OFFICIAL RULES FOR 2006
How the Game is
Played
The pool of contest players is divided into conferences,
with the number of conferences and the number of players per conference to be
determined by the number of players.
A weekly schedule is created, pitting every player against a different player
each week. Players pick the
winners (NOTE: ALL MANO PICKS ARE AGAINST THE SPREAD) for ten Division I-A college
football games which have been selected for each week. Players then assign confidence
points to each of their ten picks, with 10 points assigned to the pick with the
highest confidence level, down to1 point for the least confident pick. Players' scores are then determined by adding up the points
for all games that were picked correctly.
(Minimum score = 0, Maximum score
= 10 + 9 + 8 + ... + 2 + 1 = 55.)
Between the two opponents in each week's Mano a Mano matchup, a Win is
declared if one player scores more points than the other, with a Loss being
declared for the loser. Win/Loss records are thus accumulated throughout the
season. At the regular season's
end, the conference champions and any wildcard winner(s) will advance to the
playoffs for a shot at the Mano a Mano
Championship.
How to Sign Up
Send an e-mail to
mano2006@dpdsdogs.com. Include the
player's name you want to use for the contest, your e-mail address*, your
favorite division I-A college football team, and any Mano conference
preference. Please also indicate
if you are a returning Mano player, or if you will be participating this year
as a Mano Rookie.
The
deadline to sign-up is Wednesday, August 23, 2006.
* There is a maximum of one entry
per league for each e-mail address.
Conference Set-up
Each participant has the option
of either selecting the conference in which they wish to participate or having
contest administrators randomly place them into a conference. The number of conferences depends on
the total number of players who sign up, with roughly ten players in each
conference. Contest administrators
reserve the right to alter league and conference set-ups as needed to ensure
all the conferences contain a nearly equal number of players.
Weekly Schedules
Once conference assignments have
been made, the Mano a Mano conference schedule, which begins in Week # 3, will
be finalized for the entire length of the contest season and posted at the
official Mano site. This schedule
will match contest participants against each other from week to week. Each player will have the opportunity
to play all players within their conference and will be matched up against
players from other conferences, with OOC (out-of-conference) match-ups being
randomly determined during the final process of creating the schedule.
During the first two weeks of the season, individual match-ups may be altered
in case of no-shows, i.e. people who sign up but have no intention of actually
playing the entire season. Once
conference play begins, the final schedule will be set and no-shows will be
replaced by Mano Consensus (see below).
Weekly Games
Each week the contest begins by
noon Tuesday with the posting of that week's ten games and point spreads on the
official Mano a Mano forum, maintained at workmanpoll.com.
The games will be listed as follows: Favored Team Point Spread Underdog
Here is an example:
Game
1 Florida 1 1/2 Georgia
Game
2 Utah 1 1/2 BYU
Game
3 Pitt 2 1/2 Syracuse
Game
4 Florida
St. 3 1/2 Miami-Fla.
Game
5 Alabama 3 1/2 Tennessee
Game
6 Texas 4 1/2 Oklahoma
Game
7 Toledo 5 1/2 Bowling
Green
Game
8 Michigan 6 1/2 Ohio
State
Game
9 Boise
St. 7 1/2 Fresno St.
Game
10 USC 8 1/2 UCLA
All games will be listed with
half-point spreads (e.g. 3 1/2 rather than 3 or 4) to eliminate pushes (i.e.
games that are tied ATS). We will
try to ensure that contest point spreads mirror the published "Latest Lines"
for all games used. However, the
point spreads published on Tuesday are final regardless of whether they
coincide with the Vegas odds. We
will try to select the 10 most intriguing match-ups from week to week and will
try to get a variety of teams throughout the season. If you have any suggestions for games to use
for any week, e-mail us your suggestions and we will try to accommodate as many
requests as possible.
Weekly Picks
Once the games and point spreads
are announced, players may begin submitting their picks for that week. Picks may be submitted beginning noon
on Tuesday until midnight on Thursday.
Picks are submitted by clicking on the "Submit Picks" link
located on the Mano a Mano
forum. You may also submit picks
(within the required time frame) by posting them directing on the Mano
forum. Please be sure to specify
all pertinent information including your contest name, your picks for the
winners (against the spread) for all 10 games, and the confidence points for
all 10 games. When assigning
confidence points, assign 10 to the game pick that you feel the most confident
about, then assign 9 points to your next most confident pick, and so on down to
assigning 1 point to your least confident pick. Do not assign the same confidence points to more than one game in
a given week. (As a numerical
check, the total sum of all your confidence points should be equal to 55.) We ask that you submit picks on time so
that we can post all players picks on the website by 5pm on Friday, so that all
players can review their picks, review their opponent's
picks, and review the picks of all other contest participants. If you can not meet the midnight
Thursday deadline, if your picks are not posted correctly, or if you wish to
change one or more of your picks, we will allow last minute changes. Any
changes or late submission of picks after the midnight Thursday deadline can only be accomplished by posting your picks or
changes on the Mano a Mano
message board prior to 10 a.m. on Saturday. We ask that you use this
last-minute option as a one-time exception. Timely posting of picks will allow for all players to have
the ability to easily find all picks that have been posted in one place instead
of having to scan through several message board posts containing numerous
changes. Anyone failing to submit picks for a given week within the required
deadline will automatically receive a Loss for that week of the competition. It
is the responsibility of all players to review their picks once they have been
posted on the website on Friday to ensure that their picks were received and
posted accurately. Picks posted
are final unless modified on the message board prior to noon Saturday. If you notice that your picks have not
been received or have not been posted accurately, simply post your picks on the
message board prior to 10 a.m. Saturday.
ANY PICKS NOT SUBMITTED BY
MIDNIGHT THURSDAY OR POSTED ON THE MANO MESSAGE BOARD BY TEN A.M. SATURDAY WILL
NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Weekly Results
For each game a player picks
correctly, the confidence points assigned to that game are added to that
player's weekly score (points are not deducted for incorrectly picked games,
which score zero points). In each
Mano a Mano match-up, the player who scores the most
points will get credited with a Win for that week, while the player with the
least points will be credited with a Loss. Yes, it is very possible for such a match-up to end in a tie,
and tie-breakers for weekly match-ups, based on assigned confidence levels, are
explained below. Weekly results
will be posted to each player's seasonal standings and
will accumulate throughout each week of the contest. The outcomes of the weekly match-ups
will be officially posted on the website by noon on Monday.
What happens if my
Mano opponent fails to submit picks?
As stated above any player who
fails to submit picks will automatically receive a Loss for that given
week. If a player is matched
against an opponent who fails to submit picks, that player will then compete
against the Mano Consensus for that week.
If the player has better luck making picks than the Mano community, then
that player receives a Win for that week, otherwise a Loss (with usual
tie-breakers in case of a tie).
Last year there were 24 games against the Mano Consensus, which had a
season record of 12-12.
Player Standings
Players conference standing, including W/L record, accuracy %,
total points scored, and games behind the conference leader accumulate
throughout the contest season based upon all weekly results. This information will determine which
players qualify for the Mano a Mano
playoffs at the end of the Mano a Mano
regular season. Weekly player
standings will be officially posted on the website by noon on Monday.
Tie-breaker(s) for Weekly
Results
If opponents earn the same
points for their picks, here are the tie-breakers:
1. Most games picked correctly.
2. Whoever correctly picked their
10 point game.
3. Whoever correctly picked their
9 point game.
and so on.
So if both players earn 20 points
for their picks, then the first tie-breaker is who picked the most games
correctly. If both picked 6 of 10
correctly, then the next tie-breaker is who picked their 10 point game
correctly, if both or neither picked the 10 point game correctly then the next
tie-breaker is who picked the 9 point game correctly and so on all the way down
until the tie is broken. If by
some chance the tie is still not broken after all of these tie-breakers, both
players will earn a tie for that weekly
competition. The exception to
players earning a tie would be during a playoff match-up. In that situation, if a tie is not
broken by all of the tie breaker methods listed above, then the final
tie-breaker would be whichever player had the better accuracy % rate on their
picks throughout the entire contest season.
Playoff Details
This is how it was done in 2004:
At the conclusion of the Mano a Mano regular season, 16
players will earn a spot in the Mano a Mano playoffs.
The 16 participants will consist of conference winners and wildcard
winners. The conference winners
will be the player in each conference with the best win/loss record during the
regular season. The wildcard
winner(s) will be the player(s) who have earned the highest number of points
during the regular season AND are not conference champions. Playoff seedings
will work as follows. The 8
conference champions will be seeded from #1 thru #8 based upon W/L records,
then by total points, then by accuracy%.
The 8 wildcard winners will be seeded from #9 thru #16 based upon total
points, then by W/L records, then by accuracy %. It will then function as a normal tourney (#1 vs #16, #8 vs #9, etc). Players will NOT be re-seeded after
each round. Winners from round #1
will advance to the quarterfinals, and then possibly on to the semifinals and
then possibly to the Mano a Mano
championship game. One loss and
you are out. Playoff forecasts
will be provided each week during the second half of the contest regular season
and all playoff qualifiers will be announced at the conclusion of the regular
season.
The format for 2005 will be
decided once conference alignments have been made.
Tie-breaker(s) for
Conference Winners
If players in the same conference
have an identical Win/Loss record at the end of the regular season, here are
the tiebreakers to determine the conference winner:
1. Most total points earned
during the season.
2. Head-to-head W/L record.
3. Most points earned in week 13.
4. Most points earned in week 12.
and so on.
Tie-breaker(s) for Wildcard
Winners
If more than one player, who is
not a conference champion, has accumulated the most total points throughout the
regular season, here are the tiebreakers to determine the wildcard winner(s):
1. Seasonal W/L record.
2. Head-to-head record.
3. Most points earned in week 13.
4. Most points earned in week 12.
and so on.
Contest Administration
Contest administrators reserve
the right to make decisions relating to the contest at their discretion. Judgments
rendered by contest administrators are final.
Weekly Summary:
MONDAY: Prior week results and updated standings will be posted on the workmanpoll.com website by noon.
TUESDAY: Upcoming week's games and point spreads will be posted on the workmanpoll.com website by noon.
WEDNESDAY: Nothing.
THURSDAY: All picks
must be submitted via the website no later than midnight.
FRIDAY: All
players' picks will be posted on the website by 5:00
p.m. EST.
SATURDAY: All
last-minute changes/picks must be posted on the
Mano a Mano message board by 10
a.m. (local time).
SUNDAY: Rejoicing
and sobbing.
The contest begins with games to
be played on Saturday, 2 September 2006, which means picks for Week # 1 will be
due by Thursday, August 31, which is the official starting date for Division
I college football.
If you have any questions or
comments, feel free to contact us at any time by posting a message on the Mano a Mano board, or by sending
e-mail to mano2006@dpdsdogs.com.
We're looking forward to a great season — Good luck to all!!!