Last Week's Question #1: What league-hosting
services are best equipped to handle H2H scoring variations?
In my column for Week
11, I featured the proposed scoring systems of two readers (R.P.
and Danny) who both want to retain the week-to-week intensity of
a H2H league while incorporating the "fairness" of a pure
points league.
I am especially interested in their proposals (see last week's column
for details) because I am having an incredibly unlucky year in my
primary league (which happens to be a traditional H2H league).
I don't have things quite as bad as Peter, who wrote in to explain
that even though he has the second-most points in his league, he
is currently in 9th place in the standings. The scheduling gods
have conspired to make him the team that is most scored against--with
the result that he is 4-7 and out of the playoff hunt.
It's easy for me to sympathize with Peter because I've had a number
of unbelievable weeks this season. Bad teams that produced only
one decent game all year have lined up to have that one decent game
against me--week after week. I've lost multiple contests this year
by such tiny margins that the margins of my victories seem positively
wasteful. Why do I put up 130 points against a team that only scores
68, but 141 against a team that scores 144?
That said, before you go looking to throw your H2H rulebook out
the window, remember that the systematic unfairness of the scheduling
gods can work for you as well as against you. With DeMarco Murray
and my other Cowboys on a bye in Week 11, I posted a season-low
score of 89. My opponent had 76 at the end of Sunday with just the
Pittsburgh defense and Markus Wheaton left on Monday night. I didn't
give myself any prayer of winning, and I knew that a loss would
boot me from the post-season. But thanks to the Titan offense showing
signs of life, I still have a chance to advance because I squeaked
out the win 89-86.
As I wrote in my Week 4 column,
you can make all kinds of logical/statistical arguments against
the traditional H2H model, but it's hard to beat that model for
sheer drama.
Nevertheless, R.P. and Danny have had their fill of the vagaries
of the H2H format. They both know that they want to move on to a
method of converting wins to points and tracking the points over
the course of the season, but they aren't sure whether any of the
major league-hosting services can accommodate the scoring systems
they are trying to incorporate.
Unfortunately, none of the responses I received to that question
recommended a specific league-hosting service as a solution. Instead,
readers like Hugh recommended a hybrid fix for such hybrid leagues:
Our method for calculating the standings in
our league [is too complex for our hosting service,] but that doesn't
stop us from letting the service do MOST of the work. Once we have
the game scores (tallied automatically by the website), our commish
just goes in by hand to tweak the standings according to what they
should be.
Just because your hosting service isn't set up to sort data in a
particular way, that doesn't have to prevent you from sorting data
the way you want. Phil uses an Excel spreadsheet (not his league
website) to handle the "all-play" feature that both R.P.
and Danny have in mind. He may give me permission to include a link
to that spreadsheet in my column for Week 13.
This Week's Question: Do you have an
FF-related Excel spreadsheet to share (with fancy formulas ready
for numbers to be plugged in)?
If you have an Excel spreadsheet with formulas in place to handle
some specific FF-related tasks, and you want to share it with readers
of this column, please send
me:
1) a brief explanation of what the spreadsheet is designed to do;
2) a blow-by-blow explanation of how to make the spreadsheet do
its thing; and
3) a copy of the spreadsheet.
Survivor Picks - Week 12 (Courtesy of
Matthew Schiff)
Trap Game: Chicago over Tampa Bay
The Bears are supposed to win this game against a Bucs team that
traditionally has a hard time winning in freezing weather. But this
year the Bucs' Josh McCown and Lovie Smith (who both know their
way around Soldier Field) return to the Windy City to prove that
they can win. The Monsters of the Midway are hardly what they were
and are ripe for a Tampa Bay offense to exploit the once-mighty
Bears. On paper the Bears are expected to win, but on the field,
this one seems likely to get away from the home team.
#3: Philadelphia over Tennessee (10-1: PIT,
NO, CIN, SF, CLE, SD, NE, KC, SEA, DEN, GB):
In Week 11, the Eagles were embarrassed by a Packers unit that has
proven to be the team to beat in the NFC. This week, Philadelphia
should have a lot easier task beating a Titans team that doesn’t
have an MVP quarterback, multiple wide receivers that scare any
normal secondary, or a pair of running backs that can play action
pass with the best of them. Yes, The Eagles were exposed by a Green
Bay defense that has 22 forced turnovers on the season. However,
the Titans are lucky if they get one turnover per game, and Mark
Sanchez should feel comfortable back home in “the nest.”
Look for Philadelphia to return to the win column as the Eagles
fly high in a rebound from last week’s debacle.
#2: Green Bay over Minnesota (6-5: CHI, Sea,
NO, TB, DET, Den, CLE, MIA, KC, BAL, SF):
This is a traditional trap game if ever there was one. The Vikings
need everything to go right for them to beat a Packers team that
outclasses them in just about every category. Now that Adrian Peterson's
suspension seems certain to last for the entire season, Minnesota
will continue to try and find its identity over the remaining weeks
under Norv Turner’s guidance. Rookie Teddy Bridgewater gets
his second chance to beat Aaron Rodgers and company, but it looks
like he'll need a few more chances before the Vikings can steal
one from the Pack. Take the streaking Packers in this divisional
matchup if you’ve already used Indianapolis. This is one of
the few weeks left that you have so many “sweet” matchups
to chose from.
Image by Tilt Creative (Ty
Schiff)
#1: Indianapolis over Jacksonville (8-3:
PHI, DEN, NE, SD, GB, SEA, BAL, DAL, CIN, AZ, WAS):
I'm not sure whether last week was more embarrassing for the Redskins
(who figured out how to lose to the lowly Buccaneers) or for me
(considering how long it's been since anyone else "misunderestimated"
the situation in Washington so horribly). If you went with one
of my other two choices and remain in your pool, this pick may
still be in play for you. Andrew Luck is having an MVP season,
and even though Ahmad Bradshaw is lost for the season with a broken
leg, the Colts should have no problem handling the one-win Jaguars.
Yes, Trent Richardson will be asked to step up and finally deliver
on his first-round talent, but the Colts hardly need Richardson
to shine to overcome Jacksonville. That said, maybe for just one
week, he will live up to his potential. These are two teams going
in different directions. Except for the fact that these are division
rivals, this is the ideal survival pick. Take the Colts and put
it in pen.
Mike Davis has been writing about fantasy football since 1999.
As a landlocked Oklahoman who longs for the sound of ocean waves,
he also writes about ocean colonization under the pen name Studio
Dongo. The latest installment in his science fiction series can
be found here.
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