tommy
11-01-2012, 11:46 PM
Jason's poll on this Board as to the outcome of the Presidential contest is great, and I don't mean in any way to disparage that or crowd it out. That's why I got Jason's pre-approval for this thread and for this contest I've put together for anyone interested. I thought it would be fun to pick not just the winner of the election as is done in Jason's poll, but to have contestants pick the outcome of each swing state (and a few others suggested by Jason) and see who can do the best job prognosticating with a little more precision. Winner gets ultimate respect from his/her friends on this board and a pat on the head.
So here's what I did. I set up an online spreadsheet that each contestant can go to and enter your own picks for each of the 13 states that I have included. We're sharing the spreadsheet online. For instance, just making it up, a contestant may pick Romney to win Florida, Obama to win Pennsylvania, Obama to win Colorado, and Romney to win Virginia, just to shorten the example and use those 4 states. If Romney wins Florida, that entrant gets 29 points, as Florida is worth 29 electoral votes; if not, he gets zero for that state. If Obama wins Pennsylvania, that entrant gets 20 points, if not, he gets zero. Etc., etc. Once it's over, I will tabulate (or the spreadsheet will) who has scored the highest. Obviously, correctly picking states like Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania is more important in winning this contest than is correctly forecasting New Hampshire, which is worth only 4 points.
I'll also tabulate who has picked the most winners without regard to electoral votes. For instance, so-and-so picked 11 of the 13 swing states included in this game correctly and missed two, so his 'record' would be 11-2. That kind of thing.
I've been thinking about this for a little while and apologize for getting it up and running so late, as the election is only a few days away. But hopefully there will be some interest. I also am not great in the tech department. I think this site that I found and this spreadsheet are pretty simple and navigable. I probably am not even aware of some of the features available, so if you find something interesting on there, please share.
OK, want to play? Easy. Here's how:
1. Go to zoho.com.
2. Sign in with the username of dbr.election2012 and the password of duke91920110 (those are our 4 championship years; easy to remember)
3. on the lower right of the screen, under "Productivity Applications" click on "Sheet"
4. A blank spreadsheet should appear. On the extreme left of the screen, hit the File dropdown menu, and on that drop down, click on 'open.'
5. Click on DBR Election 2012 Pick 'Em. That should open our shared spreadsheet.
6. Put your name on the spreadsheet in Column A under Entrant, at the bottom, as you're adding your name to the list of previous entrants. My name will be the first one, and those who follow me will put their names below mine. Obvious.
7. Then for each of the 13 states going across the sheet in columns C through O which list the states and their electoral votes, simply enter "Obama" or "Romney" depending on which candidate you think will win that state.
8. When you're done, hit the Save button which is just to the right of the File button you used in step 4 above, just above the scissors icon. That's it. You're done.
You can go in and change your picks anytime you like. We are on the honors system here though -- please don't change anyone else's picks! One caveat: it appears that only one person can be working on this spreadsheet at a time. So if you get a message saying it is unavailable or something to that effect because it's already open or someone else is working on it, just exit out and try again shortly. But that points up how important it is for all users to save their selections and exit out when they're done, so as to allow others to get onto the site and play. Make sense?
All selections should be made by midnight EST on Monday night, which is 9 PM out here on the west coast, the night before Election Day. I don't know if there's a way for me to lock the spreadsheet at that time; if there is, that would be the best.
OK I think that's it. If there is interest and action on this, I'll post some updates in this thread as to how things are looking, how they're trending, etc. just for general interest and fun. Enjoy!
So here's what I did. I set up an online spreadsheet that each contestant can go to and enter your own picks for each of the 13 states that I have included. We're sharing the spreadsheet online. For instance, just making it up, a contestant may pick Romney to win Florida, Obama to win Pennsylvania, Obama to win Colorado, and Romney to win Virginia, just to shorten the example and use those 4 states. If Romney wins Florida, that entrant gets 29 points, as Florida is worth 29 electoral votes; if not, he gets zero for that state. If Obama wins Pennsylvania, that entrant gets 20 points, if not, he gets zero. Etc., etc. Once it's over, I will tabulate (or the spreadsheet will) who has scored the highest. Obviously, correctly picking states like Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania is more important in winning this contest than is correctly forecasting New Hampshire, which is worth only 4 points.
I'll also tabulate who has picked the most winners without regard to electoral votes. For instance, so-and-so picked 11 of the 13 swing states included in this game correctly and missed two, so his 'record' would be 11-2. That kind of thing.
I've been thinking about this for a little while and apologize for getting it up and running so late, as the election is only a few days away. But hopefully there will be some interest. I also am not great in the tech department. I think this site that I found and this spreadsheet are pretty simple and navigable. I probably am not even aware of some of the features available, so if you find something interesting on there, please share.
OK, want to play? Easy. Here's how:
1. Go to zoho.com.
2. Sign in with the username of dbr.election2012 and the password of duke91920110 (those are our 4 championship years; easy to remember)
3. on the lower right of the screen, under "Productivity Applications" click on "Sheet"
4. A blank spreadsheet should appear. On the extreme left of the screen, hit the File dropdown menu, and on that drop down, click on 'open.'
5. Click on DBR Election 2012 Pick 'Em. That should open our shared spreadsheet.
6. Put your name on the spreadsheet in Column A under Entrant, at the bottom, as you're adding your name to the list of previous entrants. My name will be the first one, and those who follow me will put their names below mine. Obvious.
7. Then for each of the 13 states going across the sheet in columns C through O which list the states and their electoral votes, simply enter "Obama" or "Romney" depending on which candidate you think will win that state.
8. When you're done, hit the Save button which is just to the right of the File button you used in step 4 above, just above the scissors icon. That's it. You're done.
You can go in and change your picks anytime you like. We are on the honors system here though -- please don't change anyone else's picks! One caveat: it appears that only one person can be working on this spreadsheet at a time. So if you get a message saying it is unavailable or something to that effect because it's already open or someone else is working on it, just exit out and try again shortly. But that points up how important it is for all users to save their selections and exit out when they're done, so as to allow others to get onto the site and play. Make sense?
All selections should be made by midnight EST on Monday night, which is 9 PM out here on the west coast, the night before Election Day. I don't know if there's a way for me to lock the spreadsheet at that time; if there is, that would be the best.
OK I think that's it. If there is interest and action on this, I'll post some updates in this thread as to how things are looking, how they're trending, etc. just for general interest and fun. Enjoy!