Bowl pool update - After Myrtle Beach Bowl

 Hello again everyone.  I was hoping for a more fun day today.  I was planning on watching some of the Myrtle Beach Bowl and chilling out for the evening, since I’m toking tomorrow off for my birthday.  What actually happened was that I was feeling pretty tired after lunch, so I laid down and slept for 4.5 hours.  I would have slept longer, but my wife woke me up for dinner.  I had virtually no energy at all, but also no fever or congestion.

We decided to go get a COVID test, and we got a slot at 8:15 nearby.  We waited in line for 2 hours, and then when we were about 3 cars back from getting in, they came and told us that the computer was down and that I’d have to come back tomorrow – conceivably to wait in another 2 hour+ line.  So, long story short, I feel lousy (although slightly better than this afternoon) and I don’t know if I have COVID or not.  Luckily for me, I am triple vaxxed, so hopefully this is the worst of it.  I still need to get tested though.  It also puts a damper on my birthday tomorrow and for Christmas later.  Boo to Omicron.

But nobody comes here to listen to me talk about COVID.  So far no games have been postponed or cancelled.  I’m hoping it stays that way, not just because it will mean fewer people getting infected, but I’m not sure how to handle it if a game gets cancelled.  Let’s hope we never have to find out.

Today’s game was probably good.  I don’t know.  I slept through most of it.  95.75% of the points wagered on this game were won, so there was a little something for everyone.  You’re welcome….

As such, the standings didn’t change a whole heckuva lot.  Here ‘s points rankings:

1. Klei R.: 206 (-108)

2. Daniel E.: 206 (-123)

3. Josiah T. #1: 205 (-134)

4. Scott H. #2: 196 (-129)

5. Hutch H.: 191 (-111)

6. Jason S.: 184 (-70)

7. Larry G. #2: 181 (-124)

8. Chad L.: 181 (-139)

9. Mike W.: 180 (-120)

10. Ben S.: 175 (-84)

11. Adam E.: 175 (-131)

12. Matt N.: 172 (-113)

13. Jay H. #2: 164 (-147)

14. Pete J. #2: 158 (-146)

15. Pete J. #1: 157 (-147)

16. Josiah T. #2: 152 (-147)

17. Michelle L. #1: 148 (-176)

18. Adam O. #1: 147 (-123)

19. Becky H.: 146 (-52)

20. Adam O. #4: 139 (-123)

21. Dylan L.: 138 (-98)

22. Adam O. #3: 138 (-108)

23. Mike N.: 134 (-100)

24. Adam O. #2: 132 (-123)

25. Marc R.: 128 (-81)

26. Dylan B.: 126 (-145)

27. Weston T. (Shane): 125 (-106)

28. Michelle L. #2: 118 (-178)

29. Brent S.: 112 (-117)

30. Brett W.: 110 (-78)

31. Brian K.: 109 (-74)

32. Scott H. #1: 109 (-167)

33. Mark A.: 107 (-125)

34. Jay H. #1: 104 (-93)

35. Cam L.: 103 (-110)

36. Ally H.: 102 (-102)

37. Creighton H.: 100 (-107)

38. Lee K.: 100 (-118)

39. Damien R.: 100 (-169)

40. Stefan K.: 98 (-76)

41. Dustin B.: 98 (-92)

42. Brad R.: 94 (-82)

43. Emily T.: 93 (-163)

43. Grant F.: 93 (-163)

45. Matt M.: 84 (-107)

46. Dan D.: 81 (-53)

47. Larry G. #1: 75 (-209)

48. Amy L.: 72 (-183)

49. Ryan W.: 68 (-99)

50. Doug L.: 49 (-14)

51. Tom B.: 24 (-154)

…and the net points rankings:

1. Jason S.: 114

2. Klei R.: 98

3. Becky H.: 94

4. Ben S.: 91

5. Daniel E.: 83

6. Hutch H.: 80

7. Josiah T. #1: 71

8. Scott H. #2: 67

9. Mike W.: 60

10. Matt N.: 59

11. Larry G. #2: 57

12. Marc R.: 47

13. Adam E.: 44

14. Chad L.: 42

15. Dylan L.: 40

16. Brian K.: 35

16. Doug L.: 35

18. Mike N.: 34

19. Brett W.: 32

20. Adam O. #3: 30

21. Dan D.: 28

22. Adam O. #1: 24

23. Stefan K.: 22

24. Weston T. (Shane): 19

25. Jay H. #2: 17

26. Adam O. #4: 16

27. Pete J. #2: 12

27. Brad R.: 12

29. Jay H. #1: 11

30. Pete J. #1: 10

31. Adam O. #2: 9

32. Dustin B.: 6

33. Josiah T. #2: 5

34. Ally H.: 0

35. Brent S.: -5

36. Cam L.: -7

36. Creighton H.: -7

38. Mark A.: -18

38. Lee K.: -18

40. Dylan B.: -19

41. Matt M.: -23

42. Michelle L. #1: -28

43. Ryan W.: -31

44. Scott H. #1: -58

45. Michelle L. #2: -60

46. Damien R.: -69

47. Emily T.: -70

47. Grant F.: -70

49. Amy L.: -111

50. Tom B.: -130

51. Larry G. #1: -134

So, there’s some tightening at the top, where 5 people are within 15 points of the top.  I think tomorrow’s games may help with that.

Neither of the games tomorrow is for a lot of points, but it’s these types of games that seem to make a disproportionate amount of influence on the final standings.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (3:30 on ESPN)

Vegas Line: Wyoming -3.5

Median Pick: Wyoming for 11 points.

Picks for Wyoming: 31 (17.65 points average, 547 total points, 34^th)

Picks for Kent State: 20 (13.80 points average, 276 total points, 62nd)

Total points wagered: 823 (38^th)

Pick distribution:

I say this every year, but this is probably the Bowl Game I least would like to win tickets to.  Boise is the worst city-climate wise to go for a Bowl game.  I think that’s why they have a tie-in with the Mountain West.  At least schools nearby are likely to come.

This (and the later one) are important games because they fall in that category of: Not everyone is going to put a tom of points on it, the spread isn’t that big, but it’s not so close that you are wagering nothing on it.  You can see the cluster from -10 to -28  That’s a lot of points for a game a lot of people see as a coin flip.

Tropical Smoothie Café Frisco Bowl (7:30 on ESPN)

Vegas Line: San Diego State -3

Median Pick: San Diego State for 4 points.

Picks for San Diego State: 30 (14.77 points average, 443 total points, 41^st)

Picks for UTSA: 21 (14.10 points average, 296 total points, 60th)

Total points wagered: 739 (43^rd)

Pick distribution:

I’m guessing the bulk of the SDSU points that are in the far right tail are all SDSU alumni.  I know at least I am.  I didn’t realize until this year that UTSA was a Division I college football team.  Not sure when that happened, but then again, I don’t live anywhere near San Antonio don’t follow the Sun Belt conference at all.  This is remaining game with the fewest points wagered on it, but as the points distribution shows, there is still quite a bit riding on this one.

Alright.  It’s late.  I’m kinda tired and not looking forward to sitting in a long line tomorrow, so I’ll go for now.

Good luck to everyone!!!!!