McManus Picks

Head over to This Week’s Picks for….this week’s picks.  You’ll also find out which BC alum loves football and hates clothes.

There’s another Thursday night game, so get them in soon.  One thing to consider when you’re picking: The Dolphins/Bills game will be played at the Rogers Centre (nee the Skydome) in Toronto.  The Bills are considering a permanent move to Toronto so they’ll be playing some games there over the next couple of years.  It counts as a home game for the Bills.

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In Week 13, Joe took sole possession of the lead when the Texans took down the Jaguars on Monday night.  A Jaguars win would’ve given us a tie at the top (between Joe and me) for the third-straight week, but instead, Joe has a two-point cushion with four weeks to play.

Cait posted an 11 and passed Mom for the lead in the Lady’s Division.  Erin, under considerable weather all week, got 10 right and has put up double-digit points in consecutive weeks for the first time all year.  Matt and I remain tied, but it’s a lot less fun when you’re tied for second.

Full leaderboard

The official entry form* is now available.

Here are the instructions: Enter a form anonymously.  You don’t have to force yourself to come up with nicknames for everyone, but I encourage you to try.  And you don’t have to adhere to the Namey McName format, which has gotten really old already.  When all the entries are in, I’ll combine all the nicknames and we’ll vote for the best one for each person.  Once we’ve voted on everyone, I’ll update the Players page with the winning nicknames.

We’ll do it anonymously so no one will be influenced by prejudice.  It will give this contest a Balderdash/Apples to Apples type of dynamic.  But, like both of those games, it will be plainly obvious which answers are Dad’s.

I’ll keep it open for as long as we need to, but try to get them in soon so we can have the new nicknames for the rest of the season.

*I don’t know why, but the last two text forms are yellow.  Ignore that if you can.

There are three Thanksgiving games, so make sure to submit your picks early before the holiday craziness ensues.  Failing to get them in on time will cost you three potential points this week.  That’s a potentially crushing blow to your potential in the final stretch of this potentially close race.

A Saints win on Monday night forced a four-way tie for the lead in Week 12.  Going into Sunday night’s Colts/Chargers game, Joe was the front-runner and had a chance to reclaim the overall lead.  But two incorrect picks in the last two games allowed Matt and me to maintain our place at the top.

In less important news, Dad’s 11 – combined with a rather meager 9 from Mom – put the Rockaway Goingsteady’s in a tie for fifth place.  Dad’s inching closer to his secret hope of not being beat by a girl.

Ciara attempted to shake things up this week by picking all the underdogs.  After a having a rough go-of-it the past few weeks, she apparently decided to pull a George Costanza: “If every instinct I’ve ever had was wrong, the opposite would have to be right.”  Her plan backfired and she got five right.  Further into the basement she descends.  That de-humidifier must be really annoying at this point.

Ties abounded this week: A four-way tie for the lead.  A three-way tie for second.  A tie at the top of the leaderboard.  A tie for fifth.  A tie for the worst finish by a player who sent in picks.  Ties, ties, and more ties.  How boring.

The results are in and two new leaders have emerged.  Check out the Leaderboard page to see who they are.

One of our new leaders had a streak of 13-consecutive correct picks (with the tie excluded) until the Bills lost on yet another infamous “Wide Right.” Our other leader boldly changed one of his picks mid-week and it turned out to be the difference between first and second place.

A forgetful player made history this weekend.  By not submitting her picks (second time in three weeks), Ciara was the first to be decimated by the new “No points for not participating” rule.  At first, I felt bad.  Then I remembered that Mom’s laptop is basically an extension of her fingers and I repeatedly reminded her to get her picks in.  No tears will be shed by this contestant.  Anyway, she’s gonna have to get used to the basement, she’ll be there for a while.  Let’s just hope she doesn’t have asthma.  Luckily for E-Train, Ciara’s negligence overshadowed the lowest total we’ve had this year by a player who actually submitted picks.

This truly was a diverse field of scores.  A zero, a five, six people in double-figures, and a 13 to claim a share of the lead.  And with four players within two points of each other, the final stretch should be an interesting one.

For the record, I have re-submitted my picks for this week.  I’m now taking the Cowboys over the Redskins.

I’m going to keep my old picks in the Everyone sheet so you can see the changes I made.  This is how I’ll do it from now on for anyone who wants to make any changes.  Just submit a whole new sheet (you can refer to the Everyone sheet to make sure you keep your other picks the same) and I’ll keep both entries there until the games are over.

Also, someone used an ambiguous name again.  I might have to consider awarding no points to ambiguous names, seeing as how I don’t know who submitted them.

The picks for Week 11 are now available, get them in as soon as possible.  Again, your picks lock individually for each game.  Thursday night at 8:15 p.m., you won’t be able to change your pick for the Pats/Jets game.  On Sunday at 1 p.m., your picks for the early games will lock, etc.  You can change your picks as many times as possible until that particular game begins.

Also, check in later for another poll.  We need to finally decide on the “forgetting to submit your picks” issue.

For the first time all year, everyone reached double-digits.  Tim and Cait played their pick sheets with near-flawless technique.  Only Atwater-Donnelly picking the mandolin could match that kind of dexterity.

Tim’s 13-spot put him in a tie for second place, one point behind Joe.  Cait’s 13-job slid her into first place in the women’s division (fifth overall).   Several personal records were achieved this week.  Tim, Cait, Ciara (11), and Matt (12) all set season-highs, while Joe (11) tied his.

Last week, a 10-nugget won it.  This week, a 10-piece gets colored loser’s gold.  Go figure.

Results

Leaderboard

A new Leaderboard is up, but the old leader remains.  However, thanks to a one-point win by me in Week 9, the old leader is tugging at his collar.

In other Leaderboard news, a correction was made to the Week 9 total.  A certain commenter – someone who must have been a hall monitor at some point in his/her life – has decided to kick our lowliest competitor while she’s down.  As it turns out, the existing “all home teams as default” rule contains a “…and the Pats no matter where they are” caveat.  In that case, Texty McGossip has been docked a point.  As if she weren’t lowly enough already.

This week’s picks are in and they must be submitted by Thursday night at 8:15.  Get used to the early deadline, there will be a game every Thursday from now until Week 17.  But don’t worry, the picks for the rest of the week won’t lock until Sunday afternoon.  So if you want to resubmit your picks after Thursday’s game, you can do that.  For example, if you don’t know the status of Ben “Too Cool for Motorcycle Helmets” Roethlisberger until Friday, you can switch your pick and I’ll take your most recent entry.  Fortunately, all your entries are time-stamped so Tom Foolery will be impossible.

In miscellaneous news, another commenter has made a suggestion that I have ignored.  However, if any of you feel as strongly about the subject as that person does, I can address this non-issue.