This was the weekend when picking upsets finally paid off in the TQBR Prediction Game. Three of the four weekend bouts ended with the betting underdog getting the win. We’re talking lots of available bonus points there. And we encountered some unique conditions that might lead to a scoring controversy. I do not relish the idea of being on the receiving end of some fury toward scoring controversies.
JB surged into the lead in part because he was the only person who picked Pongsaklek Wonjongkam to beat Koki Kameda. That’s 500 points. Then he got 100 for picking the upset. Then he got the “most accurate” bonus of 100 points, because, well, he was the only one who was even in the ballpark.
Nine people called the upset in Andre Dirrell-Arthur Abraham on Showtime. I envy you people. I really would have picked young Dirrell last year, but I got scared off by his uneven (although, I thought, undeserved) loss to Carl Froch in his last fight. Dang dang dang.
(The future-predicting imagery is going to get more esoteric and tangential as we go forward.)
Everybody but Always Wrong aka RoWyN got at least a few points for the HBO show. Seven people called the Joan Guzman upset over Ali Funeka, with Geordie Dancer aka Andrew Harrison getting the accuracy bonus for predicting a split decision. Six people (PI Joe aka Irvin Ryan, PJ Prediction King, Team Monica aka edub, Paul Kelly, bigmaxy and Pretty Toney) picked the exact round, the 6th, that Marcos Maidana would KO Victor Cayo.
All in all, JB and Pretty Toney leapt into first and second place by virtue of calling two of the three weekend upsets. If stickfigure had stuck to his tried and true “always pick the underdog” formula, he’d be sitting pretty this week. The good news is he got on the board with some points finally, though.
So here are the scoring controversy issues: We never specified what a DQ would be scored for the purposes of the game. I opted to award no accuracy bonus points to anyone for Dirrell’s DQ win. If someone has a better idea for the next iteration of the game, I’m listening. Second, JB arguably shouldn’t be in first place. When Guzman failed to make weight, he switched his prediction to a Funeka win. But he did it AFTER the deadline for submitting a prediction. So I stuck him to his original prediction. Unfortunately Always Wrong switched his vote from Guzman to Funeka BEFORE the deadline, and I counted it. If someone has a better idea for how to handle something like that in the next iteration of the game, I’m listening. (Also, sorry DukeShadeBlue: Your prediction on the HBO card came in too late, and therefore didn’t count.)
You know the main thing I’m not getting? People are not making predictions for every fight. Remember, there’s no penalty for guessing incorrectly. So even if you’re busy that week and don’t have time to really think about it, make a prediction anyway, because otherwise you’re guaranteed zero points.
Now, on to the standings. It was a complicated weekend mathematically, so if you see any errors let me know and we can adjudicate:
STANDINGS
JB: 3550
Pretty Toney: 3450
Geordie Dancer (Andrew Harrison): 2850
cNceddie: 2800
Team Monica (edub): 2800
David Schraub: 2750
Hit Dog: 2750
Paul Kelly: 2400
Arthur Billette: 2350
Unifythebelts: 2300
PI Joe (Irvin Ryan): 2250
Not Sure (Jay Ari Yin): 2200
Chris: 2150
The Queensberry Fools (Eugene Dammrod): 2150
Cardscott5: 2150
Knees Up Neville Brown (Dobbler): 2150
fadein2bolivian: 2050
Donkey Puncher (Brian.McNeely): 2050
B-Side Meth (Tim Starks): 2050
Alexmac: 1700
PJ Prediction King (PJ): 1600
DukeShadeBlue: 1600
Kid Gruesome (Scott Kraus): 1600
Bigmaxy: 1600
willfrank: 1600
Always Wrong (RoWyN): 1550
severuck: 1550
epark88 1200
marlon vera 650
Israel: 600
sam.fong: 600
stickfigure: 550
ScottB: 500
venom.0420: 500
Bob77: 500
Beccapooka 0
