as a mature person, and not one to upset the contest itself, i made a silent complaint from week 1; was told (by jack) that there was nothing that could be done about it; kept quiet all this time, and now that it is over, i feel i must blast the way that contest was run.
it was too late. the rules had been posted for over 5 weeks. you had the option of playing or not playing. you contacted me after the contest had already started and by then it was too late to make changes. had you said something before the contest had started, it might have been a different story.
1. all solid lines were added a + 1/2 point hook just because someone felt that they did not want to see any ties.
that's how we've been running contests for over three years now and never had a complaint before. we prefer to avoid ties, if possible, and that's why we play this way. it helps to cut down on confusion, there are less mistakes, and it runs smoother this way and we'll continue running them this way in the future.
2. pre-sunday games were not offered because it is too much trouble to visually check the time sequence of postings, or, if computer time/date "cheating" was possible, it meant that one of many of mj's staff had to manually "lock" the thread just before a thursday or sat. game, and finally,
wrong! we started the games on sunday to help accomadate as many people as possible. some people can't get their bets in on thursday. we open contests and close them all at one time. had we offered thursday games and saturday games, i'll guarantee some would have played the games on sunday, whether they did it on purpose or not. we avoided any confusion again.
3. despite my public plea (once) to have the standings in order of standings, they were left in alphabetical order, yet they were done so for the leaders, meaning that is was actually an extra step to "isolate" the leaders standings, as opposed to showing them all. this presentation is essential to make us see where we are in relation to others and try to improve our standing, sort of our challenge, whether we are in the middle or trying to avoid the bottom.
i thought Tiger did a great job with the grading and the standings and i was not about to critize the job he was doing. i was satisfied, everybody else was satisified, everybody knew where they stood in the standings at all times and the grading was timely. geez, this is nit-picking, no?
it took an outsider's extra effort to make his own database and present us with the standings in that order (goofy). thank you, goofy.
thank you goofy. we all appreciate the effort. sincerely.
fellows: the distortion created by the 1/2 point hook is app. -110 +100, or a 210 difference between those on one side or the other of that tie, then multiply that by all the people who chose sides in those games and you have a sizable difference at the end of the season. some contestants got "creamed", while others benefitted to the hilt, while others fell on both sides fairly even.
if the line was moved a half point and you thought it was an advantage to go the other way, why didn't you? everybody had the same lines and it couldn't have been more fair than it was. i'm sure it helped you out some weeks as well. i'll bet the lines we had posted every week were offered at many, many different books out there. who's to say we changed any lines a half point? not to mention, a lot of times the line moved at the books 2 to 3 points, sometimes, after we put the lines up. what about that? no complaints there?
how many times did it happen this year? i have no idea, nor care to dig into it. suffice it so say that it happened many times. it happened enough times to distort my final standing by a few hundred (short), as well as a few others, just like a few others had a few hundred "added". i am sure i am not the only one fell on either side of this category.
hindsight
i for one, not every week, but some weeks, break my a... handicapping, only to find that at the time of posting, the 3 became a 3.5, etc. i just have to go with my original picks, and opposed to starting over to see if the 1/2 point should warrant skipping it, and then, loooking for another pick at the last minute.
you should have looked at the lines when they were posted. it's not like they were posted on sunday. you had several days to see the lines before the games started.
The practice of adding a half-point to every game so as to avoid ties is ridiculous. It serves no purpose whatsoever (since contestants can still deadlock), and causes exactly the type of problems pep mentions, where, after days of handicapping, you suddenly have to readjust because you're forced to give the hook.
it avoids pushes, is easier to grade and has never caused any problems before. we put up the lines by wednesday so people would have ample time to handicap their games and get their selections posted. sometimes the line changed because of an injury, or whatever, as much as 3 points. we didn't change lines once they were posted. everybody worked from the same lines and it couldn't have been more fair. what's next? complain i use CRIS's lines instead of SIA's. this is nit-picking, man.
Absolutely nothing wrong with trying to improve on anything, thats in need of it.
you're right and i will keep this incident in mind when posting lines for future contests. but, i don't think it's in need of improving and if no more then 5-10 (which we don't have yet) complain, i can't see any reason on fixing anything.
Contests are all scams stay away from them and play against the man.
get the fvck out of here with a comment like that. you're the first person to EVER refer to me or anything i have done in my life as a scam. i should kick your ass out of here for saying it.
As I said, regardless, this thread is ridiculous.
thank you!
to a first time visitor, this thread makes me look like a crook. who gives a shit if we put up lines that are 5 points off? this was a fair contest and i am offended, period.
next year, join the hilton contest, cause next year, i still won't be the hilton.
