2008 US Open 'Battle of the Boards' Pick 'em Contest

Count Zero · Tennis legend

RE: 2008 US Open 'Battle of the Boards' Pick 'em Contest

steven · Tennis legend

Here is the 'syndicated' report for day 4, a high-scoring day on which two entrants got 15/16 correct, though the garlic-eating malingerers still did their best to mess lots of us up by winning or losing when they shouldn't have. As eblunt put it on bt.net:

"I'd like to propose an improvement to future pickem entry forms: Have a 'No GEMs' option that prefills defeats for all the GEMs. You might lose a point or two, but that's a small price to pay to save all that heartache of relying on them to win when required."

Unfortunately, they make a point of failing to lose when required too, so that'll just guarantee us a slam with Dammit v Chokieu and Tsonga v Monfils as the two semi-finals!

Detailed results, etc, can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html

TEAMS LEAGUE

A late surge by TAT, who piled in behind Monfils and Troicki (they must be picking by sticking a pin in the draw and getting lucky, surely?!) allowed them to overhaul BT.net and take the lead, with the Dammitaires remaining in 3rd. The latter team now has the top raw average for R2 so far as well as for R1 and is only being held back by the team size adjustment which recognises that small teams are more likely to get extreme high or low scores, even if the team at the bottom of the table is doing its best to give the lie to this!

JM.org yo-yoed up and down the table all day but ended the day on an upswing, up 4 to 8th, making them the only team to move more than one place on the day.

INDIVIDUALS

Fiercehart (TN) was the only entrant to finish day 4 where he started - with 14/16 correct on Thursday, he has already opened up a lead of 3 points, which is pretty impressive when there are 456 entrants!

A late run allowed Christian (BT) to rise 4 to 2nd, with world no. 6 randall six (IN), down 1 to 3rd, holding onto a place in the top three on tiebreak from world no. 3 Flintstone (IN), Drop-Shot (TA), fr1k4r (SG) & Harold Abadilla (RN), all up 12 to 4= after scoring 14/16 in R2 so far.

The top 10 is completed by Jean-Marc (BT), Ivanatis (MT) & bumfluff (TW), who all got 13/16 on Thursday.

BIG RISERS

Two entrants scored a hugely impressive 15/16 on Thursday and, ominously, they are both people who have finished on the podium in one of the last two slams, an achievement shared by 4th placed Flintstone (IN), who was 3rd at Wimby. They are Jack (TA), 3rd at RG and up 105 to 11th yesterday, and Wimbledon winner and world no. 1 Ashley Harkleroad's ***** (IN), up 196 to 28th.

However, two entrants rose more than 200 places after getting 14/16 of the top half R2 matches correct - Ghandi (GR) & mataeo1983 (TA), both up 209 to 84=. Altogether, 17 entrants rose more than 100 places.

BIG FALLERS

Two entrants got just 5/16 correct and dropped to the bottom, if still well clear of the gorillas - they were christopher (TN) & Rachel (TN), both down 6 to 455=, though 49% is a high score for last place at this stage of a pick 'em!

Higher up the table, even getting 50% correct wasn't enough to avoid a huge drop on such a high-scoring day and 45 entrants fell more than 100 places, with 8 leading the way with spectacular drops of over 200 places. They were brazilian tennis (IN), down 201 to 234th, mmmm8 (TA), zephblabs (TA) & SONIque (AR), all down 208 to 272= despite getting more than half of Thursday's results correct, Lex (CC), down 242 to 358th, Matthew (GR), down 209 to 384th, & Rome AMS winner BalaK (AM), down 247 to 422nd. However, the entrant in the most desperate need of a parachute to break her fall was Swissgirl (IN), down 319 to 383rd - she got 7/16 correct.

TEAM KO

All of the top four seeds are ahead halfway through the L16 round, but no. 12 seeds Rusedski.co.uk lead no. 5 seeds T4Y, no. 11 seeds BBC 606 lead no. 6 seeds AM.com and no. 10 seeds Other Boards lead no. 7 seeds Team CC, so some early reversals of fortune between R1 (used for seeding) and R2 (on which L16 match scores are based) may be on the cards.

(1) BritishTennis.net 22.51
(16) Tennisopolis.com 21.44

(9) RafaelNadalFans 22.40
(8) JamieMurray.org 23.14

(5) Tennis4you.com 22.00
(12) Rusedski.co.uk 22.56

(13) Assorted Individuals 21.67
(4) MensTennisForums 22.13

(3) RichardGasquet.net 24.00
(14) RogerFederer.com 21.13

(11) BBC 606 boards 22.33
(6) AndyMurray.com 22.11

(7) Centre Court Forum 22.08
(10) Other Boards 23.07

(15) AndyRoddick.com 21.29
(2) TalkAboutTennis 23.44

Sheddie · administrator

I think that the winner of these competitions should get an "I slept with steven" T-shirt........

maybe we can find an official clothing sponsor for these events to provide one

Salmon · Tennis legend

I like the idea of sponsors.

steven · Tennis legend

DAY 5 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

Detailed results, as ever, can be found at http://www.britishtennis.net/competitions.html

I started the last report with a little comment about the GEMs messing with people's heads, but this time I'm going to start by talking about something much worse - a VDM, the uber-VDM in fact.

* GEM = garlic-eating malingerer, a semi-affectionate term for just about any French player; VDM = vodka-drinking malingerer ... and what a malingerer he is!

I only have myself to blame of course. I woke up yesterday and checked my picks for the day to see which would be the most important matches, and felt a bit sick when I noticed that (in a break from tradition - I usually avoid him like the plague) I had picked Safin to beat Tommy yesterday ... and then to beat Tsonga in R3 as well.

Things were going so well, indeed the only other match which didn't go the way I wanted it to yesterday was Nieminen v Minar (where I didn't have either player and wanted Minar to win to limit the damage - which he nearly did before losing a 2-set lead!), but even when Safin won the 1st set, I still had a deep sense of foreboding.

What transpired (in front of my eyes on the TV screen) was even worse than I could have imagined. The $%&£$* lost the 2nd set in a t/b and the 3rd by a single break, so you'd think he might still be in with a chance, but he could he be bothered in the 4th set? No, as so often before, he simply couldn't be a**ed and threw it away in six quick games. Why the umpire didn't warn him for not trying I really don't know - it was as blatant as I've ever seen. Even head GEMs Dammit Gasquet and Paul-Henri Chokieu are rank amateurs at this malingering lark compared to the Safinator!

Having got that off my chest, down to the serious stuff:

TEAMS LEAGUE

There was relatively little change in the teams league, team KO matches or the individual competition for most of the day, but after the evening rain delay, everything seemed to get turned upside down, with the Robredo, Tsonga and, most of all (probably because picking Gulbis to make Duckboy quack was the most frequent risk taken by those near the top of the table) Roddick wins causing seismic changes on the results pages.

The last three results were enough to send BT.net up 1 back to the top of the league and AM.com soaring up 5 to 2nd, with TAT, who had built up a big lead by the rain delay, dropping to 2nd when Robredo beat Safin, to 3rd when Tsonga beat Moya and finally to 4th when Duckboy beat Gulbis!

JM.org and MTF were the biggest fallers, both down 4 to 8th and 9th respectively. The top 10 of the teams comp remains very tight though, while last placed Tennisopolis may yet have some hope of lifting themselves off the bottom, given that they managed the equal best R2 score out of those teams in the bottom five.

INDIVIDUALS

Pick 'em debutant Christian (BT), up 1 to 1st, leads the individual event after day 4 leader Fiercehart (TA), down 5 to 6, had a similar late slump to the one his team suffered after looking all day like he would finish top for the second day in a row.

LINK3 (AM) moved up 10 to 2nd, with randall six (IN) staying in 3rd place but joined by nicki (AM), up 26 to 3=.

ON THE UP

jm-fan (JM), up 72 to 5th, completes the top five after top-scoring in R2 as a whole with a highly impressive 28/32 correct, mainly thanks to his performance on Friday, where he top-scored with 15/16.

Those who scored 14/16 also tended to rise over 100 places if they were not in the top 100 in the first place, with Tennis4you (TY), up 180 to 128=, Vishel (TN), up 181 to 149th & Amit (TN), up 182 to 172=, all up 180 places or more.

ON THE SLIDE

By far the lowest scorer on Friday was marta (TN), down 4 to last with just 4/16 correct, but the three biggest fallers were SGB (*) team captain SallyDaisy (JM), down 214 to 300= after getting 8/16 correct, liurui (RF), down 249 to 369= after getting 7/16, and oohsalmon (TA), down 236 to 419= after getting just 6/16 correct.

(*) serial gorilla-botherers (though nobody is actually bothering the gorillas at this stage)

OUTLOOK

Everybody has more than half of their R3 winners left in with a shout at the end of R2, but only nicki (AM) and jm-fan (JM), in 3= and 5th places respectively, could still get all 16 R3 winners correct!

TEAM KO

To say that R1 of the team KO went right to the wire would be an understatement with, as far as I can remember, the long-time leaders losing at the last gasp in no less than three of the R1 matches when the Roddick win went on the system.

ROUND 1 RESULTS

(1) BritishTennis.net 45.09 - always in the lead
(16) Tennisopolis.com 43.67

(9) RafaelNadalFans 45.20 - behind until close to the end of the day
(8) JamieMurray.org 44.00

(5) Tennis4you.com 44.82 - well behind until the penultimate result closed the gap to 0.04 and Duckboy's win took them into the QFs :sad:
(12) Rusedski.co.uk 44.67

(13) Assorted Individuals 43.13 - behind until right near the end
(4) MensTennisForums 42.93

(3) RichardGasquet.net 46.00 - always in control
(14) RogerFederer.com 43.25

(11) BBC 606 boards 43.67
(6) AndyMurray.com 45.46 - a late surge by AM.com, but this one wasn't as comfortable as it looks

(7) Centre Court Forum 44.15
(10) Other Boards 44.80 - CC were closing the gap but couldn't quite make it - the drop to 'Challenger' level will be a new experience for the no. 1 team in the overall team rankings!

(15) AndyRoddick.com 42.14
(2) TalkAboutTennis 44.39 - never in doubt

QUARTER-FINAL PAIRINGS

(1) BritishTennis.net v (9) RafaelNadalFans
(5) Tennis4you.com v (13) Assorted Individuals
(3) RichardGasquet.net v (6) AndyMurray.com
(10) Other Boards v (2) TalkAboutTennis

9TH-16TH PLACE QFs

(16) Tennisopolis.com v (8) JamieMurray.org
(12) Rusedski.co.uk v (4) MensTennisForums
(14) RogerFederer.com v (11) BBC 606 boards
(7) Centre Court Forum v (15) AndyRoddick.com

john · Top national player

Eek, I've fallen all the way to 211th. Shocking

wolf · Tennis legend

Up 59 to 69 on the back of one result (Querrey beating Dr Ivo). Nice one.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

i'm happy with 39th.
ho hum where is sheddie?

jamatthews · Strong Club Player

Oh no, I really am screwed now. Please grow some balls James... furious

steven · Tennis legend

DAY 6 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

For detailed results, please visit http://www.britishtennis.net/Competitions.html

Another day where (for me anyway but clearly lots of others too), it all turned sour overnight. I can't imagine any circumstances in which, before the tournament, I'd have picked Pics to lose to Nishikori or Flake to crumble against Fish in straight sets, but unfortunately I had the PEM (paella-eating malingerer) and the MEM (McDonalds-eating malingerer) reaching the QFs. Let nobody ever say that any of us use pick 'em as a vehicle to over-generalise about certain nationalities *cough* - it's all meant in fun, really it is!

TEAMS LEAGUE

BT.net held onto top spot for another day, but the small 6-player team of Dammitaires is piling on the pressure, leading yet another round based on unadjusted averages and up another place to 2nd. TAT, up 1 to 3rd, are back in the top three as AM.com, down 2 to 4th, drop out.

Other than that, the only movers were MTF, up 2 to 7th, swapping places with Rusedski.co.uk, down 2 to 9th, but this is of particular importance given that those two teams are involved in a KO match at the moment.

INDIVIDUALS

Pick 'em debutant Christian (BT) held onto 1st place for another day with 117 points, with LINK3 (AM) just 1 point behind on 116. However, with both of these entrants and the two who were in 3=, randall six (IN) & nicki (AM), only getting a rather average 4/8 correct on Saturday and both dropping 6 places to 9=, it has now become incredibly tight at the top.

Also just a point behind the leader are MC (MT) & Graphite Machete (TN), both up 22 to 3=. They were two of just seven entrants who managed to top score with 6/8 on Saturday - Dusty Dick (BT), up 37 to 8th and the highest climber into the top 10 was another. Meanwhile, 5/8 on day 6 was enough to lift Flintstone (IN), Drop-Shot (TA) & Peter (GR) back up 3 to 5=.

ON THE RISE

The other four entrants who scored 6/8 on Saturday were Jon Pennington Pics (TN), up 61 to 17th, wolf (BT), up 104 to 24th, shotgun (MT), up 155 to 114th, and Anthony (AR), whose 171 place rise to 131st made him the fastest riser of the day. In addition, a few entrants scoring 5/15 managed rises of just over 100 places lower down the table.

ON THE SLIDE

It looked so promising for jm-fan (JM) yesterday, up in 5th place and with all R3 winners still in the mix, but only 3 of his 8 possible winners came through yesterday and he dropped 20 places to 25th. Indeed, unlike the the entrant with the most R2 winner picks surviving R1 who did well in R2, neither of the entrants with all R3 winner picks surviving R2 had a good day yesterday.

However, bigger falls were reserved for those who got just 2/8 of yesterday's winners, including Coldvodka (TN) (who has clearly spent too much time with Marat Safin recently!), down 128 to 163rd, and more than a dozen others dropping around 100-150 places, but the biggest faller of all, with just 1/8 correct yesterday, was LooseString (IN), down 170 to 392nd.

TEAM KO QFs

(1) BritishTennis.net 12.26
(9) RafaelNadalFans 10.80

(5) Tennis4you.com 11.12
(13) Assorted Individuals 10.44

(3) RichardGasquet.net 13.00
(6) AndyMurray.com 11.19

(10) Other Boards 12.40
(2) TalkAboutTennis 12.00

TEAM KO 9-16 MATCHES

(16) Tennisopolis.com 10.05
(8) JamieMurray.org 11.14

(12) Rusedski.co.uk 10.83
(4) MensTennisForums 11.80

(14) RogerFederer.com 11.25
(11) BBC 606 boards 11.50

(7) Centre Court Forum 11.19
(15) AndyRoddick.com 11.14

john · Top national player

I'm actually back in the top 200 but I'm totally screwed now that Blake lost. 2 of my semi finalists are now out (Blake and Gasquet). Hopefully Andy rescues me by winning the tournament and at least giving me a respectable finishing position

Silver · County player

I can't believe I'm 20th... That's just insane. Or perhaps I've worked out how to predict properly?

No. Fluke. If I stay top 50 I'll be perfectly happy BUT MY PICKS BETTER NOT LOSE.

christian · Intermediate Club Player

Come on Robredo, my main chance of staying top or close to as so many seem to have picked Tsonga it could be a big swing. Thought he;d blown that first set when serving for it but he took it on the tie break.

steven · Tennis legend

DAY 7 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

For detailed results, etc, please see http://www.britishtennis.net/Competitions.html

Early in the day yesterday, I said on AM.com: "Verdasco 70% v Andreev 25% - I steal a march on 3/10 entrants if 'dasco wins, I lose ground on 1/4 of them if Andreev wins (odd pick by me - I usually treat Andreev as reliable and 'dasco as borderline muppet, though I suffered for that at Wimby!)"

In fact, it was yet another case in this tournament of getting messed up by doing research - 'dasco led the H2H 3-0, but no longer just a 'borderline muppet' (having cost me heaps of places at Wimby when he kept winning then lots of places here by losing), he lost tamely in straight sets. I'm sure over 2/3 of the other entrants will share my annoyance at this one!

Still, it was another muppet who really did for me and about 100 others yesterday, Gonzo's win against Nieminen dropping those of us in mid-table who didn't have him about 50 places in one fell swoop. Grrr!

TEAMS

It was a very good day in the league for BT.net, who were the top scoring team in R3 and have extended their lead to more than 3 points. AM.com, up 2 to 2nd, and T4Y, up 2 to 3rd, replaced the Dammitaires, down 2 to 4th and TAT, down 2 to 5th, in the top three, but 2nd to 4th places are covered by only about 0.1%!

In fact, 7 of the top 8 teams in the overall team rankings now fill the top 7 places in the USO teams league. Team CC stayed steady in 6th, but there was more movement just below them. Rusedski.co.uk, up 2 to 7th, BBC 606, up 2 to 8th, and the Feddies, up 2 to 9th, all gained ground at the expense of MTF, down 3 to 10th, and JM.org (did they have a bad day!), down 3 to 11th. The Ducklings and the massed ranks of Tennisopolis continue to bring up the rear.

INDIVIDUALS

With 6/8 correct on Sunday, Christian (BT) has managed to hold onto 1st place for another day, if only just! Also scoring 6/8, MC (MT), up 1 to 2nd, and Dusty Dick (BT), up 4 to 4th, ended up joint top scorers in R3 with 12/16 correct, but they were outscored yesterday by tiphaniie (RG), whose 7/8 on Sunday was worth a 15 place rise to 3rd. miffy (AM), up 7 to 5th, completes the top 5. Apart from tiphaniie, one other entrant rose more than 10 places into the top 10, dssl973 Ma$terpiec£ (AM) moving up 13 to 10th.

ON THE RISE

6/8 or 7/8 tended to be needed for a rise yesterday, 5/8 to stay about the same and 4/8 less tended to result in a fall. Quite a few players rose just over 100 places, but the biggest riser by a clear margin was Gucci (VB), up 163 to 110=, who scored 7/8 on Sunday.

ON THE SLIDE

There were quite a few falls of just over 100 places as well, but the entrants most in need of a parachute to break their fall were those who fell more than 150 places, i.e. lou (RG), down 156 to 189=, WindassWonderland (IN), down 182 to 280th, shotgun (MT), down 173 to 287=, andrewjshields (RF), down 152 to 360=, and sallydaisy (JM), down 152 to 423rd.

All of these entrants got just 2/8 correct on Sunday except for Sally, who equal low-scored with her furry friends at the bottom of the table with just 1/8 - coincidentally, she now has another SGB (serial gorilla-botherer) Fitz (JM), down 36 to 424th, just behind her!

OUTLOOK

Just one entrant, Aymen (LH) in 20=, has all eight quarter-finalists still alive as we go into the L16, and only US bot Homer has less than three. Everyone else has between 3 and 7 QFists left in, though there seems to be only a small correlation between this number and peoples' current positions, so expect lots more big moves up and down the table over the next couple of days!

TEAM KO

BT.net may have done better than any of the other big teams in R3, but they were unfortunate to meet the best of the composite teams in the team KO QFs, going out to the RafaelNadalFans. Indeed, all of the top three seeds lost their QFs giving us an unusual-looking semi-final line-up. In the 9-16th place QFs, the most exciting match was Team CC v the Ducklings, which was tied at 19.50-19.50 after 14 matches, but the overall no. 1 team didn't quack when the going got tough and ended up avoiding the ultimate ignominy by winning the tie over the last two matches.

TEAM KO QFs

(1) BritishTennis.net 26.40
(9) RafaelNadalFans 27.60

(5) Tennis4you.com 25.24
(13) Assorted Individuals 23.63

(3) RichardGasquet.net 24.50
(6) AndyMurray.com 24.65

(10) Other Boards 25.80
(2) TalkAboutTennis 24.58

9-16 PLACE QFs

(16) Tennisopolis.com 24.61
(8) JamieMurray.org 22.50

(12) Rusedski.co.uk 24.83
(4) MensTennisForums 23.60

(14) RogerFederer.com 25.88
(11) BBC 606 boards 25.00

(7) Centre Court Forum 25.04
(15) AndyRoddick.com 24.43

SEMI-FINALS

(9) RafaelNadalFans v (5) Tennis4you.com
(6) AndyMurray.com v (10) Other Boards

5-8, 9-12 & 13-16 SFs

(1) BritishTennis.net v (13) Assorted Individuals
(3) RichardGasquet.net v (2) TalkAboutTennis

(16) Tennisopolis.com v (12) Rusedski.co.uk
(14) RogerFederer.com v (7) Centre Court Forum

(8) JamieMurray.org v (4) MensTennisForums
(11) BBC 606 boards v (15) AndyRoddick.com

Count Zero · Tennis legend

i am fairly happy with y performance still, but pics could come back and haunt me.