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The 2020 BGO NFL Pickem Contest

Boone

The Commissioner
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BGO Ownership Group
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Location
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It's hard to imagine - but our 2020 Pickem contest will be our 12th epic battle!

In 2019, MisterPinstripe crushed all comers to seize the title and coveted winner's avatar.

This year, we take a different approach. Since its inception, we've used an external 3rd party contest software. In 2020, for the first time, we'll utilize our own NFL Pickem software, with picks, results, and standings embedded right here on BGO. You'll join the contest here, make your picks, see your results, compete with other members, and talk smack right here on the site via the 'Pickem' tab at the top of your page.

Some other changes coming with our 2020 contest:

  • There will be no physical prizes. That's probably not going to be the most popular change - but for more than a decade I've funded the prizes for the contest out of pocket, to the tune of hundreds of dollars per season. I just can't continue doing that. We appreciate the financial support many of you give us to keep the site going, but it usually isn't enough even to cover operating costs. One of our *conditions* of updating and launching the new site was getting more help from membership in funding it. Spending a bunch of money on prizes that goes well beyond funds raised just doesn't fit in with that goal. We'll still celebrate our winner and top 3 runner ups and award a cool avatar and bragging rights - which is really what it's all about anyway!
  • The contest is getting tougher! Why do I say that? First of all, you'll no longer have the ability to select 'Favorites' or 'Home Team' and have your picks auto-selected. You'll have to make ALL of your picks each week - individually.
  • You will not be able to set up all your picks for the season at once. You'll be able to make your picks for Week 1 as soon as you join the contest, but after that you can begin making your week's picks each Wednesday. You will be able to make a pick for any game up to the start of the game, so if you miss a Thursday night game, you can still make the remainder of that week's picks. We do have 'auto-pick' enabled. That means that if you go brain-dead and forget to make your picks for the week, the system will automatically select road teams as your selection. That helps prevent one missed week from ruining your contest chances.
  • You'll get almost real-time results as we'll update game results as they happen and you'll be able to see updated standings more quickly right here on the site.
  • The tie-breaker each week will be the combined team's score in the first Monday night football game each week.

As previously, we're keeping the contest simple. Final results will be based on total # of correctly predicted wins.

We encourage you to go ahead and join the contest by visiting the 'Pickem' page, clicking on this year's contest, and the 'Join Contest' button. We will likely add the pre-season weeks in this year just to give folks some opportunity to practice before things get real :)

Please chime in here if you have questions about this year's contest or the new software! We look forward to another great, competitive contest in 2020 :cheers:
 
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Folks - if you intend to play our Pickem Contest in 2020, you need to go the Pickem tab, click on the contest link, and register. If we are going to have a contest this year, we need to know who is playing. As a reminder, we are using an on-site software going forward, and we will not have the ability to 'practice' with no pre-season games, so it would be wise for folks to go ahead and play around making your first week picks well before kickoff on Week 1. Let me know if you have questions.
 
We currently have 5 members signed up.
 
I will allow registration for this year's contest all the way up until kickoff of the first game. To sign up, all you have to do is click on the 'Pickem' tab at the top of any page, open this year's contest, and join.
 
Continuing reminders - we have just 10 folks signed up to play for the 2020 Pickem Contest. If you are planning to play - sign up please :) Click on the 'Pickem' tab, open this year's contest, and join.
 
I hate not being able to set my picks for weeks in advance...something I have done for 3 years now. Being a bedridden paralyzed person, I never know what my health my be and when I will be in the hospital so that was a big plus. There's too much going on in my brain to remember doing picks each week. I'm out of the running...not that I ever come close to 1st place anyway. Good luck everyone.
 
I hate that it makes it harder for you brother. Thing is, there were several downsides to the old external site. The first being, we didn't own it and it is very likely that the guy who runs it won't do it forever. That was the appeal of the software we are using now. We own it and have full control. I also wasn't a fan of folks who would just fill out the entire season using the 'Home Team' or 'Favorites' button - since that isn't really playing the game, but more just gaming it.

Let me look and see if it's possible to build the entire season and give you access to it so that you can still play. The other alternative is that you just send me all of your picks for the season. That way, if you aren't able to enter for a given week or weeks, I can enter them for you. We can make that work.

There are some benefits to doing it on the site itself, you just won't see them until we get the season going.
 
Is this closed? Or am I being dim! LOL
I can't find this years pool from the pickem menu...
 
Yeah it's open, you have to click on the tab on the banner, not the drop down portion. Then click 2020 BGO Pickem Contest, then pick Manage Your Picks button on the right side.
 
I also wanted to mention, the system will send you reminders via the site to make your picks for those who have had trouble remembering in the past.
 
Well, that helps...I can do that. I would only fill out 4 weeks of my choice. I don't think that I ever used the favs, home or away.

Thanks, Boone my Greensboro homie :) If I need the help I'll let you know.
 
Cool! I would hate for you not to play. Send me however many weeks of picks you like and I'll make sure they get entered.
 
How do I get to the new site? When I click on Pickem then the 2020 link, I get nada.
 
And I'm in! Thanks folks. :D I can see we're all bullish on WFT winning their opener. :D
 
I"m in. I almost didn't realize this was the first week of the season coming up, what with no pre-season games.
 
You may have noticed that, should you fail to to enter your picks before the 2nd reminder, the software auto picks all visiting teams for you so you won’t get zero points that week. You can still go in and change those picks anytime you want prior to games start.
 
So psyched for the new season, hopefully we get a full season out of it. This pickem league is definitely one of the highlights for me and makes me start feeling like football is around the corner. Thanks for doing this again guys.
 
I have removed the Broncos-Patriots game from the Week 5 schedule as it has been 'postponed'. In the unlikely event the NFL reschedules it for this week, I will add the game back, but players will have to make a pick for that game again if this occurs.
 
Just a quick note... Due to COVID game re-scheduling and flex scheduling, there have been some games I have had to edit mid-week. When a game is edited in this software, the software reverts all previously made picks for that game to the 'Away' team (that's because of the software feature that auto-selects the 'Away' team in the event someone forgets to make their picks). In instances where I have had to make edits, I have tried to make sure to communicate that. Unfortunately, once a game is final, the software does not allow me to make any edits to anyone's picks.

The best thing you can do to ensure your picks are correct and made as you intended is to review your selections one final time before the games occur.
 

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