Playoff time is here, which means our NN prediction contest breaks up into two separate contests. If you check out bignerd's Week 17 recap, he breaks down the playoff rules. There is a 16-person playoff for the top 16 finishers from the regular season. There is also an open tournament for everybody who did not make the playoffs.
As always, bignerd has broken down all the rules and regulations for this year's contest. For returning people, we've tweaked a couple rules, so I'd recommend checking them out.
I've posted the formatting rules required for posting your results. Please read over that (it's fairly short) so we can have consistency in the posting. All times are pacific and you are not required to predict every game, but obviously it helps your chances of winning to predict all the games. If you forget to pick the Sunday morning games, you can always predict whatever games remain on the slate.
Once again, please review the formatting rules before posting your results.
49ers @ Panthers - 10:05 a.m. - Sunday
New Orleans @ Seattle - 1:35 p.m. - Saturday
Indianapolis @ New England - 5:15 p.m. - Saturday
San Diego @ Denver - 1:40 p.m. - Sunday
IMPORTANT RULE
We implemented this rule last season and it seemed to make things easier for us. Previously, folks had just posted their scores in any particular fashion, although howtheyscored had made requests for a specific format. Given the amount of time and effort howtheyscored has to put into determining the final results, I am implementing a requirement for how to format your scores (based on the spreadsheet howtheyscored has created). If you fail to follow this format, any incorrectly formatted scores for the week will be disqualified. The format is "Team A @ Team B: A score - B score." That basically is visitor @ home: visitor score - home score." Here's an example of how to do it:
Using New Orleans @ Seattle below, if you think Seattle will win 24-14, here's how it needs to appear:
New Orleans @ Seattle: 14 - 24
If you think New Orleans will win 24-14, it needs to appear as this:
New Orleans @ Seattle: 24 - 14
If you'd like you can bold the winner (New Orleans @ Seattle: 14 - 24), but that is not required (although probably a good backup in case you reversed the score by accident.
If you make a mistake in the formatting I'll reply to your score reminding you to correct it. To correct it, simply reply to your picks and post them in the correct format. Do not post your scores again at the bottom of the thread. I'll make sure and include these directions each week so people do not forgot and lose out on points.
If anybody has any questions at all about this, or anything related to the contest, let me know (ninersnation@gmail.com) and I'll answer them.