The following is from Adam Fox (adamrfox@yahoo.com), who graciously tabulates and announces the contest results.

(For the uninitiated, Adam created this site way back when . . .)

How to Play

1. Submissions are done week by week (this is to keep my overhead down). Submissions should be done AFTER midnight of the day after a game and BEFORE midnight of the day of the next game. The deadline is the time it reaches me (not necessarily the time you send it). Also, times are US/Eastern (that is 4 hours behind GMT, 5 hours behind GMT after we go off Daylight Savings Time on the fourth Sunday in October).

2. Folks can submit as many times as they like, but only the last one that's submitted before the deadline counts.

3. Results will be posted to the list. They will also be archived on the WWW home page.

4. To enter, send a SIMPLE message to score-submit@orib.org. You must also INCLUDE YOUR NAME in your message.

5. You must be a member of the Raiders Fans Mailing List to qualify to win.

Winning Criteria:

The winner is the person with the lowest total point differential. If you want a formula, here it is:

   abs(Ro - Rg) + abs(Oo - Og)

where abs() = absolute value, Ro = Real Raiders score, Rg = Guessed Raiders score, Oo = Real Opponent's score, Og = Guessed Opponent's score.

Each person will get a score from the above formula and the lowest score wins. In the case of a tie, players will be eliminated by the following criteria. (Players will be eliminated at EACH step of the tie-breaking process unless all players are eliminated. If all players would be eliminated at a step, then all will advance.)

1. Picking the correct winner. If a player picks the wrong winner, he/she is eliminated.

2. Picking the lowest individual point differential. (E.g. If two players have an 8 differential, but one got it from 1 and 7 while the other got it from 4 and 4, then the 1 and 7 player wins for only being off by one point on one team).

3. The player whose submission arrives first. (Based on the idea that the earlier the submission, the less timely information, such as injury reports, the player had access to). I understand that some folks have lousy mail connections, but if it comes that close, that's the breaks. All players reaching this point who didn't win will get honorable mentions.

Ideas for rules are welcome. All final decisions are mine.

The following addendum was sent out by Adam prior to starting the 2003 season.

It's that time of year again. A new season, a new PTS game.

For the uninitiated, PTS is an annual game many on the list play. PTS stands for Pick The Score. Each week, players will attempt to pick the score of the Raiders game that week. I will compute the differentials and post up weekly results as well as overall results. At the end of the season, the player with the lowest average differential is the overall winner. There is also a 16-game winner, as well as a most weekly wins winner.

Here's how the game works.

1. All picks must be sent to the special address (score-submit@orib.org). Emails should be in the following format (it just makes it simpler to parse):
   
   
   • Raiders: XX
     
   • <Opponent>: YY
     
   • <Your Name>
     
     
   That's all I need.
   
   

2. Email picks must be sent before kickoff...that's only fair.

3. The formula is basically just taking how many points the pick is off (higher or lower) for each team. That is the differential for the week. The overall score is the average differential over the 16 week game.

4. Since the overall differential is based on an average, players must play at least 12 games over the course of the season to stay in the game. This means that new players will not be accepted after the 4th game. Once a player misses enough games that he/she will not be able to play 12 games throughout the season, that player will be dropped from the overall standings.

5. Results will be posted sometime after the game and usually (unless I'm really busy) before the next game. Usually, it's within a day or two.

Anyway, that's the game. Enjoy!