THE SUPER BOWL IN SNOW CITY
February 4th, 2011THE YEAR ENDS WITH 3 HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCHUPS
It all comes down to the Super Bowl. The Conference Championship Round proved the brilliance of the Savants and Guest Pickers alike. Of the 8 pickers among Savants and Guest Pickers, 7 of the 8 finished the week +50 (sorry Frank). Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to 2 GPs despite their perfect week. Greg Hobbs ended John Guy’s magical season-long run by picking the lower passing yards number of Jay Cutler. In the lower half of the bracket, Michael Thomas advanced against Jim MacDonough with the lower passing yards guess as well. We thank Jay Cutler for only playing half the game to avoid any potential math questions by passing for a number in between our GP’s guesses. On the Savants side of things, who would have ever guessed that Dick would be leading the pack at +150. Not any of the Savants - that’s for sure. All Dick has to do is hold Rand off this weekend to make amends for a dismal regular season by capturing the playoff’s crown. And, what do Rand and Dick do to keep things exciting - yep, they take opposite picks. Frank slipped a little last week meaning Tom has the opportunity (that should not be interpretted as the ability however) to pass Frank for 3rd place. And part II, what to Tom and Frank do to keep things exciting, yep, they take opposite picks as well. There is a chance Rand and Frank can switch places between 2nd and 3rd, but who cares. With our usual picks lunch snowed out in the beautiful winter wonderland known as Dallas, we have been relegated to trash talking via email. The Score on the emails: Dick 174 sent emails, all others combined 14 sent emails.
Here are the rules for this weekend: The GP who beats their opponent WINS. Greg seems confident as he heads out of town that he’ll take the crown. Little does he know that Michael is ready to go - and Michael put his entire 50 on Greg’s Pack. Greg put 40 on his Pack. Will Greg’s strategy of 10 on the Over impact the final? We’ll see. Ties will be broken in favor of the most right answers to three tiebreaker questions. This week’s tiebreaker questions are as follows: (i) first team to call a timeout, (ii) team to call for the first challenge, and (iii) result of the first challenge: overturned or stands.
THE FINALS:
#3 Michael Thomas(Dallas CC, Dallas, TX) vs #4 Greg Hobbs(Greenville CC, Greenville, SC)
Michael: 50 on Green Bay -2.5 +++ The Pack does it with the following 3 tiebreakers: (i) Green Bay +++ The Pack needs an offense timeout in the 1st Qtr, (ii) Pittsburgh XXX GB Challenges, and (iii) stands +++ and GB challenges poorly. Overall +50 and 2-1 on Tiebreakers
Greg: 40 on Green Bay -2.5 (Greg stays true to his Pack) +++ The Pack rewards Greg and 10 on Pittsburgh/Green Bay Over 44.5 +++ The Over wins also with the following 3 tiebreakers: (i) Pittsburgh XXX GB with the first timeout, (ii) Green Bay +++ GB makes the only challenge of the game, and (iii) overturned XXX but loses the challenge. Overall +50 and 1-2 on Tiebreakers
ALL HAIL MICHAEL THOMAS THE GUEST PROGNOSTICATOR CHAMPION OF THE 2010 SEASON AND PLAYOFFS (2011)
THE SAVANTS:
Tom (-50): 50 on Green Bay -2.5 (Tom picking the Packers did not sink them, they must be for real) +++ After a cold start Tom gets back to even in the playoffs - overall +0
Frank (+10): 50 on Pittsburgh +2.5 (Frank ditches the 4-corners defense to go mano a mano with Tom) XXX Frank goes down with the Steelers - overall -40
Rand (+70): 50 on Pittsburgh/Green Bay Under 44.5 (Rand takes the other side of Dick’s Over pick - not so much that he likes the pick, but he’s playing for first place) XXX Rand goes down with the under - but hangs on to 2nd place - overall +20
Dick (+150): 50 on Pittsburgh/Green Bay Over 44.5 (no 4-corners defense to protect his lease as Dick steps out with 50 on the over - a good pick, maybe too good of a pick). +++ Dick wins the playoff portion of the season by winning each pick in the playoffs - overall +200
Overall Playoff Totals: I thought it made sense to bring this computation back as requested by an unnamed GP earlier this year. So far the the GP’s have made 23 picks in the playoffs and have a total of -90 (an avg. -3.9 per pick). The Savants have a playoff total of + 180 over 12 picks (an avg. +15 per Savant pick).
The Sports Savants do not gamble with real money and do not endorse, recommend or promote doing so. The dollar figures above are in “pretend” money, as a way of measuring our success in the game. Not only is gambling illegal in many jurisdictions, it is also pretty dumb. In the end, the house always wins. That’s why the house has gold plated ceilings, dancing girls, magic shows and enormous fountains out front.
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