Holy cow, I nearly forgot to do this this year. College kickoff is only 5 days a way, NFL 11.
To enter any of these, you'll need to register on ESPN.com, but you can disable spam e-mails if you're worried about it. All of them do have a grand prize of some sort if you finish first amongst all the thousands upon thousands of entries in the game, so you might want to use real contact information just in case.
Also, please try to incorporate your BG handle somehow into your team name, or at least brag at the end that you won with your super creative team name so we can bestow you with all the accolades and everlasting respect you deserve by becoming the Grand Wizard of BG. Please note: if you don't use your name, please note that it's not my job to track through 50 pages of a thread to figure out who won the thing. I'll look at your name, maybe the last page or two of the thread to figure out who was bragging about it. If I get your name wrong on the list below, PM me and I'll fix it.
ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PER POOL
There will only be one winner because ties suck, and in the event of a tie, I will use ESPN's tiebreakers for the grand prize to establish a group winner.
If you have any questions or trouble logging in, or just generally like to bitch, do so below.
PIGSKIN PICKEM
The first game is the traditional Pigskin Pick Em, that's the NFL Pick Em, where you pick each winner, week by week. I've set it up so it drops the lowest week so if you completely forget a week, you won't be eliminated. I went with the no-spread option. You can also set it up so that ESPN will send you automatic e-mail reminders each week to update your lineup which is helpful if you're inclined to forget about these things.
http://games.espn.go.com/nfl-pigskin...m/en/frontpage
GroupName: Orderofthebluegartr
Password: wopped
ELIMINATOR
This is similar to a suicide pool, although not exactly the same. You pick one team a week to win their game, but can only pick each team once, so there's a fair amount of strategy to know when to pick crappy teams. This is not a suicide pool, so if you miss one, you still keep playing. The person with the most correct picks wins (two years ago, we had a three way tie at 15). In case of a tie this year, the person with the longest streak to START the season wins, then we go to ESPN tiebreakers. Again, I'm pretty sure you can set the system up to send you a reminder e-mail every week if you like, or you can make all your picks at the beginning of the year if you like.
Frontpage: http://games.espn.go.com/nfl-elimina...e/en/frontpage
GroupName: Orderofthebluegartr
Password: russellwilson
COLLEGE PICK EM
This game is a little more complicated. Each week, they ask you to pick the winners of 10 Saturday college football matchups (at least, in past years, it's always been all Saturday games). Then they ask you to rank them 1-10 in order of confidence. You want the most confident games to be a 10, and your least confident to be a 1, as if you get the game right, you get as many points as you wagered. There are 14 weeks, from week one through championship game Saturday. Again, I'm pretty sure you can set the system up to send you a reminder e-mail every week if you like.
Frontpage: http://games.espn.go.com/college-foo...m/en/frontpage
GroupName: Orderofthebluegartr
Password: ihateyourducks
Prizes? We don't need no steenken prizes! Although each game has a grand prize for all entries on ESPN.com, none of these games have a BG specific prize other then e-peen, bragging rights, and your name on the esteemed list of self-important jackasses below (I can say that because I'm on the list more than anyone else). If you do win, however,, I'll totally buy you a beer at the next Oregon State home game you come to. If you're old enough. If not, I'll buy two beers and drink both yours and mine.
Side note: if people actually are interested in putting money on any of these things, post here and/or PM me. Maybe we can make it more interesting. I'd love a $20 Eliminator pool, for instance. The pool could be open for everyone to play, but only people who paid $$$ would have a chance at the money. I'd have to get the money collected no later than kickoff next Sunday (or pre-Wednesday kickoff if you wanted to pick the Wed game). If we get enough interest in the next day or two, I'll put something together.
2006 Bowl Pick Em: Makaveli
2006 BG Fantasy Football: Thuggy
2007 March Madness: Byrd
2007 College Football Pick Em: Ryany
2007 Bowl Pick Em: Akiyama
2008 NFL Gridiron Playoff Challenge: Tyr
2008 March Madness: Snoogans
2008 College Pick Em: Byrd
2008 Eliminator: Byrd
2008 Pigskin Pick Em: Weltall
2008 Bowl Pick Em: Laguna
2009 Gridiron Playoff Challenge: Sekaran
2009 Super (Bowl) Pick Em: Stiker
2009 March Madness: MrW
2009 College Pick Em: Ryany
2009 Eliminator: Stiker
2009 Pigskin Pick Em: Weltall
2009 Bowl Pick Em: Alderon527
2010 Gridiron Playoff Challenge: Driver
2010 March Madness: Biddinger
2010 World Cup Bracket Predictor: Decy
2010 World Cup Pick Em: Plow
2010 College Pick Em: Bregor
2010 Eliminator: Akiyama
2010 Pigskin Pick Em: Byrd
2010 Bowl Pick Em: Byrd
2011 Gridiron Playoff Challenge: Bigrougabagel
2011 March Madness: Titanss
2011 College Pick Em: Byrd
2011 Eliminator: Intrinsic
2011 Pigskin Pick Em: Naafeih
2011 Bowl Mania: Vade
2012 Gridiron Playoff Challenge: Valisk
2012 March Madness: WOMP, ElvFenrir