Football
Favorite links
NFL Schedule
Field Goals
Player Lookup

Football Pickoff

TSN/SW Football
Sortable TSN Stats
Weekly SNP
Team Rankings
Assimilator

Go forward to more recent blurbs.

9/30 - Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down...

Last Monday, my son's inards were misbehaving. Today, it's my computer. I've experiencing a file save problem in Excel that has precluded me from processing football stats this morning, and I'm not yet sure how or when the problem will be resolved. For an explanation of the symptoms, see this thread. If you have any ideas on the cause or the remedy, please reply.

Until I get this figured out, I'm working on it full time. I'll post an update if/when I have something positive to report.

Grrrrr....

[Several hours later...] Problem solved. Turned out to be much ado about nothing in the non-trivial sense of the word "nothing". Follow the link for an explanation, if you care to.

So, I've finally got football points posted for Sunday's games. (Baseball points were actually updated late last night!) TSN football price updates have also been included.

So, did anyone have Trent Green, Rich Gannon, Shaun Alexander, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Fred Taylor? I thought not. How about 3 out of 5? Or perhaps substituting Drew Bledsoe for one of the other two QBs? All six of those guys topped 500 TSNP - some by a lot.

9/27 - The end of the baseball season is tricky enough without a tropical storm cruising up the east coast! Three games were casualties last night, and several more are vulnerable tonight.

Speaking of the end of the season, there are two potential games on Monday. San Francisco could have to travel to Atlanta, and Tampa might have to make up last night's game in New York. In both instances, these games would only be played if they have a bearing on home field advantage for the playoffs. But they are important to consider, because they would count as regular season games. Thus, if you have a few spare hitting trades, you might want to hang on to them for those Monday contingencies.

Until late summer, Curt Schilling was generally regarded as the frontrunner for the NL Cy Young award. Then Randy began to mount a challenge, and there was even some talk of them sharing the award this year. But with last night's win, Johnson claimed the NL pitching "Triple Crown" (wins, ERA, strikeouts), and might have also edged out Curt for sole possession of the CY Young as well. It's all the more remarkable because Johnson is 39, an age at which most power pitchers are fading.

9/26 - The answer to yesterday's pitching riddle was not Curt Schilling, but Livan Hernandez. But judging from yesterday's TSN price movement (or lack thereof), very few managers found that answer.

Today, the weather might confound. Rain is forecast in New York, Philly, and Pittsburgh. Hopefully, you won't get saddled with a pitcher who works a few innings and then gets washed out. But it could happen.

The battle for the top division in Ultimate baseball is coming down to the wire once again. In Hoops, the GuruPatrons eked out a victory on the last day over the RotoGuru Belly division, and as of this morning, those two divisions are separated by only 29 TSNP. Hard to imagine that those two divisions can continually be that close together.

9/25 - Looks like Roy Oswalt will get one last start on Sunday, as the third time wasn't a charm. He's missed three straight times in his attempt to win his twentieth game. Sunday's game will be at San Fran, and could also have playoff implications for the Giants. Or not. With a 3 game gap between the Giants and Dodgers, it's looking more like that race will be settled before Sunday. Which would mean that Russ Ortiz would not start on Sunday, nor would Odalis Perez. Bummer for those who picked them up yesterday, hoping for two more starts.

If you're looking ahead to Hoops, the sortable stats and the Hoops Assimilator have been loaded with the new TSN player prices and the upcoming NBA schedule. You may recall that my sortable stats for Hoops includes a very useful projection feature which takes into account scheduling. I realize that it's still premature to be nailing down rosters yet, but it's not too early to be tinkering, especially if you're out of baseball contention. Incidentally, the programs have also been adapted to accommodate the new multi-position players for the TSN games. For example, Paul Pierce will appear as a guard, or as a forward, or as a GF (which allows you to see just those multi-position players).

One final alert for tomorrow. I have a commitment tomorrow morning that will probably cause a delay in posting tonight's baseball stats. They should be up by early afternoon, but possibly not until then. I can't imagine that this will have an adverse impact on anyone's trading needs for tomorrow morning. And if it does, then you're relying WAYYYY too much on updated numbers at this point in the season!

9/24 - It never happened during the 1999 NFL season. It happened only once in each of the last two seasons. But it happened twice this weekend! Can you guess what the definition of "it" is?

If you read yesterday's blurb, I tipped you off. Two Football Pickoff entrants went 14-0 this weekend. While it was a weekend in which consensus favorites won all but three games, you still had to figure out which three to pick against. Congrats to geopou and jwmcgee2. Neither found the "perfect" double of Carolina, however. Tsk, tsk.

All in all, positive scores outnumbered negatives by about 2:1 this weekend. Still, only 48% of all cumulative scores are positive after three weeks. Fourteen weeks to go, though, so don't despair. It is VERY possible that one of those 52% in red numbers will end up the year on top.

I'm not sure how possible it is that the Rams will end up the year on top, however. No team that has started 0-3 has ever advanced to the Super Bowl. There is always a first time, but they haven't looked impressive. Next week they get to play Dallas, which may be just what the doctor ordered - even if Marshall Faulk doesn't play. Then again...

In baseball, this is the last day for 2-start pitchers to work, barring an end-of-season cliffhanger. That doesn't mean that all of today's starters will get to work again on Sunday. In fact, I'm sure many won't. But if you've got one with a chance to work on Sunday, your most efficient move after today is probably to sit tight and hope to milk a few extra points out of that slot.

I haven't really been thumping on the GuruPatron drum lately, so I'm amazed and gratified that there has continued to be a flow of donations this month without any direct prompting. Thank you very much! I raise the issue today because if you want to be eligible for a prize in Football Pickoff (other than the 2 grand prizes), you must become a GuruPatron no later than October 1st, which is just one week away.

9/23 - This week, the NFL favorites finally had the upper hand. In Football Pickoff, 11 out of 13 games were won by the consensus favorites, halting a 2-week scoring blitz for underdogs. And so far, 5 pickoff entrants have 'em all correct. At least two of them will run the table, as three picked St. Louis for tonight, while two went with the Bucs.

Football stats were updated by about 10am this morning. I can't promise that they'll always be ready by then, but things went pretty smoothly this morning. (And no Hall family members were hospitalized either, which certainly helped!)

In baseball, Pedro Martinez won his 20th game, and then promptly said "No mas," effectively shutting himself down for the last week of the season. This can be a tricky week to plan pitching matchups. Some teams are still vying for postseason berths or seeding, others are setting up for the playoffs, and most are just running out the string. One interesting starter this week is Roy Oswalt. He's scheduled to work on Tuesday, and his current record is 19-7. If he fails to win his 20th, he would probably pitch on Sunday. If he gets #20, the Astros may use someone else.

9/20 - Ten days left. And the meaningful head-to-head showdowns are now over (discounting Houston's chances to overtake St. Louis). I suppose that the Houston/San Fran series next week could be a wild card battle, but that seems pretty doubtful.

If you want to weigh in on your picks for the MVP and Cy Young awards, voting is currently in progress at the baseball forum. In the AL, both races are tight, with ARod, Tejada, and Soriano the MVP frontrunners and Zito, Pedro, and Lowe vying for the CY. Barry Bonds is running away with the NL MVP sweepstakes, and Curt Schilling seems to have the NL Cy Young well in hand, although Randy has certainly closed the gap with his performance the past several months. Yesterday, he even caught Curt in victories (23). Remember when Schilling was being considered as a possibility for 30 wins?

It's Friday already (duhhh!), and you need to be getting your football plans in order once again. There are lots of issues to deal with - Doug Brien's demotion, injuries to Eddie George and Ahman Green, a gimpy shoulder for Shane Matthews, and a lack of clear favorites for defense. And, of course, in the TSN game, you have the potential price reversal of last week's biggest gainers. Trade wisely! And while you're at it, don't forget your picks for Football Pickoff.

And as a funny football aside, remember in Monday night's game when Michaels and Madden were commenting on the odd motions that McNabb was going through after every pass? They speculated that there must be some injury problem. But, according to RotoWire, "McNabb told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the motions he was making with his hand were not due to an injury, but that he had gas and was bloated." So what was he doing... pulling his own finger?

9/19 - It would have been tough to own some of yesterday's top pitchers. Several days ago, it was reported that Steve Trachsel's thumb injury might sideline him for he rest of the year. And Jeff Weaver was a last minute replacement when David Wells was scratched. So I doubt if either had much fantasy impact, in spite of their 3-digit TSNP results.

Several days ago, I noted that Bob Brenly was openly considering giving a little extra rest between starts for his two studs, Johnson and Schilling. Evidently, they rebuffed him, as Johnson is set to go tonight on his usual rest. I can't blame him, as a day's wait would have put him in Coors Field, where the famous humidor hasn't had much impact of late.

Meanwhile, there's an interesting pitching development in Oakland. The Contra Costa Times reports that Art Howe is considering a 3-man rotation in the playoffs, in which Mulder, Hudson, and Zito (in some order) would work on 3-days rest. If so, Hudson has suggested that they do that next week as well, which could move Mulder, Hudson, and Zito to Thurs-Saturday next week. It's not a done deal, but when planning your final pitching trades, it's worth keeping in mind.

9/18 - It's rare that the night's top pitcher (in fantasy points) fails to earn a win. But Mark Mulder turned the trick with 9 scoreless innings, no walks, 12 Ks, and only 5 hits allowed. His opponent, Jarrod Washburn, was almost as potent, with 8IP, no walks, 4 Ks, and 3H. And Al Leiter also topped 100 TSNP without getting a win - although he should be used to that by now. Those three were in the top six in TSNP, and the other three (Eaton, Wakefield, and Maddux) wouldn't have top 100 TSNP without the points for their wins. All told, 9 pitchers topped 100 TSNP, so you could have had a big night with the right stuff.

TSN launched its Ultimate Hoops game yesterday. The biggest change is that some players will be eligible for multiple positions this year. For example, Paul Pierce will be eligible as either a guard or a forward, and you can even shift him back and forth to accommodate your other roster needs. That flexibility will probably result in a slight price premium for those players. If you go to the promo page (linked above), you can access an Excel spreadsheet with listed players (stats, positions, process, etc.), although rookies have yet to be priced.

Meanwhile, I also updated my various NBA schedule tools with the 2002-03 schedule. See the links in the basketball section of the left menu down below. The regular season is less than 6 weeks away!

9/17 - If you were relying on some meaningful MNF fantasy points from Washington's "high powered offense", you got your butt kicked, too. Having a team and coach that is willing to throw the ball downfield is one thing. But if that's how they're going to throw it, it really doesn't matter what offense they run.

New NFL seasons are very hard to figure out, unless perhaps you are a very ardent and insightful student of the game (and I'll confess that I'm not). It's hard to forget last year's results - some of which are no longer relevant - and also hard to avoid getting swept up in early season hype. To that end, the top four price gainers in the TSN Ultimate game all had disappointing weekends, with none producing more than 88 TSNP. So if you went with the flow and bagged some decent gains, you may have to bail quickly if you plan to hold onto those gains.

The NFL weekend didn't confound everybody, though. In Football Pickoff, commish managed to get 15 games correct, missing only Tennessee's loss to Dallas (which happened to be his doubled pick!) For the weekend, only 148 entrants produced positive scores, while almost twice as many were negative. That's what happens when underdogs do well, winning 9 out of 16 games. And last year's runaway winner, jungleman24, is finding out that it's tough to repeat, suffering his second straight result below -200. But, the season is young, and history suggests that no one is out of it yet, regardless of the early results.

Only 13 days left in the baseball season. Barring a complete meltdown, there are only two meaningful races remaining. The Oakland/Anaheim battle is tight, but only impacts playoff seeding. But the Dodger/Giants battle is a "loser goes home" ordeal between two storied rivals who are in the midst of their final face-to-face showdown of the year. Good theater! .

Yesterday, I alluded to a "circumstance" which interfered with my ability to put out a blurb. My 17-year-old son was in the emergency room with possible appendicitis. As it turned out, it was not his appendix, but only a very severe belly ache (apparently) which eventually subsided. So the world is back to normal today, after a flurry of havoc.

9/16 - Sorry - sudden circumstances beyond my control have left me incapable of producing a cogent blurb today. I'll explain tomorrow. Meanwhile, stats are updated, and prices will be updated this afternoon.

9/13 - I wonder how many times the top pitcher of the night was a Colorado starter in Coors Field? At least once, because Denny Stark did it with 121 TSNP last night against the Dodgers. In fact, he has a 3.12 ERA at home this year in 19 games (including 11 starts), where opposing batters are only hitting .215 against him. Curiously, his road stats offer a stark contrast (sorry), with a 5.67 ERA and .268 against. Go figure.

Last week, more than 400 entrants made picks in Football Pickoff. As of this morning, only about half as many have logged picks for week #2. I'm sure the main reason is procrastination, or waiting for last minute updates before committing. Be aware that you can always change your picks at any time before the Sunday freeze, so it's probably a good idea to save a set picks earlier in the week, and then go back on the weekend to review and adjust, if needed. This approach avoids the risk of forgetting, or of technical problems (yours or mine) at the last minute.

9/12 - I was only 5 years old when the 1958 NFL Championship game - the game that Weeb Ewbank later described as "The game [that] made Unitas famous and made the NFL a household thing." - so I certainly didn't appreciate it at the time. But I was 20 when he retired, so I certainly remember him as a player. And as a legend. And as a haircut (even though he wore his hair longer later in his career).

[pause to reflect]

OK. Football player detail pages are now up for 2002. For example, here's Marshall Faulk. I use these pages as a convenient source of point and price histories, schedule outlook, and links to related info at five other sites. Enjoy. Meanwhile, I need to start working on my NBA schedule pages for 2002-03. That season is less than 2 months away!

And before we entirely shelve baseball, I started a thread at the message forum for suggestions for 2003 TSN baseball. Since we have the attention of the folks at TSN, it's a productive opportunity to air our ideas for future game development. If you have ideas on what to change (or what not to change), please weigh in.

9/11 - Back to baseball for a few more days.

Football tends to claim center stage in September, especially if your fantasy baseball exploits are pretty well settled. A few of my various teams are still in the running for division/league titles, so I need to keep focused on those. And I tend to play out the string for all of my teams, even when nothing rides on the outcome. But I know there are a lot of dormant baseball teams every September, when football is so willing to provide new hope and new distractions.

Yesterday provided 17 major league games, including two twin bills. 31,270 Yankees fans (OK, maybe they weren't all Yankees fans) saw a lineup with a spring training look to it - although those guys still beat the Baltimore regulars. (Hopefully, that wasn't your one trip to Yankee Stadium for the year!) Earlier in the day, the Yankees put their regular starters on the field in front of a sparse crowd of less than 9,000. (I was about to characterize the crowd as "Expo-like", but then realized that 9,000 would be a good crowd in Montreal.)

One thing that's been about as dependable as clockwork this year is that Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling would each pitch every fifth day. The rest of the Dback rotation got pushed back as needed to keep the two workhorses as regular as possible. But it sounds like Bob Brenly is going to give them each a little extra rest over the next two weeks. While I think they are still scheduled to work on Saturday and Sunday, they may both wait an extra day for the following start, which puts them both at Coors Field as well. Perhaps it'll soon be time for a little differentiation!

9/10 - And now you know the rest of the story...

The first 15 NFL games failed to produce a defense with more that 300 TSNP. It didn't take long last night to see that New England would take a shot at that. And 3 interceptions, 2 fumbles, and 5 sacks later, they had 385 TSNP, a full 120 better than the next best defense. Tom Brady (446 TSNP, 2nd ranked QB), Deion Branch, Adam Vinatieri and the two Pitt receivers (Ward and Randle El) each had good games as well.

So the first week is in the books, and now it's time to maneuver. The sortable stats are up and running for your statistical analysis. But you've got until Sunday, so feel free to tinker at a leisurely pace.

It's probably worth recapping the other RotoGuru statistical tools at your disposal. In addition to the sortable stats, each week's points are summarized in a sortable weekly points page, and the Assimilator allows you to finagle with your rosters before committing to trades. The final prong is the player history pages, which are not yet set up for 2002. I should have those ready within a few days. They will list the game-by-game point and price details for each player.

Congrats to Balrog, who managed to get 13 games correct en route to a Football Pickoff score of 683 points. A review of the standings shows that 184 entrants finished the first week with a positive score, while 250 landed in red numbers. The median result for the week was -28. Sitcking with a complete slate of consensus underdogs would have been a respectable strategy this week, as those picks produced 8 winners (50%) and 270 points. But that approach is unlikely to work well every week. Last year, that tactic netted only +57 points for the entire season.

9/9 - Quite a day in the NFL. Supposedly, defenses start the season better prepared than offenses. But you sure couldn't prove it yesterday.

If you wanted to spend for your points, then Priest Holmes (524 TSNP, 4 TDs) was the way to go. If you wanted the best bargain, then Kelly Holcomb (Cleveland's QB) got you 437 TSNP for the minimum price. A total of 32 players produced 300 TSNP or more. But the best defenses were San Diego and San Francisco with only 265 TSNP.

I've got a lot of statistical reconciliation to do this morning. I do have the raw football stats from yesterday, but I want to carefully compare my fantasy calculations against some external totals, fix my outdated team affiliations, and get my programs fully configured for the new season. As such, I probably won't have my football stats posted until early afternoon today. I see that TSN and PSC already have points posted this morning, so you should already be able to tell how you did in those games. I'll have Swirve points as well, so you can get the early peek at those once my update is complete.

Back to the salt mines...

9/6 - One NFL game down, 255 to go (plus playoffs). There weren't any real bust-out performances in the game, so if you are still at the starting gate today, you haven't missed out on much. Amani Toomer was the top TSNP producer with 286, which isn't bad, but there will certainly be better opportunities this weekend. Kerry Collins threw for 342 yards, but with 3 interceptions, he didn't even top 200 TSNP. Perhaps the best bargain of the night was Giants kicker Matt Bryant, with 90 TSNP. I didn't even realize he was available in the TSN game - he must have been a late addition. But at a price of $750K, 90 TSNP is very respectable for a kicker.

I don't have the football stats processed yet, but I'll try to get that done later today. The first game of the year is my chance to shake out the cobwebs from some of my programs, so it will be nice to have only one game to process. Meanwhile, if there is someone you really care about, TSN already has the points run, and you should be able to do the arithmetic for the other games (Swirve and PSC) if you just can't wait.

In Football Pickoff, 70% of you got off to a good start. Those picking San Francisco earned 30 points, while those looking for the upset get to start in a -30 hole. I won't be updating the standings for that game until Sunday.

In baseball, Randy Wolf continued his late season dominance with a 145 TSNP complete game. Three of his last four starts have been complete games, during which time he has allowed only 17 hits and one earned run. Since the All Star break, he's 7-1 with a 1.62 ERA, during which time hitters have batted a measly .184 against him. It's almost déjà vu all over again, as his post All Star stats last year were a 5-2 record, 2.14 ERA, and 1.98 BA against. Now he just needs to learn how to get off to a better start.

9/5 - Even if I had the stamina to stay up until the wee hours to watch the KC-Oakland game last night, I had little incentive to do so after Oakland's early 11-0 lead made this one look like a laugher. Too bad, since it turned into a real cliffhanger - with Oakland again getting the last laugh.

Football day! If you are playing the Swirve game, your first roster freeze is fast approaching. You need to have your first lineup set by noon today. The optimal approach is to sign everyone to a day-to-day contract for now, and then decide before next Tuesday's repricing whether you want to extend any contracts, or pick up other players for extended periods. I've seen some rosters with players already locked-in, but you can wait until after the first weekend to do that. Might as well play it safe for now.

Tonight, you have to lock in your Progressive Sports Challenge roster. And it again looks like they are having light enrollments for their pay-game offerings. You might want to step up to one of those versions, as the prizes are quite handsome for the relative risk. Or, you can just play the free game, which already has more than 500 entrants.

For TSN, you only need your 49ers and Giants in place by tonight. You can safely leave the rest of your roster tweaking until Sunday morning. And, as I noted at the end of yesterday's blurb, TSN has decided to continue unlimited trading through Monday's freeze, so there is no longer a strategic need to empty your rosters prior to tonight's freeze. Just remember to have a final, complete roster in place by Sunday. You can't leave an open slot for a Monday night pickup and still score points on Sunday.

And finally, there is Football Pickoff. Registrations have been picking up, with more than 330 now signed up through 10am this morning. You need to have tonight's game picked by 8:30, but you can work on the rest of your picks through 1pm EST on Sunday.

Does that give you enough to do today? Get to it!

9/4 - It must have been "Clemen-time" last night, because the top pitching outings were a pair of 137 TSNP starts from Clemens and Clement. But perhaps the most unusual outing was that of Joaquin Benoit, who pitched 7 innings of one-hit relief to gain a save. It was the longest outing to result in a save in major league history.

The next best pitching performance of the night came from a rookie who you couldn't have owned for fantasy purposes. Andy Van Hekken pitched a complete game shutout over Cleveland to win his major league debut. Although he gave up no runs, his stats don't look overpowering, with 8 hits surrendered, 2 walks, and only one strikeout. Still, it amounts to 122 TSNP, which would have ranked 4th for the night.

There is some confusion over the workings of the flexible roster freeze for the TSN football games. Although you may wait until the day of a game to lock-in a player, the rules still state that, in order to score points, you must have a valid roster for that day. Accordingly, if you want to own any players for tomorrow night's game, you must have a complete, valid roster by tomorrow's 8PM freeze. Since this is likely to result in a lot of misunderstanding, and it also puts teams with any Giants or 49ers at a competitive disadvantage for week 1, I understand that TSN has decided to relax the valid roster requirement for this Thursday's game only. Consequently, your best approach for tomorrow is to put any Giants or 49ers on your roster, but leave the other slots empty. You can wait until Sunday morning to fill them. But if you do this, make your Sunday buys carefully, because any sells will count against your initial allotment of 4 trades. In other words, figure out who you're going to buy before you start buying and find out you can't afford them. (By the way, I've recommended to TSN that they wait until after Sunday to limit trades, just to reduce the potential for server congestion on Sunday morning. But as the rules stand now, trades are limited immediately after the Thursday freeze. Stay tuned for further developments.)

Note: This afternoon, TSN decided to allow unlimited trades until the Monday freeze. This removes the strategic need to keep your roster empty until the last minute. In fact, I would now advise that you fill your roster sooner than later, just to protect against technical problems on Sunday. The only transactions you'll need to make on Sunday are last minute revisions, rather than the entire roster. Good decision, TSN!

9/3 - Several teams that have been "laboring" too score runs all season came up big on Labor Day. The Cubs won their nightcap, 17-4. Cleveland scored 11 while trouncing Detroit. And the Dodgers, who had scored only 17 in their last 6 games, managed 19 against the Diamondbacks.

Carl Pavano was a highly touted pitcher in the Red Sox system, and was a key ingredient in the Pedro Martinez trade. But Pavano has never reached his potential in Montreal, mostly due to persistent injury problems. Meanwhile, another former Red Sox hurler, Tomo Ohka (who was dealt to Montreal in last year's trade for Urbina), has quietly having a very fine season. After yesterday's complete game (no earned runs) win over Philly, he's 13-6, with a 3.05 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. Since August 1st, his worst fantasy outing was 72 TSNP. Who knew!?

With an opening Thursday NFL game looming, a few deadlines are fast approaching. If you're playing Swirve football, you need to have your first week's roster locked in by noon EST on Thursday. PSC gives you until Thursday evening to make your picks. TSN only requires you to have your Thursday players locked in by 8PM Thursday (for SF vs. NYG), and trades also start counting at that point. If you plan to own any 49ers or Giants for the first week, I think you need to have a complete valid roster on Thursday (I'm trying to verify this, however, as other interpretations are plausible). If you don't want players from either of those teams, you just need to be careful about trade management from Thursday on, as you won't be able to make any "free sells" after that point.

Finally, for Football Pickoff, you only need to have your Thursday pick locked in by kickoff time. The rest of your picks can be entered or changed until Sunday.

Clear as mud?

9/2 - Happy Labor Day! Or, if you're Canadian, Happy Labour Day! And if you're from some country that doesn't have a holiday today, then get to work!

It's been raining steadily in Connecticut, and I suspect it's doing the same in New York City, where both the Yankees and Mets are scheduled. Since both are early afternoon games, they may be able to wait it out, although the way the Mets have been going at home, they may try to call it as quickly as possible!

If you used up your TSN pitching trades by Thursday, maximizing starts prior to the possible strike, you might have felt vulnerable heading into the weekend if you weren't about to pick up Johnson and/or Schilling. But so far, the force is with you. Randy and Curt only combined for 21 TSNP over the weekend. And now, Pedro's Tuesday start is in doubt. You could have hardly picked a better time to stay away from these guys.

Football Pickoff registrations continue to come in, with more than 150 now signed up, and about 100 of those already making picks. I'll be sending out an email announcement today to those who registered last year but have not been heard from yet. More than 500 registered last year.

Click here for prior daily blurbs, by month: