Sorry for the delay on this - the glitch that BS suffered last week has left me with very intermittent access to the Dallas board from work so I've not been able to get started on this. We'll be running a 7 week season starting next week due to this problem. Tuesday April 7th will see the beginning of the fourth season of FC Dallas' Sheep League, the Campeonato Sheepeiro. Last season we had just enough players take part to split into two divisions, 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 seven 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 7-week season and whoever scores the most will win the league. Standings: For this season, assuming we have enough returning and new players, our league will have two tiers. Série A and Série B. 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 are the final tables for last season, and the full Season 3 thread so you can see the game in action. Any questions? Ask as soon as possible, I'll be posting the first week's questions at some point on Tuesday 7th!
I'm thinking about a return as well. However... This game jacks with my head. Typically, I don't even have any idea what to answer for half the questions. So not only am I tasked with finding a correct answer, then I have to figure out which one of the correct answers everyone will be most likely to choose. What does it all equate to? Instant mediocrity. And a really bad headache.
I'm fresh off my 19th out of 29 finish in the Champion's League. There are only 18 people on all of BigSoccer more sheep-like than I!
Oh my God! What if you're right? I've had a couple of okay performances -- could it be I'm not as delightfully eccentric as I think I am?
Questions will go up tomorrow. I kind of forgot it was Tuesday and didn't get anything ready. Also, due to Passover and the Easter weekend and whathaveyou, the deadline for answers will be extended to Monday 13th at midday. Turns out we will be going for the full 8 weeks too. There's been some complaining about the quick turnaround of seasons amongst the shepherds, so including last week there is now a 10 week period to fill in this season. We'll be running 8 weeks starting tomorrow, then those that qualify for the post-season will have a week break before the Champions League starts up. This is still going to be my last season as shepherd, if anyone wants to take over for next season, please let me know.
Questions - Week 1 1. Team FC Dallas will get their first win of 2009 against 2. A US National Park 3. A Transition element in the Periodic Table 4. Team that will win UEFA Cup 2009 5. Rank in order of importance to you: Cellphone, Computer, TV 6. How many weeks of this season will cowtown win? 7. A Clint Eastwood movie 8. An REM album 9. A Thomas Hardy novel 10. Name the 4 FCD defenders who will start against Toronto at Pizza Hut Park 11. Announced attendance for FCD vs Toronto home game 12. A character from Heroes 13. From best to worst: Applebees, Chilis, Olive Garden, TGI Fridays 14. Number of times you go to the bathroom in a day 15. A bra size Due to the Easter weekend, answers are due in a PM to me by midday on Monday 13th April. For anyone new to the game, you do not need to announce your intention to play, just send me a PM with your answers.
I almost asked about that, but I was trying to hew as closely as possible to the Platonic ideal of unexplained Sheep questions.
Of course, depending on your feelings, it either helps or doesn't help that we play Toronto twice in a row.
Look at KC's sheep league. One of their questions was '_____ JOB', and the question selector wasn't expecting the obvious answer to that one..
Rex is having problems accessing the BigSoccer board from work. He asked me to relay a message, but I can't remember what the message was. I think he'll be posting sheep results when he gets home. I'm gonna pretend that was the message.
Answers - Week 1 1. Team FC Dallas will get their first win of 2009 against Toronto - 19 2. A US National Park Yellowstone - 14 Yosemite - 4 Glacier National Park - 1 3. A Transition element in the Periodic Table Gold - 5 Iron - 5 Scandium - 2 Titanium - 2 Zinc - 2 Helium - 1 Mercury - 1 Silver - 1 4. Team that will win UEFA Cup 2009 Man City - 8 Hamburg - 4 Werder Bremen - 2 Barcelona - 2 (wrong competition) Udinese - 1 Man Utd - 1 (wrong competition) Chelsea - 1 (wrong competition) 5. Rank in order of importance to you: Cellphone, Computer, TV Computer, Cellphone, TV - 6 Computer, TV, Cellphone - 6 Cellphone, Computer, TV - 3 TV, Computer, Cellphone - 2 Cellphone, TV, Computer - 2 6. How many weeks of this season will cowtown win? 4 - 5 8/all - 4 2 - 3 5 - 3 3 - 2 6 - 1 0 - 1 7. A Clint Eastwood movie Dirty Harry - 11 The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - 3 High Plains Drifter - 1 Million Dollar Baby - 1 Unforgiven - 1 Gran Torino - 1 The Outlaw Josey Wales - 1 8. An REM album Automatic For The People - 12 Out Of Time - 4 Green - 2 Accelerate - 1 9. A Thomas Hardy novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles - 7 A Pair of Blue Eyes - 5 Jude the Obscure - 3 The Woodlanders - 2 The Mayor of Casterbridge - 1 The Poor Man and the Lady - 1 10. Name the 4 FCD defenders who will start against Toronto at Pizza Hut Park (in alphabetical order) Dello-Russo, John, Moor, Wagner - 9 Dello-Russo, John, Moor, Torres - 4 Moor, Purdy, Torres, Wagner - 2 Dello-Russo, Moor, Torres, Wagner - 2 John, Moor, Torres, Wagner - 1 11. Announced attendance for FCD vs Toronto home game 8000 - 8 10000 - 4 12000 - 2 11000 - 2 5000 - 2 15000 - 1 12. A character from Heroes Claire - 10 Sylar - 4 Hiro - 4 Peter - 1 13. From best to worst: Applebees, Chilis, Olive Garden, TGI Fridays Chilis, TGI Fridays, Olive Garden, Applebees - 4 Olive Garden, Chilis, Applebees, TGI Fridays - 3 Olive Garden, Chilis, TGI Fridays, Applebees - 3 Chilis, Olive Garden, TGI Fridays, Applebees - 2 TGI Fridays, Chilis, Olive Garden, Applebees - 2 Chilis, TGI Fridays, Applebees, Olive Garden - 1 Chilis, Applebees, TGI Fridays, Olive Garden - 1 14. Number of times you go to the bathroom in a day 5 - 10 3 - 4 2 - 2 4 - 1 6 - 1 7 - 1 15. A bra size 36C - 4 34C - 4 36D - 4 34D - 3 40D - 1 38DD - 1 36DD - 1 DD - 1
The first week's winner is... chazsoccer, who holds off defending champ cowtown by 2 points. As there are only 19 entrants to start the season, it looks like we will be returning to a single table for this season. Code: [B]1 chazsoccer 119 19 + 5 pt win bonus = 24[/B] 2 cowtown 117 18 3 giggshasscored 113 17 4 JuanIg 111 16 5 Marmaduke 109 15 6 hutchtx 107 14 7 Quills 103 13 8 Furacao del Norte 102 11 8 dangerbird75 102 11 8 Parrothead FC 102 11 11 3rd Degree 98 9 12 Kermmy803 93 8 13 texgator 89 7 14 Thedza 88 6 15 ivannomad 87 5 16 boneall 83 4 17 Rufiolo 80 3 18 GraceTX 72 2 19 soccercptn 68 1
HOW did this happen? Cowtown, don't worry - I am certain I will return to mid-table obscurity immediately. I was certain I had blown it when I chose Silver as my transition element, and Syler as my Hero character!
I said Glacier National Park and I have no idea what I was thinking. I mean, my backup choice was Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Yellowstone didn't even cross my mind. What is wrong with me? More importantly, what's wrong with the half of the table that's below me?
Week 2 questions will go up sometime tomorrow, answers will be due on Saturday. After that, we'll get back to the regular Tuesday to Friday schedule.
Questions - Week 2 Besides the obligatory FCD-related questions, we're going all Geography this week... 1. Scoreline in FCD vs TFC game this Sunday (please include winner) 2. A river in South America besides the Amazon 3. A country with a flag containing the Union Jack besides Great Britain 4. A city that has hosted the Olympics at least twice 5. Name one of the Canary Islands 6. Worst MLS signing of the 2008-09 offseason 7. An English county 8. City that will host next year's MLS Cup 9. State most likely to secede from the US besides Texas 10. A European country that does not use the Euro as currency besides the UK 11. Round FC Dallas will reach in the US Open Cup 12. Asian country which will next host the World Cup 13. Best City in DFW Metroplex to live in 14. City that MLS will expand to in 2012 15. Number of points FC Dallas will have by the All-Stars game Answers are due by midday Saturday. Good luck!