Tuesday January 6th will see the beginning of the third season of FC Dallas' Sheep League, the Campeonato Sheepeiro. Last season we had 26 players take part, and I'm hoping more will join in this season. You do not have to regularly post on the FC Dallas board to take part - if your team's board does not have a game, you are more than welcome to join ours. Sheep is a fun game that gets your brain working and will only take about 10-15 minutes of your time each week - what have you got to lose by trying it out? How to play: Each Tuesday, for eight weeks, 15 questions will be posted. You send a PM to me with your answers to all 15 questions by noon on Friday of that same week. The goal is not to answer the questions correctly, but to guess what will be the most popular answer. (Example: if the question is "Best Player in MLS" and you think the correct answer is David Beckham, but you think everyone on the FC Dallas board would say Kenny Cooper, then you should answer Kenny Cooper as well.) You will score points based on how many people answer like you. If you are one of 15 people who answered Cooper, then you'd get 15 points for that question. Even if you are the only person to say Cooper, you would still score 1 point for your own answer. Whoever scores the most points after all 15 questions will win the week. Scoring: The weekly winner will get the same number of points as people who entered the game that week. If 25 people played then the winner would get 25 points. Second place would be worth 24 points, third would be worth 23 points, last would be worth 1 point, etc. First place will also receive a 5 point bonus for the win. These points will be accumulated throughout the 8-week season and whoever scores the most will win the league. Standings: For this season, our league will have two tiers. Série A and Série B. Série A will consist of the top 20 players from last season, Série B will be those who finished 21 or below and any new players. The top four players in Série A will qualify for the Champions League, while 5th, 6th and the winner of the Copa do Sheep will qualify for the Champions Cup (should the Cup winner also finish in the top 6, then 7th place will take the final CC place). We also have promotion and relegation between the tiers, with the bottom 3 of Série A being relegated and the top 3 of Série B promoted in their places.* Copa do Sheep: In addition to league play we also have the Sheep Cup. If we have less than 32 players, this will begin in Week 4; more than that, and there will need to be a play-in round in Week 3. Série A players will not have to play-in. For this year, I will be dropping the seeded bracket format and switching to a random draw, as is done in the FA Cup. Here is the final table for last season, and the full Season 2 thread so you can see the game in action. Code: [B]Campeonato Sheepeiro history[/B] Champion Runner-Up Season 1 Marmaduke cowtown Season 2 3rd Degree GraceTX [B]Copa do Sheep history[/B] Champion Runner-Up Season 1 cowtown jwedding Season 2 FC Dizzle 3rd Degree *If we have enough people in Série B, we can have promotional playoffs instead, if people would rather go that way. This will need to be decided in the first 2 weeks though. Any questions? Ask as soon as possible, I'll be posting the first week's questions at some point on Tuesday 6th!
Do you need to be pre-notified of our intentions to play via PM, or should we just submit answers to you on Tuesday to notify of intent?
Submitting answers works just fine for me. For everyone, remember that if you are unable to answer the first week for whatever reason, don't feel that you will be unable to play for the rest of the season. Parrothead missed the first week last season (and had a couple of awful weeks) but still managed a respectable finish to remain in the top flight.
Week 1 Questions Remember, answers are due in a PM to me by midday Friday January 9th. Good luck! 1. Who will be the number 1 overall MLS Superdraft pick? 2. Who will be FC Dallas’ 1st draft pick? 3. An Agatha Christie novel 4. A country that was formerly part of the USSR, besides Russia 5. First MLS coach to be fired/resign this season 6. Which of the planned 2009 hurricane names will be the first to landfall in Florida? 7. A word you would use to describe Michael Hitchcock 8. A “girlie” alcoholic drink 9. Fill in the blank: Candy ________ 10. A city in Texas beginning with A, besides Austin 11. Driver who will win the Formula 1 title this year 12. Number of times you go to a drive-thru fast food restaurant in a week 13. A beer brewed by Shiner, besides Bock 14. The next big name signing in MLS 15. Topic on BigSoccer that you are tired of discussing/complaining about
Forgot to mention in my first post, Chief Shepherd NFLPatriot has put together the full Sheep schedule for 2009: Not sure what we'll do about the summer season yet, but I'm considering a World Cup/Champions League style tournament with both group play and knockout rounds.
I'm looking forward to the answers to #7. I doubt it was intentional, but it's funny that the first words following the question is "A girlie". LOL.
Purely unintentional, which makes it all the funnier. 12 sets of answers received so far, including 3 new players: Parrothead FC Thedza stopper4 boneall cowtown Kermmy803 nutella texgator Rufiolo 3rd Degree soccercptn GraceTX
I'm looking to make a huge improvement over my rookie season. I underestimated the speed of play and the quality of the competition. I came in over confident based on my domination in college trivia games. But during the break, I really dedicated myself and I'm looking to come back much stronger. I'm gonna give 110%. I'm gonna take it week by week. I owe all my success to google.
Y'know, I'm just happy to be here and hope I can help the ballclub. I just want to give it my best shot and good Lord willing, things'll work out... gotta play 'em one day at a time, Y'know... [Damn that's a good flick]
I figured I might as well get in on this action. I have to admit, however, I was stumped on a couple of them. :/
*Grumble, grumble* I didn't have a clue on a fair number of the answers. But I gave it a shot! I admit to not following the Superdraft thing at all, so that was a complete wild guess there . . . I'm having more fun reading about and watching AC Milan deal with the Beckham Circus.
In theory there's only 10 minutes left to get your answers in. In practice, I'm a little too busy to get with the whole tabulating thing right now, so I'm going to extend the deadline to 5PM Central.
Sorry for the delay, I forgot to email myself the spreadsheet so had to fill out all the answers again. Anyway, here goes with the answers: 1. Who will be the number 1 overall MLS Superdraft pick? Steve Zakuani - 12 Ike Opara - 3 Sam Cronin - 3 Marcus Tracy - 1 Danny Cruz - 1 2. Who will be FC Dallas’ 1st draft pick? Omar Gonzalez - 16 Sam Cronin - 1 Jeremy Hall - 1 Calum Angus - 1 Ryan Mirsky - 1 3. An Agatha Christie novel Murder on the Orient Express - 9 And Then There Were None - 7 The Mysterious Affair at Styles - 2 Ten Little Indians - 2 4. A country that was formerly part of the USSR, besides Russia Ukraine - 15 Georgia - 3 Belarus - 1 Yugoslavia - 1 (nope) 5. First MLS coach to be fired/resign this season John Carver - 8 Tom Soehn - 7 Bruce Arena - 3 Preki - 2 6. Which of the planned 2009 hurricane names will be the first to landfall in Florida? Fred - 6 Claudette - 5 Ana - 3 Grace - 2 (You realize you've all made my life that much more difficult by not answering this, right?) Erika - 1 Danny - 1 Bill - 1 Henri - 1 7. A word you would use to describe Michael Hitchcock Incompetent - 7 Idiot/Idiotic - 2 Dork - 1 Wrong - 1 Hitch - 1 Ignorant - 1 Incongruent - 1 (I've read the dictionary definitions and I still don't know what that means) Useless - 1 Misplaced - 1 Stupid - 1 Suit - 1 Unqualified - 1 Misunderstood - 1 8. A “girlie” alcoholic drink Cosmopolitan - 6 Wine Cooler - 4 Appletini - 4 Daiquiri - 3 Pina Colada - 2 Smirnoff Ice - 1 9. Fill in the blank: Candy ________ Cane - 16 Bar - 1 Corn - 1 Store - 1 Apple - 1 What, no "ass"? 10. A city in Texas beginning with A, besides Austin Amarillo - 9 Arlington - 7 Allen - 2 Abilene - 2 11. Driver who will win the Formula 1 title this year Lewis Hamilton - 15 Felipe Massa - 2 Fernando Alonso - 2 Rubens Barrichello - 1 12. Number of times you go to a drive-thru fast food restaurant in a week 3 - 10 2 - 7 5 - 2 0 - 1 13. A beer brewed by Shiner, besides Bock Blonde - 12 Hefeweizen - 5 Black - 2 Light - 1 14. The next big name signing in MLS Thierry Henry - 6 Martin Palermo - 3 Ze Roberto - 3 Jared Borgetti - 2 Andres d'Allesandro - 1 DeMarcus Beasley - 1 Luis Figo - 1 Freddie Ljungberg - 1 (didn't he technically already sign?) Pavel Nedved - 1 15. Topic on BigSoccer that you are tired of discussing/complaining about Cooper's Contract (and other variations on the theme) - 7 Promotion/Relegation - 4 PHP Pointyball Lines - 1 PHP Distance from Downtown - 1 Viktor Sikora leaving - 1 Duilio Davino - 1 Expansion - 1 Bruno Guarda - 1 FCD FO - 1 Buzz's Spelling - 1 Sheep - 1
Congratulations to Thrash13, Sheep newbie, and to Thedza on tying for the first weekly win! Code: 1 Thedza 138 24.5 (19.5 + 5 win bonus) 1 Thrash13 138 24.5 (19.5 + 5 win bonus) 3 cowtown 137 18 4 3rd Degree 124 16.5 4 nutella 124 16.5 6 FC Dizzle 121 14.5 6 boneall 121 14.5 8 Quills 118 13 9 Parrothead FC 114 12 10 GraceTX 113 11 11 texgator 110 10 12 cleazer 106 8.5 12 stopper4 106 8.5 14 hutchtx 104 7 15 Rufiolo 102 5.5 15 soccercptn 102 5.5 17 chazsoccer 101 4 18 Kermmy803 100 3 19 ivannomad 90 2 20 dangerbird75 77 1 Code: [B]Serie A[/B] 1 Thedza 24.5 2 cowtown 18 3 3rd Degree 16.5 4 FC Dizzle 14.5 5 Quills 13 6 Parrothead FC 12 7 GraceTX 11 8 texgator 10 9 cleazer 8.5 10 hutchtx 7 11 Rufiolo 5.5 11 soccercptn 5.5 13 chazsoccer 4 14 ivannomad 2 15 dangerbird75 1 [COLOR="Red"]16 JuanIg 0 16 Marmaduke 0 16 boomersooner027 0 16 jamezyjamez 0 16 ElSpruceMoose 0[/COLOR] Code: [B]Serie B[/B] 1 Thrash13 24.5 2 nutella 16.5 3 boneall 14.5 4 stopper4 8.5 5 Kermmy803 3 [COLOR="Red"]6 Skeeter 0 6 jaymz311 0 6 jwedding 0 6 Hoopstastic 0 6 AHF4FCD 0[/COLOR] As it stands, we only have 20 players - missing 4 in Serie A and only 4 playing in Serie B. If it stays this way, or even if only a few of those missing come back, I'll combine the divisions (much to the delight of Thrash13, nutella and boneall, I'm sure ) For those who did not play this week, it's not too late to join in!. There's still 7 more weeks left to make up points missed this week, and it only takes a good week or two to get you right back in the thick of things.
Well, I can say I at least tied for first in the Sheep League once in my life. I had the first-time luck, now let's see if I can do some good the next time as well.
Thierry Henry still? Really? Wasn't he the "next big-name signing" like a year and a half ago? (That said, I put DMB, as he seemed the most realistic. I should've gone with my first instinct, Palermo.)
I'll be in St. Louis over this weekend for the draft. I'll have my laptop with me, so I'll be able to get results for this week up at some point over the weekend, but I have no guarantees about when that will be.
Week 2 Questions 1. If the US was a big reality TV show, which would be the first state voted out of the Union? 2. Year in which Mike Modano will announce his retirement 3. Most overhyped movie of 2008 4. A country you root for in the World Cup besides USA 5. Hottest Sports Illustrated cover model ever 6. In looks only, rate these British supercars from best to worst: Ascari A10, Aston Martin DB9, Noble M12, TVR Tuscan 7. A sign of the zodiac 8. Number of goals Jeff Cunningham will score in 2009 9. Number of goals FC Dallas’ midfield will score in 2009 10. Worst set of posters on BigSoccer besides Houston fans 11. On Guitar Hero/Rock Band, would you rather be playing guitar, bass, drums or vocals? 12. A Philip K. Dick novel 13. Oduro for Van Den Bergh - good or bad trade? 14. A euphemism for “Getting your period” 15. A TV series created by Joss Whedon As I'm in St Louis this weekend I'm not going to say "Answers are due by...". Instead, I'll just say that I will not be posting answers before 7pm on Friday. Between then and whatever time the results do go up, I will still accept any answers sent to me, but obviously waiting that long is at your own risk.
Remember, even if you didn't play last week, you can still submit answers and join (or rejoin) Sheep League this week...
New plan: The Wifi internet connection here at the hotel is slower than Davino, so Sheep results will go up Sunday night or most likely Monday morning after we get back to Texas.