Octopus Overlords

It's unofficially official: the lockout will end on Monday, and there will be foosball this year! Woohoo! That means it's time to start up the OONFL engine for the 2011-2012 season.

An overview for those new to the site and/or pool:

-Any OO member is welcome to join us; we also generally allow immediate family and close friends of OOers, if they have an itch to get in (my father-in-law, Mr. Bob, for example, participates even though he doesn't visit OO). I also open up to a few of my non-OO friends.
-The pool lasts from Week 1 through the Super Bowl, every game picked by every player.
-A correct pick earns 2 points, an incorrect pick 0.
-Each player may optionally designate up to five games each week as 'locks'. Correct locks earn 3 points instead of 2, and incorrect locks cost a point instead of washing out.
-At regular-season's end, the top 50% of players continue to the playoffs; the rest become cheerleaders (or hecklers).
-Playoff scoring is similar, except each player has a total of 5 locks for the duration of the playoffs, and the Super Bowl is worth 4 base points rather than two.
-$20 entrance fee, regular-season winner gets 10%, 3rd-place playoffs gets 15%, 2nd-place playoffs 30%, and playoff winner 40%. A special award known as the End-of-Season Surge earns 5% and goes to the player scoring the most points during the critical Week 13-17 period.

It's a ton of fun, and I urge anyone even remotely interested in NFL football to give it a shot. For $20, you can get a lot of enjoyment over the course of many months. Previous seasons' stats & info are available for perusal here. This year's Excel spreadsheet is also available there for those folks who want to read the official rules and/or get a head start on Ironman entries.

Sign-ups are accepted starting now. To sign up, PM me and include:

-the email address that you'd like to have added to the OONFL mailing list for the season
-whether or not you'd like to add an Ironman entry alongside your regular entry ($10 additional, you pick all games before week 1 begins
-let me know your preferred donation tranmittal option: PayPal or snail mail. I'll reply with appropriate instructions.
-if there are close friends/family who want to join you in the pool, include the same information for them

So get those PMs in and let's get this show on the road! Also feel free to reply to this thread and begin the trash talk.

Tiebreaker answers won't need to be set until week 1 picks are being sent in, but here are this year's questions for those who want to cogitate on them for a bit:

At the end of the playoffs, ties will be broken first by regular season cumulative point totals, and second by answers to the following questions:
1) Who will have the most sacks in regular-season NFL games this season?
2) Which team will have the best record at the end of the regular season?
3) What non-QB player will finish the season with the most touchdowns?

Update 9/8/11: Unpaid roster

Theohall
KillerJo
The Meal
Ralph-Wiggum

If you're on that list but think I should have received your donation, please let me know.

No responses yet!

I am in! PM has been sent.

As much as I'd love to participate once again in the annual fun, I'm down in New Zealand for the year and will be without internet for weeks at a time, so I'm going to have to sit this year out! Best of luck to my ironmen brethren - may one of you (or more) make the playoffs!

IN

Along with my new friend who says she is really good at picking games, although she knows nothing about the game. We shall see.

Will PM details later.

Jiffy wrote:As much as I'd love to participate once again in the annual fun, I'm down in New Zealand for the year and will be without internet for weeks at a time, so I'm going to have to sit this year out! Best of luck to my ironmen brethren - may one of you (or more) make the playoffs!

But, see, that makes for the perfect reason to put in an Ironman entry!

Isgrimnur wrote:

Jiffy wrote:As much as I'd love to participate once again in the annual fun, I'm down in New Zealand for the year and will be without internet for weeks at a time, so I'm going to have to sit this year out! Best of luck to my ironmen brethren - may one of you (or more) make the playoffs!

But, see, that makes for the perfect reason to put in an Ironman entry!

Exactly. I'll even let you submit all your picks for the non-ironman entry early, too.

PM will be in shortly! Laissez les bon temps rouler!

OMG FOOtBALL!!1!!1

Oh, how I've missed thee, like a sailor at sea separated from his lusty wench.

Amy (I think it is time to retire Miss Taken, as she hasn't posted in 5 years) and I are both IN!

Edit: I'm not sure I like the first tiebreaker question. Some participants, like my wife, know quite a bit about offensive players, but probably doesn't have the first clue aboue who gets a lot of sacks (besides Ralph Wiggum, but those are sacks of a different variety).

Captain Caveman wrote:Edit: I'm not sure I like the first tiebreaker question. Some participants, like my wife, know quite a bit about offensive players, but probably doesn't have the first clue aboue who gets a lot of sacks (besides Ralph Wiggum, but those are sacks of a different variety).

Jeff raised a similar point in that it's likely that 90% of us will get that question wrong and thus it's not a very good tie-breaker. I kind of like the idea of possibly hitting the 2nd or third tie-breaker, or *gasp* having a tie be a possibility. What say you all?

As far as not knowing the sack leaders, it's not that hard to read up, is it?

Replied to your email the next morning but if you didn't get it I am in and i will do an ironman again this year.

Yep, I've gotten several. I'm hanging onto them and will respond to all the emails and PMs at once, probably this weekend.

I'd be happy to donate $10 for an ironman entry and make the playoffs this time (came pretty close last time!), but I wouldn't want to donate $30 just to miss out on several weeks for my main entry.

*bumpity-bump* Going to start responses soon.

I'm in. IM entry as well.
Chemnerd will be there too.

I got lucky last year so I'll try my luck again...

I'll give the Ironman another go as well if we Ironmen have the same wager as last year or what have you?

In on both regular and ironman provided we do the $10 scratch off wager for the best ironman entry - as seems to be the case with all of us.

OK, everyone who has emailed me, PMed me, or posted interest in this thread should now have an email/PM back with donation infos. We're now < 1 months from ACTUAL FOOSBALLS!

If you haven't yet mentioned your interest, now's the time. We still have plenty of room--only 25 or so have confirmed so far.

Donation sent for Reg and Ironman

I am in for the Ironman wager again this year

when you say room, is there a cap?

I'm still pondering...

Isgrimnur wrote:I'm still pondering...

+1

Dammit Isgy and Naednek, sign up! It wouldn't be the same without beating you two again this year.

Edit: payment sent for both Miss Taken and me.

Okay payment sent! I'm in officially - but wussed out of the Ironman part. Maybe next year...

You just want me in to raise the cut line for you.

Zack, I sent a check in on Monday. Please let me know when you get it so I know im good to go. Thanks

Check is in the mail. Including the Ironman fee so I'm in regardless of how many of you cowards bow out.

naednek wrote:when you say room, is there a cap?

Yes, of the 'I'll know it when I see it' variety. I've never actually turned anyone away, but if by some chance I had 100 people want to sign up, I'd probably not let that many in unless I came up with a more efficient way to run it. Self-entry of picks into a database, or something. Even at our usual size, I'm entering upwards of 500 picks/week.

Zaxxon wrote:

naednek wrote:when you say room, is there a cap?

Yes, of the 'I'll know it when I see it' variety. I've never actually turned anyone away, but if by some chance I had 100 people want to sign up, I'd probably not let that many in unless I came up with a more efficient way to run it. Self-entry of picks into a database, or something. Even at our usual size, I'm entering upwards of 500 picks/week.

100 people! (visions of all those tax-free winning$ swim around $iljanus's head!)

I'm in. I'll be sending money via Pay Pal soon.

I'm in. Can hopefully avoid the dreaded "one spot out of the playoffs" finish I had last year.

Zaxxon wrote:

naednek wrote:when you say room, is there a cap?

Yes, of the 'I'll know it when I see it' variety. I've never actually turned anyone away, but if by some chance I had 100 people want to sign up, I'd probably not let that many in unless I came up with a more efficient way to run it. Self-entry of picks into a database, or something. Even at our usual size, I'm entering upwards of 500 picks/week.

Great googley moogley man! Is there anything we can do to help you out or make the process more streamlined for you?! That's insanity!

deadzone wrote:

Zaxxon wrote:

naednek wrote:when you say room, is there a cap?

Yes, of the 'I'll know it when I see it' variety. I've never actually turned anyone away, but if by some chance I had 100 people want to sign up, I'd probably not let that many in unless I came up with a more efficient way to run it. Self-entry of picks into a database, or something. Even at our usual size, I'm entering upwards of 500 picks/week.

Great googley moogley man! Is there anything we can do to help you out or make the process more streamlined for you?! That's insanity!

Nope, it's something I'll deal with if/when it becomes a problem. Pretty much all you guys can do is submit picks in the format I ask, which makes it much easier for me to enter them: send them in the order they appear in the spreadsheet on OONFLHQ (see my sig), use the abbreviations I use, and enter one pick per line.

CHI
GB
SF
etc

Donation sent.

Hoping to do better this year.....

I'd love to get a few $10 scratch tickets from across the globe!

Zack, you get my check? Its been cashed on my end, just wanna make sure its in the right hands. Thanks

soulbringer wrote:Zack, you get my check? Its been cashed on my end, just wanna make sure its in the right hands. Thanks

Yessir. I'll post a list of those I've received later this week.

Roster of paid-up participants so far:

Zaxxon
Deadzone
Captain Caveman
Miss Taken
Soulbringer
Moghedian
Moghedian IM
Rdog
Jeff V
JC Anejo
JC Anejo IM
Mr. Bob
Skinypupy
Stinky Cheeseman
Mrs. Stinky Cheese
Remus West
Remus West IM
Mitma
GuidoTKP
Kurth
Gwartok

If you're not on that list but think I should have received your donation, please let me know.

I plan to have my Ironman picks in by this weekend.

Good Luck to the rest of you...two?!...only two?....to take the plunge!

Gah! I have to fill out my IM and get that sent in.

you don't have an order up for me to send in the IM picks. Does that mean I should just send them in however or would you like a day or two to post the schedule so that I can send them in the order easiest for you to input?