Pirates' W-L Predictions for 2012

[magnumo]

No, I'm not asking anyone to make a prediction yet for next season.

Background: Those of you who are veterans of the Pirates' board at ESPN.com may remember that I ran a Pirates' W-L predictions contest over there for four seasons (2006-2009). Participation varied between 81 and 102 posters.

The purpose of this post is two-fold:

A. To get some sense of interest on this board. I know we're likely to have far fewer participants, but that's OK. Should I do it?

B. To determine if there are any thoughts or suggestions regarding the contest. Historically, I started the contest around the beginning of Spring Training, and had only 3 rules. Rule #4 was added later for obvious reasons. Here are the rules used previously:

---1. Poster must predict an exact won-loss record for the full (regular) season.

---2. Contest will close when the regular season begins. Any poster may change his/her prediction until then.

---3. Since I can't guarantee that I will read every post between now and the beginning of the regular season, please give your prediction an appropriate title, or post your prediction in a thread which already has an appropriate title (such as this one).

---4. If all regular season games are not played (and thus no one predicts the exact won-loss record), winner will be determined by wins predicted.

I posted frequent updates during Spring Training, such that participants could verify that I had included their predictions correctly. During the season, I posted updates from time to time, so folks could see how the contest was going.

I intended to provide a modest prize to the winner. If more than one person made a winning prediction, I had a tie-breaker in mind.

That's about it. Please let me know if you think I should resume the contest for 2012..... and please don't hesitate to share your thoughts and suggestions.

 

[stillmatic32]

I like the contest. Good chance for me to display how stupid I am.

 

[thedddd]

Oh yeah I would still do this and the nice part with here is that we can keep the prediction at the top of the board "sticky" all year long.

 

[element1286]

Awesome, Mags. Glad this is coming back. Definitely will be easier/more fun with the "sticky" option as well.

 

[grayghost668]

the Pirates,I'm sorry they are the home town boys for me,but they stink and aren't worth the attention you are giving them,we need new ownership

 

[stillmatic32]

Then why are you at a Pirates message board, giving them more attention?

the Pirates,I'm sorry they are the home town boys for me,but they stink and aren't worth the attention you are giving them,we need new ownership

 

[sychmd]

we need some kind of pennant race atmosphere to navigate the dog days of aug/sep. next year should have a much larger spectrum of possibilities for the pirates - from 60 wins to 90 depending on the signings as they are getting closer, at least more than the last 15 years have seen.