I have not participated recently, but I still like the contests. I have
not entered because I did not have the basic knowledge of the teams
making it just a wild guess, not an informed guess. But that could
change, and the list and the contest are the last holdovers for me.
Remember when USCHO was a joke and the list was the only smart
discussion around? I also remember a contest years ago when LSSU won it
all, and the ONLY matchup I got wrong was the final. And I lost out
because someone with more wrong choiceswho picked LSSU, the Cinderalla
team, won it all. It kind of soured me forever on weighted contests.
If you want to simplify things, have a regional contest where you get
one point for each correct pick. Then have those points carry over to a
national contest of the final four. That is, if your horse is gone, you
get a second chance to pick a winning ride. Maybe have those picks count
for more. Or even run a separate contest just on the FF.
Tom Rowe
UWSP Home of the Division III Pointers.
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The single biggest problem with communication
is the illusion it is taking place. -- G.B. Shaw
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On 3/30/2018 4:58 PM, Mark Lewin wrote:
> The contest results for the Regional Contests will be sent out later
> tonight.
>
> Before the season comes to an end in just over a week and people are
> still paying attention, I wanted to solicit opinions about this
> contest (or contests) to decide what to do next.
>
> As you know, I've been running 3 contests since 1998, one based on
> picking winners, a second based on winners plus goal differential and
> a third based on winners plus how close you can pick the winners and
> losers scores. During the intervening years, I had three more
> contests which mimicked contest 1,2 and 3 (and imaginatively named
> contests 4,5 and 6) and were scored as 1,2 and 3 except for no
> weighting of winning picks in later rounds.
>
> This year, I introduced a total of 12 new contests, which consisted of
> contests 1,2 and 3 for each of the 4 regionals.
>
>
> I started this more than 20 years ago when my (then) boss became
> enamored with spreadsheets and decided that all data communication in
> our department should be done via spreadsheets. I learned the basics
> of Lotus 1-2-3 but decided I needed a project to motivate me to learn
> more than just the bare basics of spreadsheets. I have now learned
> all I need to know about spreadsheets. And besides, I've been retired
> for 14 years so delving deeper into MS Excel is no longer required.
>
> When this first started in 1998, I would get 50-60 contestants. For
> the past few years, its been about 20.
>
> So, what is it that you, as contestants want to see for the
> future? Shall I continue with just contest 1,2 and 3? Shall I bring
> back 4,5 and 6? What do people think about the separate contests for
> the regionals? Or, is it time to retire the whole thing?
>
> Please pipe up and let me know your opinion. You can reply via
> Hockey-L if you're interested in starting a public conversation. Feel
> free to email me privately if you want ([log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>)
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