Special Pension Plan Puppets Announcement!

by PPP on Oct 6, 2008 10:19 PM EDT Comment 56 comments

As the older guard will remember, last year I ran a game I called SPG. The goal of the game was to predict the Maple Leaf that would record the first shot on goal, score the first goal, and take the first penalty (McCabe) in each game. Eventually, I'd hunt down the right answers and tabulate the scores. Since it was a pain in the butt I rarely did it until I had a few games in a batch and most people had forgotten.

No longer! Thanks to a internet friendship spawned from cheering for the Capitals during last season's playoffs (sorry for bringing the curse over guys) we now have a ridiculously awesome website designed and coded by a true philantropist.

Pick SPG

More details are over the jump. That was the second picture that came up in Google Images for "SPG". Turns out it stands for Sales Promotion Girls.

The first thing that you'll notice is that it is awesome. The second thing is that you are required to create a profile. If you want to play then please use your username so that it's easier to track who is who (whom?). If you are new to the game and interested but don't have profile here then this is the perfect chance for you to join the growing (and greatest) community of Leaf fans.

The second change is that the game has been expanded. As anyone from last year can tell you the game was ridiculously tough to play. This year we've expanded it to require decisions in every period including overtime and shootout (less the first penalty). You can choose any player from the roster or no one if you think that the event won't occur (ie a shot in a period against the Red Wings). That means that it is incumbent on you to know who is scratched or injured.

The picks will be open until the NHL.com start time not when the puck is dropped on TV. You can make all of your picks in advance (bad idea) or you can pick them in bunches (better idea) or you can go game by game (best idea). After each game I'll input the scoresheet and by some magically coding that I could never create/hope to really understand the points will be tabulated.

When you register make sure to set your loyalty to the Maple Leafs. This will do two things. First, it lets me send you an e-mail invite to join the Leafs' league. Second, that ensures that you can only pick the Leafs games because that's how the game is set up for this season. At the end of the year we'll take suggestions so if one of them is "Dude, why not all 30 teams?" then save it for the end of the year so it doesn't get lost in the 4000 posts between now and then.

If you have any other questions (it's hopefully a very straightforward game considering how much back and forth went on over the summer) then post it here and I'll get you some answers.

PensionPlanPuppets.com is a fan community that allows members to post their own thoughts and opinions on the Toronto Maple Leafs and hockey in general. These views and thoughts may not be shared by the editor of PensionPlanPuppets.com.

11 recs | Comment 56 comments

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ps. please rec this to make sure that it stays up for a couple of weeks.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 6, 2008 10:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If you just had to pick once per game I would do it, but I’m too busy during the week and I unfortunately cannot participate.

www.sportzchat.com

by Linix129 on Oct 6, 2008 10:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Once

The site’s designed such that you must pick once… before each game begins. You don’t have to come back during intermissions or anything like that. Actually, you can’t change your picks after the NHL-published start time.

by xiix on Oct 7, 2008 1:08 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Welcome!

Thanks for signing up.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 7, 2008 8:28 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is awesome, I’m in.

by Likely on Oct 7, 2008 12:05 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Aieee

Seeing what looks to be a Scuderia Ferrari team car angered up my blood!

Ferrari to F1 is like what Detroit is to the NHL, always winning and being total dicks about it. Except worse, because the FIA is Ferrari’s BFF and always “helping” them win over Maclaren.

Rage!

by LeafFanInVan on Oct 7, 2008 12:38 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ridiculous

McLaren can’t stop cheating, and whining when they loose points because of it.

I think of Ferrari as more like the Leafs, most popular team in the sport, most hated team in the sport Glorious history (pre 1980’s) then nothing for a prolonged period of time, then reborn with Michael Schumacher as it’s leader.

Just as a sad bit of F1 news the Montreal GP has been canceled this year. Used to be very fun times going to that event.

by Aschendancy on Oct 7, 2008 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I dunno if you can call that Spa GP chicane pass cheating, they gave back the place and the FIA rep there said they were good to go.. Then they get it all reversed! Maclaren definitely likes to be the bad boys though..

I’d never consider Ferrari to be like the Leafs, because they actually win races + championships. They did go through a dreadful phase and now are fairly dominant. Just like the wings!

Sucks about the Montreal GP too.. Fix the damn track, I guess!

by LeafFanInVan on Oct 7, 2008 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Or the future Leafs!! Schenn = Schumacher?

Technicolor dreams?

by Aschendancy on Oct 7, 2008 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

so...

Tavares would be Barichello?

Because Taking The Leafs Seriously Is Not An Option

by JaredFromLondon on Oct 9, 2008 6:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i'm in

waiting on the invite…

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Oct 7, 2008 1:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Clarification

While you have to make picks for every period you do it all before the game. Once it starts you can’t make any more picks.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 7, 2008 8:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’ve already made my picks for game 1. The rosters need to be updated though. No Finger.

by general borschevsky on Oct 7, 2008 8:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for reminding me! The beta testing roster is still up.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 7, 2008 9:14 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

needs updates

I’m pretty sure Raycroft, Wellwood, or Sundin won’t be making any goals for the Leafs this season

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Oct 7, 2008 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Raycroft

would be an easy pick if there was a pick for the first goalie to let a goal in on his glove-side.

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Oct 7, 2008 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sundin still might… after Christmas. Great job with the site. Very exciting.

by general borschevsky on Oct 7, 2008 9:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’ll be making my picks after the update. I’ve got a feeling the first shot will be one of the new guys…

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Oct 7, 2008 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Editing Picks

You can change your picks (especially now that the schedule’s been updated) any time before the published start time of the game.

by xiix on Oct 7, 2008 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice

Thanks, this will help kill some time at work.

Also, double thanks to PPP for the Ferrari chicks.

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Oct 7, 2008 8:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm in

Waiting for invite as well.

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Oct 7, 2008 9:28 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, this will help kill some time at work.

hahaha that’s a good tagline for the site.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 7, 2008 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

LD

is totally in

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Oct 7, 2008 8:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Invites

Alright, I sent out the invites to everyone that has registered and chose Leafs as their loyalty. If you made a mistake then Wendel will avenge Leafs Nation but before he punches out all of your blood let me know so I can fix it.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 7, 2008 9:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I accepted PPP’s invite. Who’s cool now?

Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.

by Chemmy on Oct 7, 2008 9:42 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

So did I

And now I’m one step closer to achieving my life-long dream of social-acceptance.

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Oct 7, 2008 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Important Note

Check your spam folders to make sure that you get the invite to the league.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 7, 2008 11:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

checked it

no message yet, unless you’re sending as irish lottery, e-loan, or reverend Father Max

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Oct 7, 2008 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

nevermind

it’s on

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Oct 7, 2008 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No Emails

The invitation to join a league won’t be emailed to anybody.

Next time the invitee visits the site, they’ll get an on-screen message nagging them to accept or decline.

I could add an email alert if desired…

by xiix on Oct 7, 2008 1:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’ve clicked “Accept” on that invite a few times, but the message is still there every time I go back.

Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.

by Chemmy on Oct 7, 2008 1:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Please Try Again

Thanks for alerting me to that. It was a minor case-sensitivity problem that I’d accounted for everywhere except the league invite accept/decline actions.

Can you please try to accept the invitation again & let me know if the nagging message disappears?

by xiix on Oct 7, 2008 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That did it for me, thanks!

by LeafFanInVan on Oct 7, 2008 2:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That seemed to work. I’m glad I mentioned it. :)

Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.

by Chemmy on Oct 7, 2008 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

nope, I got it straitened out. Thank you

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Oct 7, 2008 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ah ok

Thanks for clearing that up :)

Naw, next log-in should be enough.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 7, 2008 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I expect Winkle to experience the same weirdness as Chemmy & LeafFanInVan… at least until he/she accepts the invitation (again). Also, you’ll probably see duplicates (the only difference being capitalization) in your league management interface, PPP. I’ll get in there and manually unscrew everything.

Glad you guys caught all this before the start of the season. It could have been a lot worse. That’s not to say it won’t get weird or break again in the future (I’d be surprised if it didn’t!)… and Daylight Savings time is going to be interesting…

Thanks again for keeping me on top of it guys.

by xiix on Oct 7, 2008 3:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks!

To xiix who is, in case you haven’t noticed, the brains behind the SPG game.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 7, 2008 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fixed?

Your league management page should look better now & hopefully Winkle won’t notice anything weird.

by xiix on Oct 7, 2008 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Looked good to me :)

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 7, 2008 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fixed

Yup I had the same issue but its fixed now that I checked it, thanks!

Also no problems, we realize its a work in progress so its expected and you’re doing a great job keeping on top of it.

Keep up the great work though, as I said before, this will do nicely in terms of helping me kill some more time at work hahaha.

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Oct 8, 2008 8:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Update

Wow, the Caps fans are burying us in terms of registrations! It’s a pretty simple registration process and a simple game to play.

Remember to use your PPP login name.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 8, 2008 12:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Its all meaningless

Unless they get Ovechkin to sign up.

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Oct 8, 2008 1:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

OVIETIME

look, i’m already in. I don’t know what else I can do

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Oct 8, 2008 1:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You can

Get Luke Schenn to sign up and join.

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Oct 8, 2008 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I added a running counter of unique user accounts (there are some duplicates for now) on the user management page. Do you think the team-by-team population breakdown is something regular SPG players would be interested in?

by xiix on Oct 8, 2008 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah I like that idea. Shame the Leafs fans into joining!

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 8, 2008 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Shame it Is.

I’ll try to figure out the ideal real estate to place info like that… after I finish writing the backup-plan ESPN play-by-play parsing code.

by xiix on Oct 9, 2008 1:02 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Full-On Shame Action

OK… so… I got the backup parser done, I got the Avs added, schedule fleshed out & it seems all teams have good rosters.

I’ve put the sign-up tally widget thingamazoid (heretofore known as the Shame Board) in the sidebar on some of the pages I expect new people will view, as well as the main page showing current games, etc.

Leafs fans are catching up on Caps fans. Caps outnumber Leafs 3.83:1. Avs fans are on your heels… you guys only have 2:1 on them, and they just got added today!

For shame. :)

by xiix on Oct 9, 2008 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hear that ladies and gentlemen! That is a direct challenge!

I love the shame board.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 9, 2008 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Question

That I flaked on…are we giving points for picking Not gonna happen in OT/SO or do they not count if they don’t happen?

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 9, 2008 4:41 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

OT / SO

Picks for OT & SO are counted just like regular periods, except they’re completely ignored if the game ends in regulation. Or… similarly, if it ends in OT, the SO picks are ignored.

If this isn’t completely clear in the FAQ, got any suggestions for explaining it better? I’m game.

by xiix on Oct 9, 2008 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

OT / SO Follow-Up

IIRC, this was the upshot to our reasoning this summer.

If Player A doesn’t bother to make any picks for OT, that qualifies as “won’t happen” for all 3 (S, P, G). So, if that game ends in regulation, Player A gets 3 points tacked onto their score; it’s as if they’re rewarded for their laziness, forgetfulness, etc.

So we opted to have the system ignore all picks for extra periods that do not occur. That way, someone savvy enough to reason, “If it goes to OT, it’s pretty likely that the dumbass on my team is going to draw a hooking penalty, and we won’t score” gets rewarded for the penalty (should it occur), and a “WNH” on the goal.

Something like that.

I think.

by xiix on Oct 9, 2008 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs