Ding, ding, ding... BDD is correct.

You ask either of them, "What would the other one say if you asked him "Which path is the correct one?"?" and you take the opposite way.

Say the correct path out is to the left...

If you ask the above question to the one telling the truth, he would say the liar would say "Go to the right."

If you ask the above question to the liar, he would lie and say the one telling the truth would say "Go to the right".

Therefore, it doesn't matter who you ask. Go Left, Young Man.

You still haven't told us which one of us is the liar and which one is the one who tells the truth. Listen, would THIS face stear you wrong?

I told you all not to sleep on the Bucks. Redd had 40 last night, second in a week.

What if I asked either one: "Can I follow you out of here?" -- would the liar purposely walk us to our doom?

How many days do I have to catch up?

15 to go, including tonight.

I think you better watch your back, JG. This kid sounds like he means business..I mean, he hasn't said a word here for months, and he just very quietly knocked about 200 points off your lead in the last week or 10 days or so.

Hey, they had it on late at night that he'd be out. Computer was already shut down, you know? :p -Pat

Tuesday morning, January 20th

JG 8457 106.9 106 (-00.9) 8563 119.8
SP 8085 113.4 089 (-24.4) 8174 111.6

JG with a 389 point lead

Thursday morning, January 29th

JG 9330 114.8 072 (-42.8) 9402 112.3
SP 9084 121.5 149 (+27.5) 9233 111.9

JG with a 169 point lead

220 points in 9 days

I gotta turn my game around now. No more "holding back" so the lower ranks can have some hope!

Watch out SPike!!

Friday

PL 9928 108.5 112 (+03.5) 10040 117.4
DB 9817 110.3 120 (+09.7) 09937 117.9
CC 9481 100.9 105 (+04.1) 09586 114.6
JG 9402 112.3 108 (-04.3) 09510 118.8
SP 9233 111.9 110 (-01.9) 09343 114.7
PP 4458..........032...........04490 114.1
LE 3501 111.9 110 (-01.9) 03611 109.9

This game is clearly about backcourts. Top five here all have Garnett, Brand, and Dampier, but with 9 different guys out of a possible 10 at guard.

What are the odds... oh never mind!

Well, given the fact that all 5 of us had the same frontcourt, there are only a limited number of choices and possible combinations for the guards because of salary cap restrictions.

I think that first we'd have to know how many possible combos there were, and then, and then, um, and then....

Oh, never mind.

No, let's not "never mind"

Actually, DB (jump in anywhere), I think the answer is pretty easy once you know the number of possible combinations.

Now, I'm not about to figure that out (If I take Marbury, I can't take Bryant, etc., etc.), bit for the sake of argument let's say this:

18 teams are playing tonight, so there are 18 x 18 ways to pick a backcourt, or 324 possible combinations (we'll just use starters--no back-ups). Let's assumes that half of them, or 162 are not possible because of cap restrictions.

Now we can "back into" the answer (jump in anytime, DB).

If there are 162 possible combos, we would need 163 people playing to guarantee that at least two would have the same backcourt.
So if 162 people were playing, the chances of two of them having the same picks would be 161/162, or 99.4% (jump in anywhere, DB). That means there would be a .6% chance of all 162 picking a different backcourt.

So, with 5 players, the chances of at least two of us having the same picks would be 4/162, or 2.47%.

And the chances of none of us picking the same combination would be 97.53%

I'm pretty certain that mathematically, that answer is correct. However, it doesn't allow for combinations that would never get picked because you would be so far below the cap that it would be ridiculous to pick those two guys together.

For example, who would combine Utah's DeShawn Stevenson (cap value 6.9, VGA 9.3) with Miami's Rafer Alston (9.5, 9.7)?

It's a mathematically doable combo under the cap restrictions, but picking those two with Brand, Garnett, and Dampier would still leave you about 20 points below the cap, and with Marbury, Cassell, Bryant, etc. available for at least one of those spots (and you would still be under the cap), why combine Stevenson & Alston?

Anyway, I have a feeling that there were no more than about 48 combinations that had an actual chance of being selected, so the chances of all five of us having a different backcourt would be 44/48, or 91.67%

Still seems kind of high, though

DB?

Who are some of the guys that you've had on your team that have killed you?

Guys you picked more than once, that way under-performed?

For me:

Ronald Murray, 9.8 V. Avg. Picked him 3 times, got me 11 pts.
Tony Parker, 13.4 V. Avg. Picked him 3 times, got me 24 pts.
Richard Hamilton, 14.7 V. Avg. Picked him 4 times for 31 pts.
Chauncey Billups, 16.4 V. Avg. Picked him 4 times for 34 pts.

All guards, of course :rolleyes:

As I've mentioned before, one of the features I enjoyed about the baseball game that this game doesn't have is the ability to view the staistics of the other league members. Anyway

Here are my 5 top scorers:

Kevin Garnett 39 G, 1312 Pts
Brad Miller 28 G, 637 Pts
Tim Duncan, 22 G, 630 Pts
Zach Randolph, 23 G, 577 Pts
Elton Brand, 18 G, 528 Pts

And my All-Star Team

PG Baron Davis 21 G, 410 Pts
SG Tracy McGrady 16 G, 354 Pts
PF Tim Duncan, 23 G, 577 Pts
SF Kevin Garnett 39 G, 1312 Pts
C Brad Miller 28 G, 637 Pts

The stats question... I'll think about it this weekend, plaw...

Guys on my do not play list (minimum of 3 games)...

Paul Pierce 3 games, an average of 10.3
Allan Houston 3 games, an average of 4.7
David Wesley 3 games, an average of 10.3

Top 5 Scorers

Kevin Garnett 41 games 1350 points
Zach Randolph 28 games 664 points
Brad Miller 24 games 530 points
Jermaine O'Neal 24 games 526 points
Elton Brand 17 games 486 points

I'd have to think who my all-star team is. In addition to points, I would also consider their value. For example, Elton Brand and Tim Duncan can both average 25 points per game for me, but since Brand is cheaper, I would put him on my all-star team instead of Duncan.

Gee...Don't waste your valuable weekend time thinking about this game, DB.

Go out. Enjoy yourself. See your friends and loved ones. Have a few drinks. In fact, get drunk. Good and drunk. So loaded that you fall asleep for 24 hours and don't update your roster.

Sorry. That was mean. I relish the competition. I'd feel terrible if you missed a day. Truly.

Oh, you must have me confused with Pork. What was his excuse- power failure or something?? Likely story! :p

Remember that, plaw?... Just that one day turned the three man race to a two man race. I felt bad for him.

Hmmmm...Good point. I wasn't thinking about the salary cap when I made my all-star team. My team is way over the cap.

I have a feeling that if we all did a team that had to be under the cap, the teams would be all the same.

Was that the night he had a roster that was over the cap, and "Forgot" to go back and fix it?

That was late in the second half, right? I seem to remember he was close to being pretty much out of it by then.

But, yeah, I felt bad. I remember there was a night in baseball when I just forgot to do my team, but woke up about 2:30 in the morning and, fortunately, remembered.

Isn't it something how you and I have been the only two players that have been in both games, and gone thru baseball, 180+ days, and now basketball, so far another 90 or so, without ever missing a day?

I was away for a week over the summer, and I can't tell you for how many weekends, and I don't own a laptop. But I've made sure everytime that the place I was staying had a "business center", or there was an "internet cafe" or something nearby.

And the GF doesn't understand it. She can't figure out "what the big deal is if you miss just one day?"

Maybe I'd feel differently if I was in 5th place by 300 points....

I know I've posted this several times before, but it always cracks me up when I read JG's first post in the baseball thread...

"Anyone interested in joining me in this year's ESPN Baseball Challenge? If there are a few, I would like to start a group we all could join together.(Sounds so innocent)

I've been playing BBC since 1997 and it's great.(Yeah, right. It's great) All you gotta do is pick a player for each position, plus a pitching staff.(That's all? )You accumulate points if your chosen players do well.(Well, gee whiz. That sure sounds simple enough) The first "season" ends at the All-Star Break, and then you start again.

I'd like those who'd be willing to play throughout. There's nothing worse than people who sign up, then never play."(No, I doubt if we'll have any of those)

Yea, that was it. He was over the cap. Yep, it was late in the 2nd half. Pork was running in third at the time, but still had an outside shot, I think.

I remember one night I set my alarm clock so I can set my team right before the deadline just to have the latest weather news- pretty important doubleheader the next day, I think.

Yep, we haven't missed a day yet. Knock on wood. There was one day that I did miss for basketball... I forgot to set my team this past Dec. 31st. Luckily, there were no games New Year's Day! Also, technically, I did miss a day in baseball- it was both fortunate and unfortunate. Fortunate in that it was in the middle of the week and all my players were playing the next day anyway. Unfortunate in that, having picked Chacon the day before, I ended up with a Colorado Rockies doubleheader in Colorado. I got rocked that day. Funny how I remember these things!

I find JG's first post hilarious! Sure, we'll get together, have a few laughs and have a little competition on the side. The game's easy!

Yea Right!

Three things that made that game interesting... (i) Negative Points
(ii) Weather
(iii) Doubleheaders (and the possibility of people not catching them!)

Man, are we ready for pitchers and catchers to report or what!

I'm reading the first couple of pages in the baseball thread, and I came across this:

(I wrote this like on the second day) "Mindful of your admonition to "stay the course", I see that this game will require daily attention. I hope I'm up to it."

So JG answers
"It doesn't have to, if you're happy with your team and pitching staff, you can just let it go. I'd check it for injuries now and then, though. You won't maximize your points this way."

And of course, JG's classic advice on strategy:

Once you have your "dream team", within budget, you can just leave it like that and not make any changes until the end of the game. That's the easy way, and there are many players I leave all season unless they get hurt.

Well, we sure changed his thinking on that one, didn't we?

Been ready. About 30 days, right?

You know you're ready when you start re-reading last years baseball thread from the beginning.

And isn't it gonna be great when we have baseball and basketball going the first two weeks or so of April.

Those days of innocence, huh?

Anyway -

SF Kevin Garnett, 22 games, 748 pts, 34 pts/game
PF Zach Randolph, 28 games, 636 pts, 22.7 pts/game
PG Baron Davis, 29 games, 582 pts, 20.1 pts/game
C Brad Miller, 24 games, 551 pts, 23 pts/game
C Jermaine O'Neal, 22 games, 530 pts, 24.1 pts/game

Losers:

C Mehmet Okur, 1 game, 1 pt
PF Juwan Howard, 1 game, 3 pts
C Marcus Camby, 1 game, 3 pts
PG Jason Williams, 1 game, 4 pts
SG Larry Hughes, 1 game, 6 pts

More Losers:

Cch Randy Ayers, 3 games, 0 pts
Cch Nate McMillan, 3 games, 1.7 pts/game
Cch Stan Van Gundy, 1 game, 0 pts
Cch Scott Skiles, 1 game, 0 pts
Cch Eddie Jordan, 1 game, 0 pts

I think you forgot that rolling-eyes emoticon there, plaw!

After looking at JG's list... Pork, you want to tell me when you're picking the Sixers next?

Frank Johnson 1 for 3
Phil Jackson 6 for 11
Scott Skiles 0 for 1

Every other coach is 50% and above.

Indy has been my lucky charm... I'm 7 for 7!

Saturday

PL 10040 117.4 113 (-04.4) 10153 116.9
DB 09937 117.9 107 (-10.9) 10044 118.3
CC 09586 114.6 107 (-07.6) 09693 101.7
JG 09510 118.8 135 (+16.2) 09645 111.4
SP 09343 114.7 094 (-20.7) 09437 111.8
PP 04490 114.1 090 (-24.1) 04580 102.2
LE 03611 109.9 080 (-29.9) 03691 113.9