I'm almost done catching up the final tallies from last season so watch for those, but it's time to start again!
As usual there will be two separate competitions going on through the season. There will be the regular Weekly Pool where you pay in each week you play and we have a weekly winner. There will also be the Cumulative Pool which has a one time entry fee and runs all season with one winner at the end. Rules and information for each follow:
The Weekly Pool:
This contest is run week by week, each is a separate competition. You don't have to enter each one. Simply post your picks and pay your fee when you want to play.
Each week you want to play, post which team you think will win each game that week here in this thread. Then guess what the total combined score (TCS) of the two teams in the Monday Night game will be. (If there is not a Monday Night game then guess the TCS for whatever the final game being played that week is.) Send $5 to bookworm with your TCS in the donation comment. Please clearly indicate what week your payment and TCS is for such as "Week 1 TCS: 42" in the comment. Then sit back and watch how the games turn out.
The player who predicted the most correct winning teams wins that week and collects the pot of entry money. If there is a tie the winner will be the player who sent in the TCS prediction that was the closest to the actual total combined score of the game. TCS predictions are first come first claim. If someone else already guessed what you send in you will be asked to pick another score. (If you end up going to the tiebreaker and the other person who sent that TCS doesn't you will be allowed to use your original prediction.) Picks posted after the game has kicked off will most likely not be counted toward your score, so be sure to stay on top of things and get your entry in on time.
Be sure to remember to send your TCS prediction with your $5 entry fee! The scores for each week are tallied after the Monday Night game, so there will not be advance notification of potential ties and a last minute chance to get a tiebreaker sent in before the final game. Send it in at the beginning of the week so everyone has one and we don't need to do last minute scrambling to sort it out. If you do not end up sending in a TCS and you go to the tiebreaker, the other player will win by default no matter what their guess was. If all players in the tiebreaker fail to send in a TCS prediction they will have to split the prize money. But let's just avoid all that by always sending the TCS with the money, then we'll always be good to go.
The Cumulative Pool:
This contest is a supplement to the Weekly Pool. Anyone that wants to get in pays a one time entry fee of $10 to bookworm now and the person that has predicted the most total wins correctly at the end of the season wins the pot.
This allows every week to count for something. If you're just doing the Weekly Pool you either win or you lose, and if you lose there's no compensation. This can be very frustrating if you lose by only one or two games, or lose on the tiebreaker. You got so close, but you don't get anything to show for it. If you're in the Cumulative Pool, those close losses aren't in vain. They will be added up at the end of the season for the total win contest.
To play, each week you post the teams you think will win each game, just like in the Weekly Pool. The only difference is you don't send in a weekly fee with this one, this was a one time payment. You don't have to post picks each week if you don't want to for some reason, but be aware that because this is one continuous contest that runs through the entire season missing a week significantly lowers your chance of winning.
If you enter this contest and are also playing the Weekly Pool your picks for that will count for this. Unless you want to make a different set of picks for this contest for some reason. If so, be sure to clearly indicate which picks are for which pool.
If you are just playing the Cumulative Pool and not the Weekly, please clearly designate your picks as "Cumulative Pool only" when you post them. This will help me keep things straight when doing the scoring.
If you want to participate in the Weekly Pool no notice is required, you can simply pay your fee and post your picks when we get started. (Week 1 begins September 8th)
If you want to participate in the Cumulative Pool you must announce your intention to play and send in your entry fee by season kickoff. You can't enter after the season starts.
You can participate in either or both of these contests, they are completely separate. Let me know if there are any questions. This adds some extra fun to the football season, I hope we have good participation.
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not ignorance. It's that they know so much that isn't so." ---President Ronald Reagan
MericaBlog is the new joint Tumblr used by me and a couple friends.
Technically it's never too late, but since there's only one more game left most would consider it too late for this week since it's impossible to win. You can jump in starting next week though if you want; just send me the money when I post the next game list and then post your picks.