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Page 19400
Subject: Rotohog : Last Day

Posted by: donk44 - [42611019] Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 10:36

Last day...I'm glad this isn't Logan's Run, cause I'm not completely sold on "renewal".

To all Gurupies in contention for prizes - good luck having a strong last day and finishing as high as possible in the standings.

Also, thank you Guru and everyone else here for making this such a great place to come to over the course of the long season. I only found this site about 5 months ago, but I don't think a day went by that I didn't visit it.

Crunch Bunch
ID: 3136114
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 10:43

Ya - I'd like to thank Guru and the folks on this site. I think that I just stumbled onto this site from a google search but sure glad that I found it.

Congrats to donk on the $100K! Looks like I'll finish either 11th (if I can pass Nate) or 12th. Guess I'll be hoping that a few owners live in one of the wrong states....

At least I finished the season with a correct decision going with Maine yesterday.

bachsmom
ID: 483182019
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 10:54

Dittos to everything above. And congratulations to all who stuck this out for the full season, particularly Donk and the other 9 who reap the financial rewards. I know I've learned a lot from you all and can't wait till next April to do it all again!

donk44
ID: 42611019
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 11:10

thank you Crunch & bachsmom.

I hope I'm reading the GP's & IP's usage correctly, because I'm thinking of not playing anyone today, to avoid the chance of getting high negative points.

I am at (+1)/(+6) and have 1 GP and 1.1 IP's left. Self-Esteem is at (+2)/(+7), which I'm assuming means he has 0 GP's and somewhere between 0 and .2 innings left. If that's the case, then it seems logical to play no one today. Though that somehow goes against the grain of how we are used to playing fantasy.

I'm probably just being paranoid.

donk44
ID: 42611019
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 11:24

P.S. - I have about a 190 point lead on Self-Esteem

Crunch Bunch
ID: 3136114
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 11:41

[3] Yeah - I'm at 0/+5 and only have 2.1 IP left plus one C open (will end up wasting 2 c games). I think if you sit out, there's no way Esteem can make up 190 pts.

I wonder if you get the win for a starter if he goes 7 innings but you only have 2.1 ip left? Won't matter this year but it could have been a factor.

From what I remember, they will go in order of game times so the earlier pitchers if they go would count while the later pitchers wouldn't. Seems very manual but it's better than Yahoo I guess where you can go over IP on last day (everybody counts).

donk44
ID: 42611019
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 12:13

Re:5

Yeah, thanks Crunch. I'm 99.99% sure I'm reading it correctly. He must have 0 GP's and less than 1 IP left. I think I will just play Holliday in my last remaining (OF) hitter spot, and NO pitchers. I was imaginging the worst case scenario where I played 6 RP's, and 1 of them came in and gave up 3 or 4 runs while getting 0 or 1 outs. Since my innings wouldn't get used, other RP's could repeat that scenario, and I could theoretically end up with a huge negative number if enough of them did the same thing. Very unlikely, but why risk it.

To answer your question, the win would count.

"When any innings are available on the day the maximum innings are reached, innings will be used in order of the first SP position to the last P position until the max innings is reached. So if your team has 2 SP and 2 RP pitchers that pitched 4 innings each for that day and your team has 7 innings left, the innings for both SP positions will be counted and the innings for your RPs will not count. For the final pitcher used, all innings for his game will count even if it goes above 1300. In the example above, the team will end with 1301 innings".

So your best case scenario is to play maybe 4 RP's in the top 4 slots, hope to get 2 IP's (and 2 saves) from them, then put a SP in your #5 P slot. Any points the SP got you would count if you hadn't gone over the 2.1 innings you have left.

Crunch Bunch
ID: 3136114
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 13:23

[6] Great info donk - am indeed going with that method, maybe I'll sneak into 10th. Looks like the 10th place team is done so I have nothing to lose

KrazyKoalaBears
ID: 228512619
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 18:33

I was imaginging the worst case scenario where I played 6 RP's, and 1 of them came in and gave up 3 or 4 runs while getting 0 or 1 outs.

You mean like me picking up and using Glavine and Burnett?

Good thing I balanced it with King Felix and Putz.

Nate
ID: 268591822
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 21:11

Thanks to Rotoguru for the excellent site and congrats to the winners. Looks like I'll finish on the bubble or one behind, frustrating but still a decent showing. Captain, how many points did you have today? I had 35.66.

I wasn't aware of how Rotohog was going to handle going over the IP limit, but obviously didn't want to give away an advantage if some hadn't thought about it. I started six starters on Saturday but got just the one.

Has anyone confirmed that if someone is ineligible they move down the list to the next person?

Alex
ID: 8718115
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 21:23

Nate - I tried to get an answer to that question about 4 or 5 times during the season, but never got confirmation beyond the fact that if whoever came in 1st was ineligible, they probably would award the $100K to whoever was next.

Guru - Feel like sharing how many points you had today? You're one of the two people who were likely to pass me today. I think I had about -2 points or something...only had 2 hitters left and no IP.

Guru
ID: 330592710
Sun, Sep 30, 2007, 22:37

I had 130.81. 4 hitters, plus several pitchers, most notably Felix Hernandez.

Alex
ID: 20357221
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 04:20

Guru - Congrats on passing me then. I hope the other guy wasn't able to - he had more hitters left than you, but I think no pitchers.

Alex
ID: 20357221
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 04:39

Guru - Seems like they never got the position usage to display correctly. We both showed at 0 vs. pace yesterday, but I only had 2 G left and assumed you were the same.

donk44
ID: 42611019
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 07:49

Looks like 3 of the top 10 winners are from the 7 bad states, including Self-Esteem. They are showing on the global leader board, but not on the home page where they show the names next to the money. So I think some of you moved up a few spots because of that.

Alex
ID: 8718115
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 09:33

Actually, I'm one of the 3 that's not showing up. I'm guessing its because we didn't fax in the info they asked for yet. If they're seriously going to disqualify us for sending it in late I'm going to throw the biggest fit ever and badmouth them all over the place, considering that I emailed them last week to ask if I could wait till today when I have easy access to a fax machine and they never replied. I'm guessing they'll do the right thing, and the only screw-up will be the fact that they posted the standings showing people in the top 10 who aren't really in the top 10.

Alex
ID: 8718115
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 11:55

Follow-up - They're really making me sweat. No response to the faxes I sent to two different #s, the email I sent to 4 people at RH, or the voicemail I left Jerry. I think if I had as much money at stake as jdrenbarger, I would just excuse myself from work until RH confirmed that they're not going to screw me over.

P.S. Yes, I realize that they're on the
West Coast and it's not even 9am on Monday morning there. :)

jdrenbarger
ID: 4035768
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 12:08

They've made at least one error ... I'm not from one of the "bad" states, Jerry Yu confirmed receipt of my information last week (via e-mail, as their fax was down), and I separately provided my SSN via a phone call to him. Guess I'll have to see what the problem is.

Crunch Bunch
ID: 3136114
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 12:16

Man, had 2.1 IP left so I put Felix in the first P spot. Of course, my relievers pitch 3 ip and I don't get Felix's 81 points. Just trying to cut it too fine I guess.

Some of my last week moves worked such as using Maine on Saturday but of course I can only think of the ones that worked out badly as I think that the true 10th was in reach.

Using Reyes instead of Tulowitski for my last SS game (he hit a grand slam). Not using Ortiz in the last two util games that I had (homers twice), LoDuca not playing which wasted a catcher spot and of course King Felix yesterday.

Congrats again to Donk! Alex, I'm pretty sure that you'll be fine as soon as you get in your paperwork. Didn't see anything in the rules about a deadline, just verification.

Guru
ID: 330592710
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 12:32

It's kind of amazing that RotoHog would post an adjusted prize list so soon. Hopefully they'll get it all straightened out quickly. It's no fun to work so hard all season only to be greeted by this, I'm sure.

[shameless pitch]
For those of you who ultimately finish in the money, let me make a rather indelicate suggestion. If you found the resources of RotoGuru.com to be helpful to your quest, a tip in the form of a GuruPatron donation would be a nice touch! In the past, many have done just this - although some do not. If you decide not to, I'd at least like to make sure that you really decided not to, rather than that the thought never occurred to you.

I know that some of you are already GuruPatrons, and I thank you for that. This site is free for all to use - but it's not free to produce. So far this year, GuruPatron donations haven't even covered my marginal out-of-pocket costs, which I don't think has ever happened before. But the year is not yet over, either. I'm still hopeful.
[/shameless pitch]

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 12:50

Actually that's not shameless at all. RotoHog has attracted a new group of friends to the site, which has been great. But if all they found was the board they might not have seen the daily blurbs or have been around long enough to understand that the site depends upon donations from the users to survive.

I would encourage all of our newfound friends to consider putting a few drops in the bucket. I'm due for another installment myself.

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 13:09

Duh.....I forgot to congratulate donk44 on his incredible win. I got a head start with some RV advantage and using the "money reusing" strategy early on to use all stud lineups, but once you caught on to that and other strategies, you outplayed the field by a wide margin.

Considering where I was on September 1st I am horribly disappointed with my finish. Like CrunchBunch, all I can remember are the decisions gone wrong. In my last 14 innings, I received a grand total of 68.19 points!! :( This included:

Josh Beckett Friday(he poop-screwed me EVERY TIME)
Non-saves from: Cordero, Jenks, and on Saturday, Myers
Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera's blown saves (and -19.50 for Rivera) on Saturday Grrrrrrrrr

That being said, I am thankful for my result this year. Props to RotoHog for creating a fantastic new game. I've already given up Football, but I'm looking forward to Hoops (even without huge prizes) and future baseball years. I'm really excited about the Ozzie autographed jersey and phone call - I can't wait to hear what he has to say about the Will Clark brawl! lol

mrbig
ID: 59522612
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 13:14

RH was an incredibly fun game, but I just don't have the time or energy to play again next year! Same reason I gave up Smallworld/TSN (it will always be Smallworld to me). Same reason I'm not a day trader I guess.

Nate
ID: 17639128
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 13:47

Let us know Alex, obviously it affects some of us below.

STARS
ID: 27835612
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 13:54

Looks like it is fixed now...back to 11th place.

Guru
ID: 330592710
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 13:54

I also got hosed by Beckett on Thursday. I don't know why I took him, because he almost always seems to screw me over - going back over several years. There were so many other viable options the next day - Hamels, Zambrano, Lackey - but I thought Beckett not only had a good shot to win, but that he would probably work only 5-6 IP, therefore conserving precious IP for relievers. (At least I got that part right!)

I also managed to totally misplay ARod down the stretch, playing him when he faltered, and then benching him when I got fed up. Of course, those were the days he went bananas. Maddening.

It's amazing how many botched decisions one can make and still be competitive. That's the big advantage in baseball, where (in this format) we have at least 2700 individual decisions to make. In football, you get only 170 decisions, and a few unfortunate ones can be tough to overcome.

Still, I found donk's performance to be truly amazing. That sort of margin has to be attributable to more than luck.

Alex
ID: 8718115
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 14:21

I'm listed in 8th and Jocelyn confirmed that they got my info, so I think its fixed. Sorry that the people getting bumped out of the top 10 are some of you guys!

Congrats on a great season to all...especially donk44 and jdrenbarger who were so far ahead at the end that they clearly earned it by outplaying the rest of us.

GoatLocker
Sustainer
ID: 060151121
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 15:52

Congrats to all those that finished in the money.
Really good job.

Especially to Donk.
Nice.
Guess going after the Sept prize didn't work because I didn't have enough IP left.
Oh well, live and learn.

And ditto what Species said about a few drops in the bucket.

Cliff

StLCards
Dude
ID: 31010716
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 16:27

Congrats to all those that finished in the top 10, well played!

I managed to get up to 13th going in to the last month and then managed to hit a very cold spell where I couldn't do anything right with pitchers including both starters and relievers. Hitters did fine but that two week stretch pretty much did me in. After that I switched strategies to go with differential picks on hitters which didn't work out and then my pitchers got better.

In hindsight I should have conserved the pitcher trades during my bad stretch, which was a strategy I considered, but probably wouldn't have mattered anyway.

I think that people have 'go to' guys in fantasy baseball and if you have the wrong ones you are done for. I kept sticking with pitchers that just weren't consistent enough and overall weren't good enough to win me anything. Should have switched it up with the likes of Kazmir, Burnett, etc.

I'm sure I speak for lots of people when I can say that it always felt like I had the right guy on the wrong day. As soon as I would sell someone it seems the next day would be their day. I'm sure it felt that way just because those were the 'memorable' moments.

I'm thinking it will be a different game next year as making money likely won't be quite so easy. I feel that gives all of us here a bigger advantage so I'm all for it.

Crunch Bunch
ID: 3136114
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 16:47

There were two hitters that killed me. Sheffield and Berkman. I had Sheff from the start when he was hitting at 1/2 of the Mendoza line and dropped him right before he went on a monster tear.

Berkman was the same until the end when I captured a two homer game from him; didn't offset all the zeros though.

From a good player standpoint, Hawpe was probably my best guy. I remember picking him up for a three game series in Colorado and he jacked a homer in every game. I played him quite a bit after that when he was in Colorado and a RHP was starting for the opposing team.

donk44
ID: 42611019
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 19:30

Thanks to all for the congrats. And props to all who finished in the money, and to those who stuck it out all year long and made a good showing. I can't believe how many people from this site finished in the top 10, and I'm sure there were many more in the top 50.

I'm glad they fixed the leaderboard to include Alex, jdrenbarger & I can't recall who the third team was. from the posts on the RH global page message forum, it was 3 teams that got negative points yesterday that were originally not showing. some kind of glitch I guess.

I know this may be echoing what others have said, but a few points - it's amazing how many wrong decisions you can make in this game and still do well. I also only played Beckett about 4 times, and he did badly every one of them. Berkman was another one that I played a lot in the first 2 months when he was horrible, then stopped playing him altogether. then when he finally heated up a bit, I would play him when I liked the matchup. but he never hit a HR when I played him, but always the day before or day after. Sizemore was another one like that for me. I also stuck with Pujols for too long early on probably. It was always so scary NOT to play him and think he would go off. but after a while you just have to make yourself do it. I did play him some after he heated up in July I guess it was, but don't think I played him once in September. On the other hand, I did get in on some nice hot streaks from unexpected players like Ordonez, Sheffield, Braun & Hanley. And as we got further into the season, I found that riding the hot players was a good idea, even if you didn't always like the matchup. Also had some decent streaks from Beltran, Wright & Fielder late in the season. Tried to stay away from slumping players obviously, even though it isn't always easy since they can break out at any time. Glad I stayed away from Reyes the last 3 weeks of the year though.

I also started some very marginal (ok, bad) SP's in the first 2 - 3 weeks before I really knew what I was doing (can you say Scott Olsen).

I think my decision to stay away from bad closers (even when they had a better opportunity to get a save chance) starting sometime in June also helped. After a Todd Jones blowup I vowed not to play him, Borowski, or Wickman unless I absolutely had to when there was a very light schedule. I didn't even play Borowski in his DH a week or two before the end of the season. Borowski ended up with 45 saves to 40 for Putz, and Putz still beat him by over 350 points for the year. If there can be such a thing in this game, I think Putz was my MVP.

I put a ton of time into RH for the first 4 months, then got a job in August and had to scale back. But no matter how much time you put into it, I still think there is a luck factor to some extent, with so many good players to choose from. So I definately feel like luck had something to do with my win.

Most of all, I'm just glad I didn't pay a price for selling ARod 2 seconds early back in April when he got 44 points ! That one had been sticking in my craw all year pretty much.

Well that's probably more info than anyone wanted, but wanted to share a few thoughts on the long season.

Oh, and Species - why are you quitting football already ? I'm in 883rd place and just playing for fun and weekly prizes. Embarrassingly enough, my girlfriend is beating me. She is in about 450th place. She didn't play baseball, but she does seem to be getting into football a little. And ANYTHING to get her to like sports more is a good thing.

Chuck
ID: 54733162
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 23:14

Congrats to all who made the big $$, esp. donk. This was far and away my best performance in a global fantasy sport, and I am really proud of my 29th place finish, and my Wade Boggs ball (and 5 T-shirts :).

I think I could have finished in about 20th if I had played a standard line-up in September, but I figured I might as well go for top 10, even if it was a 1 in a million shot. Regardless, it was a fun season. Add to all this that I didn't even draft, and decided to put together a line-up about 30 minutes before the first game of the season, I'd like to think I could have done better if I had been on board at the beginning. I also think I maybe should have gone for a monthly prize, but the lure of the top 10 was just so close that by the time I was out of it (mid-August), I was also basically out of a chance for a monthly. Oh well.

Regardless, I think it was a successful season, and I really hope that it is in essence the same game next year (though that's probably doubtful). Actually, I will probably check in less often next year if I can't make as many moves as I did this year (literally turning over my roster about once every 2-3 days). Overall, making the best decision every day was very important, and drawing from the whole pool of MLB was a great concept. Honestly, it was nice to be able to sit and set up a daily line-up every night/morning, and not be a slave to the computer and start times once roster value was a non-issue-- Anybody interested in selling their points for my extra HogBucks? ;)

Congrats again to all.

Anyone care to put together a Rotoguru list of Hog players in the top 100?

Bandos
Sustainer
ID: 279492419
Mon, Oct 01, 2007, 23:32

34th, 5 t-shirts and a Fred Lynn Ball. Next Summer, no vacation!

Congrats to all you guys, esp to donk - way to go man! This is a real grind. I am not sure I even enjoyed playing that much as, with unlimited funds, it was a second guessing nightmare every day! That said, see you next year...

Ref
Donor
ID: 539581218
Tue, Oct 02, 2007, 00:06

Major congrats and props to all who participated and were helpful to the game as a whole.

Guru
ID: 330592710
Tue, Oct 02, 2007, 12:11

Did anyone actually receive 5 T-shirts? So far, only two have arrived in the mail.

Crunch Bunch
ID: 3136114
Tue, Oct 02, 2007, 13:24

I've only received one t-shirt so I'm owed four.

As long as I get the signed Ozzie ball, I'm fine

Alex
ID: 8718115
Tue, Oct 02, 2007, 13:37

I've received two. I think I'm owed one or two more. Looking forward to getting my Wade Boggs bat and ball...some of the guys ahead of me must have finished 3rd in the other celebrity leagues, allowing me to get the bat for 2nd.

jdrenbarger
ID: 5492220
Tue, Oct 02, 2007, 22:33

RE: I also started some very marginal (ok, bad) SP's in the first 2 - 3 weeks before I really knew what I was doing (can you say Scott Olsen) ... mine was Chuck James. And almost -40 from Jorge Julio on the fourth day quickly pushed me toward using quality closers as quickly as I could.

I'd like to add my congratulations to everyone who stuck this out and, particularly, those who finished well. I'm frankly more than a little amazed to have finished where I did ... this was the first game of this type I've played in several years and I got into it, of course because of the money, thinking I'd stick around until I no longer had a chance at the top ten. A lot of early lucky picks--despite way too many days of using David Riske--kept me in it and I then spent the rest of the year both chasing donk44 and trying to get clear of many of you. I think I'm a much better player now than I was when I started, and trying to keep up with the folks who frequent this site is absolutely the reason for that. We'll see whether that translates into anything meaningful next year :) ... it would be nice, at least, to better my 7th place finish in my 11 team roto league. In any case, this makes my top 3 of all of the fantasy games I've ever played ... Guru's Market Madness contest and the old Swirve baseball game are the others.

And I think what the Rotohog folks have accomplished is pretty amazing. I'm a partner in a custom software development firm and have been through more software rollouts than I care to remember. For theirs to go as well as it did speaks volumes about the time they spent planning it and the quality of their work ... well done!

Any my thanks to Guru, too, for keeping this site going through the years. I've dropped by a few times in the past and it's way past time that I help keep it going.

Enough said ... anyone with a recommendation on what to ask Wade Boggs, though, can certainly send it on!

Alex
ID: 20357221
Wed, Oct 03, 2007, 06:02

jdrenbarger - Ask him if he wants some coaching to improve his fantasy baseball skills.

STARS
ID: 27835612
Wed, Oct 03, 2007, 10:04

Ask him about his west coast plane trips and 60-70 beers he would put down each time.

Chuck
ID: 54733162
Wed, Oct 03, 2007, 11:24

I think I have received 3 T-shirts so far with 2 more coming. After the first one, I really didn't care or pay attention that much, but I think that's my current count.

Alex
ID: 8718115
Thu, Oct 04, 2007, 08:05

Does anybody know how to treat the RH prizes for tax purposes?

Ender
ID: 5963859
Thu, Oct 04, 2007, 08:37

I have only received 1 t-shirt, but I think I am owed 4. I'm not worried about as long as I get my Ozzie ball.

Guru
ID: 330592710
Thu, Oct 04, 2007, 09:20

It's taxable income. You should receive a 1099 form in January (they are required to provide one if your winnings exceed $600).

The value of the T-shirts will probably not be included, so you can probably ignore them. I don't know if they'll assign a prize value to the autographed baseballs.

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Thu, Oct 04, 2007, 13:31

jdren #37 - I'd ask him:

1 - whether he still hits on flight attendents
2 - whether he preferred blondes, brunettes or redheads
3 - any ethnic preferences on the women he harrassed
4 - top 5 chicken recipes

Ender
ID: 5963859
Thu, Oct 04, 2007, 13:54

Check your caller ID and don't let your wife answer the phone.

Bandos
Sustainer
ID: 279492419
Thu, Oct 04, 2007, 16:51

Anyone with any notice of when those balls might be sent?

mrbig
ID: 4891838
Thu, Oct 04, 2007, 17:37

re: #44 and #46

You already have balls to ask questions like that!

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Tue, Oct 09, 2007, 15:24

Okay, so who is going to the dinner?!?!?

donk44
ID: 42611019
Wed, Oct 10, 2007, 00:19

I'll be there Species. Didn't know how many others they were inviting - maybe the top 10 ? Hope to see some of you there.

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Wed, Oct 10, 2007, 00:48

Yeah but I bet they're paying for YOUR ticket, donk!! LOL Us losers further down have to hoof it down there ourselves! ;-)

Yes, I believe it's for the Top 10.

I am working on arrangements now. I wouldn't go down just for the dinner, but I have homies in Orange County and I might go to the Cal vs. UCLA game that Saturday.

PS - How about a night of professional adult entertainers with your winnings? ;-)

donk44
ID: 42611019
Wed, Oct 10, 2007, 08:04

LOL

that would have been a fine idea, except my girlfriend is coming with me. I don't know anyone in that area, and didn't know other people were getting invited when we started making arrangements. So not wanting to be totally solo on Saturday night, I asked her if she wanted to go.

Any other people coming ? bringing wives/girlfriends ? If others are coming, and no one else is bringing their "other half", maybe she wouldn't want to come. so any others out there that are planning to attend, please let me know if you are bringing your lady.

Alex
ID: 8718115
Wed, Oct 10, 2007, 08:40

Wish I could attend, but the cost of the trip would eat up most of my winnings.

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Wed, Oct 10, 2007, 10:35

I can't blame you Alex.

Guru would be coming from the East Coast --- I can't imagine that trip being fiscally responsible....so if you don't have something else to come for, if you're out of the top 3 it doesn't make a great deal of sense if you ask me. At least I am already in CA and as noted have friends in the area.

I can't blame you either donk. Damn, and I was going to try to get you drunk and have us commit to each of us spending 1% of our winnings on our celebration! hahahahahaha

donk44
ID: 42611019
Fri, Oct 12, 2007, 20:11

LOL Species

diffbean said on the global RH baseball message page that he was also coming (solo). so that's 3 of us so far.

we can still get drunk, just not at an adult entertainment venue...rats ! been ages since I been to one of those.

GoatLocker
Sustainer
ID: 060151121
Fri, Oct 12, 2007, 22:41

Maybe I'll just have to crash the party since I'm so close.

ya never know.

Cliff

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Sat, Oct 13, 2007, 00:27

Cliff - it's in Marina Del Rey. I thought you were pretty far south.

But hey, we can bring a guest.....you are more than welcomed to be mine!

GoatLocker
Sustainer
ID: 060151121
Sat, Oct 13, 2007, 01:11

No, I'm North of LA since I moved.
Marina Del Rey is 45 minutes away.

Cliff

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Sat, Oct 13, 2007, 14:40

Cliff - check your Yahoo (the 1989 one) and gmail accounts buddy.

jdrenbarger
ID: 4035768
Sun, Oct 14, 2007, 11:39

I won't be able to make it -- too much previously scheduled stuff that I can't rearrange. Would have been a great opportunity to have met at least a couple of you, though, and I hope a great time (adult entertainment or not) is had by all.

Alex
ID: 27324224
Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 16:06

FYI - According to my wife, the prize check arrived today. I'm kind of surprised since I had the impression they were going to ask for one more round of info first.

Guru
ID: 330592710
Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 16:15

I haven't gotten my check yet, but I'm up to 5 T-shirts now. It seems like every several days I get another T-shirt in the mail.

Alex
ID: 27324224
Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 16:23

Haha - I got t-shirt #3 a few days ago. My wife said the check came with a cap and 'something else'. It wasn't the Wade Boggs bat and ball...she wasn't sure what it was and I didn't have time to decipher what that meant. I think the check came in the last hour or so, so your may still arrive today.

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 16:35

PFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTT.......and here I thought going to the banquet would actually benefit me in prize fulfillment! Sheesh!

Maybe the Ozzie jersey will be there though!

GoatLocker
Sustainer
ID: 060151121
Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 16:52

Species,
Answer my email.
I'll email you tonite about what is up.

Cliff

Alex
ID: 20357221
Thu, Oct 18, 2007, 05:16

The 'something else' was a white t-shirt that had been machine packed into a cube about the size of a baseball.

Guru
ID: 330592710
Thu, Oct 18, 2007, 14:12

My prize package arrived today as well. Check, cap, and white T-shirt, now bringing my supply of RotoHog T-shirts to 6 (five black, one white).

Actually, the T-shirt was packed into a "brickette" about the size of a tin of Sucrets. Very bizarre!

Still awaiting the autographed bat and ball from Ozzie.

Guru
ID: 330592710
Mon, Oct 22, 2007, 13:01

So, how was the winner-dinner?

GoatLocker
Sustainer
ID: 060151121
Mon, Oct 22, 2007, 15:36

Since nobody else has spoken up, I will.
For those unaware, after I commented about crashing the dinner, since I was so close, I got an invite from David.
Was great to meet Species (Greg), Donk / Imdbcooper (Jeff) and his fiance Diane, diffbean (Jerry), and the entire group from Rotohog.

Had a great meal and tons of conversation about both the baseball game, football so far, and where basketball is headed.
Talked about Hire a Hero and some of the other things they are looking at doing.

We did all go by the office and shoot some footage for them to use.

Was a lot of fun.
Glad it was Friday nite and not now, and the fires would make it tough to get there.

Cliff

donk44
ID: 42611019
Mon, Oct 22, 2007, 19:37

The dinner was a good time with lots of Rotohog and sports talk. David Wu was a great host, with a very good sense of humor to boot. Everyone from Rotohog was very nice (and knowledgeable), and a good time was had by all. It was nice to get a chance to meet them all.

It was also great getting to meet Greg, Cliff & Jerry and talking some more Rotohog baseball. Sure glad you guys came !

Cliff covered the rest of the details I think.

Alex
ID: 8718115
Tue, Oct 23, 2007, 11:57

68,69: Any insight into their plans for 2008 Rotohog baseball?

Alex
ID: 8718115
Tue, Oct 23, 2007, 11:59

Donk44 - I've been meaning to ask you this. Was there any single moment when you suddenly realized "Holy !@#$% I'm going to win $100K!!! I'm the King of the Nerds!!!" and went running down the street yelling for joy? Or did everything happen so gradually that you never got to have that moment of triumph?

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Tue, Oct 23, 2007, 12:54

I've been too busy to give this a proper writeup.

We all met at a restaurant in Marina Del Rey. This was a decent old restaurant right on the marina. Cliff and I got there pretty early so we hung out for a while on the pier and chuckled at a boat name or two, including one named after a phrase coined by someone he's worked with "Git-R-Done" (or the like). Bored with that and wondering where everyone else was, we went to the bar.

It was well after 8:30 before other people seemed to show up. It looks like donk's plane being late was the culprit. Gee, that made me feel special - the whole damned company has to wait on HIM? Geez! ;-)

It had to be after 9:00 before we finally went upstairs to our section to sit down. As noted, Jeff (donk44 - self-named after his affinity for poker and his love of donkeys at the table - lol), Cliff (GoatLocker), Jerry (diffbean - 6th) and I were there as the game players. Other than that, David Wu (CEO), Jerry Hu, Jocelyn (cough), Charles and another customer service guy were amongst the RotoHog contingent there, including their Marketing Director and new Business Development guy, who formally worked for Fun Technologies, which some may recognize as the owners of Fanball.com.

For me, outside of meeting the guys was being able to talk game strategy, observations, mechanics and the overall business model with David Wu and the engineers of the game. I forgot the one engineer, but basically for baseball the entire customer service and engineering of the game was done by 2 guys -- for football there is a staff over 10 -- so it was a huge undertaking.

He talked about how they didn't foresee some of the strategies implemented so they didn't plan the rules or functions of the game around it -- the 'reusing of money' strategy as a prime example. They were shocked that people had enough time in the day to work the game as hard as they did. They were shocked at how sharp the players were and how quickly emails would show up in their inboxes when there were problems.

I asked them how closely they were following the results, and they said, of course, that they watched things like a hawk. They had their own "adjusted standings" and could see easily what teams were rising to the top. It was funny as I would introduce myself - the marketing people knew my name but everyone else wanted to know my username. When I would say "Species", to a man they would exclaim: "Dude! I picked you to win!" or " You were the Michelle Wie guy!" lol

David Wu said that at the end of May I was the odds on favorite. A lot of good that did me (ugh). They also liked mrbig, Guru and they also saw Jeff (donk) coming on strong.

Like all of us have done here, we all shared our slumps and BAD choices that we all felt to a man heavily outweighed our good choices!

I asked David Wu if the "1 in 12" player thing would be fixed to exclude inactive teams, and he said that they were indeed working on a definition as to how long someone needs to be inactive before excluding them from the 1 in 12 calculation -- so keep that in mind.

A lot of the rest of the discussion about 2008 revolved around what they referred to as "Pitching Churn" - or rotating pitchers every day. For some reason they see this as a problem, and I never got a clear answer as to why.

We also talked a lot about football but since I'm not playing I didn't care ;-)

We enjoyed a nice meal (filet mignon) and a great time. Then after midnight David asked us back to the office to do the interviews. Jeff was pretty nervous so we had a good time needling him about it. His fiance' practically needed to be hog-tied and dragged in to drop a few tag lines, but she did a great job. I of course nailed the interview like a pro (hahahaha). I knew what they wanted to hear so I laid it on thick. I told David Wu that I wanted a 3 basis point commission on his next round of funding!

We were treated well and a great time was had by all. It was great to meet the guys, especially Cliff of course who I've known since the beginning of the decade.

Alex
ID: 8718115
Tue, Oct 23, 2007, 13:26

I was already thinking that if they used their NBASE rules changes (2 day holding period, and higher transaction fees for high RV teams) we'd be forced to buy-and-hold more, which would result in great uniformity of top teams, and more sell-outs. If they're also planning to do something about removing inactive players from the player pool, the sell-outs are going to be even more pronounced. Unfortunately, I think they're gradually removing a lot of skill from the game, and making it more like a regular fantasy baseball game.

Alex
ID: 8718115
Tue, Oct 23, 2007, 15:22

Guru - Just sent you an email about something unrelated. When you get a chance, let me know what you think.

donk44
ID: 42611019
Tue, Oct 23, 2007, 23:09

Re:71

Alex - the latter. everything happened so gradually that I never had that "moment" you referred to. closest thing to it was on the last day of the season when I was 99.99999% sure I had it, with the 0.000001% being a total misreading of the usage numbers. But for some reason I just never got the major euphoric feeling you would expect. maybe all the stress of the previous 6 months prevented it ? I don't know.

Re:72

Greg/Species speaks the truth. I was nervous as heck for the interviews and didn't come across nearly as well as I would have liked. I should have had more drinks beforehand ! He, on the other hand, interviewed like he gives 3 of them every week. He was great, and I would be surprised if they didn't use plenty of his sound bites.

Everyone kept telling me I did fine, but what else are they going to say...lol. So other than not owning a % of Rotohog yet, my only regret is being a rotten interview. But I can live with that - it's just not my strong suit no matter how you slice it.

Also agree that my fiance did a great job with her tag lines !

Ref
Donor
ID: 539581218
Wed, Oct 24, 2007, 01:42

Sounds like a great time!

It seems that donk just finally learned what most of us have known for a long time...Species is a BS artist!!!

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Wed, Oct 24, 2007, 11:10

lol Ref. Don't confuse good marketing with BS! ;-)

Crunch Bunch
ID: 3136114
Wed, Oct 24, 2007, 16:39

Great writeup Species! Sounds like it was a blast. Will they have the interviews with you and Donk on the website at some point?

Haven't got my Ozzie ball yet - only minor annoyance has been the fact that I have only received one RH shirt to date and know that I should have at least four or five.

My Basketball draft is Friday so I have to start looking for those cheapies tonight.

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Thu, Oct 25, 2007, 19:52

Crunch - they said they would be putting together promotional videos for investors and such. I'm not sure exactly how they will be using the interviews, but I got a RotoHog newsletter today with donk44's picture in it - the usual presentment of the huge check deal. I think we signed our life away on these release forms! lol

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Fri, Nov 02, 2007, 18:25

FYI - I emailed RotoHog and was assured that they are working on the Celebrity League autographed prizes. I'll get an ETA next week....but they told me to rest assured that everyone that earned a prize will receive it and they asked for a little patience.

I'll stay on 'em.

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Wed, Nov 07, 2007, 22:47

Celebrity league prize update: don't expect them for another month. Apparently all of the items to be signed are in the possession of the celebrities and their people....and supposedly it will take up to a month to get them back.

Let's hope we have them for Christmas.

I'm not excited with that timing but at least knowing they are on it and there is SOME timeline is better than being in the dark.

Ender
ID: 5963859
Mon, Nov 12, 2007, 14:45

Why weren't the items signed prior (or during the season) and then just locked up? This just seems silly to me.

Crunch Bunch
ID: 3136114
Mon, Nov 12, 2007, 19:13

Re #82: a good idea that they should incorporate for future leagues.

I did get my second Rotohog T-shirt so all is not lost.

Also, finished 10th in the weekly football league two weeks ago (actually lower than 10th but someone must have already won a prize) so I'll see what prize I get after the first nine pick. They had me rank the prizes in order from 1-10.

donk44
ID: 42611019
Tue, Nov 20, 2007, 23:19

Props to Greg/Species for being the first one to have their testimonial on Rotohog (on the login page). I knew they would use your stuff...lol

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Tue, Nov 20, 2007, 23:48

lol.......nice

I never would have known since I'm not playing football.

But Jerry is first on the video! Weak! ;-)

donk44
ID: 42611019
Wed, Nov 21, 2007, 00:02

LOL

that's right, I had forgotten that since your picture/testimonial is the one they used below the video. Well at least you two got on there. 4 weeks later and they still can't find any useful sound bites from me...lol

GoatLocker
Sustainer
ID: 060151121
Wed, Nov 21, 2007, 12:09

Or me.
Not surprised though.
Didn't think it came out that good.

Cliff

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Wed, Nov 21, 2007, 12:11

Hey guys - it's only the FIRST little promo!

I can take some pride in the fact that Jerry only got 5 seconds of air time, while I got like 15! ;-)

Alex
ID: 8718115
Sat, Dec 08, 2007, 14:08

I just discovered that there's a fantasy football game called Paythefan.com with much higher prizes than any other site I’ve seen ($250K for 1st, $100K for 2nd, etc.). They did charge $69, but it seems worthwhile for anyone serious about their fantasy sports. The reason I’m posting it here is that I just emailed them to see if they’re doing baseball also in 2008 and they said ‘no decision has been made yet’. So if you’re like me and are interested in seeing another high stakes fantasy baseball site, let’s bombard them with emails encouraging them to have a baseball game in 2008. The email is support@paythefan.com .

Drew
ID: 1611191114
Tue, Dec 11, 2007, 15:19

Ditto on the http://PayTheFan.com front. I'm playing the football game and it's been a crazy season that's going down to the wire. 1st place gets the big money, but top 20 pays cash.

Alex
ID: 8718115
Tue, Dec 11, 2007, 17:13

Drew - I'd love to hear more about the game. How many people played their football game? How tough is the competition overall? How smoothly have things gone? Etc.

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Tue, Dec 18, 2007, 16:46

Celebrity League Prize Winners should have received this email --- but just in case, FYI:

Rotohoggers,

Thank you for playing RotoHog sports. We wanted to let you know that we have not forgotten your prizes for baseball. Going forward we will be updating you weekly on the status of your prize. Many of the autographed balls should be available soon after the holidays. Thank you for your patience. We will do our best to keep you updated.

Happy holidays,

The RotoHog Team

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Fri, Feb 15, 2008, 12:47

I received my Ozzie Smith signed jersey on Wednesday. Woo hoo!

Hopefully that means all of the bats and baseballs from Ozzie, Lynn and Boggs are also on the way. Admittedly, having met the CEO and bonded (and given those testimonials) with him I might have been near the top of the list (and, having emailed more than once about the timeline)....but hopefully everybody's is on the way.

Ref
Donor
ID: 539581218
Fri, Feb 15, 2008, 14:41

Suck up! ;)

Guru
ID: 330592710
Fri, Feb 15, 2008, 15:01

Today I received a ball with an Ozzie Smith autograph on it. No certificate of authenticity was included, so for all I know, some Rotohog staffer might have signed it.

I was also supposed to get an autographed bat, but that hasn't arrived (yet).

Guru
ID: 330592710
Fri, Feb 15, 2008, 15:06

Actually, upon closer inspection, I do see a Major League Baseball hologram sticker on the box, with what must be a serial number on it. Is that what passes for a certificate of authenticity?

The number is DB474176908

Guru
ID: 330592710
Fri, Feb 15, 2008, 15:59

It looks like the hologram and number are means for authentication.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/authentication/index.jsp

However, my hologram looks slightly different than the one at the MLB.com site (although similar in many respects). I also note that the prefix "DB" in my serial number is not provided at the MLB site as a valid option.

Guru
ID: 330592710
Fri, Feb 15, 2008, 20:16

I got an email from RotoHog. Apparently, the certificate of authenticity was shipped separately, as was the bat.

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Fri, Feb 15, 2008, 22:15

I received my Certificate of Authenticity separately as well. This is certified by RotoHog, not by Major League Baseball. I'm not looking to sell this on eBay so I guess it's not that big a deal. Kinda.

100

Ref
Donor
ID: 539581218
Sat, Feb 16, 2008, 00:02

Q: My item has a hologram that begins with the letters DB, but I can't find that option on the drop down menu.
A: The DB numbered hologram is not an authentication hologram; it is a hologram that designates the item as officially licensed. This hologram is never used for authentication by the MLB Authentication program for any autographed or game-used items. Authentication holograms are placed directly on the items themselves and include one of the letter combinations available on the drop down list.

link

101

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Sat, Feb 16, 2008, 00:05

Ok......I found the DB number Guru is referring to.

For my jersey, that MLB logo'd number is assuring that the jersey itself is an officially licensed, authentic jersey. I would assume that they used some kind of official major league baseball....

Completely separate from that, RotoHog is offering their own certification that the signature is legitimate.

102

Guru
ID: 330592710
Sat, Feb 16, 2008, 08:22

It is a Rawlings "official Major League Baseball", so that explanation makes sense.

103

Guru
ID: 330592710
Sat, Feb 16, 2008, 13:47

Bat arrived today, as did the RotoHog certificate of authenticity.

It seems a bit odd that the certificate is issued by the entity that is providing the items. Not sure that makes it worth much - if anything. I have no reason to expect that it's not authentic, but it would seem that an independent authentication would have been more appropriate.

104

donk44
ID: 42611019
Sun, Feb 17, 2008, 02:51

I received my signed Fred Lynn jersey recently with the DB hologram on the tag. I have yet to receive any Certificate of Authenticity.

Species - how long after you got the jersey did the certificate of authenticity arrive ? As you say, I'm not planning on selling it on Ebay, so I'm not too worried about it. And I don't doubt that it is indeed Fred's signature.

Couple other notes

think we'll ever get the congratulatory phone call from Mr. Smith/Lynn/Boggs ? Haven't heard a peep about that.

Also just receieved my 1099 tax form from Rotohog, which showed $130 more "earnings" than the actual cash prize. Think that is the value of the jersey included ?

105

Species
Dude
ID: 07724916
Sun, Feb 17, 2008, 03:13

donk - mine came in 2 days later.

My 1099 was for exactly my prize. Woo hoo - I saved 2 dollars in taxes on the $130.00 ;-)

I don't think Ozzie's calling me.

106

Ender
ID: 1138421
Sun, Feb 17, 2008, 10:12

I received my ball on Feb 14. I have not as yet received my certificate of authenticity.

107

Alex
ID: 8718115
Tue, Feb 19, 2008, 15:27

Also seems odd that the certificate of authenticity doesn't say what it's for. Just say "the items". I actually probably WOULD have sold it on Ebay, so I care (a little). And rather than the bat+ball I won, I'd prefer just a ball, but mounted in some kind of small display case with something like "2nd Place Rotohog Wade Boggs League 2007" printed or engraved. Now I've got something I can't sell, display nicely, or use. Oh well. Really minor complaint in the grand scheme of things. Anybody know when they're launching this year?

108

Ender
ID: 5963859
Tue, Feb 19, 2008, 16:30

Ironically, I got the email notification of the ball being shipped yesterday 4 days after I received the ball itself.

109

Crunch Bunch
ID: 321512115
Thu, Feb 21, 2008, 16:57

I too got my email about four days after I received the letter/ball.

I was a little disappointed as I would have liked some type of small display case (I saw the ones at the RH office). However, the ball is nice and I'll put it up in the display cabinet as soon as I find a nice small display that I can put the ball in.

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