In a little over 48 hours, the last two Super Bowl Champions will march onto the hallowed ground of Lambeau Field to kick off the long-awaited 2011 NFL season. At the same time, the Acme Packing Company prediction contest, Cheesestradamus, makes its official debut! Get in, submit your picks, and maybe you can win the 2011 championship and the giant wheel of cheese!*
* There is no actual cheese awarded to the winner, as of yet. You'll have to buy it yourself.
The official rules for the contest can be found after the jump. Please read through them before submitting your predictions. The recap of the preseason can also be found after the jump. Without ruining the surprise, let's say congratulations to Robert St, winner of the Preseason title. Now get out there, make your picks, and get cheesy!
Click here to enter your predictions for Week 1: Packers vs. Saints
Click here to view all submissions for Week 1
Official Cheesestradamus Rules
Enter your user name exactly as it is on Acme Packing Company. Please refrain from using any profane words in your user name. Please also type in your user name exactly the same each week, as this will help with record keeping throughout the season.
For the score predictions, you will earn a full three points if you guess a team's score exactly correctly. If you are off by one, you'll earn 2 points, and if you're off by two, you'll get a single point.
Each other question is worth three points and must be guessed exactly correctly for full points, unless otherwise indicated. When guessing who will score the Packers' first touchdown, double points will be awarded if a defensive or special teams player or an offensive lineman is selected and that guess is correct. If multiple players tie on a player-based question, points will be awarded to anyone who guessed any of the tied players.
For bonus predictions, a qualifying guess will occur in less than 1/3 of games. I will make the final judgment on all guesses based on statistical precedents from past games, and those games will depend on the type of prediction. Certain guesses will be more likely to happen than others. Player-specific predictions will be analyzed based on a player's career, and so on and so forth. A good rule of thumb is that if you're not sure if a guess will qualify, be more specific or guess something that happens less frequently. But you don't necessarily need to go too in-depth, as all bonus predictions are worth the same amount. If a numerical prediction is made (e.g. Vic So'oto has 3 TFL) I will assume that this is a minimum number unless indicated otherwise. In this case, if So'oto had 4 TFL, the prediction would count. However, if you said he would have exactly 3 TFL, it would not. Finally, please remember that all bonus predictions must be both quantifiable and verifiable. In other words, I have to be able to look it up after the fact and confirm whether your prediction came true from the box score, play-by-play, or other source of information. I will always use the official statistics from NFL.com for all stats-based questions.
Preseason Recap
Robert St grabbed a hold of the preseason lead early, with 12 and 11 points in the first two weeks. He admirably held on for dear life as a number of players including AdamA, Jabooty, PackerLogician, and more were gunning for him during the last two games. However, Robert got the two points he needed in Week -1 and sealed his Preseason title with a total of 31 points over four games. Meanwhile, Jabooty set the pace last week with a season-high 13 points, and will look to ride this momentum into the regular season. Congratulations to Robert, and keep up the good work.