Superbowl

[Adamm]

Apparently some American football team in my town is in some sort football championship today.

Hope everyone has a great time today. Eat some miniature hot dogs for me. Should be an amazing game.

Steelers 24, Packers 16.

[golddog]

Didn't see this til now (halftime). Great start for Breen Bay (yay for me), but I think the injuries could really cause problems in the second half.

My pregame prediction was that Pittsburgh would be able to run on Green Bay better than Green Bay could pass on Pittsburgh, and that Pittsburgh had a significant advantage on special teams. I picked Pittsburgh in a close one, something like 20-17.

While I'm hoping current trends continue, good luck the rest of the way, Adam & PA gang.

[golddog]

Lucky dog, lucky dog.

I thought Pittsburgh was going to run away once they got the momentum after halftime, but Green Bay got a few breaks and did just enough at the right times.

Not necessarily a pretty game, but a good outcome from my perspective. Congratulations on a great season and a good game to the Steelers and their fans.

[HalfSugar]

Great game, good result as a lifelong Packers fan but as an honourary Steelers fan, I would not have been too upset if the result had gone the other way.

I bet the Packers to win both halves and win by 7-12 or 12+ so that all failed pretty badly.

A question if I may, as a limey who was sadly not weened on the NFL growing up - how is a team's regular season schedule determined each year? Obviously there is an NFC and an AFC and they are split into four regional divisions but are the teams in the NFC and AFC always the same? I guess I could do some research and compare years but I am lazy.

It seems strange to me that since it's not a west coast / east coast divide that decides the AFC and NFC line ups, if there are no AFC / NFC team changes each year, decades could go by before two teams face off since they'd both have to reach the Superbowl to do so..................

[golddog]

<snip/>A question if I may, as a limey who was sadly not weened on the NFL growing up - how is a team's regular season schedule determined each year? Obviously there is an NFC and an AFC and they are split into four regional divisions but are the teams in the NFC and AFC always the same?

Yes, each conference has the same teams from year to year, and each division within the conference is the same from year to year (with very rare exceptions for realignment or expansion).

The divisions are generally geographic, although the further west you go, the bigger the geography that's covered. For example, Green Bay is in with Detroit, Chicago, and Minnesota; Pittsburgh with Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Baltimore. But, Denver is in with Kansas City, San Diego, and Oakland.

It seems strange to me that since it's not a west coast / east coast divide that decides the AFC and NFC line ups, if there are no AFC / NFC team changes each year, decades could go by before two teams face off since they'd both have to reach the Superbowl to do so..................

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_regular_season#Formula. So, every team plays each other with a four year gap at most, as the other-conference divisions rotate around. Pittsburgh and Green Bay last played in 2009, so I guess they will play again in two years.

Of course, who knows how it will be when the 18 game schedule is pushed through.

BTW, it's pronounced, "skej-ool".

[HalfSugar]

Awesome, that makes sense now.

Two new questions regarding last season:

1) Why did the Packers and not the Giants get a wildcard when both were 10-6 in the regular season? Does net points split a tie?

2) Why did the Ravens (12-4) not get a bye in the playoffs but the Bears (11-5) did? Is it because the Ravens were in the same division as the Steelers (12-4) and you cannot have two byes from the same division or is it because you have to have two byes from each conference? I guess it is probably the latter..............

[golddog]

Awesome, that makes sense now.

Two new questions regarding last season:

1) Why did the Packers and not the Giants get a wildcard when both were 10-6 in the regular season? Does net points split a tie?

http://www.nfl.com/standings/tiebreakingprocedures Green Bay crushed (crushed, I say) New York this season, so step 1 under wild-card.

2) Why did the Ravens (12-4) not get a bye in the playoffs but the Bears (11-5) did? Is it because the Ravens were in the same division as the Steelers (12-4) and you cannot have two byes from the same division or is it because you have to have two byes from each conference? I guess it is probably the latter..............

The latter. Top two division winners in each conference get first-round byes.

[HalfSugar]

Most enlightening

So about these 'downs' I keep hearing about during a game...............

[BeerWench13]

If you exclude the halftime show, it was actually a good game this year. I'm so glad Green Bay won! I am tired of hearing about only having 5 rings instead of 6 from Steelers fans, I can't imagine if they went to 7.

[HalfSugar]

Agreed - BEPs sure are AWFUL live. I knew Fergie was bad but the rest are equally as dire. Usher slightly redeemed it but not by much, however the costumes for the dancers and overall spectacle was pretty awesome.

[golddog]

Agreed - BEPs sure are AWFUL live.

Why limiting it to live?

And BeerWench makes an appearance! What a great day for the forums!

Finally, football poker: I've forgotten all the rules and can't find the site that my friend Dave found for this, but it goes something like this:

Seven-card stud. Since a field goal is worth three, threes are wild. If you get a four (four downs, four quarters) face-up, you cut the deck (or the other deck), and those cards (but not the four) become wild, but just for you.

The kicker is, though, you have to amass 10 yards by sixth street (i.e., get a first down in your four up cards), and face cards are zero. But, before getting your sixth street card, you have the option to 'punt'; that is, you don't get a sixth street card, but you're not forced out either.

So, if you don't make your first down, you must fold, unless you take the punt option. I suppose someone might punt if they had trip face cards and thought it was good.

There were some more weirdnesses that I can't think of right now, and I can't find the site.

So, of course, we decided to play a split with high hand and high yards, but for the yards you could count your down cards too. Turned out pretty good for me when I got 9's full of something to scoop.

I recommend starting a round of this later in the evening, after everyone's had the chance to knock a few beers back.

[HalfSugar]

You must find the website with the rules for this

[golddog]

http://www.pagat.com/poker/variants/invented/stud.html#football

The two variations we like are the bit I mentioned, high yards/high hand split, and also a progressive fee on the aces (first person to get an ace gets 1x from everyone who's still in, second gets 2x, etc).

Seems like we should have a rule that twos mean you must discard one card (a safety--being tackled in your own end zone--is two points for the defense and the offsensive team must kick the ball away).

Acting out of turn is a false start, and the offender must add an ante to the pot. Likewise, making an invalid bet is illegal procedure and costs one ante.

Here's a book we quite like: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=saturday+night+poker&x=10&y=15 for other craziness, which, like this, we just extend.

Let me know if you'd like to learn some of the classics, like Lowmaha.

[golddog]

http://www.pagat.com/poker/variants/invented/stud.html#football

The two variations we like are the bit I mentioned, high yards/high hand split, and also a progressive fee on the aces (first person to get an ace gets 1x from everyone who's still in, second gets 2x, etc).

Seems like we should have a rule that twos mean you must discard one card (a safety--being tackled in your own end zone--is two points for the defense and the offsensive team must kick the ball away).

Acting out of turn is a false start, and the offender must add an ante to the pot. Likewise, making an invalid bet is illegal procedure and costs one ante.

Of course, in the event of tied hands or yards, of course we don't quarter the pot. We go to overtime! Each player gets three cards, which are ranked based on the high hand/yards in them (depending which half we're playing off). If still a tie, it goes to sudden-death: each player gets one card until someone's OT hand takes the lead over the other's.

Here's a book we quite like: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=saturday+night+poker&x=10&y=15 for other craziness, which, like this, we just extend.

Let me know if you'd like to learn some of the classics, like Lowmaha.