Table of Contents

The Come-On

The Rules

How Do I Sign Up?

We Do It All For You

No Experience Necessary

Get Your Picks In On Time

Any Other Questions?

Last Things Last
 

The Come-On

You're about to be offered the thrill of a lifetime -- the chance to participate in the 2004 Football Pool! The annual Football Pool has a long and glorious history going back to the Purdue University Computer Science Department in the late 1970's; it moved to Portland (along with the Tolopkas) in 1981.

The Rules

The Football Pool is really divided up into two separate (and non-equal) competitions: the Weekend Competition and the Monday Night Competition. For the Weekend Competition, you must choose the winning teams in the weekend NFL contests. You score one point for each one that you get correct. For the Monday Night Competition, you must choose the final score of the game. You get 20 points for selecting the correct team as the winner, and anywhere from 0 to 80 additional points depending on how close your predicted score came to the actual score. (Be warned that you really don't want to know the details of the algorithm used. Suffice it to say that several crack numerical analysts at Purdue University graduated later than they might have otherwise.) Thus, you score somewhere between 0 and 100 points for the Monday night game. (Actually, you get a 20 point bonus for correctly predicting a tie, so a score of 120 is theoretically possible.)

Each participant gets to play in both Competitions; the scores of the Competitions are kept separately. At season's end, the top two finishers in the Weekend Competition and the top finisher in the Monday Night Competition are declared the winners, and collect free pizza, temporary possession of the magnificent trophy, laser-engraved awards, and (most importantly) bragging rights for the next year.

Spouses and other family participants are welcome; sign them up the same way you sign up for yourself.  It's also OK to invite friends to participate, but please don't post the URL on a message board or otherwise invite the whole world since (a) I don't really have time to administer that many players, and (b) I prefer not having to flee to the Caribbean because I'm running an illegal gambling operation.

Sounds Great; How Do I Sign Up???

• After you finish reading these rules, head to the enrollment form (which you can also reach off the FBP Home Page), fill it in, and submit it. (Submitting it is easy; just press the button on the form when you're through filling it in.)
• To enroll, you'll need to choose a password (up to 10 characters) that you'll use to identify yourself to the Pool. Choose something you'll have an easy time remembering, but don't choose the same password you use for any of your real computing needs since the Pool is not secure. Try to remember your password; it makes the FBP Commissioner really cranky when you forget it. Passwords are case-sensitive, so be sure to remember where you've used upper and lower case letters.
• You'll also be prompted for your Internet mail address (for example, tolopka@home.com) so that the FBP Commissioner can communicate with you as needed. If you want to use an Intel EMail address, be sure to use the Internet form of the address (for example, Joseph.K.Blow@intel.com).
• Each week, you need to be sure you've made your picks before the first game played that week. IMPORTANT: If the first game of the week is played on Thursday or Saturday, you must make all your picks for that week before that first game is played. Weeks with early games are marked so you'll notice (at least, that's the plan!).
• To make picks, select the appropriate link off the FBP Home Page, fill in the form, and submit it. As noted above, you'll need to use the password you supplied at enrollment. Please double-check that your password is correct before submitting your picks since it is not checked at the time of submittal (that'll happen when I get around to the much-fabled "active database" software rewrite).
• Check the Official Standings that get posted following the end of the Monday Night game each week. (Strictly speaking, you don't have to do this, but then how will you know whether to chortle in paroxysms of joy or gnash your teeth in the depths of despair?)

We Do It All For You

• See or print a schedule for any week in the season, so you can plan ahead.
• See final scores of any past week.
• See the computer-predicted score for each game being played in a given week. The Pool Predictor account in the Standings will show you how well the prediction algorithm is performing throughout the season. (Be aware that Pool Predictor has never won a title, so beware of trusting it too far!)
• Get current team stats (team record, total offensive/defensive production, Pool Predictor's ranking and relative strength).
• Use the "pick ahead" feature which allows you to make picks for any week of the season that has not yet been played. If you're going to be out of the office on a job, or on vacation, or whatever, make your picks ahead of time. You can always modify your picks up until the day that games are being played for that week.

No Experience Necessary

• Manfred Koch finished 1st in 1983, having never watched American football.
• The "Home Teams" account, which simply chooses a 17-16 score each week, was actually the high-scorer in the Monday Night competition in 1985 and 1996 (we decided not to mount a pizza on the disk drive).
• In 1988, Michael Swieczkowski won the Monday Night competition while participating from Germany.
• In 2003, Paul Chatterton outlasted online Pool Predictor account by only 5 points for the Monday Night championship (which says more about our football prognostication capabilities than it does about the brilliance of the Predictor algorithm).
• Amy Paschal won the Monday Night competition in 1995, and after reading an early version of this document that omitted her contributions to FBP history wrote to say:

"I'm hurt that you didn't mention me under the no experience necessary section. I consider myself as clueless as anyone."

The defending champions are Burzin Daruwala (first in the Weekend Competition) and Paul Chatterton (Monday Competition). Burzin finished with the second highest Weekend score in FBP history, while Paul squeaked out a come-from-behind victory over Pool Predictor in the final week of the season. (The Predictor has vowed revenge since it has never won an FBP title.) All of which suggests that they'll likely be formidable competition again this year.  We'll undoubtedly see the annual renewal of the Tom Dingwall / Janet Tolopka arch-rivalry, as well as the perennial assault on the top of the standings launched by the dynamic Richardson duo (Pat & Priscilla).  And with any luck, we may once again have participants in Boston, Maryland, Ohio, and Kentucky.

Get Your Picks In On Time

If you don't get your picks in on a given week, your score for the week is 90% of the median of the scores of the players who do pick. That way, missing a week doesn't put you at too big a disadvantage while not offering any advantage, either.

The NFL season starts Thursday, 8 September 2005 and runs for 17 weeks. Picks can be made beginning immediately and must be made by 5 PM PDT on Thursday September 8th. You can still join the pool after the season has begun (you start with the median score of the players already enrolled). Encourage other folks to join in; the more, the merrier (and the more patsies there are to pay for the pizza!).

Any Other Questions?

Last Things Last

Good Luck (you'll need it),

Steve Tolopka
FBP Commissioner

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