Final Standings

Here they are. I LOVE the fact that the newleywed finished tied for second. Thanks for a great year.

Kubatski: 843
Carmen: 827
Ronnie "Butters" Rowe: 827
Kubatski Sr: 822
Marty: 749
Murray: 740
Princess G: 736
Paulie: 725
Scott: 705
McClain: 654
Jeff: 644
Wild Bill: 644

Standings (January 2nd)

Here are the standings as the last day of NFL starts. The final standings will include today's games and our pre-season NFL picks. I've started working with those, but I haven't put any of the points into the standings yet. It could still swing this final standings quite a bit.

Kubatski - 813
Carmen - 799
Kubatski Sr - 791
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe - 788
Marty - 717
Murray - 709
Princess G - 703
Paulie - 698
Scott - 676
McClain -632
Jeff - 618
Wild Bill - 617

NFL (January 3)

We agreed to predict out the NFL regular season when we made pre-season picks so here are the final five games of 2009.

Sunday, January 3

Pittsburgh Steelers (+0.5) @ Miami Dolphins

Actual Score: Steelers 30-24
Predictions:
Carmen: Miami 24-21 (0pts)
Jeff: NONE
Kubatski: Steelers 23-21 (3pts)
Kubatski Sr: Steelers 27-23 (3pts)
Marty: Steelers 21-18 (3pts)
McClain: NONE
Murray: Steelers 24-21 (3pts)
Paulie: NONE
Princess G: Steelers 20-17 (3pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Steelers 23-20 (3pts)
Scott: Steelers 27-24 (3pts)
Wild Bill: Steelers 27-17 (3pts)

New England Patriots (+6.5) @ Houston Texans

Actual Score: Texans 34-27
Predictions:
Carmen: Texans 27-21 (1pt)
Jeff: NONE
Kubatski: Texans 23-17 (1pt)
Kubatski Sr: Texans 24-20 (1pt)
Marty: Patriots 27-20 (0pts)
McClain: NONE
Murray: Texans 28-17 (3pts)
Paulie: NONE
Princess G: Texans 20-17 (1pt)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Texans 27-24 (1pt)
Scott: Texans 24-20 (1pt)
Wild Bill: Texans 21-17 (1pt)

Philadelphia Eagles (+3.5) @ Dallas Cowboys

Actual Score: Cowboys 24-0
Predictions:
Carmen: Cowboys 31-30 (1pt)
Jeff: NONE
Kubatski: Eagles 24-23 (0pts)
Kubatski Sr: Eagles 31-24 (0pts)
Marty: Eagles 34-21 (0pts)
McClain: NONE
Murray: Eagles 31-24 (0pts)
Paulie: NONE
Princess G: Cowboys 24-21 (1pt)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Cowboys 30-27 (1pt)
Scott: Eagles 31-28 (0pts)
Wild Bill: Cowboys 27-17 (3pts)

Green Bay Packers (+3.5) @ Arizona Cardinals

Actual Score: Packers 33-7
Predictions:
Carmen: Packers 24-21 (3pts)
Jeff: NONE
Kubatski: Packers 27-24 (3pts)
Kubatski Sr: Packers 33-31 (3pts)
Marty: Cardinals 18-17 (0pts)
McClain: NONE
Murray: Cardinals 28-21 (0pts)
Paulie: NONE
Princess G: Packers 24-21 (3pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Packers 30-20 (3pts)
Scott: Packers 27-24 (3pts)
Wild Bill: Packers 24-17 (3pts)

Cincinnati Bengals (+8.5) @ New York Jets

Actual Score: Jets 37-0
Predictions:
Carmen: Jets 24-17 (1pt)
Jeff: NONE
Kubatski: Jets 20-17 (1pt)
Kubatski Sr: Jets 27-24 (1pt)
Marty: Jets 18-10 (1pt)
McClain: NONE
Murray: Jets 24-14 (3pts)
Paulie: NONE
Princess G: Jets 24-20 (1pt)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Jets 27-13 (3pts)
Scott: Jets 20-13 (1pt)
Wild Bill: Bengals 31-14 (0pts)

NFL (December 25th, 27th & 28th)

Friday, December 25

San Diego Chargers (+3.5) @ Tennessee Titans

Actual Score: Chargers 42-17
Predictions:
Carmen: Titans 27-26 (2pts)
Jeff: Chargers 24-17 (3pts)
Kubatski: Chargers 27-24 (3pts)
Kubatski Sr: Chargers 31-27 (3pts)
Marty: Chargers 27-24 (3pts)
McClain: Chargers 24-17 (3pts)
Murray: Titans 24-17 (0pts)
Paulie: Titans 31-21 (0pts)
Princess G: Titans 20-17 (2pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Chargers 27-24 (3pts)
Scott: Chargers 31-27 (3pts)
Wild Bill: NONE


Sunday, December 27

Baltimore Ravens (+2.5) @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Actual Score: Steelers 23-20
Predictions:
Carmen: Steelers 27-26 (1pt)
Jeff: Steelers 21-20 (1pt)
Kubatski: Steelers 20-17 (5pts)
Kubatski Sr: Steelers 24-20 (3pts)
Marty: Steelers 14-13 (1pt)
McClain: Ravens 24-21 (0pts)
Murray: NONE
Paulie: NONE
Princess G: Steelers 20-17 (5pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Steelers 20-17 (5pts)
Scott: Ravens 17-13 (0pts)
Wild Bill: Ravens 24-21 (0pts)

Denver Broncos (+7.5) @ Philadelphia Eagles

Actual Score: Eagles 30-27
Predictions:
Carmen: Eagles 31-27 (3pts)
Jeff: Eagles 30-24 (3pts)
Kubatski: Eagles 31-21 (1pt)
Kubatski Sr: Eagles 30-20 (1pt)
Marty: Eagles 31-24 (3pts)
McClain: Eagles 30-20 (1pt)
Murray: NONE
Paulie: NONE
Princess G: Eagles 20-17 (5pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Eagles 27-17 (1pt)
Scott: Eagles 28-23 (3pts)
Wild Bill: Eagles 31-14 (1pt)

Dallas Cowboys (-7.5) @ Washington Redskins

Actual Score: Cowboys 17-0
Predictions:
Carmen: Cowboys 21-10 (3pts)
Jeff: Redskins 21-17 (0pts)
Kubatski: Cowboys 20-10 (3pts)
Kubatski Sr: Cowboys 33-20 (3pts)
Marty: Cowboys 34-10 (3pts)
McClain: Cowboys 35-13 (3pts)
Murray: NONE
Paulie: NONE
Princess G: Redskins 20-17 (0pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Cowboys 24-14 (3pts)
Scott: Cowboys 24-14 (3pts)
Wild Bill: Cowboys 23-21 (1pt)


Monday, December 28

Minnesota Vikings (-7.5) @ Chicago Bears

Actual Score: Bears 36-30 (OT)
Predictions:
Carmen: Vikings 36-27 (0pts)
Jeff: Bears 14-6 (3pts)
Kubatski: Vikings 23-9 (0pts)
Kubatski Sr: Vikings 27-17 (0pts)
Marty: Vikings 23-14 (0pts)
McClain: Vikings 30-13 (0pts)
Murray: NONE
Paulie: NONE
Princess G: Bears 20-17 (3pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Vikings 31-13 (0pts)
Scott: Vikings 27-13 (0pts)
Wild Bill: Vikings 41-7 (0pts)

2009 Exit Poll

Take a second to answer these 6 short questions. I will post people's answers as they come in.

1. Will you back next year?

Kubatski – Yes. I’ve had quite a bit of fun, although I will need help. I would like to post but leave it to someone else to score and post standings.

Murray - Yes I would like to continue.

Princess G - I haven't decided. I supposed I could be convinced... (hint, hint)

Carmen - Yes, I definitely plan to. It has been a lot of fun. I was a sports fan before but I have not watched as much sports in my life as I have in 2009. PS: Natalie HAS to play again so I'm not the only girl.

McClain - Sure

Scott - sure

Paulie - Unsure. I would be willing to run, scoring and postings.

Jeff - Yes

Marty - of course

Butters - I suppose so....

2. Is there anyone we should contact about joining next year?

Kubatski – I will send out e-mails to a few friends that have expressed interest after hearing about it this year. My 9 year old got $20 from a friend at his birthday party in November. The first thing he said to me was, “Here dad, this is for next year’s prediction league!” He makes me so proud.

Murray - Idk

Princess G - I'm not sure how I feel about my son starting his gambling career at age 9.

Carmen - Not really sure. I may know one person...

McClain - I might have a co-worker or two who I could ask.

Scott - my dad might be interested

Paulie - IDK

Jeff - I have some fraternity brothers and family members that might be interested if you want extra people, if not, no big deal.

Marty - maybe wade would want to play a full year!

Butters - I have asked a few; no responses

3. What scoring changes need to be considered for next year?

Kubatski – I think we made pretty good adjustments as the season went on. Most of you noticed that I changed the one point deduction during the year. I started taking off only 1 point per post that you missed rather than 1 point per pick. We need to decide how that will look for things like College Basketball that have multiple times in a one week span that require predictions. I’m open to suggestions for tweaking tennis, auto and horse racing and golf.

Murray - I like the 1 point off per post vs per game. That way if you forget or are on vacation it doesnt kill you. Maybe with golf, auto, the ponies, etc maybe get points if that golfer gets in the top 10 instead of top 3 only. Have a decling point total with most at top and least at 10. You pick 3 and then rank them then if they finish in that order yuo get a point, plus points for higher finish. You can of course tweak it for events that have fewer competitors like horse racing.

Princess G - I have no suggestions regarding this.

Carmen - I can't really think of anything.

McClain - 1 point loss per post was a good change. I got killed in the spring when I got busy at work and couldn't get my picks in. Even with Mike's txt's I had a hard time. For the most part, the scoring works fine.

Scott - I think it worked out well.

Paulie - agree with -1 per posting or week. I tried but sometimes life got in the way :)

Jeff - I think the scoring worked out well other than the fact that I am last.

Marty - instead of docking one point, just a zero. for not posting you are being punished enough with everyone else that could score.

Butters - I am fairly adamant about only one: penalty points. There is no need in my mind for 1 point late penalties. Each prediction nets on average at least 1 point. That means the penalty doubles the punishment for not posting. I thought the original purpose was to insure participation which I think we have achieved and then some. If it is more for punishment, then it is overkill in my mind; punishment is built into missing out on points you would receive on average for putting in the pick.Another minor change would be distribution of points per sport. I think we got way out of wack on points possible for a couple sports (NHL and NBA playoffs I think were each more than all of baseball regular season combined or something crazy like that) and I think that could be tweaked this time around if we pay attention beforehand. Not THAT adamant about this especially since I would probably like to see a point imbalance for NCAA tourney (see below). However, most ALL of us follow NCAA tourney. Not so sure that is true for NBA and NHL.

4. What sports should we predict more of? Less of?

Kubatski – I think we covered the major stuff pretty well, but part of that is because I’m not a big NBA or race fan. If we need to increase those we could.

Murray - I hate the NBA. What about hockey? NHL or college (not that I know a damn thing about either). Lets stay away from WNBA while you are at it. Possibly MLS???

Princess G - I think everyone should take at least one turn in setting picks. I'd like to see more variety, maybe include less popular sports or games that have meaning. I loved it when we did picks on Wabash/DePauw game for Murray. I would have liked to do something for the HS state football games since two Lafayette teams were competing.

Carmen - It seemed like we picked a lot for NHL playoffs. I felt like there were a lot of points awarded for hockey.(Remember when I picked the Pens to win it all? That was awesome). I thought we would have done more with March Madness. I would have liked to have done some sort of full bracket. I did like the fantasy player picks for that. I like Princess G's idea in theory, but living in MO might be a hurdle for the Rowes for picking more local stuff. We had a hard time finding any info for the DePaw/Wabash game.

McClain - I hate the NBA, so as litte of that as possible is fine with me. Doing all of the Majors/Grand Slams is good. We really need to do something with the Winter Olympics and World Cup this year.

Scott - I think it was good mix. Maybe the college hockey post season.

Paulie - I think you had a really good mix.

Jeff - I agree with everyone that the NBA does suck, but I wouldnt be opposed to a game every once in a while. I like doing the tennis tourneys and such. Winter olympics would be fun. As for the different college football awards, i felt it was a random crapshoot, not sure if everyone else felt like that.

Marty - more mlb. if you look at the number of posts during the year, they really dropped in july and august. there are lots of different things we could do with baseball. do four game series as well, over under on # of runs for one team during a week, number of wins, etc, for example. could do away with nba all together and i wouldn't throw a fit.

Butters - NCAA tourney. The vast majority of us (I think) watch this religiously and can turn around predictions on this in a matter of minutes. I think we could add a bracket pickem challenge (points per ranking in group like we did with fantasy picks) and at least some games from each round.

5. Anything in 2010 that needs included?

Kubatski – There is a Winter Olympics that will have to included somehow and of course we need to make sure that we do the World Cup in the summer.
I would also like to include a new feature called “Predictor of the Week/Month” We can determine the time length based on how many players we get. This person would be featured with a short blog post where they answer some sports questions. They would also help me choose the games that pick during that time span. I would ask everyone to send me some preferred dates to be featured that work around their schedule and favorite time of the sports year.

Murray - I like your idea of person of the month/bi-weekly/week.

Princess G - Sounds good to me.

Carmen - Olympics=cool. I don't really have any other ideas/suggestions.

McClain - See #4

Scott - College hockey post season

Paulie - agree with others

Jeff - read #4

Marty - like everyone else, olympics, world cup. tour de france. bowl games at the end of the year. world series of poker? lol

Butters - league or UEFA soccer (#1 sport in world maybe??), bass fishing (i'm serious), little league, and bowling

6. Are you willing to take an administrative roll next year?

Kubatski – I’m looking for someone to take my existing spread sheet and run numbers. They would also need to edit my posts after games happen and award the points after each game.

Murray - I'll occasionally help, but by no means do I want to be the lead. More of an assistant to an assistant. But I also tend to forget about the league unless I see you or Marty so maybe next summer/fall/winter I'll have to take road trips to see you so I remember to do my picks. Hahaha :)

Princess G - Probably not a good idea although I'd be willing to do one sport. I know how much work this is for you so hopefully others will volunteer too.

Carmen - I know this has to be a ton of work for you. I would be willing to help do something. I do get really busy with work in the fall, specifically the month of October.
Overall, it has been a lot of fun. And when I win it will be even better. And I am pretty proud of myself that I have done so well. Thanks for all your hard work putting this together Kubat!

McClain - I barely had enough time to make my picks.. Mike's my hero.

Scott - Sorry but work and having a new baby leaves me little time.

Paulie - Willing to take over the reigns if you show me how.

Jeff - I barely get my picks in on time so probably couldnt commit to assisting. Thanks for doing it, it was a great time

Marty - i would be willing to make posts but not score or keep track of standings. i'll take the fun job.

Butters - I think you could split up the daily tabulation of scores and overall scoring tasks; I could do one or the other of these. Rankings should be posted ideally every 2 weeks to keep the horse race feel going.

Thanks for a fun 2009

Standings (December 17th)

It's getting closer at the top! Tight race to stay out of the cellar too.

Kubatski: 779
Carmen: 773
Butters: 763
Kubatski Sr: 760
Murray: 693
Marty: 689
Paulie: 686
Princess G: 671
Scott: 660
McClain: 610
Wild Bill: 603
Jeff: 602

College Basketball (Week of Dec. 19)

Saturday, December 19

(10) North Carolina (+4.5) @ (2) Texas (Cowboys Stadium - Arlington, TX)

Actual Score: Texas 103-90
Predictions:
Carmen: Texas 86-82 (1pt)
Jeff: Texas 72-64 (3pts)
Kubatski: Texas 84-76 (3pts)
Kubatski Sr: Texas 87-80 (3pts)
Marty: Texas 84-78 (3pts)
McClain: Texas 78-71 (3pts)
Murray: Texas 74-68 (3pts)
Paulie: Texas 98-89 (3pts)
Princess G: Texas 71-65 (3pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Texas 75-72 (1pt)
Scott: Texas 74-68 (3pts)
Wild Bill: Texas 8-0 (3pts)

(15) Gonzaga (+4.5) @ (7) Duke (Madison Square Garden - New York, NY)

Actual Score: Duke 76-41
Predictions:
Carmen: Duke 84-76 (3pts)
Jeff: Duke 68-65 (1pt)
Kubatski: Duke 75-66 (3pts)
Kubatski Sr: Duke 79-72 (3pts)
Marty: Duke 72-64 (3pts)
McClain: Duke 71-65 (3pts)
Murray: Duke 73-65 (3pts)
Paulie: Duke 103-99 (1pt)
Princess G: Duke 65-59 (3pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Duke 80-75 (3pts)
Scott: Duke 65-58 (3pts)
Wild Bill: Duke 8-0 (3pts)


Tuesday, December 22

(12) Michigan State (+7.5) @ (2) Texas

Actual Score: Texas 79-68
Predictions:
Carmen: Texas 74-68 (1pt)
Jeff: Michigan State 70-66 (0pts)
Kubatski: Texas 91-77 (3pts)
Kubatski Sr: Texas 86-78 (3pts)
Marty: Texas 89-76 (3pts)
McClain: NONE
Murray: Texas 68-61 (1pt)
Paulie: Texas 98-89 (3pts)
Princess G: Texas 70-62 (3pts)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: Texas 80-71 (3pts)
Scott: Texas 85-76 (3pts)
Wild Bill: NONE


Wednesday, December 23

(25) Mississippi (+8.5) @ (6) West Virginia

Actual Score: West Virginia 76-66
Predictions:
Carmen: West Virginia 81-73 (1pt)
Jeff: West Virginia 81-67 (3pts)
Kubatski: West Virginia 83-77 (1pt)
Kubatski Sr: West Virginia 81-70 (3pts)
Marty: West Virginia 67-61 (1pt)
McClain: West Virginia 74-65 (3pts)
Murray: West Virginia 73-64 (3pts)
Paulie: West Virginia 84-76 (1pt)
Princess G: West Virginia 55-53 (1pt)
Ronnie “Butters” Rowe: West Virginia 80-71 (3pts)
Scott: West Virginia 85-75 (5pts)
Wild Bill: NONE