RotoMojo NFL

Week 8 in Review

October 29, 2008 04:37 PM #

There are some milestones in this league that must be acknowledged.

No, it's not the week where 100% of the players have at least on DOH.

No, it's not the week that Crowback finally overtakes Sparty.

The milestone achieved this week was that of Mr. Wizard hitting is first bonus game! Congratlations. I'm sure the other 11 players who went with Tennessee on Monday's game had a bit of a panic attack when they realized who shared their bonus pick. But the Colts continued their underachieving ways this season allowing the Titans to remain undefeated.

The weekly winnings will be split this week between Postmaster (who always reminds me to ship USPS) and Da mini Ditkas who took different routes to a 10/12 week. Both stumbled on the Jville loss, but Postmaster had the Niners to win and Ditkas had Indy in the Monday game.

Week 8 could be considered an "easy" week as 83 players hit their bonus. For me, it's most evident that I was 61st overall and fell from 4th to 9th overall. But for last week's overall winner, and only DOH'less player DaBears, a 46th place finish gives up the overall lead to Short Bus.

One other milestone to note: Everybody left in the pool has paid. There was only two people who hadn't paid yet that had put in their picks each week. One promised to pay and the other logged in on Sunday, noted they were put in the "deadbeat" pool, and quit. So, over the next few days I'll be taking out the abacus and calculating the final prize pool. As in previous years, the top 20 players will get paid.

Also on the redesigned site, I've been plunking away on changes, specifically on the picks page, using one-click picking and drag'n drop ranking system. It's not quite ready for primetime yet, I still have to put in the blocks to prevent late pickers - but it's getting pretty close.

The other thing I'm going to do is allow you to graph your overall performance over the course of the pool. So you can see your steady march up or down the overall standings. Might be interesting...

A last note regarding week 9. Stubhub has graciously allowed me to overspend on some tickets to the Seahawk's next loss to the Eagles this week. Consequently, results may not get posted until the evening or worse. It might be possible that the wireless gods allow access via my mobile phone from Quest Field. As high up as we will be I'm sure I'll be able to see a cell tower from there but you just never know.

Tags: Week-In-Review

Week 7 in Review

October 22, 2008 10:59 PM #

Buldoofus squeeks out a close race, going to the second tiebreaker to secure the win over SQLQueen. The difference came down to the Dallas/St. Louis game that was picked by both players as their tiebreakers - Buldoofus picked St. Louis while SQLQueen went with Dallas. 1 game. A second weekly win for Buldoofus. The power of 0 point picks at work.

Oh how the mighty have faltered. A quick review of the bottom of the weekly standings finds some previous luminaries from previous WIR's. JetsFan, COM, Lipsom Piccarroon... I guess the thrill of victory is apparently accompanied by the agony of da suck the next week.

Overall, it's DaBears riding the non-DOH train to the top. JetsFan took last weeks WIR curse to heart and bonused the Broncos this week. Ooops. However it does remain a very close race at the top as Short Bus and Must Beat Lint are nipping at your heals. But beware, as JetsFan found out, a single DOH can drop you significantly in the standings. And two week winner Buldoofus, sits in 35th place with 2 DOHs.

Tags: Week-In-Review

Week 6 in Review

October 18, 2008 04:50 PM #

Another week is in the books and over half the players in the pool missed their bonus. Mostly due to the Cowboys overtime loss at Arizona, but another big chunk came via Da Bears as the surprising Falcons defend their home turf. Personally, I avoid road teams as my bonus if I can, but the NFL this year is truly a league that "on any given Sunday" somebody could win - unless you are the Lions.

I should also mention the carnage that rained down upon just about everybody in the pool with the Giants on Monday night, and the Rams out-of-nowhere win over the Redskins. The Redskins are a weird team. With a week 1 loss, many thought they were not going to be very good. A couple of straight wins got a lot of people on their bandwagon, only to drop an egg on us this week.

But with the lowest high score of the season so far, the win went to KGJET with a narrow tie breaker win over MojoMark. Primary difference was KGJET's avoidance of the Dallas game. Lots of other players were just a couple of points out of top spot.

At the bottom of the results are some familiar names - Week 1 winner Coordinator of Mirth and our former overall leader zlloveland, who mails in his first DOH! and a 17 point effort.

Overall, JetsFan (last weeks winner) rides the wave to the top spot and is one of only two players not yet to miss a bonus - DaBears being the other. (I just love mentioning that in the WIR because that is usually enough to drop the hex on them).

Good Luck This Week!

Tags: Week-In-Review

Week 5 in Review

October 07, 2008 10:20 PM #

Just for brevity's sake, let's just call this weeks winner "Jets Fan", because I'm not going to butcher the layout by actually calling him "ToddRyanO'BrienEsiasonO'DonnellNagleChadFavre". I suppose I could also call him "decades of disappointment", but that could be called mean (and I'll just leave that to Sparty, Crowback and Donkey).

In another week where bonus picks went down like John McCain's chances at the presidency, Jets Fan takes the Patriots on the road and scores the weekly win. Not only did he hit the bonus, but he also avoided the Green Bay debacle, and stayed away from the Philly/Washington game. And while avoiding those games certainly helped him win, he certainly owes a debt of gratitude to Sage Rosenfels of the Texans who handed the Colts an undeserved late victory and 11 points to Jets Fan.

One thing I wonder about though. Had the Saints not lost to the ever-vigilant Gus Ferrotte led Vikings on Monday night, I believe he would have tied for first place (with week 1 winner Coordinator of Mirth), and lost on the tie breaker, choosing not to pick the other two games. Picking the other games doesn't hurt your score, it can only help. You should pick them - you might thank me for that tip later.

Da mini Ditkas made a nice try for the top spot falling only two points behind - the Sunday night game being the deal breaker for him.

Overall, zloveland holds on to the lead while watching his pick % fall even further with a 7/12 effort. The difference between your crappy score and his is that this week he missed his lowest 5 games and he has not missed a bonus pick yet - one of only 4 players who can say that. As I noted somewhere in the smack exchange, I can't remember a year that so many have missed at least one bonus so early in the year. I can remember taunting people in week 12 or 13 wondering when they will miss their first. I do have to agree with the esteemed Donkey from last week's WIR - with that pick percentage, staying at the top is not predicted for long.

On a personal note, I had really high hopes for the week. I was in 8th place, probably higher than I'd been overall in years. In my fantasy league, my opponent had Favre, who since he had a bye for the week meant my opponent had to start John Kitna. I figured my Phillip Rivers led team would cruise to the win. But then I got to watch the Chargers lay a turd at the feet of the Big Tuna, and then scoreboard watch the Packers cut the cheese at home and the day was lost. Just to show the power of the bonus pick, I fell from 8th to 42nd place. The good news is that I'm tied with powerhouse MsCrowback, so that can't be all bad.

Tags: Week-In-Review

Week 4 in Review

October 01, 2008 05:39 PM #

This WIR is presented by Donkey, esteemed winner of week 4. Thoughts and opinions are his, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts of MojoMark. (some editing done for.... just because)

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Thank you.Thank you. Ya that's right el burro(Donkey) sabe mas que Tu!!!! How about them Redskins. Thanks Steelers for bringing up my blood pressure. Cowboys game brought almost everyone back to a DOH!. Damn I'm good. Not only did I think they might lose, I didn't just put them with a low score I took the skins to WIN.

The rest of the weekend played itself out. The dunkos took everyone out except NANNY. Must be chiefs fan. Sorry I cant recap any other games since I haven't been watching any games. I'll get into that later.

Bolt Power made it a game for Monday night and picking the Ravens for 1 point. Still came in a Distant Second with a 71. Dahraiders08 are tired of being in cellar and the laughing stock of the NFL and The Pool, came in third with a respectable 70. Other than that who cares, I WON B*****!!!!!

Speaking of B****** what is up Dabears and SVW? Your panties in a wad that you didn't bonus a game? DOH!! Could be up on the top of leader board. Also Donkey Punch buy an abacus and learn to count games. Or it might be on ebay under Crowback.

Overall we have zlloveland in first place with a whopping 272 but a crappy pick % so I don't think he can hang on to the top spot to long. Way to go Mr. Wizzard. 4/4 on missing the bonus. ed note: I wonder if it is as hard to go perfect missing the bonus as perfect picking the bonus? I don't think anybody's ever tried).

Its been a crazy couple of weeks for the Donkey. The Donkey picked up the little burritas and moved to Bend, OR. This place is amazing. SOOO many things to do and the people here are awesome. Buh Bye So. Cal!!!! I really don't think I will see many games until it snows. I haven't had time to watch games that much. So for all the dorks sitting at the sports bar with their spread sheets on the games, or the football package morons, HAHAHAHAHAHA I Won. Now its time tom move up the leader board. I see you Sparty. I'm ready to play now, my wife said so.

Thank you Mark for putting this all together. Oh and props to MojoMark For being 8th place overall. WOW. You usually suck. But its early, we will see.

Tags: Week-In-Review

Week 3 in Review

September 26, 2008 02:09 PM #

I'd like to start off by thanking Mojo Mark for the fine job he has done with this football pool over the years. One thing though - spell my name right next time will ya? It's "Buldoofus" not "Bulldoofus".

With that said, the weekly winner was - me. It's been a looong time coming. I'd like to thank the Oakland Raiders for their choke job & Josh Scobee for jacking a 53 yard field to give Jax the win over Indy. Tough luck goes to Mark Collins FROM....CAL STATE FULLERTON & Silver Bullet. Both go down on the second tie-breaker. Too bad.

Overall, yours truly moves into a first place tie with THE LISSOM PICAROON. Other than he seems to be a rookie in this pool, I'm wondering like most other particioants in this thing, what the hell is a LISSOM PICAROON? Since I have nothing better to do other than play fantasy baseball/football & football pools, I did a little internet research. The info is a little murky but my conclusion is this: AN AGILE PIRATE. I'm not making this up. If anyone else has a theory please post.

OK, back to other end of the overall standings and "Mr Wizard". The object of the game is to get your bonus game correct not wrong. 3 "DOHS" in 3 weeks doesn't cut it. Don't sweat it though - plenty of time to catch up.

Where is Crowback & Sparty? It's been two weeks since they have added their wit to the smack exchange.

Good luck to everyone in week 4

Tags: Week-In-Review

Week 2 in Review

September 16, 2008 09:46 PM #

What a great week for the NFL.

First a hurricane causes the NFL to jack up the schedule. There were about 20 people who picked the game and assigned points to it. After some thought, I chose to move the game to the Week 10 and adjust any points given out upward to accommodate the missing slot, leaving only a 1 point missing slot. For those affected, I hope you see the wisdom of the decision.

Then, Ed "guns" Hochuli inadvertently blows his whistle and costs the Chargers the win. 34 players collectively screamed at their TV, 7 most notably who bonused the Chargers. Reality shows that the Chargers, behind all game, barely deserved to win. But that doesn't really matter now. I found it funny how everybody talks about Shanahan's decision to go for two and how "gutsy" that was. In my mind, he had nothing to lose. If they make it - they win. If they don't, then based on the blown call they shouldn't have won anyway.

Then, Monday night's game was an unbelievable shootout. The over/under in Vegas was like 43 points - it was 54 at halftime! I was among the majority that picked Dallas to win, but for 34 of you who had Dallas as your bonus, that must have been nerve racking.

But our winner this week was The Lissom Picaroon (WTF?) who pulled off an 11 correct picks, only missing on the Chiefs at 7. He narrowly beat out The Zipster on a tiebreaker (Zip only got 10 right).

On the other side of the world, Mr Wizard didn't quite live up to the billing picking 4 correct games for a grand total of 7 points. You could take some solace in that at least 4 correct - that's one more than Bster and The Super Adventure Club could do (Dynomite got only three correct too but one of them was his bonus so he gets a pass in the "ugly" section of the WIR). Special mention goes to last week's winner The Coordinator of Mirth who was one of the poor saps who bonused the Chargers, but only got 6 right, finishing in 102nd place for the week. Typically, I'd attribute that to "beginners luck", but for COM, it's more like "regression to the mean".

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Admin note 1: Be sure to get your fees in to me. Players who don't pay by week 4 get put into the "Deadbeat Division" and are subject to public ridicule. For payment, you can either paypal me at markj@mojomark.com

or snail mail to

Mark Johnson
16163 SW Keerins Ct
Tigard OR, 97223

Tags: Week-In-Review

Week 1 in Review

September 09, 2008 06:50 PM #

In a week where two of the three biggest favorites at lost... at home, and the third saw their starting pro-bowl QB go down in the first quarter but still managed a win, it's a miracle that the scores this week were as high as they were. Longtime pool veteran The Coordinator of Mirth inexplicably had 7 points on the Pats, Indy and San Diego teams combined. Usually the spread makers know their stuff, but not this week as the gamble worked bringing home the weekly win.

It's also interesting to note that the top two players avoided conventional wisdom and didn't bonus the Pats.

It's funny sometimes as I process all the checks people send in for their fees. Some people enclose a nice note "thanks for hosting the pool", others just dump the check in the envelope, and others put a snarky note on the check. Just after the Monday night game is finishing up and I begin to laugh at Raider-fan, I'm mark the result and glace at the standings. The next thing I see is COM's check, notice anecdoted'ly he's won the week and on the check it says "Pain and Torment". Enjoy the pain, and the $75.

Speaking of pain, around 10:15am PT

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

That was the sound of 1 Fantasy Owner in every league around the world hearing the ligament pop heard 'round the world.

Normally, this space toward the end of the WIR is reserved for taunting the last place player - this week it's Foxtroop. However, I do believe that he is new to the pool, so I'll go easy this week. But I must wonder about the wisdom of choosing the Bengals as his bonus. The Bengals. The team with the defense that let one of the slowest guys on the planet not named John Olerud score on a run from 38 yards out.

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Admin note 1: Be sure to get your fees in to me.

Admin note 2: If you'd like a chance to write your own Week in Review, just let me know and I'll let you take over the prime spot to tell everybody why you didn't win the week.

Admin note 3: If you win the week and would like to tell everybody how smart you are, I'll put it in the WIR space.

Admin note last: I am working on a new design for the site. When it's ready enough for testing, I'll let you know - I'd be interested in your feedback. I'll probably run it in parallel this year, and roll it out as the primary site for next year.

Tags: Week-In-Review

Don't Forget To Send Your Entry Fees

September 09, 2008 11:38 AM #

I cleaned out my inbox today and post all payments that I have received. If your accounting still shows that you owe, and you have sent in your fees, send me an email.

Just in case you missed it....you can either paypal me at markj@mojomark.com or snail mail to

Mark Johnson
16163 SW Keerins Ct
Tigard OR, 97223

Tags: Fees