# SDMB NFL Pick 'em, Survival, and Salary Cap leagues **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 15, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481 "2009-08-15T02:01:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/121 "2009-12-30T07:24:23Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > And now I see that Kaufman’s column is no more. Too bad, it and “ask the Pilot” were the only reasons I had for going to Salon. > > [This](http://espn.go.com/nfl/picks) link at [ESPN.com](http://ESPN.com) shows their braintrust’s NFL picks. I’m surprised at how well Accuscore has done. Out of curiosity, are you the Gray Ghost from the Wrestling Classics boards? ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/122 "2009-12-30T22:34:11Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Out of curiosity, are you the Gray Ghost from the Wrestling Classics boards? Nope, picked the name because of the Weimaraner I’ve had for the last 9 years. Weim owners can get a little nutty about the breed—part of the whole owners starting to resemble their pets thing. I stuck with the name on the various pick’em leagues because I didn’t know we could pick alternate names and also that it made it easier to figure out which entry belonged to which poster. Relating to the thread, anyone else having a difficult time picking games this week? I just listened to Bill Simmons’s podcast and it was really funny listening to the two of them flounder around trying to guess what the Week 17 lines were going to be. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/123 "2010-01-03T00:41:12Z")
Really scraping the bottom of the barrel on survival now. Do I want Buffalo vs Indy, the Jets vs Cinci? Should I say wtf and go with Cleveland? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/124 "2010-01-03T01:40:10Z")
Cinci is going to lay down. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/125 "2010-01-03T15:47:35Z")
What a clusterfuck picking in week 17 is in general. I have to consult playoff picture charts to try to figure out who’s going to be playing for real. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/126 "2010-01-04T13:14:31Z")
We have our results. I’m going to put the SDMB name of the user in parenthesis if it isn’t obvious, and an asterisk next to their name if I don’t know what their SDMB name is (in which case please post to identify yourself) The straight up **pick 'em** league: 1 SenorBeef’s combo platter 171-72 2 Omni’s Crystal Balls 165-75 3 Kid\_A 162-81 4 RetroVertigo 162-81 5 Selhurst Blues (CatInASuit) 161-81 6 Isotopes 161-81 7 The path to Vicktory (Mullinator) 160-80 8 Fear the Turtle 158-82 9 Hal’s Rabid Ferrets 158-85 10 picker 158-84 11 Cyberhwk’s Sage Selections 154-86 12 MadTheSwine 152-91 13 Fighting Borschevskys 152-88 14 ICU812 (Makeitstop) 150-92 15 garygnu 150-90 16 Shibb’s Unskilled Hacks 147-93 17 Purple Avengers (pilot141) 146-94 18 RealCarmenOfGenius 139-101 19 JAMmer’s Haruspicy Experiment (Jules Andre) 137-103 20 Court Jesters (d\_odds) 104-136 21 asterion 95-145 22 Stuffy the Niner’s fan 83-157 **Spread** pick 'em: 1 Omni’s Crystal Balls 132-105 2 SenorBeef’s Death Waffle 130-110 3 Isotopes 126-114 4 Kid\_A 125-115 5 Shibb’s Unskilled Hacks 125-113 6 picker 124-113 7 Gray Ghost 122-115 8 garygnu 121-116 9 ICU812 (Makeitstop) 120-120 10 Frosted Spread (Frosted Glass) 120-118 11 Ironic Name (Mullinator) 118-119 12 MadTheSwine 117-123 13 Fighting Borschevskys 116-122 14 Fear the Turtle 115-122 15 JAMmer’s Haruspicy Experiment (Jules Andre) 110-128 16 Court Jesters (d\_odds) 77-161 17 asterion 74-164 18 VarlosZ – The Wrath of Khan 67-171 19 Stuffy the Niner Fan 65-173 **Confidence** pick em: 1 SenorBeef’s Slurpee Run 1488 59 170-73 2 Kid\_A 1453 161-82 3 Isotopes 1450 162-80 4 Oakminster 1448 165-78 5 Omni’s Crystal Balls 1438 164-79 6 Ro0sh’s Tribe 1432 168-74 7 Flickster’s Fumbles 1431 159-81 8 Taber 1414 162-81 9 Fighting Borschevskys 1399 152-88 10 Fear the Turtle 1398 158-85 11 picker 1378 161-81 12 Shibb’s Unskilled Hacks 1349 147-93 13 Gray Ghost 1342 154-86 14 RealCarmenOfGenius 1333 145-98 15 MadTheSwine 1329 152-88 16 ICU812 (CatInASuit)1315 151-89 17 Al Davis’ Robot Duplicate (Mullinator) 1309 160-80 18 garygnu 1293 145-95 19 JAMmer’s Haruspicy Experiment (Jules Andre) 1185 136-104 20 Court Jesters (d\_odds) 1008 114-126 21 VarlosZ. League Participant 900 105-135 22 Liquored-Up Idiot Picker\* 889 108-132 23 Stuffy 713 83-157 24 asterion 609 77-163 **Survival** (Order that people were knocked out in - in the case of people who survived or otherwise tied, the person who got their first strike later ranks higher) Survivors with 1 strike: 1. Gray Ghost (first strike week 17) 2. SenorBeef (first strike week 15) 3t. Cyberhwk’s Super Survivors, Fighting Borschevskys (first strike week 11) Eliminated: 5. Isotopes (first strike week 15, 2nd week 17) 6. MadTheSwine (weeks 13, 16) 7t. Omniscient, RealCarmenOfGenius (11, 16) 9. Taber (6, 16) 10. Hal Briston (1, 15) 11. pilot141 (10, 14) 12. Kid\_A (9, 11) 13t. ro0sh, CatinASuit (10, 11) 15. bearflag70 (6, 10) 16. One and Done\* (9, 10) 17. Stink Fish Pot, Shibb0leth (8, 10) 19t. Frosted Glass, RNATB (3, 9) 21t. Mullinator, asterion, Garygnu (6, 8) 24t. Fear the Turtle, Flickster, Kiros, Oakminster (2, 6) 28. Court Jesters (1, 3) 29. VarlosZ (2, 3) and **Salary Cap** 1 Kid\_A 1,408.61 2 Fear the Turtle 1,311.53 3 Varlos’ Delicate Condition 1,308.46 4 New York Fanboys (Ellis Dee) 1,299.53 5 SenorBeef’s deep fried budget 1,244.88 6 Midway Monsters (Omni) 1,226.90 7 Jules Andre 1,220.25 8 Dancing Ninja Men (Mullinator) 1,196.04 9 asterion 1,134.41 10 Shibb’s Unskilled Hacks 1,086.61 11 Plaxico Fumbled the Soap\* 1,020.21 ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/127 "2010-01-04T16:04:36Z")
Dang. I just missed 3rd place and a virtual trophy in the Confidence league. Congrats to the winners. Looking forward to next year. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/128 "2010-01-04T16:29:55Z")
3rd in the Straight Pick’em, 4th in Spread, 2nd in Confidence, and 1st in the Salary Cap. Not too shabby and (kind of) makes up for my crappy fantasy season. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/129 "2010-01-05T00:29:15Z")
If you’re interested in continuing your prognostication into the post season, I’m running a [playoff prediction contest](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=546473) that involves making a playoff bracket and also predicting the scores of every game each week. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/130 "2010-01-05T00:52:21Z")
I’m glad to see that Omni won the spread picks. Unfortunately I forgot/didn’t have time to make week 15 picks, just hazarded some guesses for week 16 and then picked week 17 a week in advance before I even knew what the spreads were, since I knew that I’d be on vacation. Having the lead up until that point was nice while it lasted, but spending time with my family during the holidays was better. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481/131 "2010-01-05T02:03:56Z")
Glad I managed to win one of the leagues after screwing the pooch in week 16 and forgetting to pick the early games. If I’d have made those picks, and I’d have probably been better than .500 in those games easy, I think I might have chased down the other two leagues as well. All in all, I had this season pretty well read. Take away the 10 games I forgot to pick and I was 132-95 against the spread. I doubt many “experts” could claim anything close to that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-nfl-pick-em-survival-and-salary-cap-leagues/506481.md?page=6)