AFSN Playoff Pool 2003
Standings
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AFSN Playoff Pool Rules

Matt's Message
Unless I say otherwise, the pool participants I refer to live in Central Illinois and work for State Farm.

02/01/04 10:45 PM (after the Super Bowl)

New England squeaks out another Super Bowl win, and Michael James (Humble, TX) wins the 2003 AFSN Playoff Pool! With his victory, Michael becomes the all-time Playoff Pool money leader and moves up to 8th on the overall pool money list.

Congratulations to all the winners, including Scott "Stallion" Zimmerman (WI) who "won" last place in a landslide.

Place	Player	Prize
1st	Michael James	$ 90
2nd	Sally Wilson	70
3rd	Anne Blake*	50
4th	Tom Reiter*	20
Last	Scott Zimmerman	5
Total		235

* Anne Blake (Humble, TX) won the tie-breaker for 3rd place over Tom Reiter.

From the AFSN Playoff Pool Rules: In the event of a tie between players who are due money, the following tie-breakers will be used in this order:

1. The team that assigns the most points to the Super Bowl winner. (Example: Bert and Ernie are tied at the end of the Super Bowl. The Minnesota Vikings won the Super Bowl. Bert assigned 9 points to the Vikings. Ernie assigned 5 points to the Vikings. Bert wins the tie-breaker.)
    
2. The team that assigns the most points to the Super Bowl loser. (If Bert and Ernie had both assigned 9 points to the Vikings in the example above, this second tie-breaker would be used.)

Matt's Message Archive

 
Official Standings
Prizes based on these standings
Sorted by Total column (total points earned)

* Excluding the Monkey
Download the Standings spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel format, approximately 120 KB)

 
For Analysis (Geeks) Only
Sorted by In (total points assigned to remaining teams) and Out (total points assigned to eliminated teams) columns

 
The Monkey Entry

My wife, Tracie, and I went to Miller Park Zoo (Bloomington, IL). We blind-folded a monkey and had him pick team names and point values out of two hats. Who will beat the monkey? More importantly, who will lose to the monkey?

Well, the "monkey" part of the story isn't true, but the rest is. Would you have been better off randomly assigning point values? We'll find out!

 
Bracket

from CBS SportsLine

 
Matt's Message Archive
Unless I say otherwise, the pool participants I refer to live in Central Illinois and work for State Farm.

01/18/04 11:57 PM (after CAR vs. PHI)

It's a tired cliché, but year after year it's proven true -- defense wins championships. Look at the last three Super Bowl champions: Tampa Bay, New England, and Baltimore. And now it's Carolina versus New England in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Also proven true today -- if you win the turnover battle in the NFL, you'll win the game.

If you like the mystery of not knowing how you'll finish, stop reading now. If you would like to know how you'll finish depending on who wins the Super Bowl, read the updated Looking Ahead web page.

The bracket has also been updated.

The top 4 finishers and last place are paid:

Place	Prize
1st	$ 90
2nd	70
3rd	50
4th	20
Last	5
Total	235

01/18/04 5:45 PM (after IND vs. NE)

The Colts, like my beloved Vikings, just cannot win the big game. The Playoff Pool picture is starting to come into focus. Michael James (Humble, TX) is in control, but the rest of the "money spots" will be greatly affected by tonight's NFC Championship game.

If you like the mystery of not knowing how you'll finish, stop reading now. If you would like to know how you'll finish depending on who wins the Super Bowl, read the new Looking Ahead web page.

01/11/04 7:35 PM (after GB vs. PHI)

An off-season of what-ifs for the Packers, losing in OT to Philly. Steve Hayes (Traverse City, MI) is your new leader. But several people are in good position, having given all four remaining teams relatively high marks: Michael James (Humble, TX), Brian Necessary, Greg Rueter, Jeff Miller (Bloomington, IL), John Winstead, and others.

The bracket has also been updated. The 1 and 3 seeds move on in both conferences.

01/11/04 3:10 PM (after IND vs. KC)

Jim Johnston (WI) fell all the way to 18th, even below the Monkey. Again, his NFC-heavy entry did not help. But with GB vs. PHI this afternoon, everything could change again, especially if GB pulls the upset. Meanwhile, some new names have surfaced at the top of the standings: Greg Rueter, Steve Hayes (Traverse City, MI), Tim McShane, and some familiar names from the AFSN regular season football pool -- Michael James (Humble, TX), Anne Blake (Humble, TX), and Roosevelt Moore. Michael and Anne are neighbors. Any side bet we should know about?

Everyone has paid, so the payout is official. There are 47 people participating in the pool and $235 up for grabs.

Place	Prize
1st	$ 90
2nd	70
3rd	50
4th	20
Last	5
Total	235

01/10/04 10:35 PM (after TEN vs. NE)

Jim Johnston's (WI) NFC-heavy entry hurt him tonight. Meanwhile, Anne Blake (Humble, TX), Brad Cychosz (Milwaukee, WI), Sally Wilson, and Brian Parker move up to the top four spots.

01/10/04 7:55 PM (after CAR vs. STL)

Jim Johnston (WI) continues to shine! If GB beats PHI tomorrow, like many experts have predicted, Jim would be assured of having his 11 or 12 in the Super Bowl.

In second place? The Monkey!

01/04/04 6:35 PM (after DEN vs. IND)

Several people gave DEN 10, 11, or even 12 points. What was supposed to be one of the best games of Wild Card Weekend turned out to be a rout.

The updated standings are below with two more enhancements. (1) The teams are listed at the top and bottom of the spreadsheet to improve readability. Thanks to my wife, Tracie, for the idea. (2) An "Out" column was added. The Out column is the total number of points assigned to the teams that are out of the playoffs. Early on, this is a better indication of who is in good position to win the pool. A second spreadsheet, sorted by the Out column, has been added below. Thanks to Mike Hennings for the idea.

The bracket has also been updated.

01/04/04 3:50 PM (after SEA vs. GB)

What a game! Jim Johnston (WI) has jumped out to the early lead by giving CAR 11 and the victorious GB 12. But like the early leader in a long distance race, will he and those two teams exhaust themselves early and fade at the end? We'll see.

New Features

At the bottom of the spreadsheet are these four new features, highlighted in green: (1) Average Points (2) Average Entry (3) Lowest Possible Score and (4) Highest Possible Score.

Looking at Average Points and Average Entry... As expected, GB received a higher number of points from most of you than maybe the odds would say they deserve. On average, they were assigned 8. The favorite to win the Super Bowl is NE, then PHI and STL.

If Denver wins tonight, Jim Johnston will have attained the highest possible score for Round 1 -- 42 points. Clint Reiter currently has the lowest possible score -- 6 points.

01/03/04 10:05 PM (after DAL vs. CAR)

Jim Johnston (WI) has Carolina on his mind. He gave the Panthers more points then anyone else (except the Monkey) and it paid off tonight. But can they beat the Rams next weekend?

01/03/04 7:20 PM (after TEN vs. BAL)

Your early (very early) leaders are Brian Parker and Scott Zimmerman (WI). Jim Sipes has no 2 and two 4's -- IND and CAR. Whichever team goes the farthest will be reassigned 2 points.