June 25, 2014

The 10th Annual chicobangs Memorial SpoFi CFL Pick 'Em: That's right, it's a big round numberversary! This will have been the tenth time we all decide to while away our Junes and Julys with the pickings of games football du Canada. It's three downs, 110 yards, and all the players whose names you learned last year have already been cut, but otherwise you have no excuse not to jump in and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 09:35 AM - 19 comments

THE PICK 'EM - What we do

Four hundred years ago, Jacques Cartier accientally sat down on his son's soccer ball, squishing it into a now-familiar oblong shape. "Putain ce football!" he cried, drop-kicking it into oblivion. And Canada's national summer pastime starting with F was born.

We honour his memory each summer by picking the outcome of each and every one of the 7,235 CFL games. And now you can too!

THE SEASON - When we do it

The season kicks off this Friday night holy crap, TOMORROW and runs for 20 weeks through the summer. There are generally four games per week, mostly running from Thursday to Sunday.

If you're in Canada, you'll find the games on TSN. If you're in the States, the occasional game is available on the NFL Network, and in the past all games appeared on ESPN3, but they don't seem to have released a confirmed broadcast sked yet. And if you're somewhere else, you'll have to resort to Sirius on the satellite radio dial.

THE RULES - How we do it

Here's how she works. You pick who you think will win, and by how much. You then get points based on the result:

  • Picked the winner? You get 1 point.
  • Picked the winner, and a spread within the Margin of Error? You get 2 points.
  • Picked the winner, and you nailed the spread right on? You get 3 points.
  • Didn't pick the winner, but nailed the spread right on? You get 1 point.

What's the Margin of Error?

It's a window around the spread that's defined as

spread - round(0.3 * spread) <= Margin of Error <= spread + round(0.3 * spread)

So you can get rewarded for being close to the spread even if you're not spot-on. The bigger the spread, the bigger the margin of error, so you don't have to be as accurate when predicting a blowout as you would when predicting a close game. Here are some examples:

Actual Spread Margin Starts at Margin Ends at
111
435
759
11814
201426

So if you picked Toronto by 15, here's how you'd fare given certain outcomes:

OutcomeYour score
Toronto by 202 points (winner + spread within MoE)
Toronto by 101 point (winner only)
Toronto by 153 points (winner + nailed spread)
Hamilton by 151 point (nailed spread only)
Hamilton by 430 points (and deservedly so)

Any questions?

THE GAMES, WEEK ONE - Where we start

In lieu of attempting to sum up each team's status in a single sentence, for this opening week I'm just linking to season preview pages for each of 'em.

All times are EDT.

Toronto Argonauts (Preview) @ Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Preview) - Thursday, June 26, 8:30pm

Montreal Alouettes (Preview) @ Calgary Stampeders (Preview) - Saturday, June 28, 3:00pm

Edmonton Eskimos (Preview) @ B.C. Lions (Preview) - Saturday, June 28, 6:00pm

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Preview) @ Saskatchewan Roughriders (Preview) - Sunday, June 29, 7:00pm

NEW TEAM ALERT! The capital returns to the fold, as the Ottawa Redblacks get a first-week bye this week.

Good luck!

posted by DrJohnEvans at 09:36 AM on June 25, 2014

Argos by 7

Calgary by 7

BC by 7

Hamilton by 3

BTW, does anyone know which SIRIUS channel will be carrying CFL games? From the CFL site:

Every regular and post-season game as well as the 101st Grey Cup Championship will be available to Sirius and XM subscribers on channel.

posted by cixelsyd at 11:57 AM on June 25, 2014

Hello all again.

Argos by 6

Cal by 6

BC by 8

Sask by 5

posted by argoal at 08:19 PM on June 25, 2014

Toronto by 5 Calgary by 10 BC by 12 Saskatchewan by 7

posted by goddam at 08:43 PM on June 25, 2014

Toronto by 18

Calgary by 9

British Columbia by 6

Saskatchewan by 12

posted by tommybiden at 09:28 PM on June 25, 2014

Bonjour! Ca va? Now that I'm based in the Republique Populaire Democratique du Lao, I am finding many more uses for my cod Franglais. Toronto by 14. Why, just the other day, I found the only restaurant in town that does poutine. The owner is from Montreal. So Montreal by 5. I'll see if I can get him to show CFL on the big screen. Edmonton by 11. Mind you, he might not like me showing up at 3 in the morning, waving a bottle of Bordeaux and a baguette. Saskatchewan by 9.

posted by owlhouse at 09:52 PM on June 25, 2014

Missed out last year because I was off somewhere doing something more productive than picking football winners. Not so this time around. Look out, SpoFites, The great Howard_T is back and ready to turn amazing prescience into the routine.

Toronto at Winnipeg: By the end of this one it will be "Knock, knock. Who's there? Argo. Argo who? Argonna whup yo butt." Toronto by 11.

Montreal at Calgary: Little birdies play with horsies. Little birdies left with nothing to do except look behind horsie and try to find something to eat that horsie has dropped on the ground behind it. Not much there for little birdie. Calgary by 8.

Edmonton at BC: Everybody knows that Lions live in Africa (or zoos). Everybody knows that Eskimos do not live in either Africa or zoos. When Eskimos get out of their usual habitat and enter lion country, the result is not pretty. BC by 13.

Hamilton at Saskatchewan: More cats to think about. These are of the striped variety, and they can be big and mean. Too bad they have to run into a group of roughriders. Look out, kitty, your pretty striped pelt might wind up as a rug. Saskatchewan by 5.

posted by Howard_T at 11:04 PM on June 25, 2014

Toronto by 14
Calgary by 16
Edmonton by 3
Saskatchewan by 9

posted by DrJohnEvans at 08:58 AM on June 26, 2014

cixelsyd, not sure about the Sirius channel. That's very weird. Googling has not produced much either.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 08:59 AM on June 26, 2014

Toronto by 13

Calgary by 14

Lions by 7

Saskatchewan by 6

posted by Reever at 03:45 PM on June 26, 2014

Toronto by 4

Calgary by 3

BC by 7

SK by 6

posted by JPR at 04:56 PM on June 26, 2014

I'm back for another season of coin flip CFL picks. In honor of today's US "victory" into the knockout round, I will be making these picks with a 2002 quarter, minted the same year as the US also advanced from the group stage despite losing the final match (to Poland). Fun fact: It's a Tennessee quarter--the state of my birth!

Toronto Argonauts by 9
Montreal Alouettes by 15
B.C. Lions by 8
Hamilton Tiger-Cats by 11

posted by bender at 05:45 PM on June 26, 2014

Toronto by 6

Calgary by 7

British Columbia by 7

Saskatchewan by 3

posted by rcade at 07:02 PM on June 26, 2014

Toronto by 10
Montreal by 6
BC by 15
Hamilton by 3

I think Hamilton is good now?

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 07:28 PM on June 26, 2014

Hello all again.

Argos by 6

Cal by 6

BC by 8

Sask by 5

posted by argoal at 08:24 PM on June 26, 2014

Not many points handed out last night, I guess.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 01:31 PM on June 27, 2014

ESPN & CFL reach multi-year US broadcast deal

posted by tommybiden at 03:06 PM on June 27, 2014

Not many points handed out last night, I guess.

The Argos D handed out lots of points.

oh .. you meant in the pool

posted by cixelsyd at 03:51 PM on June 27, 2014

Just saw that, tommytrump. Here's the schedule for July:

ESPN Broadcast Information
Regular Season
DateTimeAwayHomeESPN Network
Saturday, June 283:00pm ETMontrealCalgaryESPN2, WatchESPN
Saturday, July 53:00pm ETSaskatchewanTorontoESPN2, WatchESPN
Friday, July 1110:00pm ETOttawaEdmontonESPNNEWS, WatchESPN
Thursday, July 178:30pm ETEdmontonWinnipegESPN2, WatchESPN
Friday, July 1810:00pm ETHamiltonCalgaryESPN2, WatchESPN
Thursday, July 249:00pm ETCalgaryEdmontonESPN2, WatchESPN
Satuday, July 2610:00pm ETTorontoSaskatchewanESPN2, WatchESPN
Thursday, July 317:00pm ETWinnipegHamiltonESPN, WatchESPN

posted by DrJohnEvans at 05:52 PM on June 27, 2014

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