Finally, my EFL schedule is all caught up...

[Curt]

I love statistics and as I figured, nobody was going to beat Pittsburgh out of the wildcard playoff spot. All my regular season 20 games have concluded a little early so I'm going to do something a little different. This break I have is going to see an attempt to try and honor a couple of requests to publish pictures of my twist tie footballs. Also to be included are photos of my play setups just because I want to do that. And who knows what else I may send your way.
I pursued a very aggressive schedule to catch up from the delays that COVID 19 caused. If I begin my playoffs October 1st, I will finish Season 20 Superbowl on time Christmas week as desired. This gives me a couple of weeks to piddle a bit. Philadelphia took top-of-the-league in first place so they obviously won their division. 
With 20 regular seasons completed, my top of the league winners so far are: Arizona-1, Carolina-1, Cleveland-1, Green Bay-1, Houston Texans-2, Jacksonville-1, Kansas City-1, Miami-1, New Orleans-2, New York Giants-2, New York Jets-1, Oakland Raiders-2, Philadelphia-1, San Diego Chargers-1, San Francisco-1, and Tampa Bay-1. I'll list my 20 Superbowl winners when the Season 20 playoffs are over.
The regular season 20 games have now completed. The Season 20 playoff structure turned out as follows:
The best of the second-place teams, that is my wildcard slot Pittsburgh, will visit Jacksonville, the 11th place division winner. The winner of that game will meet the 4th place division winner, the Los Angeles Rams. The 10th place division winner New England Patriots will visit the 9th place division winning Houston Texans. The winner of that game will visit my 3rd place division winning Miami Dolphins. The 8th place division winner Oakland Raiders will visit the New York jets who will go on to meet the second place Tennessee Titans. The Minnesota Vikings will visit Arizona to see who will then visit the top ranked division Philadelphia Eagles. The Season 20 Superbowl winner will be announced when that game concludes at year end.

Hope you all enjoyed this. Blessings! 🙂 Curt 

[Jayethekxng]

8 hours ago, Curt said:

This break I have is going to see an attempt to try and honor a couple of requests to publish pictures of my twist tie footballs. Also to be included are photos of my play setups just because I want to do that.

WOOOOOO

[Jayethekxng]

The league is heating up coach great job 👏🏽 

[Terry43]

23 hours ago, Curt said:

Also to be included are photos of my play setups just because I want to do that.

Definitely! 😃👍

Formations are easy. Running plays that work from those formations is mind-bending. I'm looking forward to your insights.

Enjoy the Journey.  T43. ⚡🏈♾️

[Jayethekxng]

1 hour ago, Terry43 said:

Running plays that work from those formations is mind-bending

agreed coach

[Curt]

Yeah, I have had big sacks, but I've also had ball carriers run the length of the field trying to include as much randomness as possible. That's the beauty of the unknown. 🙂 Blessings, Curt 🙂 

[GreenBayGlenn]

Curt, that is most impressive. That's a phrase I don't think I will ever say in this lifetime "My EFL Schedule is all caught up!" I'd have to complete the seasons from 1971 to 2024! I somehow let go of the record keeping, photos, schedules, etc. and it was random chaos up until the present day! LOL 

Now I have a 50 team Unreal League, so good luck with completing a season with these guys! LOL Maybe I could have 3-play short games and see how many I could knock out? 

[Benoît Racette]

Solitaire miniature football is so much fun, a lot of advantages of doing this.

 

 

Cheers, Ben

[Curt]

Ok Sir GreenBayGlen,

I don't think catching up all past schedules for you is possible but there is hope if you wish to start afresh. Completing a schedule is all a matter of math. Starting with all teams in alphabetical order, I have 33 teams divided into 11 groups of 3 who play each other once at home and once away to add up to 66 games. My 12 team tiered playoffs have a total of playing 11 games. Those 4 regular games, ranking teams based on W-L record, total points scored, then total points allowed determine which division a team plays in next season. All this adds up to a grand total of playing 77 games in a one-year schedule. Playing a quarter a day makes 3 games in a 2-week period very possible. Three games times 26 2-week periods gives me 78 opportunities to play those 77 games in a calendar year. 

So, you have to think about what you want for your league. Here's a suggestion. Add one more team to your collection for 51 teams. That would make 17 divisions of 3 teams each. You would have to be more aggressive in the schedule. Two games a week would allow you 104 games but you would still have to play a few extra games to complete a schedule in a calendar year depending on what playoff schedule you choose.
With a 3-team division, it would take a total of 6 games for each team to complete a 4-game regular schedule. 1 would host 2, 3 would host 1, 2 would host 3, 2 would host 1, 1 would host 3, 3 would host 2 for each division of 3 teams. This creates a total of 6 games each times 17 divisions for a total of 102 games. Where you'd have to play a few extra games per week depends on the playoff structure you choose, to squeeze everything into a calendar year.

My best of the second-place teams, i.e. my wildcard, joins my 11 division winners in a playoff schedule that gives the top 4 division winners a bye for a total of 11 post-season games, Think about how you want to set up your playoff schedule, determine its number of games. Add that to your number of regular season games and you get the formula for playing a full season within a calendar year. I hope this makes sense and the best solution for you presents itself quickly. Best of luck.

Blessings to all, Curt 🙂

[GreenBayGlenn]

Curt: Thanks for taking out that kind of time to help me out. FYI, I actually do have 51 teams! I eliminated the Midway Mobsters because they were the only team that did not fit my mutant animal/genetic engineering theme, and it was too much of a cliché ( a team based in Chicago named Midway Mobsters...go figure! ). But, if I added them back in (especially since they have a machine gun pointed at my head at this very moment, I could work your numbers! 

[Long island EFL]

Great work!  Love the read!

[Curt]

Curt: Thanks for taking out that kind of time to help me out. Sir GreenBayGlenn, you are most welcome anytime. 🙂 I love doing that sort of thing. EF is always on my mind. When I'm not home playing, I find myself thinking about it often, at work, the doctor or dentist office, you get the idea. Like Toy Story, I imagine all my players getting together for "real games" but that is just part of my weirdness. You could say it is my addiction. I have no desire to be cured. Long live EF!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 

[Benoît Racette]

Just can't wait to have some times (probably after the holidays...after my work rush!!) of starting solo miniature football

[GreenBayGlenn]

13 hours ago, Curt said:

Sir GreenBayGlenn, you are most welcome anytime. 🙂 I love doing that sort of thing. EF is always on my mind.

Wait, isn't that a famous Willie Nelson song? "EF is Always on My Mind" !    

[GreenBayGlenn]

Of course, I'm addicted to EF just like you and incorporate it everywhere I can in my daily life. These are pics showing EF players on my laptop in my home office. There are always EF players on my lappy! The other shot shows EF players on my desktop and you can see an EF board in the background. No matter what I'm doing I keep EF close by! 

[Curt]

Sir GreenBayGlenn, My OCD mind has been toying around with possible playoff scenarios for you should you create a 51-team league divided into 17 divisions of 3 teams each. It will be a lengthy playoff structure which you can adjust any way you want but this seems to be the most logical. It would be a total of 23 games on top of the 102 should you go with the 6 games per your 17 divisions of 3. At the end of the regular season, I would rank them 1-51 based on W-L, Points Scored, Points allowed and previous season records to break any full 3-way ties. Your top 8 division winners would get a bye. The rest of the division winners would meet with the best of the second-place teams as wildcards. to complete your playoffs. The playoff or tree structure would look like this:

7th ranked 2nd place wildcard visits 6th ranked 2nd place wildcard as 24th and 23rd slots overall. Winner visits 8th place division winner.
5th ranked 2nd place wildcard visits 4th ranked 2nd place wildcard as 22nd and 21st slots overall. Winner visits 7th place division winner.
3rd ranked 2nd place wildcard visits 2nd ranked 2nd place wildcard as 2oth and 19th slots overall. Winner visits 6th place division winner.
1st ranked 2nd place wildcard visits 17th ranked division winner as 18th and 17th slots overall. Winner visits 5th place division winner.
16th place division winner visits 15th place division winner overall as 16th and 15th slots overall. Winner visits 4th place division winner.
14th place division winner visits 13th place division winner overall as 14th and 13th slots overall. Winner visits 3rd place division winner.
12th place division winner visits 11th place division winner overall as 12th and 11th slots overall. Winner visits 2nd place division winner.
10th place division winner visits 9th place division winner overall as 10th and 9th slots overall. Winner visits 1st place division winner.
Those games then whittle themselves down to the Superbowl.

As a "tree", it would look like this [hope it came out alright]:

24 V 23 _____.
             8____.      W=====.

22 V 21 _____.
             7____.      W=====.      W __________.

20 V 19 _____.
             6____.      W=====.

18 V 17 _____.
             5____.      W=====.      W __________.      W ==========.

16 V 15 _____.
             4____.     W=====.

14 V 13 _____.
             3____.      W=====.      W __________.                             SUPERBOWL WINNER

12 V 11 _____.
            2____.     W=====.

10 V 9 _____.
           1____.      W=====.      W __________.      W ==========.

 

Blessings to all. 🙂 Curt

[Terry43]

14 minutes ago, Curt said:

It would be a total of 23 games on top of the 102 should you go with the 6 games per your 17 divisions of 3

There are 52 weeks in a year. Two years is 104 weeks. That's a very, very long season.

On 11/2/2024 at 8:55 AM, GreenBayGlenn said:

I'm addicted to EF just like you and incorporate it everywhere I can in my daily life.

Coach GreenBay Glenn, how long do your games usually last?

Enjoy the Journey   T43.   ⚡🏈♾️

[Curt]

T43, 2 years is a long time. My original suggestion to GBG was for a season to be completed in a calendar year, like mine. Obviously, I had not been clear enough in my longer, previous post to this last one. 52 weeks in a year give 104 chances to play 102 games [17 X 6 = 102] if you can conduct a 2 game per week schedule but depending on the desired playoff structure, that would determine how many extra games need to be squeezed in to the schedule to complete it in that one year. My season runs from New Year's week to Christmas with games lasting 3 to 3and 1/2 hours, just for example. Does that make sense? Apologies for any confusion. Blessings to all. 🙂 Curt

[RickLM30]

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in to let you guys know how wacky I am.  1 season in my league takes about 10 years.  I have 16 teams playing a 16 game schedule.  Each game consists of about 120 plays including punts and kickoffs.  I know that seems ridiculous, but I enjoy playing each game, compiling statistics for each player throughout the season, and making changes to rosters at points during the season to replace players who aren't doing well (it gives the backups something to strive for 😄)  My seasons were shorter when I first started (I only had 5 teams), but as I expanded so did my season lengths.  I never really changed my format, so I can compare statistics from one season to another relatively well. I have added categories I track over the years, so some comparisons don't apply, but I enjoy looking back at previous seasons, teams, and players to see how they did in the past. 

[GreenBayGlenn]

23 hours ago, Terry43 said:

There are 52 weeks in a year. Two years is 104 weeks. That's a very, very long season.

Coach GreenBay Glenn, how long do your games usually last?

Enjoy the Journey   T43.   ⚡🏈♾️

My latest version of solitaire the past few years has been 40-play games, 10 plays per quarter. Actual clock time varies based on interruptions of all kinds which happens a lot. I have yet to play a game completely through, interruption free, at all in the past 2 decades! 

[Curt]

Sir Rick, like you, A small number of teams started my league. Each team player had a number, and personal statistics were kept on each of them. So, my seasons and games were a little lengthy. Weird as it was, awards were "given" at the season end to the player with most yards, most touchdowns etc. but also most sacks, most safeties and the like which led to long games. A play would be made, the clock stopped [I time my games using a stopwatch] to write out those statistics and resumed with the next play. It was really kind of obnoxious and took a lot of paper. Individual statistics are no longer kept due to number of teams, schedule etc. But my game, my rules, my weirdness works for me. A season lasts a calendar year with each team playing 2 home and 2 away games followed by a 12-team tiered playoff structure. You have to find what works best for you. Good luck. Blessings to all. 🙂 

[Curt]

Just a wonderfully exciting part of gameplay to share here. No strategy involved really but this was way too precious not to share. I still have a few playoff games left in my season 20 playoffs. The New York Jets handed the Oakland Raiders a 25-18 loss to move on to visit the Tennessee Titans. The lead changed hands a couple of times until the Titans had built a 41-19 lead just before the 2-minute warning. The clock stops on any score and remains stopped for extra point conversions and ensuing kickoffs.

New York, using all 3 available timeouts with the 2-minute warning, had driven for a touchdown with only 4 seconds remaining in the game and made the 2-point conversion to bring it to 41-27. Those who know me well enough know I count kickoffs that split the uprights as field goals for a full 3 points because end-scores just need to be believable, [not just "reasonable" as my highest scoring game was Pittsburgh defeating Kansas City 69-52 for a total of 121 games points].

Anyway, New York's kickoff made a field goal inching the score closer for them being down 41-30. A second straight field goal on the kickoff made it 41-33. Yet one more brought it to 41-36. Still a 4th brought the score to 41-39. The last one went wide to the right giving Tennessee a 41-39 victory [a totally believable end score. 🙂 ] after the Titans took a knee on their own 20-yard line to burn those last 4 seconds where they now await to visit the winner of my Philadelphia hosting Minnesota game up next. This just proves it isn't over until it is over, until it is over, until it is over, baby! What a thrill it was. Just had to share it. Good night and Blessings, Curt. 🙂 

[Curt]

LADIES AND GENTLE DUDES

Well now after an intense catch-up schedule to recover from the delays caused by COVID-19, season 20 put things back on track this Christmas. All teams have won division at least once. Catching up the EF schedule has been intense, but it has also been a lot of fun. Not wanting to slow down at all, I'm now ready to prepare for and begin season 21 but these last couple weeks of 2024 invite a much-needed break so that may the way to go and start Season 21 directly on time which would be on New Year's week. Superbowl 20'S score was Pittsburgh 24 Philadelphia 20

Here are my Superbowl winners:
1. ATLANTA FALCONS
2. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
3. WASHINGTON REDSKINS
4. NEW YORK GIANTS
5. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
6. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS [2ND SB WIN]
7. OAKLAND RAIDERS
8. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS [2ND SB WIN]
9. NEW YORK GIANTS [2ND SB WIN]
10. ARIZONA CARDINALS
11. DETROIT LIONS
12. CHICAGO BEARS
13. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
14. GREEN BAY PACKERS
15. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS [3RD SB WIN]
16. CHICAGO BEARS [2ND SB WIN]
17. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
18. NEW YORK GIANTS [3RD SB WIN]
19. DETROIT LIONS [2ND SB WIN]
20. Pittsburgh Steelers

Similarly, each season had a top of the league winner even if that team did not make it to the Superbowl. Here are my top of the league winners just for the fun of it:

1. Oakland Raiders
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. Chicago Bears
4. New York Giants
5. New Orleans Saints
6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
7. Oakland Raiders  [2nd time]
8. New Orleans Saints [2nd time]
9.Kansas City Chiefs
10. Arizona Cardinals
11. San Diego Chargers
12. Jacksonville Jaguars
13. Houston Texans
14. Green Bay Packers
15. Houston Texans [2nd time]
16. New York Jets
17. Carolina Panthers
18. New York Giants [2nd time]
19. Miami Dolphins
20. Philadelphia Eagles

Blessings to all, Curt 🙂