Lurker > ShatteredElysium

The Jags are voiding the guaranteed money in Fournettes deal. Didn't even realize that was a possibility

Just spoken to him. He says he will do it when he gets to a wifi spot. He's apparently in El Salvador now which I assume has worse wifi than Guatemala as he specifically said 'safe' wifi. Rather him than me!

Poor Foles

Eagles QB Nick Foles has a $1 million incentive if Philadelphia goes to the postseason AND he plays 33 percent of teams plays. His bruised ribs that prevented him from finishing todays game now mean he played 32 percent of Eagles plays - 1 percent short of $1 million. Ouch.

I guess technically an improbable tie in the later game would save the Steelers!

Not sure why you don't take a timeout there with the game on the line

I mean if Kentucky and LSU both win then it's very likely 4 out of the 5 on that list end up higher ranked than Notre Dame's highest ranked win. LSU are favored, Kentucky are not.

If you discount Michigan and go to their next ranked win then 4 out of the 5 are ranked higher than Syracuse and Northwestern

I assume no response from Jablax yet? I did poke him on Facebook 2 days ago

Don't know if it was posted yet

https://www.wwe.com/article/top-25-matches-of-2018

Browns got hosed by the officials

Good grief. Jerian Grant gets clobbered by Drummond and then immediately gets up and fouls the Pistons player shooting a 3 to tie the game with 2.5 seconds left. Pistons hit the 3 free throws. Magic then go down the other end after a timeout and Fournier hits a buzzer beater for the win

That was an exciting finish. Tough on the Pistons

Pistons Magic is pretty close heading into the 4th

I pointed out that Syracuse was their only impressive win and even that has a caveat. Syracuse were without their starting QB who is very much the main driving force behind their offense, there's literally articles like this about him saying he's the most important QB in their history.

http://dailyorange.com/2018/12/graham-eric-dungey-important-quarterback-syracuse-history/

ShatteredElysium posted...

I mean Notre Dame's schedule wasn't even good. They beat Michigan but it was week 1 and we also saw Ohio State dismantle Michigan in a far more impressive manner. They beat Northwestern but again we saw Ohio State beat them way more convincingly. They struggled past Pittsburgh who both Clemson and UCF absolutely demolished. They struggled past Vanderbilt. They struggled past Ball State. They struggled past a terrible USC team. Their only really good win came against Syracuse and of course going undefeated is always going to look great year end.

If we went that route, some of the champions we have had in recent years wouldn't have even made it.

It isn't so much that their schedule is weak because it's not, it's how they looked in those games compared to other teams who played those same teams.

Also my desire for an 8 team playoff is to try take some of subjectivity out of the playoff selection. At the start of the season you know the exact criteria to make it.

P5 Champion
G5 Champion if undefeated
2+ at large

You could add in extra criteria like saying a P5 champion isn't guaranteed to be in if they are like 3 loss or worse.

Yeah you would get some garbage games in the first round but there could be no gripes about getting left out.

Yes I would rather watch UCF/Alabama or UCF/Clemson because if UCF beat LSU then for 2 straight years we have a team that may or may not be playoff/title caliber but we just have to go oh well, get a better schedule/conference. Of course that completely overlooks that the schedule is made years in advance and they already tried to get into a P5 but were told no.

Yes there will be blowouts but an 8 team playoff is guaranteed to have more exciting games than a one-off game and we aren't left with any lingering questions about how good a team is.

Like I'd see your point if we kept ending up with a 1 against 2 in the final every year but we don't. The 4 seeds has 2 out of 4 wins. We literally had a final last season that was 3 against 4. So it's not unreasonable to think maybe someone in that next cluster who could have won it all.

Some years we have a clear 1-2 who are better than everyone else and some years we don't.

Miami Dolphins
Green Bay Packers
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
Dallas Cowboys
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Houston Texans
Los Angeles Chargers
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Rams
Chicago Bears
Pittsburgh Steelers
Seattle Seahawks
Philadelphia Eagles
Baltimore Ravens
Indianapolis Colts

TIEBREAKERS:
1) 12
2) 4
3) 48

Oh yeah last night we stopped in Gizamaluke's Grotto in the moogle room. We had played a lot of Chocobo Hot and Cold prior to that.

I showed her a Grand Dragon fight but I couldn't beat it for her as she didn't have any of the tools available without getting very lucky. She didn't learn any of Quina's cheese it moves and didn't get a Coral Ring via Festival of the Hunt. She also didn't synthesize any of Zidane's better weapons. So we managed to do like 4-5k damage before it eventualy killed everyone (and honestly it was favorable with its moves)

Oh yeah, I know it won't happen until they get left out when undefeated which would basically require 4 unbeaten P5 teams. And at that point I think playoff expansion is more likely than Notre Dame actually doing something about it.

Maybe they actually use this year as a reason to be skeptical of them in future but I highly doubt it.

This is the real problem with Notre Dame being independent. If they go undefeated they are going to get in whereas if they were at least forced to play a conference championship game, we would see where they stand. They basically play an ACC schedule but they got to dodge playing Clemson in the conference schedule and didn't have to play them in the championship match. Whereas Georgia got punished for effectively having to play their playoff game in the SEC championship game, if they could have dodged the title game like Notre Dame does then they would have been in the final four.

I mean Notre Dame's schedule wasn't even good. They beat Michigan but it was week 1 and we also saw Ohio State dismantle Michigan in a far more impressive manner. They beat Northwestern but again we saw Ohio State beat them way more convincingly. They struggled past Pittsburgh who both Clemson and UCF absolutely demolished. They struggled past Vanderbilt. They struggled past Ball State. They struggled past a terrible USC team. Their only really good win came against Syracuse and of course going undefeated is always going to look great year end.

Even as an Ohio State I'm not stupid enough to believe we could or should have made it in after that Purdue game and it's not fair on Alabama to put Georgia in after they just beat them on neutral field. Notre Dame were always going to get in but I always felt a rough defeat was the most likely outcome.

It will be interesting to see what UCF do today who I know have a weak schedule but going unbeaten 2 years running is still impressive. I don't think they beat Clemson or Alabama but they at least score a few TDs. I do think UCF beats Notre Dame though and I've thought that all year.

But yeah I get why Notre Dame get in but they really need to be forced into a 13th game. There should be an ACC clause where they play in that title game if undefeated or like they play the highest ranked non conference championship participant if they are unbeaten (which actually would have been Michigan this year. Hmmm.) . Of course I know this will never happen, Notre Dame would have to be left out for them to try do something about it.

Recruited Quina. She loves that he/she/it eats stuff but is slightly frustrated at the health requirement as she keeps killing stuff before she can eat it

Also she is fuming at Dagger for drugging everyone. She says it's so stupid as she isn't going to be able to fight as well as the others. Then she yelled don't pet me when Dagger checks on Zidane

I had literally never seen this happen before but I knew it was possible. Vivi won the festival of the hunt. Freya was in the lead but died to the Zaghnol and she timed out during the battle

She did not synthesize anything OP for this stage so every fight was a slugathon

Magic lose to Suns

Next game Magic beat Raptors by 29

Ok.

Actually a better screenshot of my management style

Likely starting composition of the Steelers (in my 6th season)

6 were drafted
6 were inherited
8 acquired via trade
3 acquired in RFA
3 acquired in FA

Good lord, looking at my draft history I knew it was bad but I didn't realize it was this bad.

During my reign, the Steelers have had:

5 1st Round Picks
1 is a starter
1 is a high OVR backup
1 was cut
2 were traded away (1 trade was a reluctant trade of an elite starter and returned 2 starters)

7 2nd Round Picks
2 are starters (with 1 being a rookie)
4 are backups (1 rookie)
1 was traded away

7 3rd Round Picks
1 is a starter
2 are backups (both rookies)
3 were traded away (1 borderline starter as WR3)
1 was lost in RFA (and was a starter)

6 4th Round Picks
1 is a starter
4 are backups (2 rookies)
1 was traded away

3 5th Round Picks
2 are backups (1 rookie)
1 was not resigned after 2nd contract (after a few years of on and off starts at WR3)

4 6th Round Picks
1 is a special teamer
2 were not resigned after rookie deal
1 was not signed as a rookie

5 7th Round Picks
2 are backups (1 rookie, 1 on 2nd contract)
2 were not resigned after rookie year
1 was not signed as a rookie

So out of 37 picks I have yielded 5 current starters (6 if you are generous and include special teams) and 4 more who started but were traded/RFA'ed/not resigned after 2 contracts.

If you discount rookies I have 4 current starters (5 with special teams) and 8 backups from 29 picks.

If you want to go off pure ratings. I have produced 10 players of 80+, 5 players of 85+ and 2 of 90+ from 29 picks (including rookies would not be very fair). Plus 1 pick went on to break 80 after I traded him but very likely would not have done had he stayed with me.

KCF however was pretty money with a lot of his predictions of who would do well in his 3 picks he liked in each round

1st Round
WR Julio Jones (87 > 89)
HB Mark Ingram (86 > 86) - I believe he got injured very early, possibly even preseason
DT Michael Brockers (80 > 82)

2nd Round
MLB Chris Borland (79 > 82)
FS Ha-ha Clinton Dix (81 > 81)
WR Julian Edelman (80 > 81)

3rd Round
C Travis Frederick (79 > 81)
SS Deone Buchanon (80 > 84)
TE Eric Ebron (79 > 84)

4th Round
OLB Avery Williamson (76 > 79)
SS Kenny Vaccarro (76 > 80)
C Bryan Stork (75 > 77)

5th Round
WR Chris Hogan (75 > 76)
HB Kenjon Barner (74 > 76)
MLB Rob Thomas (72 > 72)

6th Round
HB Dri Archer (70 > 72)
MLB Sam Krause (70 > 71)
DT Chris Watters (72 > 72)

7th Round
P Jacob Schum (74 > 81)
SS Jermaine O'Leske (71 > 74)
SS Charles Ogden (70 > 70)

I'm sure playing time factors a lot into this but seems Madden had more misses than hits on what it said was the best pick if it wasn't the first pick.

Bills' First - CB Desmond Trufant (81 > 81)
Bills' Best - QB Derek Carr (81 > 83)

Chiefs' First - SS Andrew Sendejo (85 > 85)
Chiefs' Best - CB David Amerson (77 > 73)

Falcons' First - OLB Pernell McPhee (80 > 82)
Falcons' Best - HB Alfred Morris (80 > 80)

49ers' First - G Trai Turner (84 > 87)
49ers' Best - QB Bryce Rivers (79 > 80)

Giants' First - G David Decastro (82 > 83)
Giants' Best - QB Landry Jones (78 > 79)

Jets' First - C Maurkice Pouncey (85 > 87)
Jets' Best - QB Mike Glennon (79 > 81)

Panthers' First - G Danny Watkins (75 > 77)
Panthers' Best - QB Ernie Smith (74 > 74)

Raiders' First - MLB Lavonte David (81 > 82)
Raiders' Best - QB Blake Bortles (80 > 81)

Wildcats' First - DE Robert Quinn (83 > 83)
Wildcats' Best - DT Tyson Alualu (80 > 79)

Also just to remind people why I'm outraged by this.

Magic's current record - 14-19
Record if match called per 2 minute report - 19-14

That's a pretty big swing given we are only 33 games in.

As usual. Thanks for calling games impartially against the Magic NBA Refs. I wish just once we could get a fair fucking shake from the refs. This has been ongoing for years and I don't know what it is about the Magic that makes the refs always call shit way incorrectly against us

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DvgpTDTUYAAoQWF.jpg

Mistake 1: Missed foul call that would have resulted in 2 Magic FTs. Not only that, resulted in a Suns fast break dunk
Mistake 2: Missed foul call that would have resuled in 2 Magic FTs
Mistake 3: Foul given in favor of Magic that resulted in 3 Magic FTs
Mistake 4 OT: Missed foul call that would have resulted in 3 Magic FTs

So basically the Magic missed out on 7 FTs and lost 2 points via a fast break point. They gained 3 FTs they should not have gotten. So basically call it a 6 FT swing in an OT game that they then lost by 2 points in OT.

Also when I get home I think I'm going to look up those AI draft predictions from last season where it says who your best player of the draft was and KCF notes if it wasn't your top pick. Be interesting to see how they fared last season rating wise and maybe KCF can chip in if any of them had notable production differences

You didn't correct him?

My position comparisons sheet has him at 82 and those values are 100% copy pasted from your sheet. I could have sworn I also checked your sheet yesterday after you mentioned it and it said 82 but maybe not

Maybe you corrected it when you did contract renewals or the Vikings trades?

He was a 4th rounder and jumped 76 > 79

Those are based on their initial projections rather than where they were actually drafted because that's what I had available to me. This year I recorded draft positions but last year I didn't and I didn't feel like looking up the log and putting all that info in.

What I did notice is that some positions are far more prone to rises than others.

13 QBs drafted. 10 rose. 3 static
15 HBs drafted. 11 rose. 4 static
18 WRs drafted. 16 rose. 2 static
19 Gs drafted. 17 rose. 2 static.
10 Cs drafted. 10 rose.
8 TEs drafted. 7 rose. 1 static.

17 OTs drafted. 9 rose. 5 static. 3 fell.
18 DEs drafted. 10 rose. 4 static. 4 fell (but 3 of them -3)
19 OLBs drafted. 7 rose. 5 static. 7 fell.
21 CBs drafted. 7 rose. 8 static. 6 fell.

Ok all done. Quick summary (Note these are based on projections not actual draft position)

1st rounders - Had a lot of players staying static but the ones who did rise seemed more prone to larger rises (+3 or more). Probably due more playing time than other rookies and also having a higher starting base so more likely to perform better? WR A.J Green was clearly the star with a +7 rise making him the only rookie to break 90 (91 rated, next highest rookie 89). G Gabe Jackson (80 > 86) and CB Stephon Gilmore (79 > 85) both got rises of +6.

2nd rounders - Had more risers than 1st rounders but most rises were smaller (+1-2) and there were also more who dropped in rating. I'd imagine this is because their starting rating put most as fringe starters so they got less playing time. K Graham Gano jumped 80 > 88 but the next biggest risers were OT Eric Fisher (78 > 81) and C Matt Paradis (81 > 84). CB David Amerson (77 > 73) suffered the most substantial drop of any rookie whilst DE Cameron Hayward (78 > 75) also suffered a large drop.

3rd rounders - A mixed bag. It had a lot of large risers G Eric Boling (76 > 84), MLB Christian Jones (75 > 80), MLB Zach Orr (75 > 80), TE Eric Ebron (79 > 84), SS Deone Buchanon (80 > 84) but also had the most decreases (7) with DE Da'Quan Bowers (75 > 72) suffering the worst.

4th rounders - Again a mixed bad on rises/falls but overall a very successful round. It had 10 risers of 3 or more which matches the first round. TE Tim Wright (76 > 83), DT Sealver Siliga (75 > 82), CB Curtis Brown (73 > 79), C Weston Richburg (76 > 81), C Corey Linsley (75 > 80) were the most successful risers. DE Byron Carter (74 > 71) and OT David Quessenberry (75 > 72) suffered the biggest drops. The 1st round was the most successful in terms of starters but 4th round was probably the next up considering the value of a 4th round pick and the sheer number of large risers. I'd suspect it's partially due to the lower starting rating so any player stepping in to a successful unit or seeing major playing time saw large jumps.

5th rounders - The vast majority of this round suffered increases. Again I'd suspect it's due to the low starting rating making it easier to see small rookies bumps. There were a few standouts in P Jacob Schum (74 > 81), G Antoine Spoto (74 > 79), OLB Ray Jeffries (74 > 79), SS Kenny Vaccaro (76 > 80) and C Wesley Johnson (71 > 75). Not many people dropped in rating but of the ones that did OLB Michael Hoover (75 > 72) was the largest.

6th rounder - A round of small risers basically across the board without many standouts. Lower starting OVR making it easier to rise etc. SS Terrell Woods (74 > 78), DE Ron Snell (69 > 72) and DE Anthony Gilbert (71 > 74) were the only rises of 3 or more. The only drops were 1-2 and there were only 2 of them.

7th rounders - Similar pattern to the 6th with rises across the board although there were a few larger jumps. FS Shelton Kelly (70 > 77), WR Kevin Owen (68 > 73) and WR Kevin James (69 > 73) were all rises of +4 or more. There were also 5 players who jumped +3. DE Dontae Fisher (63 > 62) was the only person who dropped in rating.

Screw it, I'm going to add in the rating changes on that second spreadsheet now otherwise it will drive me crazy

On this sheet there's all the known OVRs of rookies so far for anyone who cares (on the S11 Draft tab). I don't typically add them to positions part until after their rookie season is complete mainly because it would be a pain in the ass but also because rookies tend to change a lot in rating I think

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16WZKE19Qs5P2FSdBlutpOGX-uHOwWz_65AaAvYFH270/edit#gid=713857929

Also there's the 2014 draft on this sheet with updated ratings in case anyone wants to compare between drafts. I'll probably merge the two together at some point.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HThHr6ylMK7G5-_umdYlMtf_sR9JrOn9ojv3HgaGncU/edit#gid=2134716470

You'll notice they are laid out differently. That's because going forward I plan on tracking their year on year rating rather than overwriting so we can see how they progressed. Wish I had done that last year. I guess I could roll back the spreadsheet...

I am thinking second for me. Didn't really improve my team in the offseason and the Ravens are a better team on paper than me. Kinda baffling how they have underperformed in recent years and AI management might fix that.

I made some poor decisions in hindsight this offseason. I should have tendered CB McGuire higher as I forgot how well he performed. That would have freed up my higher 2nd pick. The QB Smith for WR Murdock trade looks bad too as I was able to draft a QB late and he isn't much better than my next QB up whilst my WR3 is going to be poor this year and I could have made the cap work. I don't know how productive Smith has been in the past as I know KCF values performance over rating.

I think going forward I'm relying on my defense to remain solid (I am basically returning the same defense and got a few bumps over last year) and then praying for some development from younger offensive players (and for Turner to not toss 20+ INTs again). Despite my team being young, given my cap situation and what I've done in recent years with draft picks (i.e. not have them), I don't think I am set up that well going forward. I don't think I'll be awful but I also don't think I'll be much more battling for lower playoff seeds for the foreseeable future

Oh she clapped her hands and smiled saying good for you when she just found out why Cid was an Oglop

She was just ohhhhh when it told her Cid asked Baku/Zidane to kidnap the Princess

We just got to Lindblum and not much to report.

She didn't seem surprised that they were literally manufacturing Black Mages but she did feel awful for them on the airship and d'awwed at them protecting Vivi. Pretty safe to say Vivi is her favorite so far without even asking her. She feels for him so much.

There was no reaction to Cid being an Oglop

She did comment about Zidane copping a feel up the ladder but was actually more reactive to him hitting on the Erin girl in Lindblum. She screamed at the TV you're supposed to like the Princess you shitbag! She is now pulling faces and shaking her head at her not knowing Freya's name in the bar and is saying he such a little shit.

Yep Magic lose but more from Suns actually defending well and getting a deflection on the pass, looks like the play definitely scores if not for that.

Lost 4 straight in a stretch where we should have been looking for 3 to 4 wins. At the very least we had to beat the Heat who we were battling with for 8th but we got mauled We have looked awful in all 4 losses. This is beginning to have a familiar feel to it as we always slump Dec and Jan.

They manage to trick me with hope every year but this year really did feel different! 30-36 win team probably right now which is disappointing now but probably up on our preseason projections. Next month will be interesting because if we slump like usual I'd imagine they will look to shift Vucevic

Magic force overtime on a dramatic 3 point shot foul and 3 free throws

Overtime score so far? 4-2 with 6 seconds left. Magic down with the ball. I fully expect us to miss. This game has been a mess

I assume when you trigger the returning player bonus that it gives you some sort of drafting bonus in Arena? Because I just drafted what feels like a really strong rogue, possibly the strongest deck I've ever drafted although I know like none of the cards from the last 2 expansions so won't get 12 wins. I'm 4-1 now with my loss coming to a Linecracker as I wasn't expecting something like that so didn't have removal ready

I can't remember having to take any bad picks and most picks were like jesus christ these are all really good

I'm sure some of it is bracket votes too. I mean look at the number of people that got those matches wrong. Draven was predicted to win by like 28% of people and Sans 47%

She got through the ice cavern unscathed. Not sure what she made of the boss as I was out of the room when she beat it.

We are now in Dali where she jokingly gasps and says but she is a girl when they have to share a room. She says Steiner is a cockblock with his whining (but she likes him still) and after hearing Dagger singing possibly she says this is like a chick flick

She also comments that Dagger seemingly does not know her mother wants to kill her and laughs at the moogle not liking the other moogle that sent the mail but says he will read it anyway

Also forgot to say we came across our first friendly monster and gave it the ore it wanted

I came from England originally. I moved to the states in 2012. Actually it was 6 years ago to the day thinking about it, I left on xmas eve.

But you missed out the most important part about the board shutting down now the contest is over. We only have until the results are published!

foolm0r0n posted...

Would've tagged if it were X

Fair reasoning though. She can always play X after this one.
And yeah X is probably harder overall, but it requires far less arcane games literacy (especially ATB) so a non-gamer would understand it more. X also has some of the best in-game tutorialization in any RPG ever.

If she likes this enough to play another then FFX is likely the next one she plays. We already briefly discussed it

She's also seen the posts in this topic (motivation for her to stick with it!)

Prison Cage fight 1 comments - Is this thing ever going to die

Post fight comments - Omg did it run off before I could heal the princess. Fuck my life.

Prison Cage fight 2 - This is ridiculous. I am not fond of this of this bullshit!

I set the ATB to the slowest so she should be ok I think

Her comments so far are Steiner's knights are worthless because they are all slacking off. She says they are so useless. She does like Steiner and his clumsiness though.

So turns out the princess wants to be kidnapped and Zidane doesn't instantly go for it. So she was like typical, he has commitment issues now she wants what he wants. Then later comments 'Already when Zidane comments about falling for her athleticism as they are fleeing'

First Steiner fight obviously easy. Second Steiner fight too but she didn't realize the princess was a mage and wants to know what summon is but does not have the MP to use it yet. She gleefully casts Fire with Vivi as every chance though. Third Steiner fight she wants to attack the Bomb (or fire demon thingy in her words) and is upset she can't. Fight again ends quickly as expected.

And we are into the woods after crashing the ship. She did comment in Thorn/Zorn/Brahne saying terminate the princess. The plot thickens!

She thinks it's cool the keypad rumbles with the cut scenes too.