The 2020 Deathlist Cup

[deadsox 894]

I just got back from the north Maine woods to see that An Fear Beag has won the Deathlist Cup. 

 

Congratulations on a great run!

[msc 18,436]

On 08/03/2020 at 22:38, Joey Russ said:

From what I can tell, Terrence Matthews was notorious for his crimes

 

For lack of a better place to put it, according to the prosecuting lawyers, sea cadets paedophile scum Terrence Matthews died before any of the games he was picked in this year. No big loss to the world, though.

[Joey Russ 7,220]

1 minute ago, msc said:

 

For lack of a better place to put it, according to the prosecuting lawyers, sea cadets paedophile scum Terrence Matthews died before any of the games he was picked in this year. No big loss to the world, though.

Hm, should I take away the cup from An Fear Beag then? He should’ve done a better job noticing his death before picking him in February (muahahaha). 

[YoungWillz 21,025]

14 minutes ago, msc said:

 

For lack of a better place to put it, according to the prosecuting lawyers, sea cadets paedophile scum Terrence Matthews died before any of the games he was picked in this year. No big loss to the world, though.

One of the ones I had a root around for during my searches recently.

 

Nothing I could find - good spot msc.

[msc 18,436]

3 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

One of the ones I had a root around for during my searches recently.

 

Nothing I could find - good spot msc.

 

Just saw the name on my Deathrace team checking my teams for the year and thought "he must have died by now, surely?" And he had.

[Joey Russ 7,220]

On 25/07/2020 at 01:50, An Fear Beag said:

Some have battled it for months and pulled through (I thought Cecilia Romo was a certainty for me in the last round)

Cecilia Romo has died now

[Joey Russ 7,220]

Here’s me hoping that someone could take over the cup during the last few weeks of the year. If no one does take over the cup in the next few weeks then I guess I could host another year (though 2021 would definitely be my last year as host). I’m just bringing this up again as I don’t think anyone wants this great pool to die. 

[An Fear Beag 1,535]

Thanks Joey for agreeing to run this great competition again. You did a cracking job with it last year, so good to see it is in safe hands again.

 

I've been thinking a bit over the past few weeks about the cup and the difficulties in running it. So without meaning in any way to tell you how to run your own game, I'd like to throw out a few suggestions about how to make life easier on yourself. 

 

From my vantage point, the Cup format throws up a few difficulties which you don't tend to find as much in other pools.

1. Players tend to enter teams very close to the deadline as they don't want to miss any last minute announcements. Some inconsiderate bastards (ahem) even have the cheek to send in teams with 10 minutes to go!

2. The nature of the competition means that there are a lot of very obscure names picked. Completely understandable - if there is only a month to get hits, then without the really low-hanging fruit, a lot of ties would end 0-0. However these barrel-scrapers all have to be checked out by the host before the masterlist is put up. This, combined with the last-minute submissions, must put a huge strain on the host on a specific day where they could be otherwise busy.

3. Because of problems 1 and 2, some names are going to squeeze through, which with more time to consider them, probably would not be allowed. This then leads to bitching and moaning (from certain posters) about the job that the host is doing.

 

So, to address these issues I would suggest the following.

 

1. Bring the deadline for submission of teams forward from 23.59  to 21.00. At least give yourself a few hours to get the teams together and ready to post up at midnight. Realistically, the extra 3 hours makes bugger all difference to anyone's team. I can honestly say that I did not find a single pick in the final few hours that got me a hit this year (and God knows I tried!)

 

2. Take the vetting of picks out of your hands, and put the bulk of the work back in the hands of the players. This could be done in the following way:

• All teams must be submitted with 11 players plus 3 subs
• The host posts up the teams exactly as they are entered. No checking of picks is done at this stage, and no PMs may be sent to the host to clarify whether a pick will be allowed.
• Once the teams are posted up on the thread, a player has until 23.59 on the 1st of the month to object to one of their opponents picks. The objection is to be posted up on the thread, with reasons  for the objections. A player can only object to their direct opponents players, but if the pick is deemed ineligible, that holds for all teams that selected him/her.
• If your opponent objects to your pick, you have until 23.59 on 2nd of the month to defend your pick on the thread. No further discussion is allowed - 1 post to object, 1 post to defend. No ongoing discussion.
• At that point, the host makes a judgement as to whether the pick is allowed. If it is not allowed, the first sub comes into play. The hosts decision is final - no further discussion on the decision is allowed.
• To prevent frivolous objections, each players is allowed 2 objections over the whole of the tournament. As in crickets review system, if your objection is successful you keep your full compliment of objections, if it fails you lose an objection. Likewise, you can replace a disqualified pick twice only in the tournament. If there are any further successful objections, you play with a shortened team. 

3. To prevent the constant carping that can blight the competition, introduce the great football offence of "bringing the game into disrepute". Offences could include:

• Objecting to other players picks (other than those of your direct opponent), or encouraging other players to object to an opponents picks.
• Continuing an argument on a pick, after the initial objection and reply.
• Questioning the decision of the host once it has been made.
• Generally being a moany cunt (The Sir Creep rule).

The punishment for bringing the game into disrepute would be:

First offence - warning

2nd offence - Entire team in sin-bin for 10 days - no hits allowed,

3rd offence - Chucked out. 

 

That's my tuppence worth on the subject. Feel free to use, alter, completely disregard, or openly mock any of the suggestions! And thanks again for hosting -  I look forward to defending my crown next year,

[Joey Russ 7,220]

Alright, I’m probably going to open up the new thread tomorrow. To address some of the points above: 

I don’t think bringing the deadline forward is necessarily the right move. I do have the crowdsource list deadline 3 hours before midnight in the UK, but the crowdsource list is also an entirely different beast with dealing with 50 name lists throughout the entry period rather than 11 name lists. The nature of those two pools are also entirely different from each other. One is the forum minds bringing up their own list to compete with the Deathlist, while this is far more competitive in stakes. And, while bringing the deadline 3 hours might help the host a bit, I think it might stress out the competitors. And we don’t want that to happen. So yeah, earlier closing period won’t happen. 
I think making the competitors more aware of their picks is a good idea. However, rejected picks actually didn’t come very often, so it probably wouldn’t happen too often. I would however also advise competitors to make sure their picks aren’t already dead. There was at least one instance of someone picking a name who was dead for over a week last time. 
I have mixed feelings about booting out competitors due to continued annoyance. In one way, yes it would reduce the stress of the host by not dealing with the same complaints over and over again. On the other hand, is it really fair to boot out a competitor just because they’re being super annoying? I don’t think that’s a good idea. However should competitors continue to constantly complain later down in the cup I may instate that rule hopefully to shut them up. 
One other issue that someone brought up last time was me not really able to do competitive play in the pool due to having to submit my team early, and honestly don’t worry about me not being able to compete as well. I did say this cup would be my final time as cup host and I expect to be back to the full swing of things come 2022. 

[TQR 14,385]

2 hours ago, Joey Russ said:

On the other hand, is it really fair to boot out a competitor just because they’re being super annoying? I don’t think that’s a good idea.

Of course it is! I know my Pool is fairly low maintenance but it didn’t stop me. If a sportsperson spends all their time pissing and whinging and effing and bawling at the ref, they get thrown out, and it should be no different here.

[Perhaps 1,423]

Seems like a lot the stress is caused by someone whose username rhymes with Fur Sleep? 

 

Sir Karen would be insta-barred from any of my pools if I ever hosted one, no question.

 

[En Passant 3,740]

2 hours ago, Joey Russ said:

On the other hand, is it really fair to boot out a competitor just because they’re being super annoying? I don’t think that’s a good idea.

 

I think it's an excellent idea. None better.

[Gooseberry Crumble 5,337]

Looking forward to playing in this pool  @Joey Russ thanks for running it again. 

[drol 11,920]

On 31/03/2020 at 16:08, Spade_Cooley said:

In fairness it's not as close as it looks between me and Banana, thanks to his Serena Liu pick my final death has to be under  71 to win on youngest average age of hit. Which rules out the teetering Lee Teng-Hui. Mohamed Hussein Tantawi is 84, Zubeen Garg is out of any danger, we both share Michael Ziegler and Tim Brooks as a pick... Which leaves me with only Willie K (59 give or take a year) or Ruth Heide (who I think must be early 60s?) as a possible out in the next... 9 hours.

Zubeen Garg hospitalised after falling and hitting his head.