But wait!  There’s more!

Not only do you have a chance at great prizes, you also have the chance of getting Redskin Report immortality by earning weekly Kudos, or season props, giving you bragging rights here and among all the other Redskins fans.  And how much would you expect to pay be able to this game?  Well, it doesn’t matter because it’s FREE!

So here’s what you need to know.  This year, the TRR Pigskin Pick’em is being done through Yahoo!  You’ll need a free Yahoo! account; no, you don’t need your REAL email address or anything else, though it probably helps.  Then click here and enter group 17867 and the password, JoeGibbs.  That’s it.  No need to call now, no hidden charges, nada.  And at last count, only 31 (and that Bill guy and Lee Gibbons aren’t eligible to win) are signed up to play; that leaves 19 lucky Redskins fans room to join in.  Those are some mighty good odds if you act fast.  So Get in it to Win it!

The Redskins may move training camp.  To my home town, Virginia Beach, literally, down the street seven miles from my house.  Now, you may say “Ok, Bill, but how does that help ME?”  And of course, the answer is that it would help because you could get close, first person write ups of the team during training camp.  Problem with that is that it’s almost certainly not going to happen now (hey, JaLa at WaPo must read this blog to pick up a few stories after they’ve been put up here, as this isn’t the first time we’ve scooped him).  However, in the nice write up, he neglected to talk about the situation with some of the folks here in Virginia Beach…. who have decided that the money needed by the city wouldn’t be offset by the extra tourism.  The area they would be practicing at has a couple of good practice fields, AND there is a nearly new high school less than a mile away that also has good facilities at Landstown High School, which WaPo didn’t tell you.  So the facilities need work in the COMPACT sense, but counting the meeting rooms at the Higher Education Center (directly across the street from the high school, and with a lot of large meeting rooms and classrooms), and a medical facility that’s being converted even now into a hospital between the two, there’s more there than you heard from WaPo (maybe they should send someone down to look?  Just spitballing, here, but I bet a reporter doing small couple day off season story might enjoy the trip, and Tourist Season doesn’t start until tomorrow… oh, wait, too late, then I guess).  However, as the site is a good 15 minute drive from the resort strip, the tourist impact would be minimal; most tourists wouldn’t go out there since the area around the Oceana Naval Airstation is “lowly developed”, it looks like you’re going out in the boonies, even if you are surrounded by huge development areas just another 1/2 mile away.  So the city probably wouldn’t spend large to get the Redskins.  In the WaPo article, you hear the other side, that it would take a 6 figures to get the Redskins down there… and then the city leaders say that it doesn’t make sense unless the Redskins are paying the city…  it’s not likely to happen (never say never, but….)

But that’s a story we didn’t cover….

Here’s the REAL story tonight.

The Annual Redskin Report Pigskin Pick’em contest is ON.  It’s going to happen, and yes, there will be some prize(s?) for the winner.  I’m telling you this early, because last year we did it late… and we didn’t have as many folks play as we hoped, and yet a lot of folks who wanted to play couldn’t.  I’ll be setting it up in a few weeks, once it becomes available (think mid-July to early August), and there will be copious announcements of how to get there before then.  To that end, however, I need your help (via comments!).  While they haven’t started it yet, traditionally we’ve used ESPN’s Pigskin Pick’em as a framework for our pool.  Last year, with the confusion and quick close of ESPN, we had some folks use a different program, and I combined folks.  Now, I did that last year because at least some of the problem was my fault…  but I want ONE spot this time.  There are advantages to both, with more control, more reporting, “Robo Picking”, advanced picking (you can pick weeks far in advance, if you need to!), full season looks, automated email reports of standings and statistical pool breakdowns, etc., with the Pool Tool.  ESPN, however, has a slicker interface, is hosted by a corporate entity, as occasional “expert” advice and breakdowns (although that said, last year 1/4 of our players beat their best expert……) and is easier to use, and manage.  But we give up some control.

So, what’s it going to be folks?  Use ESPN, or use one of the great Pool Tools out there to manage it?  Please, PLEASE, let me know…. just comment on the post, and we’ll get the info

On a purely Redskin basis, this is the worst season I can recall since 1981 for injuries to key players, which was known in some circles as the bloodbath season; however, even that season didn’t see the depth being injured this severely.  Good news is that we won the Show the next year, and went 14-2 and lost the show the year after; maybe all of these injuries will allow our depth to season, as they have to step up as starters for the rest of the season.  What’s sad is that the Redskins are still a credible threat to at least earn a Wildcard berth in the NFC playoffs, even after the nearly total destruction of the team because of those injuries.  How many games we will end up losing this year because of injuries, I don’t yet know, but I have to think that both the loss to the Giants and the loss to the Packers had injuries as a major part of the reason that we lost; both teams should have fallen.

Now that the editorials are out of the way, for some, week 8 was a good week in the Pigskin Pick’em, but for those who didn’t play, and let the default home team be their pick, they only picked up a mere 3 games.  Leading the way this week was John Sawyer with 12 games picked correctly, nearly perfect in a week where there were only 13 games, followed by S. Michael Young, M. Edmunds, S.K. and myself, with 11.  Weekly Kudos to all of those players for their excellent weeks.

Upset Pick of the Week wasn’t an upset to me, but seemed to be a big upset to most players, as Detroit beat Chicago.  John Sawyer, R.F. and myself all made those picks, earning Upset Pick of the Week Kudos. 

Season Props continue to go to me, which is somewhat embarrassing; I came in a measly 7th last season (having faded badly during this stretch of the season), though I have been hot for the most part this year.  A. Fishman is still in second, now two games back behind me.  However, always remember this:  I can’t win it.  That means that REGARDLESS of how I do, you only have to beat the other 20 players (Lee Gibbons can’t win, either).  Remember, the system will pick for you, but you’ll only get about 60% in the long run letting the system pick (this week, that meant that you allowed Carolina over Indianapolis, for example).  So pick it to win it!

Bring on the Jets, and Hail to the Redskins!

 Equally miserably, this week was not a particularly good one for most of the players of the Redskin Report Pigskin Pick’em contest.  While not the wasteland for most players that Week 4 was, Week 6 is the low point of the keeper weeks for all but a handful of players.  Leading the way this week, with 9 (of 13) points, were T. Berry, D. McGann, and A. Fishman.  Our weekly kudos go out to those guys.  Upset picks of the week kudos (no, I’m not doing Washington-Green Bay) would be A. Fishman, for predicting the Vikings trouncing of the Bears.  Now you know how he was able get the weekly kudos.

 Lastly, for this week, is our Season Props; leading the way, with 56, is myself, closely followed by A. Fishman (hmm, where have we heard THAT name before, this week?) with 55.  T. Berry is 3rd, with 54.  If things continue as they have, there will be a new leader in town by the time the Washington-New England game is history.

Remember, though, that we still have almost 2/3 of the games left to be played; it’s still early enough for anyone to win that Redskin Jersey at the end of the season!

 Leading the way, with phenomenal 12-2 records this week, were We Want Dallas (as last years runner-up, you knew, somewhere along the line, his name was going to be called!), A. Fishman, T. Berry, D. Buss, D. S., and M. Edwards.  Weekly Kudos for all of those guys, as 12-2 during Bye Weeks is just downright excellent, especially considering few thought Green Bay would lose to Chicago.

 Speaking of Green Bay losing to Chicago, Upset Pick of the Week Kudos to E. Liu and S.K. for there accurate prognostication that we were going to see an irate Green Bay this week, coming off it’s first loss.  Let’s hope we can give them their second, so as to make the NFC North a bit more competitive, shall we?  Special shout out to the guys that thought Buffalo could somehow pull it off against Dallas; if they had, that would have been the Upset Pick of the Week, maybe of the year.  Feel free to insert “I hate the Cowboys” into your conversations; I know I will.

 While A. Fishman, for the second week in a row, was making his move, so was We Want Dallas, both trying to catch the current Season Leader, some guy named Bill.  Currently, I’m leading with 48 points (adjusted), followed by A. Fishman, We Want Dallas, and Jon Martin, with 46 each.  Lee Gibbons and T. Berry are right behind with 45.  Season Props to our current leaderboard, as the lowest of those is still well into the 97% or higher among all 200,000+ people playing!  Since I haven’t gotten anyone posting comments to these the last few weeks since I’ve been doing the “RAW” analysis, I’m assuming most people don’t want to hear that the gap has dwindled down to a meager 1 point separating A. Fishman (53) from catching up with me (54), and a raft of folks are only three or four behind, at 51 and 52; there’s just a huge logjam at the top.  I’ll stop with the RAW figures from now on out if no one wants to hear them (since they only tell the STRENGTH of a person’s score; they only matter, in other words, when folks have a bad week); if you still want them, comment and let me know.

Remember,  it’s still ANYONE’S season, as we’ve only reached a bit over a quarter of the games played, with 202 games still to pick.  Don’t forget, your dream Redskin Jersey is waiting for some football guru at the end of the season.  Stay in it to win it!

In a week where the visitors were favored in most games, the default strategy of choosing home games that all of the accounts should do would have (you would think) been a big loser; however, there were a huge number of upsets, and the “Choose the Home Team” would have earned enough to get this weeks Weekly Kudos.  Too bad no one did that….

 We did have some people who got more than half right this week in what is promising to be the low week (at least for now) for most players.  Best of the lot, with 8 points each, were  D. McGann, D. Wagner, N. Magee, K. Terminella, and B. Pierson.  Kudos to all 5 of you for a decent performance in what is otherwise a bad week, and keep up the good work.

 This week, I’ve arbitrarly decreed that there are not one, but TWO upset picks of the week.  In my mind, the bigger upset was Detroit brushing aside Chicago in Chicago; however, a number of you disagree, and are on the “Lions are for real” or the “Bears are posers” bandwagon, because D. Wagner, B. Moore, P. Pottberg, M. Edmonds, D. Buss, and Lee Gibbons all correctly predicted that Detroit would be on a winning streak coming to FedEx this Sunday.  On the other hand, in a game I thought could go either way, but chose to play safe and call (incorrectly) that the Eagles would tough it out, only D. Wagner and D. Buss correctly predicted that the Donnovan McNabb would find the turf more than the end zone (12 sacks!).  Kudos to all who predicted these upsets.

 However, in this drop the lowest week contest, the leaderboard for the season didn’t change much; only one person is, at present, keeping week 4s results for the season (i.e., Week 4 was the low point so far for all put one person, who did well this week)  However, it did open up a bit at the top, which now is being led by… well, ME, with 37, Jon Martin is second with 36, and Lee Gibbons is third with 35 (I must have miscounted last week in reporting raw scores, as a week like this, which saw the leaders faulter, means that the raw scores will be the real scores the following week).  Raw scores, however, do see some significant movement this week; I’m still first, with 43, but A. Fishman has moved into second with 41, followed by Jon Martin, Lee Gibbons, and  D. McGann (40).  While we aren’t using raw scores for final tallying, they are indicative of how well people are picking.  Props to all of our season leaders at this point.  There are still 194 points out there to be earned, so it’s still anyones contest to win!

 This week’s Weekly Kudos go out to B. Moore and myself, with a weekly record of 12-4.  Closely following, at 11-5, are A.Fishman and Jon “I can’t pick” Martin (Jon, take it from me, you’re pretty good at picking!).  This week, the upset of the week certainly upset all of us as Redskins fans;  I don’t believe anyone actually picked the Giants to win that game from among us, so there are no Upset of the Week winners Kudos.  Unfortunately,  I can’t double check the ESPN side right now (it’s giving an error; perhaps next season, we’ll use something besides ESPN’s game, as it’s gone downhill in how well it has worked from last year), but I checked on Sunday, and that is from memory.  If I’m incorrect, I’ll update this and give Kudos where they are well deserved.

This week also begins the first Season Props; with Week 3 being in the books, anyone leading at this point has had at least two good weeks.  Season Props go to Lee Gibbons, Jon Martin, and myself, with 25 points at the moment using the dropped week criteria, with raw scores of 36, 36, and 37 (no drop).   For those who might be disenheartened, I started off fast last year, too, before getting soundly trumped in midseason, but there is also a HUGE log jam at 24-20 immediately behind these three; further, Lee can’t win that jersey (if he wins, the second place player gets it) and I can’t either, so if somehow Lee or I (or both) come out on top, the next highest still wins.  There are still 208 more games to be played, so it’s still anyone’s season to win that Redskins Jersey!

For those looking for one last affirmation that Redskins fans know Football, however, I’ll leave you with this:  for the raw score at ESPN, even our LOWEST ranking players are still superior to over 60% of all players in terms of how well they’ve predicted the game; that’s not “They’ve gotten 60% of the games right.”  That’s that they’ve exceeded the ability to prognosticate of 60% of the players.  That’s OUTSTANDING.   I’ll bet that a lot of Cowboys fans can’t get anywhere near that high!

 Don’t forget to make your pics this week; for those using the overflow, you can make picks at any time, and weeks in advance if you need to.  For those using the ESPN Pick’em, picks unlock normally around noon on Thursday (earlier for weeks with a Thursday night game), and don’t lock until game time for each game.  For those who are on the fence, it’s still not too late to try to win; yes, you’ll be a LITTLE behind, but remember that in the overflow, you get the default picks free, so you’re not really so far out that you don’t have a chance.  The URL is http://tinurl.com/329arb, but you must sign up this week before 10:00PM EDT; I won’t add anyone without Lee expressly telling me who registers after that time.

 For players using the ESPN Pigskin Pick’em, please ensure that you at least visit the page; Thursday is the day picks typically open back up, but be sure to configure your account to notify you to make your picks; if you don’t visit, it does NOT auto-assign, but if you do, it does, which allows you to at least get the free home games.  For players using the overflow, it WILL autoassign for you; over the course of the season, that may help, it may hurt; I wouldn’t trust it to be a winning strategy, so make your picks (oh, and for the overflow, you can pick weeks ahead of the current, as well).  For those who haven’t joined yet, it’s still not too late; just join the overflow at http://tinurl.com/329arb and sign up; I’ll create your account well in advance of the games this weekend, and you aren’t too far behind even yet to win.  There’s still room for 7 more players.  Good job to all of the players, and Hail to the Redskins!

I need Jon and we want dallas to create an account and logon at http://tinyurl.com/329arb(link updated and working) in the Pigskin Pick’em. You can enter new picks for this week (I’ll end up wiping out your picks and manually entering them if you do week 1, as I’ll be entering that for you as soon as you’re in). As of 12am Eastern, after you two EVERYONE who did not get into the ESPN version of the Pigskin Pick’em can go there if they want to play; we’ll use the same rules, in the end, but this allows you to do a few things differently. I can accept up to 8 players after Jon and we want dallas. Have at it guys!

Note: this may not be available to you at work as both of the URLs are on a non-standard ports; if it DOESN’T work, reply in the comments.

Update: If you’ve tried before, try again; I DID find an issue on my end (two actually), one of which is definitely fixed, the other SHOULD be fixed. If those don’t work, here’s one last URL to try http://tinyurl.com/329arb

Update 9/15/07: I’ve verified that players who want to play can get in using the last URL, http://tinyurl.com/329arb ; if you want in, sign up early today; I’ll add everyone who gets in by noon early this afternoon, and everyone who gets in by 10:00 PM before I go to bed tonight; that will allow folks to make their picks for this week, on line. There are a maximum of 10 players I can take; Jon and we want dallas are two, leaving 8 more slots. Remember, we will drop the lowest week, so you haven’t lost anything yet if you want to start now. Please check your spam filters to ensure that you get the message that your account is ready. Good Luck, and Hail to the Redskins!