This makes me think that I didn't make any ladder prediction before the start of the season (I even came here in "weekly predictions" thread a day late): this doesn't damage my points at weekly predictions in any way, does it?
Doesn't hurt your weekly predictions at all! But you probably want to make a ladder prediction for the overall prediction contest - weekly predictions will offer up to 360 points total, but the ladder prediction is worth up to 90 points, so not having a ladder at all will hurt you at the very end of the season.
Retroactive point deductions per repealing the "total goals" +1: 59Amerinorsk: -1pt (ORL 2-0 DC) babranski: -1pt (ORL 2-0 DC) BlueCrimson: -2pts (HOU 1-1 CHI, ORL 2-0 DC) lil_one: -2pts (KC 1-1 BOS, BOS 0-1 NJ) STT: -2pts (KC 1-1 BOS, ORL 2-0 DC) weelilbit: -1pt (KC 1-1 BOS) ...I'm honestly kinda surprised that all the "total goals" +1's were concentrated to relatively few people... Scores for Week 3 coming shortly
Week 3 point totals! 59Amerinorsk : 10pts -1 + 0+0+0+1+1 = 11pts / 15g babranski : 8pts -1 + x+x+x+x+x = 7pts / 10g Blaze20 : 15pts + 2+2+0+1+0 = 20pts / 15g blissett : 8pts + 1+2+0+1+3 = 15pts / 11g BlueCrimson : 10pts -2 + 2+1+0+1+3 = 15pts / 15g CoachJon : 9pts + 0+2+0+2+1 = 14pts / 15g holden - 10pts + 1+3+0+2+0 = 16pts / 15g lil_one - 12pts -2 + 2+2+0+1+1 = 16pts / 15g Lucy - 12pts + 0+2+0+1+0 = 15pts / 15g lunatica - 15pts + 0+2+0+3+0 = 20pts / 15g Smallchief - 7pts + 0+2+0+2+1 = 12pts / 11g STT - 13pts -2 + 0+0+0+1+1 = 13pts / 15g weelilbit - 4pts -1 + x+x+x+x+x = 3pts / 2g Huge cluster in the 14-16pt range! But both Blaze and lunatica earned 5pt weeks to stay ahead of the fray. And congrats to blissett, Blue, holden, and lil_one for beating the 1PPG mark this week! Especially considering how many 0's there were this week.
Games for Week 4: CHI v HOU, May6, 4pm DC v NJ, May6, 7pm POR v SEA, May6, 10pm BOS v NC, May7, 6pm KC v ORL, May7, 6pm
Wow, before the last game played on sunday, I didn't have particular good feelings about my result this week (I was probably biased by the disppointment of having completely messed up with the BOS-SEA game), but I see that, after nailing NJ-KC with a late goal, my score of 7 points is the best one of the week along with BlueCrimson's! I'll try to keep up with the good work, but Reign has to help me by bouncing back! Well, ok, but is it fair that I make a ladder prediction now, three weeks into the season? Wouldn't I have a huge advantage over those who made their predictions beforehand?
Ok, let's go: doing this right away was quite a lucky charm for me so far: CHI 2 HOU 0 DC 1 NJ 0 POR 1 SEA 2 BOS 0 NC 3 KC 1 ORL 1
There's a -1pt per week penalty for every week late you are, up to week 11 IIRC. Also, there's still a lot of season to be played after just 3 weeks - remember, at week 3 last year, WNY was 8th before edging into 4th by the end of the year; similarly, by week 6 last year, ORL was 4-2 and in 4th before ending the year in 9th. So yes, there's some advantage, but (in theory) the parity of the league plus the points penalty for lateness helps even things out.
Chicago 2, Houston 1 Washington 0, SkyBlue 1 Portland 2, Seattle 1 Boston 0, North Carolina 2 Kansas City 1, Orlando 0
Chicago 2, Houston 2. Washington 1, Sky Blue 2. Portland 2, Seattle 2. . Boston 1, NC 3 KC 0, Orlando 2 As usual, I'm predicting more goals than will actually be scored. Oh, well....the soccer gods may look down with favor.
Thorns will be without: Heath, Brynjarsdottir, Reynolds, Shim. Looks like they will have Klingenberg, who was available last week but did not play (but did some kicking at halftime, which is unusual for the Thorns, who all usually stay with the team in the locker room during halftime). As an aside, due to injuries, trialist Meghan Cox started and played the entire game against Chicago last week, as the outside back on the left. Way to go Meghan!
Alright, out of 15 games so far, there have been 11 home wins, 3 games involving the Spirit, and one 1-1 draw. Taking that into consideration... CHI 2-1 HOU : I can't see CHI keeping a clean sheet at the moment, especially with this HOU DC 0-1 NJ : DC gonna DC POR 2-0 SEA : Just 'cause BOS 2-1 NC : I don't think anyone can stop NC from scoring, but BOS is home and has been riding high KC 1-2 ORL : Someone's gotta break the pattern, right? SEA 1-1 NJ can't be the only one.
I wanted to bet the opposite, that DC's going to break its trend! Let's see who'll be right (but I suspect you are! )
Only one to catch Spirit's win! And with correct goal difference! (Although with just a tad more goals that I had predicted... It's good that the "total goals scored" feature is gone). Edit: oh, and by watching highlights I discover that I was a late Allie Long's equalizer from correctly predicting the POR-SEA match also! Why you did that to me, Allie?