How you like that title? 
I'd like to start off this thread by reviewing my preseason picks and seeing how I did. Here is how I ranked OPL Alpha in the preseason
#1 - SoCal BDC - (Actual rank = 6) - Every season I over-rank a team, and this season it was SoCal. I suppose I bought into their preseason bravado (very entertaining as it was) and their history of success in WL. Perhaps it was just 0 cares, but the best teams still win alot of games with 0 cares. Not sure what to expect from them in the playoffs.
#2 - Devonport Devils - (Actual rank = 2) - Got this one right.
#3 - Buda Pests - (Actual rank = 1) - Buda ended up being the team I thought SoCal would be. This was not a major under-ranking, as I really had them equal to Devonport and SoCal in my mind when I did the pre-season write-up.
#4 - Banzai Pipeline 'Nites - (Actual rank = 3) - Got them right relative to Devonport and Buda. Not too far off on this one.
#5 - Kingston Uprising - (Actual rank = 5) - Got this one right.
#6 - Hong Kong Voodoo - (Actual rank = 4) - I mentioned in my preseason ranking that HK was a wild card, and they still are. Should have gone with my gut, but I chickened out and played it "safe".
#7- Gold Coast Michelin Men (Actual rank = 7) - Got this one right.
#8 - Tampa Bay Puganeers (Actual rank = 9) - not too far off on this, and if they had gameplanned better, I think they would have been the 8 seed (or higher).
#9 - Offtopica Miracle (Actual rank = 8) - Another close miss. OTM was a little better than I expected, primarily because of their KR.
#10 - SWAT City Vigilantes (Actual rank = 10) - Nailed it.
#11 - Holland Pinoy All Star Jrs (Actual rank = 11) - nailed it.
#12 - Asylum Maulers (Now Holding for Demotion or whatever) (Actual rank = 14) - Can't plan for a gutting.
#13 - Florida BeachDogZ (Actual rank = 13) - Nailed it.
#14 - Bora Bora Bangaroos (Actual rank = 15) - Ranking CPU teams is like picking which ugly girl is the smartest. Who the heck knows or cares?
#15 - All Good Things (Actual rank = 12) - Should have given hcreek's team more credit, be see #14 above
#16 - San Diego Scorpions (Now Clarington Knights) (Actual rank = 16) - Nailed it.
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Here are the preseason rankings for Zeta.
#1 - Asau Pirates - (Actual rank 1) - Easy pick was easy.
#2 - Amsterdam Bulls - (Actual rank 4) - They had a tough opening draw and a loss to Komodo that I did not expect early on. They beat GCV tho, which shows I was not far off in my assessment of their talent.
#3a - Kona Gold (Actual rank 6) - Not sure why this team underperformed this season. Missed the target on this pick
#3b - Gold Coast Vipers (Actual rank 2) - GCV looked really good this season. Since I had them tied for third (which means I could have ranked them as low as 5 if I had not chickened out), this was one of the biggest under-rankings in Zeta.
#3c - Prague Panthers (Actual rank 7) - Biggest over ranking in Zeta. Really mis-read this team as even though they got the 7 seed, they lost by some pretty big margins to the rest of the non-CPU teams in Zeta.
#6 - Komodo Dragon (Actual rank 3) - Another team that although I only missed by 3 spots, I really under sold this team in my mind. They should have been in the tied for 2nd/3rd spot.
#7 - Oberon Bulls (Actual rank 10) - Gave this team too much credit, largely out of respect for them being in OPL for a while now.
#8 - South Bend Rhinocopters (Actual rank 8) - Wow. Actually got a Zeta team not named Asau right.
#9 - San Diego Supa Chargers (Actual rank 9) - And another one. On a roll now.
#10 - Deadwood Mules (Actual rank 5) - Every season I overrank a team by alot and underrank a team by alot. This was my big under-ranked team. Granted, the competition for the Zeta road playoff spots (5-8) did not include alot of great Pro teams, but I really thought Deadwood was dead in the water at the beginning of the season, and they beat all but the best teams in Zeta to prove me wrong. Well done guys!!!
#11 - Compton Panthers (Actual rank 11) - Nailed it.
#12 - TCU Super Frogs (Actual rank 16) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
#13 - Guam Chamoros Rising Sun Devil (Actual rank 15) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
#14 - The Sacred Order Of The Crimson Dragon (Actual rank 12) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
#15 - Nerfed Team (Actual rank 13) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
#16 - Syracuse Synergy (Actual rank 14) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
In summary, I did pretty good with Alpha, minus SoCal and some CPU shuffling. That kind of figures since I know most of those teams and their GMs. I pretty much sucked on Zeta, with a the exception of the gimme and a few randoms in the middle. I suppose I can use the same excuse that others use...I have 0 cares for lolZeta
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Playoff Picks
Alpha
#1 Buda Pests (16-0) vs. #8 Offtopica Miracle (9-7) - If this were the NCAAs, they would have found a way to have OTM play BPN so that they could play off the storyline of the forum dispute to sell ratings. However, this isn't CBS and the NCAAs, so we get this matchup. Buda won the regular season matchup by 48 and has looked like the best team in OPL all season. Thus, I see only one possible outcome to this game. (Prediction - Buda by 42)
#2 Devonport Devils (15-1) vs. #7 Gold Coast Michelin Men (10-6) - The Tarheel vs. the Wolfpack. I would say something like this will end as it always does, and if this were basketball, that statement would be true (Tarheel winning). However, NC State has had UNC's number lately in football, so I guess Devonport will have to do what Butch Davis can't seem to do. Devonport won the regulars season matchup by 42. Gold Coast has played better dotball in the last few games, and they may have a better showing. In the end, I think Devonport will prevail though. (Prediction - Devonport by 35)
#3 Banzai Pipeline Nites (13-3) vs. #6 SoCal BDC (11-5) - Game of the week here. This one has all the storylines that would make CBS drool. Two long time OPL rivals (as documented so entertainingly by shutd0wn earlier in the season). Banzai whooped up on SoCal in week 4, apparently causing the SoCal boys to go into hibernation as we have not heard hardly a peep from them all season, after being very vocal early on. Now Banzai has dropped 3 of 4, including a surprising loss to Kingston. Neither team looks like a challenger for the Alpha trophy, but I would not count either out. Who will win this battle? I honestly have no clue. However, I refuse to chicken out, so I am picking Banzai's ST unit to be the difference here. (Prediction - Banzai by 10)
#4 Hong Kong Voodoo (12-4) vs. #5 Kingston Uprising (12-4) - This should be another great Alpha game and could end up the game of the week. Their regular season matchup was a shoot-out with Hong Kong dropping 54 on Kingston to win by 17. Both teams played the top of Alpha closely, and Kingston has not lost a game since that loss to Hong Kong. I hate to go all higher seeds, but I think Hong Kong wins this one. (Prediction - Hong Kong by 9)
Zeta
#1 Asau Pirates (15-1) vs. South Bend Rhinocopters (8-8) - I like to give the guys at Asau a hard time about choking in the playoffs, but there is no way they can screw this one up. South Bend had a very respectable freshman season in OPL but Asau is on another level. They just played each other in week 16 with Asau winning by 95. I expect more of the same here. (Prediction - Asau by 85)
#2 Gold Coast Vipers (14-2) vs. Prague Panters (9-7) - Pretty big drop off from #2 to #7 in Zeta. Case in point: Gold Coast beat Prague by 82 when these two faced earlier in the season. That was not a fluke either as Prague lost by alot in quite a few games, so I expect this one to be very similar. (Prediction - Gold Coast by 77)
#3 Komodo Dragons (14-2) vs. Kona Gold (10-6) - As shown above, based on my preseason rankings, I predicted this first round matchup. However, I had the seeds swapped, with Kona as the 3 and Komodo as the 6. These teams just played each other in week 16, win Komodo winning by 15. Since they could have easily predicted that they would face one another, it is hard to read too much into that score. In the end, I do think Komodo has the better team and will get this win. (Prediction - Komodo by 24)
#4 Amsterdam Bulls (13-3) vs. Deadwood Mules (11-5) - This game is kind of a carbon copy of the Asau and GCV games. Amsterdam stomped Deadwood in the regular season, winning by 85. It is hard to gameplan enough to make up 85 points, so I can not see Amsterdam losing this game. (Prediction - Amsterdam by 63)
There ya go. All top seeds. Very brave picks, if I do say so myself
I'd like to start off this thread by reviewing my preseason picks and seeing how I did. Here is how I ranked OPL Alpha in the preseason
#1 - SoCal BDC - (Actual rank = 6) - Every season I over-rank a team, and this season it was SoCal. I suppose I bought into their preseason bravado (very entertaining as it was) and their history of success in WL. Perhaps it was just 0 cares, but the best teams still win alot of games with 0 cares. Not sure what to expect from them in the playoffs.
#2 - Devonport Devils - (Actual rank = 2) - Got this one right.
#3 - Buda Pests - (Actual rank = 1) - Buda ended up being the team I thought SoCal would be. This was not a major under-ranking, as I really had them equal to Devonport and SoCal in my mind when I did the pre-season write-up.
#4 - Banzai Pipeline 'Nites - (Actual rank = 3) - Got them right relative to Devonport and Buda. Not too far off on this one.
#5 - Kingston Uprising - (Actual rank = 5) - Got this one right.
#6 - Hong Kong Voodoo - (Actual rank = 4) - I mentioned in my preseason ranking that HK was a wild card, and they still are. Should have gone with my gut, but I chickened out and played it "safe".
#7- Gold Coast Michelin Men (Actual rank = 7) - Got this one right.
#8 - Tampa Bay Puganeers (Actual rank = 9) - not too far off on this, and if they had gameplanned better, I think they would have been the 8 seed (or higher).
#9 - Offtopica Miracle (Actual rank = 8) - Another close miss. OTM was a little better than I expected, primarily because of their KR.
#10 - SWAT City Vigilantes (Actual rank = 10) - Nailed it.
#11 - Holland Pinoy All Star Jrs (Actual rank = 11) - nailed it.
#12 - Asylum Maulers (Now Holding for Demotion or whatever) (Actual rank = 14) - Can't plan for a gutting.
#13 - Florida BeachDogZ (Actual rank = 13) - Nailed it.
#14 - Bora Bora Bangaroos (Actual rank = 15) - Ranking CPU teams is like picking which ugly girl is the smartest. Who the heck knows or cares?
#15 - All Good Things (Actual rank = 12) - Should have given hcreek's team more credit, be see #14 above
#16 - San Diego Scorpions (Now Clarington Knights) (Actual rank = 16) - Nailed it.
-----------------------------
Here are the preseason rankings for Zeta.
#1 - Asau Pirates - (Actual rank 1) - Easy pick was easy.
#2 - Amsterdam Bulls - (Actual rank 4) - They had a tough opening draw and a loss to Komodo that I did not expect early on. They beat GCV tho, which shows I was not far off in my assessment of their talent.
#3a - Kona Gold (Actual rank 6) - Not sure why this team underperformed this season. Missed the target on this pick
#3b - Gold Coast Vipers (Actual rank 2) - GCV looked really good this season. Since I had them tied for third (which means I could have ranked them as low as 5 if I had not chickened out), this was one of the biggest under-rankings in Zeta.
#3c - Prague Panthers (Actual rank 7) - Biggest over ranking in Zeta. Really mis-read this team as even though they got the 7 seed, they lost by some pretty big margins to the rest of the non-CPU teams in Zeta.
#6 - Komodo Dragon (Actual rank 3) - Another team that although I only missed by 3 spots, I really under sold this team in my mind. They should have been in the tied for 2nd/3rd spot.
#7 - Oberon Bulls (Actual rank 10) - Gave this team too much credit, largely out of respect for them being in OPL for a while now.
#8 - South Bend Rhinocopters (Actual rank 8) - Wow. Actually got a Zeta team not named Asau right.
#9 - San Diego Supa Chargers (Actual rank 9) - And another one. On a roll now.
#10 - Deadwood Mules (Actual rank 5) - Every season I overrank a team by alot and underrank a team by alot. This was my big under-ranked team. Granted, the competition for the Zeta road playoff spots (5-8) did not include alot of great Pro teams, but I really thought Deadwood was dead in the water at the beginning of the season, and they beat all but the best teams in Zeta to prove me wrong. Well done guys!!!
#11 - Compton Panthers (Actual rank 11) - Nailed it.
#12 - TCU Super Frogs (Actual rank 16) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
#13 - Guam Chamoros Rising Sun Devil (Actual rank 15) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
#14 - The Sacred Order Of The Crimson Dragon (Actual rank 12) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
#15 - Nerfed Team (Actual rank 13) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
#16 - Syracuse Synergy (Actual rank 14) - See Bora Bora commentary above.
In summary, I did pretty good with Alpha, minus SoCal and some CPU shuffling. That kind of figures since I know most of those teams and their GMs. I pretty much sucked on Zeta, with a the exception of the gimme and a few randoms in the middle. I suppose I can use the same excuse that others use...I have 0 cares for lolZeta
-------------------------------------------
Playoff Picks
Alpha
#1 Buda Pests (16-0) vs. #8 Offtopica Miracle (9-7) - If this were the NCAAs, they would have found a way to have OTM play BPN so that they could play off the storyline of the forum dispute to sell ratings. However, this isn't CBS and the NCAAs, so we get this matchup. Buda won the regular season matchup by 48 and has looked like the best team in OPL all season. Thus, I see only one possible outcome to this game. (Prediction - Buda by 42)
#2 Devonport Devils (15-1) vs. #7 Gold Coast Michelin Men (10-6) - The Tarheel vs. the Wolfpack. I would say something like this will end as it always does, and if this were basketball, that statement would be true (Tarheel winning). However, NC State has had UNC's number lately in football, so I guess Devonport will have to do what Butch Davis can't seem to do. Devonport won the regulars season matchup by 42. Gold Coast has played better dotball in the last few games, and they may have a better showing. In the end, I think Devonport will prevail though. (Prediction - Devonport by 35)
#3 Banzai Pipeline Nites (13-3) vs. #6 SoCal BDC (11-5) - Game of the week here. This one has all the storylines that would make CBS drool. Two long time OPL rivals (as documented so entertainingly by shutd0wn earlier in the season). Banzai whooped up on SoCal in week 4, apparently causing the SoCal boys to go into hibernation as we have not heard hardly a peep from them all season, after being very vocal early on. Now Banzai has dropped 3 of 4, including a surprising loss to Kingston. Neither team looks like a challenger for the Alpha trophy, but I would not count either out. Who will win this battle? I honestly have no clue. However, I refuse to chicken out, so I am picking Banzai's ST unit to be the difference here. (Prediction - Banzai by 10)
#4 Hong Kong Voodoo (12-4) vs. #5 Kingston Uprising (12-4) - This should be another great Alpha game and could end up the game of the week. Their regular season matchup was a shoot-out with Hong Kong dropping 54 on Kingston to win by 17. Both teams played the top of Alpha closely, and Kingston has not lost a game since that loss to Hong Kong. I hate to go all higher seeds, but I think Hong Kong wins this one. (Prediction - Hong Kong by 9)
Zeta
#1 Asau Pirates (15-1) vs. South Bend Rhinocopters (8-8) - I like to give the guys at Asau a hard time about choking in the playoffs, but there is no way they can screw this one up. South Bend had a very respectable freshman season in OPL but Asau is on another level. They just played each other in week 16 with Asau winning by 95. I expect more of the same here. (Prediction - Asau by 85)
#2 Gold Coast Vipers (14-2) vs. Prague Panters (9-7) - Pretty big drop off from #2 to #7 in Zeta. Case in point: Gold Coast beat Prague by 82 when these two faced earlier in the season. That was not a fluke either as Prague lost by alot in quite a few games, so I expect this one to be very similar. (Prediction - Gold Coast by 77)
#3 Komodo Dragons (14-2) vs. Kona Gold (10-6) - As shown above, based on my preseason rankings, I predicted this first round matchup. However, I had the seeds swapped, with Kona as the 3 and Komodo as the 6. These teams just played each other in week 16, win Komodo winning by 15. Since they could have easily predicted that they would face one another, it is hard to read too much into that score. In the end, I do think Komodo has the better team and will get this win. (Prediction - Komodo by 24)
#4 Amsterdam Bulls (13-3) vs. Deadwood Mules (11-5) - This game is kind of a carbon copy of the Asau and GCV games. Amsterdam stomped Deadwood in the regular season, winning by 85. It is hard to gameplan enough to make up 85 points, so I can not see Amsterdam losing this game. (Prediction - Amsterdam by 63)
There ya go. All top seeds. Very brave picks, if I do say so myself
Edited by Plankton on Jun 13, 2011 20:58:54
Edited by Plankton on Jun 13, 2011 20:49:59
Edited by Plankton on Jun 13, 2011 20:49:36
Edited by Plankton on Jun 13, 2011 20:49:12
Edited by Plankton on Jun 13, 2011 20:16:47
Using some of ur voodoo trick nthomas to help us get through the playoffs
