dpd
August 28th, 2007, 01:28 PM
I have received three pm's so far, and I can't tell how to send replies - does one use the quote button for that? - so i decided to go ahead and post the replies here -
first i was asked for my school affiliation - my undergraduate degree came from Rhodes College (Southwestern at Memphis when I graduated, the name change came 2 years later - go Lynx) which plays D3 football, my next degree came from my current employer, the University of Memphis (or Memphis State when i graduated - go tigers go), and my terminal degree was earned at SIU-Carbondale (no name change yet), so that's what i'll go with on the FCS forums - maybe later i'll get a slicker looking saluki avatar (don't really want to use the helmet) but for now i'll use the logo that was in effect when i first went to school there
i was also asked about my 75% accuracy, which is for straight-up predictions only - if i had 75% ATS accuracy i would not be sitting here right now - in recent years my ATS picks have barely gone 50%, but that was because i was tweaking things to try to include a factor involving the posted line - that did not work out and that is probably because the teams have no control over what lines are posted, and their performance does not appear to depend on whether they are chosen as favorites or underdogs - so i have dropped all that and gone back to the simpler scheme i originally had - we'll see how things go this year, but here is a link to the past several years' results: DPD Prognostication Accuracy (http://dpdsdogs.com/ncaa/record.htm)
my picks do perform better at the end of the season rather than at the beginning (understandably so), and in fact i have one of the best bowl prediction records of all the computerized ranking systems - Bowl Predictions Comparison Page (http://academics.smcvt.edu/jtrono/OAF_BCS/Compare.html)
finally, i received some kind words from someone who was viewing with amusement my run-in with the southland boys on sunday - i created a thread for people to post their own preseason rankings but instead it turned into a contest to see who could flame me the most - i do expect a bit of hazing when joining a new forum group, but as GSUHooligan pointed out (saving me the trouble of doing so) the point was if you disagree with a certain set of preseason rankings then you should post your own as part of the discussion, not just ridicule what other people are doing in an attempt to drive others away just because their opinions differ from yours -
it reminded me a bit of a lehigh fan who spent three or four years sending me harassing e-mails concerning how lehigh was ranked - i tried civil discussion but it did no good and when i finally said basically i don't really care what he had to say he started re-sending using a different name (but not alas a different IP address) - i continued ignoring the messages except to note i stopped receiving them after that loss to holy cross a couple of years back -
i have not had the same problems with the other threads (for the most part), and i am looking forward to seeing what everyone has to say after this weekend's contests, because after all they play the game to decide things on the field, not on the internet
first i was asked for my school affiliation - my undergraduate degree came from Rhodes College (Southwestern at Memphis when I graduated, the name change came 2 years later - go Lynx) which plays D3 football, my next degree came from my current employer, the University of Memphis (or Memphis State when i graduated - go tigers go), and my terminal degree was earned at SIU-Carbondale (no name change yet), so that's what i'll go with on the FCS forums - maybe later i'll get a slicker looking saluki avatar (don't really want to use the helmet) but for now i'll use the logo that was in effect when i first went to school there
i was also asked about my 75% accuracy, which is for straight-up predictions only - if i had 75% ATS accuracy i would not be sitting here right now - in recent years my ATS picks have barely gone 50%, but that was because i was tweaking things to try to include a factor involving the posted line - that did not work out and that is probably because the teams have no control over what lines are posted, and their performance does not appear to depend on whether they are chosen as favorites or underdogs - so i have dropped all that and gone back to the simpler scheme i originally had - we'll see how things go this year, but here is a link to the past several years' results: DPD Prognostication Accuracy (http://dpdsdogs.com/ncaa/record.htm)
my picks do perform better at the end of the season rather than at the beginning (understandably so), and in fact i have one of the best bowl prediction records of all the computerized ranking systems - Bowl Predictions Comparison Page (http://academics.smcvt.edu/jtrono/OAF_BCS/Compare.html)
finally, i received some kind words from someone who was viewing with amusement my run-in with the southland boys on sunday - i created a thread for people to post their own preseason rankings but instead it turned into a contest to see who could flame me the most - i do expect a bit of hazing when joining a new forum group, but as GSUHooligan pointed out (saving me the trouble of doing so) the point was if you disagree with a certain set of preseason rankings then you should post your own as part of the discussion, not just ridicule what other people are doing in an attempt to drive others away just because their opinions differ from yours -
it reminded me a bit of a lehigh fan who spent three or four years sending me harassing e-mails concerning how lehigh was ranked - i tried civil discussion but it did no good and when i finally said basically i don't really care what he had to say he started re-sending using a different name (but not alas a different IP address) - i continued ignoring the messages except to note i stopped receiving them after that loss to holy cross a couple of years back -
i have not had the same problems with the other threads (for the most part), and i am looking forward to seeing what everyone has to say after this weekend's contests, because after all they play the game to decide things on the field, not on the internet