Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Final PCS Rankings: Congratulations, Jose!

Well it's really just a formality at this point, but the final rankings have been calculated, and it's official: with his clutch performance in the Grand Finale Riddle Puzzle, Jose is hereby crowned the 1st ever SoSG Puzzle Championship Series Champion. Congratulations Jose! He edges out season-long puzzle rival QuadSevens, who fends off Fanerman for the runner-up slot.

Here are the full rankings (and my personal apologies to Mr. Customer and Julie Hibbard for inadvertently leaving them off the 'others receiving votes' section of the previous rankings):

Current
Rank
Previous
Player (Wins)
PCS Tour
Points
1
1
jose (3)
557
2
2
quadsevens (2)
449
3
4
fanerman
427
4
3
steve
370
5
6
mike scioscia's t.i. (1)
275
6
5
daniel
260
7
8
neeebs
250
T8
8
berkowit28 (1)
235
T8
10
erin
235
10
7
gil gamesh
185

Others receiving votes: sax/karros 143, karina 125, mr. customer 115, cigarcow 105, loney fan 80, jbowes 50, stolenmonkey86 50, orel 30, dusto magnifico 25, ricardo 20, alex cora 10, delino deshields 10, julie hibbard 10


Of the two prize options available to him, Jose has chosen the puzzle creation option. So look forward to his concoction in the not-too-distant-but-not-necessarily-too-immediate future. We'll let you know. And that also means the well-worn path between SoSG's regional post office and the one serving Quad's house will be trodden once again, as we will be shipping him the Furcal bobblehead as runner-up.

But that's not all. Just for kicks, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to merge puzzles and graphs. So here's a visual representation of the ups and downs of PCS Season I since the inception of the rankings 10 puzzles ago (due to space constraints, only puzzlers who at some point were in the Top 5 are included):

(click image to enlarge)

A few observations:

  • Up through Puzzle #8 was The QuadSevens Era. If the season ended at any point before Puzzle #9, Quad would have been the unquestioned champ. He was able to maintain his top ranking throughout this period in spite of facing a worthy challenger in SoSG Orel. But as it would turn out, there was a greater threat on the horizon...
  • And that threat was named Jose. Puzzles #9 through #13 defined The Jose Era. Jose may have benefited from Quad's early rivalry with Orel, as it allowed him to rise strongly and steadily during the QuadSevens Era yet still remain under the radar.
  • Puzzles #14 and beyond.....? Don't look now, but both Fanerman and Steve have been doing an impressive imitation of Jose's previous rise to stardom. Will history books one day speak of the Fanerman or Steve Era? Only time will tell, my friends, only time will tell.

Well there you have it. Hey, I'm just trying to keep busy until 3:30pm.

19 comments:

Neeebs (The Original) said...

EK, the puzzles are fun, but sadly, most of them Puzzle me.


I liked the Venn Diagram.

The last one threw me as I was stuck on the crowd, thinking that the crowd were blogs and the 10 infants were dodger related blogs.

I was randomly searching through past SOSG blogs and found the 1977 mustang post. Brilliant, but it didn't help me solve the puzzle.

Sorry MENSA, no applicant here.

I guess my only claim to fame will remain the Magic Gloves.

QuadSevens said...

This graph is a lot easier to read than the ones with 30 circles of varying size. It really shows how the seven puzzle rolling scale really affects a players score (read: affected my score). This graph would be very interesting to see again in the future with more puzzles. I hope to see it again with new "eras" as well.

QuadSevens said...

One more thing...congrats to Jose on his win. I'll be looking forward to his puzzle creation in the future. And thanks to the SOSG crew for the awesome second place prize of the Furcal bobblehead. I'll be watching my mail again in the near future.

MR.F said...

22 points from a Rafael Furcal bobblehead!! So close! Too bad I leave completely empty-handed except for that nice near-linear upward yellow trendline.

Oh well. It was fun. Thanks for the puzzles and the PCS system guys. Many an off-day was enjoyed.

Steve Sax said...

I think Jose may be juicing, which explains the rapid ascent in the jose era. But hey, since we're not drug testing here at SoSG (consistent with the weak-ass MLB drug testing policy), it doesn't matter! Congrats, jose!

Eric Karros said...

Apparently Orel stopped juicing after Puzzle #7.

Eric Karros said...

Actually Quad highlights an important point. The negative hit is very clear for almost every puzzler when they hit their personal 7-puzzle span. In Quad it happened after Puzzle #7, with Loney Fan after #10, with Jose after #11, and Steve after #12.

Fanerman actually weathered his 7-puzzle milestone quite gracefully, which happened after puzzle #10.

MR.F said...

EK,
I think part of the reason I did alright was because I did not successfully answer the first puzzle or two, so I didn't lose too many points from the PCS system.

Like you've already alluded, one consequence of the PCS system is that scores eventually "peak" and level off if you consistently answer questions correctly, which puts a huge emphasis on answering 1st or 2nd, which could be a problem because there's an east coast bias (!!!!) since the puzzles are available at 7 A.M PST.

Eric Karros said...

Fanerman, thank you for your thoughts, you bring up some good points. In fact both the rolling 7 methodology and the east coast bias have been on the agenda of the SoSG board meetings. A few notes:

1) We initially posted puzzles at 6am PT, but moved to 7am due to east coast bias. We considered moving even later, but I think that could hurt some westcoasters who tackle before work. And on the flip-side, west coasters have an advantage in that they can tolerate the midnight deadline better, but as you say that usually doesn't help in terms of being the 1st or 2nd to answer. It could however help them bridge the difference between no points (or merely participation points) and 3rd place points though. Honestly I don't have the answer to this issue, I'm not sure there's a perfectly fair way to do it. What do others think?

2) Rolling methodology (though not necessarily 7 puzzles) is necessary to make sure newbies have a chance to eventually catch up, and also to ensure nobody rests on their laurels for too long. Same principle is used in pro golf and tennis rankings.

Anyhow, I'd like to hear others' thoughts on the 7am post time. Fair, unfair? Should it be later? Is there a better way?

Neeebs (The Original) said...

EK:

When you start worrying about who has an advantage over the posting times of puzzles, you take away from the fact that people participate for fun (at least I do), not to be "King of the Puzzle."

The "King of the Puzzle" is a bonus.

karina said...

I agree with Neebs. But as always, your puzzles, your call.

Congrats Jose and Quad!

Eric Karros said...

The board has decided to start posting puzzles at 2am PT so everyone is equally inconvenienced (regarding a potential 'European Bias' - we'll cross that bridge when we get to it).

QuadSevens said...

Hmmm...2am PT time. On those rare Saturday off days, you could see some fun drunken puzzle answer emails!

Would beer or scotch be best for solving puzzles at 2 in the morning? Check back next Puzzle Season for the answer.

MR.F said...

I wouldn't refer to my observations as flaws in the PCS computer as much as they are "features." As it's mostly for fun and not to be crowned PCS champion, I don't really mind. It is hard to balance scoring so that newcomers still have extra incentive while veterans don't feel like they're constantly treading water.

Is the 2 am thing for real? Just wondering.

Eric Karros said...

No matter if you play for fun, for prizes, or to impress the ladies, there's no reason to not try and reduce any unfairness (triple negative, anyone?). I was, however, just joking about the 2am puzzletime.

berkowit28 said...

I seem to have an invisible line in the graph. Is that a new puzzle I am meant to solve? (Just joking. I don't want to see my steep descent, actually. ;-))

Eric Karros said...

Yeah sorry Berko, you peaked at #7 and I could only include one-time top-5ers. I tried to gerrymander it so I could justify including Sax/Karros, until I saw how steep our decline was.

And Neeebs, you are too modest. Your rise might not be as fast as jose's, steve's, or fanerman's were, but you're steadily moving up with each puzzle.

Steve Sax said...

EK, there's no f'ing way I'm getting up at 2am PT to post a puzzle. If we go with that, I'm handing that responsibility over to Dodger Duck.

Steve Sax said...

Quadsevens, you should have a small package soon (get it? ha ha ha ha ha man this is juvenile ha ha ha ha ha), as it went out today. They said, expect it Thurs or Friday.

In all seriousness, congratulations on your PCS finish, and tell me when mini-Raffy gets to your crib.