Rick Mons
The former MN Snowman
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2009
- Messages
- 1,272
- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 36
I'm planning on running the Pick Per Day (PPD) competition again this year. Looking at ESPN's schedule of Div 1 games, it looks like the schedule really doesn't heat up until Friday the 13th (of November). There's only a handful of games scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday before then so I'm going to wait until the 12th to release the available games played on the 13th (assuming the odds are available.
I'm planning on using OpenSports.com's site for odds ... that was the site I switched to in the latter part of the season. They did a pretty good job of publishing the odds early and, most important from my perspective, used a format that was "user friendly" with the Excel worksheets and Word templates and macros I use to load the available picks and keep track of individual standings.
For those not familiar with Pick per Day, this was started by Selection Sunday a few years ago and I took it over when it demanded too much time and didn't work for SS's schedule. It works this way:
There's a full set of rules (the "Small Print") for the competition that I'll publish as get started. Two important rules: participants have to use the required format and need to check the results on a timely basis. The first rule is because I use macros to speed up data entry into the worksheets, etc and the second rule is that I'm human and from time to time will goof up. I don't mind going back a day or two to make corrections but it gets really complicated and tedious to go back more than that.
Everyone's free to participate at the beginning, but I reserve the right to close it off to new participants after we get a month or two into the competition. It takes a fair amount of time to track the standings, etc and gets complicated when adding folks after the first month or so of games.
One request this year: I'd hope that folks who start will continue to participate in at least a third of the daily picks available. Again, it takes a fair amount of time to maintain the standings, etc and it's a bit frustrating when someone makes only a handful of picks and then quits. (The set-up for each participant is where a lot of time is spent and it's for naught if you quit after just a few picks are made)
Finally, after the first of the year, we usually split the group into two sets: those who predict at least 2/3rds of all available games and those who don't. Why? The "win percentage" can be markedly different for those who participate on a daily (or near-daily) basis versus the less frequent participant.
Let me know if you have any questions or want more information.
I'm planning on using OpenSports.com's site for odds ... that was the site I switched to in the latter part of the season. They did a pretty good job of publishing the odds early and, most important from my perspective, used a format that was "user friendly" with the Excel worksheets and Word templates and macros I use to load the available picks and keep track of individual standings.
For those not familiar with Pick per Day, this was started by Selection Sunday a few years ago and I took it over when it demanded too much time and didn't work for SS's schedule. It works this way:
- each day I publish a list of available games and the spread for those games;
- participants select which team (and spread) they think will win
- Either the night after the games -- or the next day -- I publish the standings for the participants.
- There's no money involved -- just bragging rights for those who do a good job of making picks over the course of the season
There's a full set of rules (the "Small Print") for the competition that I'll publish as get started. Two important rules: participants have to use the required format and need to check the results on a timely basis. The first rule is because I use macros to speed up data entry into the worksheets, etc and the second rule is that I'm human and from time to time will goof up. I don't mind going back a day or two to make corrections but it gets really complicated and tedious to go back more than that.
Everyone's free to participate at the beginning, but I reserve the right to close it off to new participants after we get a month or two into the competition. It takes a fair amount of time to track the standings, etc and gets complicated when adding folks after the first month or so of games.
One request this year: I'd hope that folks who start will continue to participate in at least a third of the daily picks available. Again, it takes a fair amount of time to maintain the standings, etc and it's a bit frustrating when someone makes only a handful of picks and then quits. (The set-up for each participant is where a lot of time is spent and it's for naught if you quit after just a few picks are made)
Finally, after the first of the year, we usually split the group into two sets: those who predict at least 2/3rds of all available games and those who don't. Why? The "win percentage" can be markedly different for those who participate on a daily (or near-daily) basis versus the less frequent participant.
Let me know if you have any questions or want more information.
