while the Big E comfortably watched his Seahawks destroy the Cowboys.
This week, they are both playing teams that faced each other last Sunday night:
the E's taking the winners and RAP is taking the losers. We'll see if either
team falters this week.
Week 13 Results/Week 14: Obviously, both players
survived unlucky Week 13, otherwise there would not be a Week 14 report. There
could be a winner this week though as the Big E has gone with Seattle while
RAP has taken the Jets. Personally, I hope the Jets CRUSH the Bengals, but
that's another pool.
Week 12 Results/Week 13: RAP needed some last
minute efforts from the Saints to stay alive in the pool while the Big E was
able to go to bed @ the start of the 2nd half Sunday Night after he saw the
Bills weren't playing any better after halftime. No matter what happens this
weekend, both will remained tied as they are both figuring Detroit will make
it 0 for 12 this week. Will Week 13 prove to be lucky for the Lions?
Week 11 Results/Week 12: With just 2 players
left, I'm getting lazy. From here on out, I'll just update the sheet once
a week and I have hid most of the lines in the spreadsheet so that just
the two remaining players are listed. It's a good thing that RAP changed
his pick last week, otherwise the pool would be over and the Big E would
be the winner. The Big E must've been sweating some bullets before the turkey
came out of the oven as Detroit found yet another way to lose. This week,
both players are taking NFC West teams. With just 5 weeks left after this,
it is possible that each remaining week the two players can pick the same
team and end up tied for 1st.
Week 10 Results/Week 11: What another brutal
week! 9 players bit the dust, leaving only 2: the Big E and RAP. 1st one to
lose is the runner-up leaving the other guy as the last one standing. This
could very well be the 1st year the pool ends before the season does. This
Thanksgiving week, the Big E takes the Pack and RAP takes the Seahawks. I
wouldn't be surprised if RAP ends up trying to change his pick from the woods
before the Wednesday deadline. Late Wednesday Breaking News: As predicted
(or close to as predicted), RAP has changed his pick to Cleveland.
Week 10: Well, with 11 players left, the Packers
are the favorite pick for more than 50% of our players. Of the remaining 5
players, the votes are split up amongst 4 teams: the Broncos with 2 and 1
each for the Ravens, Eagles, and 49ers. After Sunday's game I, like many other
prominent football observers, have finally jumped off the Rob Johnson bandwagon.
You have to admit, though, that a large (although not majority) of his problems
have not been his fault: Worst Offensive Line in the NFL, plays coming in
late that he has to burn a timeout, only 1 option on a pass play (mainly
last season, concurred on by Eric Moulds). With that said, though, he's fragile
and stubborn (doesn't want to lower his completion %). I hope if he comes
back for the last 3-4 games of the season, he plays well enough to make him
trade-able, and then the Bills send him off. The next best option would be
to expose him to the expansion draft and he gets picked up by Houston. Next
on the wish list would be cutting him and taking the $5,000,000 hit vs revising
his contract for more years to lower the $11,000,000 salary cap hit. In all
this, if he doesn't play well enough (and Alex Van Pelt doesn't imitate Tom
Brady), the Bills will get a great draft pick and they should try and get
the best QB available, whether by trade or draft. While I liked Flutie while
he was leading Buffalo, I think his current stats are misleading: San Diego's
1st half schedule was MUCH easier than the second half's, San Diego has a
decent defense to keep the offense in the game, and they have probably the
NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year in their running back. Add that to the
fact that many defensive coaches have been able to spread the defense out
to make him less effective and I think all Doug would've done for the Bills
is get them 1 or 2 more wins, which would give them a worse draft spot.
Week 9 Results: We are now down to 11 players
as M2 and MTM bit the dust. I warned M2 that the Vikings were gonna lose,
but he didn't listen. WRK has the current longest winning streak at 6 weeks
and LRoy is at 5. The rest of the remaining players all got their 1st loss
in Week 6. With the season half over, Arizona, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh
are the only teams that have yet to be picked.
Week 9: Surprisingly out of the 8 players who
have 18 point favorite St. Louis still available, only 4 took them. That makes
St. Louis and New England co-favorites this week. I guess no one's really
impressed with the Bills. Rounding out the remaining 5 picks, it's 2 for
the Jets and 1 each for the Vikings, Raiders, and Bucs. I for one hope both
the Bills and the Panthers win their 2nd game of the season this weekend.
Week 8 Results: Easy come, easy go. KAB went
from being the only loss-less player to the only drop out last week, although
several players were biting their nails to the very end. From what I understand,
there were 5 exciting, down to the wire games on Sunday: Chicago beat Cleveland
in OT after being down 14 with 38 seconds to go in regulation, the Giants
fought back from being down 17 twice to beat the Cowboys in OT, the Saints
should've been 3rd and goal from the 2 with seconds left in the game but an
unsportsman like conduct penalty on top of off-setting unsportsman like conduct
penalties left them 3rd and goal from the 17, the Yankees took the lead in
the 8th with a Soriano homer only to have the Diamondbacks score two in the
bottom of the 9th off of Mr. Save, Mariano Rivera, and the Rochester Americans
beat the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks with 1 second left on Ot 3-2. Hey, I never
said all 5 were football games.
Week 8: Almost 50% of the remaining players
(6 out of 14) think Detroit is going to remain the only win-less team in
the league. Another almost 50% (again 6 out of 14) are split evenly between
the Dolphins over Carolina and the Giants over the Cowboys. 1 person feels
the Browns are not for real (or the Bears are) and 1 feels the Chargers will
have less problems with the Chiefs than they did with the Bills. My nephew,
KJP, who is a history teacher, didn't realize the Redskins made him history
the last two weeks.
Week 7 Results: 8 more dropped out of the pool
and KAB got his 1st loss of the year. Only 14 players left and all are one
loss away from getting bumped out. 6 former Bills fans must be glad that the
Bills still need to do better in special teams 'cause that's what lost the
game against San Diego. GM's late pick of da Bears paid off in OT and MTM
was glad he was the only one to pick the right New York team.
Week 7: It may be easier to do the write up
with less people in the pool, but it ain't fun when you're not one of them.
I've got all but GM's pick in (I hope he's reading this Thursday AM, otherwise
he'll get loss #2 and will be out) and the top teams are the Giants with 7
and the Chargers with 6. I just want to point out to those former Bills fans
that the last time the Bills were heavy underdogs in this pool, they won
thier 1st game of the season. Nothing personal, but I hope it happens again.
GM could make it a 7-7 tie, or he might decide to up the Broncos' talley
to 5. Check back after Thursday Night to see if he got a pick in. Late
Breaking News: I called GM Thursday AM and he answered the phone with 2 words:
Da Bears.
Week 6 Results: There's only one word for this
week: BRUTAL. Actually there are probably others, like SHITTY comes to mind,
but I'm trying to keep this a Family Oriented write-up. It all started Thursday
Night as 16 players lost with Jacksonville and 7 of those got knocked out
with their 2nd loss. Things only got worse Sunday as favorites were falling
left and right. If the Titans hadn't won their game in the last few seconds
with a field goal, ALL 39 remaining players would've suffered a loss. After
the dust had settled, 17 players got knocked out for the week and only KAB
is loss-less. We are down to 22 players now that "Red Sunday" is over.
Week 6: Well, well, well. It looks as though
there are a lot of people jumping off the Bills bandwagon just because they
are 0-4. 16 people (41%) picked the Jaguars to stomp the Bills on Thursday
Night. If Buffalo wins, we'll be down to 32 by Friday. The Saints are next
with 7 followed closely by 6 picking the Colts to take out some revenge on
the Patriots. 4 people think the Titans will make it 2 in a row while the
remaining 6 picks are split evenly between the Ravens and the Panthers.
Week 5 Results: And then there were 39. DS
is the latest victim as the Broncos lose to the Seahawks. I heard about the
idiot wide receiver on the Lions who didn't go out of bounds and time ran
out as they were driving for the winning touchdown. Then I got to see it on
"Prime Time" on Monday afternoon from 5-6. How many of you knew they repeat
Prime Time Mondays? Anyway I'm sure 16 players in this pool are very happy
this fool had a brain freeze. If Dallas loses to Washington tonight, Jimmy
the V will complete the 1st dozen that are out looking in.
Week 5: Man, what a tough week! Minnesota,
the team that let many (10) down in week 1, is the #1 pick in Week 5. Da
Bears are a close 2nd while 5 players think the Rams are gonna be 5-0. 2
players think Dallas is going to win on Monday Night (trust me, if you're
having trouble falling asleep after "Everyone Loves Raymond" tune into channel
13 and you'll be out by 10:00). In fact I have a quote from Zorro (aka Jimmy
the V) "Dallas is going to win CONVINCINGLY!"
Week 4 Results: Well, as Queen once said, "Another
one bites the dust." (It was Queen wasn't it?) JAM is the latest casualty
and at least 6 others have their 1st loss of the season. It is possible that
by Tuesday morning we will have lost 2 more, but it is just as possible that
it will be sunny and 95 in Western NY on Dec. 25, 2001.
Week 4: There aren't too many people left who
can take the Raiders with 12 more picks this week (15 last week). What are
those 14 waiting for? Dec. 2nd when they play Arizona? The Giants are next
with 9 picks, while the Dolphins and Eagles are popular with 6 players each.
The Rams got only 3 picks this week in what will probably be a run-a-way
Monday Night game while the 49ers got their 1st 2 picks of the year. The
Broncos, Jaguars, and Jets each have just one.
Week 3 Results: #$%&*! Colts. #$%&*!
RAP. I had originally picked the Falcons over the Cardinals then I decided
I couldn't pass up the Colts over the Bledsoe-less Patriots after RAP reminded
me that Drew was out. More than 25% of us got a loss last week (12 out of
47) and half of them were killers. We are down to 41 players still alive,
25 of which are guaranteed a week 5 pick.
Week 3: Here we go again. Last week, 2 of the
top 3 picked teams were right next to each other. This week, the top 2 are
side by side and neck to neck. After a slow start, the Eagles are the top
choice of the week with 16 while the Raiders, who had 10 picks before the
Eagles got their 1st, are at 15. There are 5 of us who picked the Payton Manning
led Colts over the "who knows who is Drew Bledsoe's backup" led Patriots.
The Jags have 4 fans rooting for them and 2 feel the Chargers are going to
be 3-0 strongly enough to pick them. Of the 5 teams that have 1 pick, only
the Jeff George-less Redskins were picked earlier in the season. And speaking
of the Redskins, either KAB is going to get his 1st loss of the season if
they beat the Chiefs or SM will be done for the season if the lose to the
Chiefs. Just a reminder to all my players, there are a couple of links below
that are to some pages that post the odds as early as Monday, so you don't
have to wait until the last minute to pick your team.
Week 2 (new) Results: And then there were 47
(and possibly 45 after MNF). Our 1st 3 cassualties are CL, BobKat, and DWE
(if memory serves me correctly, I believe DWE was a year 1 finalist). If Washington
pulls off an upset similar to the upsets we had Sunday, Zippy and RMM will
be out and only 1/2 the group would have 2 wins. As you can see, I have done
a 180 on the week naming convention and we are back in sync with the rest
of the world.
Week 2 (new): Per the Official NFL Website,
this is now Week 2 and the rescheduled games are Week 17. According to ESPN
and other sites, this is Week 3. Even though the NFL is calling this Week
2, this pool will refer to it as Week 3 because I don't want to change all
the bye information. Next week will be Week 4 and so on. The last week of
the season will be Week *2 as the bye information for San Diego shows.
Granted, we have more players than anytime before,
but I'm quite surprised at the number of people who think the Colts will
stomp on the Bills this week. Especially since this is Bills country. The
two night games are next in line with 10 picks for the Broncos and 8 picks
for the Packers. The Ravens are another hit this week with 6 while the rest
of the picks are onesy-twosy. DH, who has NEVER had a pick right in 2+ seasons
has the ballsiest pick of the week with Jacksonville over Tennessee. He also
got in his Week 4 pick a little early. I for one hopes he ends up using it.
Week 2 (old) Results: There is no need to say
what happened during Week 2. As far as the pool goes, all picks for Week 2
have been removed and those teams are eligible to be picked again in the future.
Week 2 (old): First of all I want to say that
there's a good chance that this week will be cancelled and I'll have to decide
what we do in that event. From what I have read on the web, many players and
coaches, like all Americans, are having difficulty concentrating on anything
else except these cowardly acts of Tuesday. The commissioner could make a
decision as early as Thursday, so by the time you are reading this it might
be ancient history.
Secondly I need to point out that there were 2 mistakes
last week, both of which were my fault and I have corrected them. With that
said, and IF week 2 goes according to schedule, there's a chance that we will
have 50 correct picks this week since there are no picks of teams going head
to head. Much to my surprise, the many Buffalo Bills fans in this pool have
abandoned their team in favor of the Miami Dolphins. While I am a Dolphins
fan #1, I am a Bills fan #2 and this is usually 1 of 2 weeks each season that
are tough for me. But I also know that I didn't want to touch this game with
a 10 foot pole, so I picked Carolina along with 5 others. Tennessee, the
team that Miami beat up last week, is the 2nd choice with 8 picks while the
Rams, who didn't exactly walk all over the Eagles, have as many picks as
the Panthers do. Speaking of the Eagles, I'm a little surprised that JM took
the Buccaneers over the Eagles after the trouble they had over the Cowboys,
especially since I know he's a BIG Dolphins Fan-Bills Hater.
Week 1 Results: What a killer week! In the
3 years this pool has been in existence, I don't think we've had a Week 1
like this. 14 people suffered their 1st loss of the year. One more non-win
and they are done. Gutsy pick of the week goes to JPM picking the Bengals.
I called up DH Monday morning to get his pick for Week 2 because I plan on
picking the team playing his team. DH has been knocked out of the pool each
year in Week 2 and this past Sunday made him 0 for 5. I had to talk him out
of picking San Diego this week, at least to give him a fighting chance.
Week 1: Here we are, week #1, and we have 3
players late. And people wonder why I want to limit this to 50 people. Hopefully,
at least 2 players plan on getting their picks to me Thursday. JWD is still
on vacation (and not with M2), so he might be the 1st player ever
to receive an automatic loss. The two hot picks are Baltimore and Minnesota,
each with 11. The Bays are next with Tampa at 8 and Green at 7. There is at
least 1 loser this week as DH took Washington and MNS took their opponents
San Diego. As predicted earlier in the email I sent out, RAP and I did some
lip-ripping of DWS and the T of T&CL in golf last night. Hopefully I'll
be able to predict 17 winners this season. Late Breaking News: I have all
the picks in now and Dean has dropped out and been replaced by JK. We also
have another guaranteed loser as JPM's Bengals face JWD's Patriots.
Links to some NFL Sites:
Nando
Times Sports
ESPN Sports Zone
NFL Official Page
USA
Today's NFL Page
USA Today's Sheridan's Odds Page
USA Today's Las Vegas Odds Page
Rochester
D&C
CNN/SI's NFL
Page
NFLTalk.com
CBS Sportsline
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