Tag: bracket challenge

Final Tally for The 300s NFL Bracket

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The season is over, the Chiefs are champs, and Andy Reid is eating the biggest cheeseburger you have ever seen. It might even be a double! With the 2019 season behind us, it’s now time to see who took home top honors in The 300s staff NFL Pick ‘Em Bracket. We’ll also take a look at who did the worst and a few other curious notes.

Winner: Big Z, 520 points

The only one to pick against the Pats takes home the cake.

What a weird year for football. It’s crazy that a guy who picked the Cowboys in the Super Bowl, the Steelers in the AFC Championship game, and the Colts in the playoffs not only won, but blew everyone out of the water. Well, congrats to Big Z!

I’m not going to repost everyone else’s brackets because, let’s be honest, that’s not something anyone needs to see again. However, here’s a quick overview of how everyone fared:

2nd- Dom- 225 points
3rd- Red- 210 points
4th- Mattes- 190 points
5th- Joey Ballgame- 180 points

I found it odd that I was the only person other than Red to have the Chiefs in the AFC title game. That’s what turned out to be the difference in my second place finish. One thing I do want to highlight, though:

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!

Can we all just take a minute and marvel at how atrociously bad Joey’s bracket turned out to be? First, he picked the BENGALS to make the playoffs. You know, the team picking first in the draft next year? Then he had the Browns beating both the Texans AND the Chiefs. On top of that, he had the Jaguars winning a game. I have to give him a pass on the Patriots, Eagles, and Saints, since all teams underachieved this postseason. But man, that AFC is just terrible.

Lastly, here are a few things I found interesting in all of this:

-Dom was the only person to have the Ravens making the playoffs
-Big Z was the only one to have the 49ers in the playoffs
-Red was the only one with the Seahawks in the playoffs
-Nobody had the Rams winning a playoff game
-The Vikings continue to disappoint just about everyone

That’s it for this year of football picks. Baseball is up next, maybe we can do a little better at that…

The 300s Staff NFL Bracket Update

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Back before the season started, a handful of The 300s staff made bold predictions about how this NFL season was going to shakedown. With the first round of the playoffs coming up, it’s time to check in and see how everyone is doing.

As a refresher for how the scoring works, in this round you get: 10 points for each correct playoff team, 5 points for correct seed, and 5 points for correct division winner. A perfect score would get you 220 points.

Mattes:

The Chiefs should be in that empty spot…oops

Just like everyone else, Mattes placed a little too much stock in the Browns and Jaguars. Although not everyone saw the Panthers making the playoffs, I doubt anyone thought they’d be as bad as they turned out this season. Although the Patriots are looking like anything but Super Bowl favorites at the moment, they were in a similar position last year. As we all know, the Patriots aren’t out of it until the clock strikes 0:00. Green Bay was able to sneak in for a first round bye, so although Mattes isn’t off to a perfect start, he’s still in good shape.

Total points: 90

Big Z:

Cowboys in the Super Bowl? YUCK!

Big Z may be the only person to pick against the Pats, but his bracket is full of red. Steelers in the AFC title game, Colts and Browns in the playoffs, Dem Boyz in the SUPER BOWL?! Yuck! The only thing Big Z has going for him at this point is his Super Bowl winner. Hey, at least he picked the 49ers in the playoffs.

Total points: 95

Joey Ballgame:

The Bengals? Really?

Joey Ballgame wins worst pick of the challenge. The Bengals? In the playoffs? Now, everyone in the world had a hard time picking the AFC, but that doesn’t mean a team led by Andy Dalton was going anywhere. Most people were riding high on the Browns, and Joey fell into that trap as well. Surprisingly, Joey is in pretty good shape here, with both of his SB teams and 3/4 championship teams still in it. He also picked the seeding right on 4 teams, which is better than anyone else.

Total Points: 115

Dom:

You know you messed up when you’re NFC title prediction happens in the Wild Card Round.

Just because I invented this new way to gamble doesn’t mean I’m any good at it. Red and I were the only guys to pick the Ravens in the playoffs, albeit losing to a team that’s getting a top 10 pick at next years draft. Just like Joey, I’m riding high on a Brady-Brees matchup in the Super Bowl, but since the Pats need to go through KC to get to the AFC title game and the Vikings play the Saints in the Wild Card, I’m going to have a hard time accumulating points.

Total Points: 100

Red:

Red is in surprisingly good shape here.

Last but not least, we have Red. Which is ironic, because his bracket has the least red of all. Red not only had the Ravens in the playoffs, but also was the only one to have the Seahawks in there. Even though the Eagles take on the Seahawks this weekend, Red still has a chance to get 6/8 Divisional Round teams and all 4 championship teams. However, it seems highly unlikely that the Eagles and Texans make it past the second round.

Total Points: 110

As you can see, these brackets are a huge challenge, especially in the NFL. Nobody had the Ravens or 49ers getting past the first round of the playoffs. The Browns, Jaguars and Cowboys were all major disappointments, and all of us homers were riding a little too high on the Patriots. Over the course of a season, anything can happen. I’ll be checking back next week with another update. LFG PATRIOTS!

The 300s 2019 NFL Bracket Challenge

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Back before the MLB season started, I introduced a new way of gambling on professional sports: the bracket challenge. Modeled after March Madness, each entry requires that you pick each playoff team and their seed, as well as the winners of each playoff game every step of the way. I asked The 300s team to submit their picks before Week 1 started. Let’s check out how the guys think this season will shake down:

Mattes:

(AFC): Yeah, I know; I look like a real homer by picking the Pats as the No. 1 seed (and eventual Super Bowl-winner). But that defense looks LOADED, and we still got that Tom Brady guy. And yes, the Chiefs seem like an easy pick for the No. 2 seed after last year’s epic run. I’d like to have chosen someone else, but again, let’s call a spade a spade. The Jags coming in as the three seed might surprise some, but I think the vast majority of the NFL world is sleeping hard on them this year. Their defense is still elite (and only got better this offseason), and they finally have a good quarterback for the first time since Nam. The AFC North is going to be a battle all season long, and honestly the toughest decision I made was keeping Baltimore out! Though the Texans may look like they loaded up in recent weeks, I think Houston fans are in for quite the disappointment this year.

(NFC): This year will be Aaron Rodgers’s redemption. After a string of injury-plagued seasons and questions surrounding his psyche and character, the 35-year-old future H.O.F. will be determined to shut all the doubters up. He’s got some great weapons on offense, and the Packers should also feature the best defense they’ve had in years. I will be shocked if the Packers are not, at the very least, a top-two seed in the conference this year. The Saints will continue to roll as the No. 2 seed, although they’ll feel a lot of pressure from a solid Carolina squad, which comes in as my first wild-card team. The Eagles will give New Orleans a run for their money for a bye behind an MVP season from Carson Wentz.

In the end, we finally get the dream Super Bowl matchup that we as NFL fans have been deprived of for FAR too long: Tom Brady vs. Aaron Rodgers. And ultimately, Brady and the boys will win No. 7 after the best cherry on top the NFL has ever given us. 

Big Z:

The Patriots will make the playoffs and get a first-round bye again because they always do, but their unprecedented run of success has to take a year off at some point (not come to an end). I’ve got the Patriots bowing out in the Divisional Round. I’m not buying the Browns, so I’ve got the Steelers and the Chiefs in the AFC CG with Mahomes getting to the Big Game in his second year as a starter. In the NFC I’m going with the Boys. With Zeke on board they should be locked and loaded. In the Super Bowl, I’ve got Mahomes and Reid hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

Joey Ballgame:

(NFC): My first impression as I filled this out is that The NFC is muchhhh tougher, at least internally. The South in particular where you have the Saints, Falcons and Panthers and the North where all four teams will compete. That’s just a motherfucker. At the same time, those teams will have a tougher time building solid records when the teams they play twice a year are that much better than the teams in other divisions, so they’ll kind of cannibalize themselves in terms of the playoffs. 

(AFC): As for the AFC, I see the Pats, Browns, and Chiefs sleepwalking their way to the Division crown. The Jags might get some fight out of the Texans, and honestly who even knows what Nick Foles is so they could shit the bed entirely. After that I kind of rolled the dice. I like the Bengals offense and the Texans, despite Bill O’Brien’s best efforts, still have a good team. Add that to the fact that the Titans and Capt Luck’s former team are looking rough and I wouldn’t be shocked to see the South have two playoff teams. 

I had all division champs in the divisional round save the Vikings, who I think could cause some trouble. After that though I think Baker runs out of magic against the Pats and Drew Brees and Co. are a little too much for the Birds. We know what happens next.

Dom:

(AFC): I’m in agreement with the rest of the boys in that I think the Pats should roll through the conference this year. This is as excited as I’ve been for a Pats team in a long time, and that’s saying something. The Chiefs took a step backward this year, the Jaguars are marginally better and their competition in the South got worse, and I will never be afraid of Philip Rivers. I think this is the year the Browns finally make the playoffs, but that run can only last so long.

(NFC): This conference is a total crap shoot. I don’t think there is a clear winner in any division save the West, which the Rams should win easily. Beyond that, I don’t believe Cam Newton has what it takes to win the South, which allows Brees another division title, Wentz and Co. should handle the Cowboys to take the East, and both Aaron Rodgers and the Vikings bounce back this year to come out of the North.

I see the Championship round games being basically the same as last year. I do think Goff will disappoint and Gurley will wear down again, allowing the Vikings to ride a balanced team performance into the NFC final. Brees and co. will get their revenge for last years PI call while Brady tops Mahomes again. In the end I see Brady prevailing over Brees in a QB matchup for the ages.

Red:

(AFC): I think the Patriots are still the cream of the crop in the AFC. Is that blind fanaticism for my favorite team? ….no. They’re just still the best team in the conference. The Chiefs are still electric, but are without their dynamite running back (unless everyone’s sleeper Damien Williams takes off). I think the Texans take a step forward this year after beefing up their OL with Laremy Tunsil and Deshaun Watson another year removed from his knee injury, althrough trading Jadaveon Clowney won’t necessarily help. The Steelers are going to be good again, but are now without their two best players from the last few years. The Chargers and the Ravens do just well enough to make the playoffs, but don’t make it very far. Despite what Skynet/ESPN tells you, the Patriots will not lose to the Texans, especially not because of Brady’s age. In fact they will topple ole Billy O’Brien once again and make the Super Bowl. Again.

(NFC): The Saints have some unfinished business and arguably the most electric player in the league in Alvin Kamara for Drew Brees to feed so I’m picking them to also advance to the SB as a No. 1 seed. The Rams don’t get the benefit of shitty refs this time and I honestly think that team takes a step back with the suddenly breaking down Todd Gurley. This is why you don’t give running backs record setting contracts. The Vikings rebound from a down year, the Cowboys clinch a Wild Card spot as do the Seahawks who pull an upset in the opening round, as the Eagles make it to the NFC Championship with a finally healthy Carson Wentz but can’t get over the hump. 

Super Bowl LIV: Pats 21 – Saints 17

Super Bowls are never as high scoring as people think they will be. You don’t even have to look back all that far (February) for a prime example of this. So I’m taking the Pats to grind out their 7th Super Bowl. 

This may be a Boston blog, but you gotta be crazy to bet against the Patriots this year. Pats are the odds on favorite to win it all here at The 300s, and most of us agree it’ll be the Saints out of the NFC. Big Z is the only one with a mind of his own…good for him. Go Pats, hello Antonio.

A New Way to Gamble On Sports

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March Madness is here, which means even people who don’t follow college hoops, like at all, have filled out their brackets and are watching the scores roll in. Based on the excitement and relative ease of filling out one of these brackets, I’ve developed a whole new way to gamble on professional sports. Essentially, brackets for the MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL and the field is the entire league.

Image result for mlb playoff bracket

I tested this out on a small scale with some friends last year, and with a little tinkering on the MLB bracket, I think I’ve found a pretty fun and unique thing here. One of the reasons that fantasy baseball and basketball aren’t as popular as football is because there are just too many games to pay attention to. With the individual sport bracket, you place your picks at the beginning of the year, and that’s it. Just like March Madness, you have a field of teams to choose from (in this case, the whole league), and you pick winners at each step of the way. Here’s a more detailed description of how baseball works:

There are 6 total rounds, with the first two rounds checkpoints in the regular season and the last four being each round of the playoffs. The first checkpoint will be May 15th (around the 1/4 season mark). The second is the All Star Break. You get 10 points per pick in the regular season rounds (1 and 2), 10 points for picking correct playoff teams and a bonus 10 points for getting seeds right (round 3). This way, if you guess a team that makes the playoffs but you don’t get the seed right, you still get awarded something. Round 4 includes the wild card game (30 points per correct WC winner) and the teams that make the LCS (40 points). I’ve scored it this way because you have a very slim chance of guessing the team that wins the actual Wild Card game, but ultimately an LCS berth is more important. Correct LCS winners get 100 points, and correct champion picks get 200 each. First tiebreaker is correct game count, second is total runs in the series clinching game.

Football works much the same way, but with no regular season checkpoints and more of an emphasis on division winners and seeding. The scoring is slightly different just because baseball playoffs aren’t as straightforward as the other leagues. Basketball and hockey start with the All-Star Break, and also assign bonus points for seeding and division winners. All brackets in any league get submitted before the season starts, again, just like with March Madness.