Monday, March 16, 2009

SoSG Off-Season Competition Revealed!

Welcome to SoSG's brand of March Madness. Here's what the season's final SoSG Off-Season Competition is all about:

(click image to enlarge)

As you can see, we've seeded each competitor 1 through 19, based on the order in which you each signed up to play. With these seedings, an opening bracket was established using conventional single-elimination tournament methodology. Since there's an uneven number of participants, the top 13 seeds automatically receive a Sweet 16 berth, while the lowest 6 seeds have an extra opening-round 'play-in' game on their schedule.

But what exactly is the competition? Well, like normal NCAA basketball, each match-up is a head-to-head 'game' between two competitors. Also like normal basketball, each game consists of two halves. That's pretty much where the similarities with normal basketball end.

Turns out the criteria we used to determine the seedings is quite appropriate, because each round of SoSG March Madness games is essentially a competition to see which competitor can comment the fastest. Here's how it'll work:

  • For each round's games, at an unspecified time, we will post something with a headline similar to: "Play-In Round, 1st Half: Comment-time!"
  • The round and half indicated in the headline will of course vary, but the trigger word "Comment-time!" is your indication that you must, at all costs, post a comment immediately upon seeing the post.
  • For each game's '1st half', we will take the time difference, in hours and minutes, between the time each of the two competitors in each head-to-head matchup commented. Although all competitors will be commenting in the same thread, each competitor will only be competing against their specific matchup adversary.
  • At some subsequent time, also unspecified, there will appear a "Comment-time!" post for the 2nd half of that round (i.e., "Play-In Round, 2nd Half: Comment-time!").
  • The competitor who commented second in the 1st half will then have to beat his opponent by more than that amount in the 2nd half. If he fails to do so, he is eliminated and his opponent moves on. If he succeeds, his opponent is eliminated and he moves on.
  • Therefore, even if you see your opponent has already beaten you to the punch, you still must comment immediately upon seeing the Comment-time post.
  • So, for example, let's say at 1:23pm on Wednesday, we post the Play-in Round 1st Half Comment-time post. Let's say Damon comments at 2:23pm, and Fanerman, being too busy with his 'job', doesn't get around to commenting until 4:32pm. So Damon wins the 1st half of that game by 2 hrs, 9 mins.
  • Then, let's say we post the Play-in Round 2nd Half Comment-time post at 8:45am the next day. Fanerman would have to beat Damon to the commenting by 2 hrs 10 mins or more, or he'd be eliminated and Damon would move on to the next round.

Those are the basics. A few more notes:

  • It's possible halves or even rounds will overlap if some competitors really lag in commenting. If so, the previous comment-time posts still remain 'live' and can still be commented on.
  • If neither competitor ever comments in either half of a game, they both lose.
  • All 'Comment-time' posts will be posted between 8:00am PT and 10:00pm PT. So you can sleep easy.
  • The clock does not move during the overnight 'dead time' between 10:00pm to 8:00am. Thus, if one competitor posts at 9:30pm one night and his opponent comments at 8:15am the next morning, it is considered only 45 minutes between comments.
  • Any comments posted during the dead time count and are considered to have been posted at 8:00am the next morning.
  • While we obviously won't reveal the exact date/time that the Comment-Time posts will appear, here are some general guidelines:
    • Play-In Round: Between March 18 and 20 (inclusive)
    • Sweet 16 Round: Between March 23 and 25
    • Elite Eight Round: Between March 25 and 27
    • Final Four Round: Between March 30 and April 1
    • Finals Round: Between April 1 and 3
  • Thus, the first 'Comment-time' post will occur no earlier than 8am this Wednesday morning (and remember, the 1st round is only for Damon, Fanerman, Wicks, Cigarcow, Brandon, and Felix P. All other have an automatic bye until the Sweet 16 Rounds).
  • The content of your comment doesn't matter, just the time you commented (feel free to comment multiple times - only the timestamp on your first comment will matter).
  • Those not participating in a given round are still welcome to comment.

Aren't you glad you signed up to play? Please let us know if you have any questions. Otherwise, rest up over the next 48 hours before the games begin!

13 comments:

Dave said...

I'm considering this my conference championship practice round and commenting now. It doesn't help me in the tournament, but it gets me warmed up for some stiff competition!

Dave said...

What happens in the (very unlikely) case of a tie between two people at the end of play?

Eric Karros said...

In the highly unlikely event of a tie, the entertainment value of each adversaries' comments will be evaluated by SoSG and used as the tie-breaker.

MR.F said...

Oh fantastic. Well, my constant urge to refresh something may be put to use here.

Tie = accurate to the minute?

Neeebs (The Original) said...

Good News: I'm self-employed.

Bad News: I have meetings Daily.

Maybe its a good time for a vacation.

Did I miss something, or did you post what is at stake here, besides bragging rights?

what_difference_does_it_make said...

Let the best man win....

QuadSevens said...

Are the 8am and 10pm posting times West coast or East Coast times?

Dusto_Magnifico said...

sounds good.

Eric Karros said...

Answers:

fanerman - yes, tie = accurate to the minute.

Neeebs - The prize has not yet been posted. Will be revealed at some point in the future.

Quad - It's West Coast time. I've updated the post to indicate this.

Felix Pardalis said...

how do I post a comment?

DanGarion said...

Well I guess I should start paying more attention to my news feed for the week...

Eric Karros said...

Felix P, I'll assume you're kidding with that question. With the folks who read this blog (or write it), it's sometimes hard to tell...

cigarcow said...

That's a lot of words, couldn't really read them all. Am I winning? I posted three times today. Four now.