June 25, 2013

The 9th Annual chicobangs Memorial SpoFi CFL Pick 'Em: Football in June, you say? But I've only just finished pushing the iceberg off Mama's front porch! How shall I ever clear enough room for twelve Saskatchewan farmboys to rumble 110 yards for a shot at a rouge? Worry not, dear friends: all you need is your trusty Internet connection and half a brain (0.487 brains CDN) to make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 10:06 PM - 18 comments

THE PICK 'EM - What we do

Neither floods in the west nor mayoral crack scandals in the east shall stay the CFL prognosicator from his (or her, hi Andie!) swiftly appointed rounds! Except this new job of mine is a time suck so that's why this is up so late. But there's football happening, like, THIS WEEK, and what better way to take your mind off your mayor's IQ than picking the outcome of the weekly three-down bash?

THE SEASON - When we do it

The season kicks off this Friday night and runs for 19 weeks through the summer. There are generally four games per week, mostly running from Thursday to Sunday.

If you're in Canada, you'll find the games on TSN. If you're in the States, the occasional game is available on the NFL Network, and in the past all games appeared on ESPN3, but they don't seem to have released a confirmed broadcast sked yet. And if you're somewhere else, you'll have to resort to XM or Sirius on the satellite radio dial.

THE RULES - How we do it

Here's how she works. You pick who you think will win, and by how much. You then get points based on the result:

  • - Picked the winner? You get 1 point.
  • - Picked the winner, and a spread within the Margin of Error? You get 2 points.
  • - Picked the winner, and you nailed the spread right on? You get 3 points.
  • - Didn't pick the winner, but nailed the spread right on? You get 1 point.

What's the Margin of Error?

It's a window around the spread that's defined as

spread - round(0.3 * spread) <= Margin of Error <= spread + round(0.3 * spread)

So you can get rewarded for being close to the spread even if you're not spot-on. The bigger the spread, the bigger the margin of error, so you don't have to be as accurate when predicting a blowout as you would when predicting a close game. Here are some examples:

Actual Spread Margin Starts at Margin Ends at
111
435
759
11814
201426

So if you picked Toronto by 15, here's how you'd fare given certain outcomes:

OutcomeYour score
Toronto by 202 points (winner + spread within MoE)
Toronto by 101 point (winner only)
Toronto by 153 points (winner + nailed spread)
Hamilton by 151 point (nailed spread only)
Hamilton by 430 points (and deservedly so)

Any questions?

THE GAMES, WEEK ONE - Where we start

In lieu of attempting to sum up each team's status in a single sentence, for this opening week I'm just linking to season preview pages for each of 'em.

All times are EDT.

Montreal Alouettes (Preview) @ Winnipeg Blue Bomders (Preview) - Thursday, June 27, 9:00pm

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Preview) @ Toronto Argonauts (Preview) - Friday, June 28, 7:00pm

B.C. Lions (Preview) @ Calgary Stampeders (Preview) - Friday, June 28, 10:00pm

Saskatchewan Roughriders (Preview) @ Edmonton Eskimos (Preview) - Saturday, Jue 29, 3:30pm

Good luck!

posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:06 PM on June 25, 2013

Montreal by 11
Toronto by 8
B.C. by 3
Edmonton by 6

posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:39 PM on June 25, 2013

Montreal by 20

Toronto by 7

Calgary by 7

Sask by 5

posted by cixelsyd at 11:25 PM on June 25, 2013

Canadians, eh? Montreal by 14. You have the Queen on your currency, and so do we. Toronto by 11. We play pointy ended ball sports, and so do you. BC by 7. But there the similarities end. Edmonton by 11. Except for sharing the legend that is Mike Pyke.

posted by owlhouse at 11:58 PM on June 25, 2013

Montreal by 22
Toronto by 5
BC by 10
Saskatchewan by 3

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 08:35 AM on June 26, 2013

the Queen on your currency

Princess Beatrice currently helping design the new US 1000 dollar bill.

posted by beaverboard at 09:44 AM on June 26, 2013

Yes! I am ready to defend my title. Today's selections are brought to you by a 1972 penny, a 2004 dime, and a TI-83 calculator circa 1996.

Winnipeg by 8
Toronto by 11
BC by 3
Saskatchewan by 8

posted by bender at 10:02 AM on June 26, 2013

Montreal by 16 Toronto by 6 Calgary by 3 Edmonton by 7

posted by goddam at 10:20 AM on June 26, 2013

Montreal by 18

Toronto by 4

British Columbia by 6

Saskatchewan by 4

posted by tommybiden at 11:18 AM on June 26, 2013

Since this Pick Em is one of this site's strongest traditions I figured it would be fitting if we remembered the past Pick Em stand outs. I was able to find final standings information back through 2006. I found the thread for 2005 here, but it does not contain any information.

Here are the past champions and Costanza winners from 2006-2012.

2012
Champion: Bender
Constanza: Reever and argoal

2011
Champion: Reever
Costanza: tommytrump

2010

Champion: tommytrump
Costanza: cixelsyd

2009

Champion: MrFrisby
Costanza: Ying Yang Mafia

2008

Champion: tommytrump
Costanza: Monica Poland

2007

Champion: MrFrisby
Costanza: apoch

2006
Champion: DrJohnEvans
Costanza: Spitztengle

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 02:17 PM on June 26, 2013

Well done! I have all this on file somewhere, but I'd have to crack open my old PC to find 2005 and 2004.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 04:32 PM on June 26, 2013

I still dispute the questionable logic that led to argoal and I sharing the Constanza but I've had some time to get over it. Time heals all wounds.

My week one picks:

Montreal by 17 Toronto by 7 BC by 6 Saskatchewan by 8

posted by Reever at 06:37 PM on June 26, 2013

monty by 7

ARGOS by 3

cal by 3

sasky by 2

posted by argoal at 09:41 PM on June 26, 2013

Montreal by 17

Toronto by 11

Calgary by 4

Edmonton by 4

Shame it doesn't look like I'll get to see Cory Boyd up there this season. I did a 2010 feature with him, about his not playing while in Denver in 2008 and out of football in 2009 before going to Toronto, when I was editor of his hometown newspaper.

posted by jjzucal at 10:44 PM on June 26, 2013

Al's by 10

Ham by 11

Cal by 7

Sask by 4

posted by JPR at 01:52 PM on June 27, 2013

Montreal by 17

Toronto by 22

Calgary by 7

Sask by 3

posted by andiemgarcia at 03:42 PM on June 27, 2013

I've won this thing twice? Well I'll be darned.

The season kicks off this Friday night ...

...Montreal Alouettes (Preview) @ Winnipeg Blue Bomders (Preview) - Thursday, June 27, 9:00pm

Nice!

Toronto by 6

B.C. by 3

Edmonton by 10

posted by MrFrisby at 01:16 PM on June 28, 2013

AAARRRRGGGHHHH I was the equivalent of "on another planet" last week. Looks like I'll have to take this year off, but watch out next season when I "unretire".

posted by Howard_T at 06:42 PM on July 01, 2013

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