Welcome even more new participants. Just as we are finally getting into this new system of entering and scoring our picks in our weekly contest, the byes are beginning. Let me start one final time with housekeeping. Much of this was mentioned last week, and I am repeating it for the new readers and participants. As I mentioned at the beginning of the season in Passing the Torch, I will be working with One.Cool.Customer on the new BTB contest, Pick 256.

Each Tuesday, I will give a detailed report of how we did, individually and collectively. O.C.C. will give a summary of the top performers for the week and overall. He will post the link for the week's contest. Here are two updates:

• He will be recycling the same link each week, and not generate a new link. So, you may bookmark the link and begin posting your picks anytime on Tuesday. You don't need to wait for him or me to provide a new link or wait for our Tuesday posts to be published.
  
• Coty Saxman helped him develop some code that will "grab" your username and auto-fill your entry with your correctly spelled username. That will only work on links from one of O.C.C's pages. That JavaScript technology is unavailable on FanPosts. I will post the same link - here - but you will have to fill in your own username. Use the link on O.C.C's page instead.

Each week, early on Tuesday morning, the link will be activated, and you may begin posting and editing your entries for the upcoming weekend. After the Thursday kickoff, the link will be deactivated. All of our entries will be loaded into a spreadsheet and he will begin preparing the next week's contest.

Earlier on Thursday, O.C.C will also post the picks of the Front Page Writers, and give a reminder that all new picks need to be in before Thursday kickoff. That's one of the main differences between Pick 256 and KD's 10-for-10 Contest. You may not omit games, and must make picks in all games before any kick off. So, there will be a Thursday deadline - usually in the evening, but earlier on Thanksgiving. Here are his posts from week #1, week #2, and week #3.

In the final post of the week (sometime Friday or Saturday), O.C.C will post a link to download the spreadsheet that is automatically generated from all of your entries. This lets you follow along and keep score - you and your fellow participants. Here are those posts - from week #1, from week #2, and from week #3. With these spreadsheets (week #1, week #2, and week #3), you may join me in tracking yourself and everyone else this season. Or, you may just continue reading and let me do the work for you.

Housekeeping out of the way... Still here with me? Let's go.

Each week of Pick 256, we have had some players not return from our record 467 week #1 participants. However, we had also added new participants each week (twenty-five this week alone). We are now tracking 546 individual players. Wow!

Here's the first look at my participation table, where I track each week's participants along with the season-long number of individuals who have played at least once:

Since everyone has to submit a pick for each game, there were 326 picks for each game (except, two lost their Thursday picks because they were submitted late; however, O.C.C's continued grace allowed their other fifteen picks to stand).

I don't know how long that grace will continue, so let me encourage you - start clicking your (bookmarked) contest link as early as you wish on Tuesday morning. Don't wait for one of us to post. The link will be the same each week (turned off on Thursday after kickoff, and turned on on Tuesday for the next week's contest).

If you have a problem getting the form to work for you (browser issues, form issues, etc.), then please email your picks, or better yet, post them on one of the Pick 256 pages (mine or O.C.C's). That way, there will be a time-stamp record marking your picks as submitted on time. We can take care of transferring your picks into the tracker spreadsheet later.

[EDIT - I have updated all the numbers to accommodate Aggie Man, who did have the aforementioned problem getting his submitted picks included. They are now included, and all tables and numbers in this post and my records now reflect his week #3 picks and adjusted total.]

This was a much better week for our picks. In week #1, our consensus averaged a mediocre 8.55 wins, and our week #2 an even more mediocre 8.03. This week, we averaged 10.54 right, as we're starting to get a feel for who's good and who's bad this year. The first two weeks are typically rocky, as we make picks based on previous reputations and not on current performance.

We had three games that wiped out most of us. More than 80% of us missed KC over MIA, NYG over HOU, and PIT over CAR. No game was unanimous, although three games were nearly so (only four picks - 1% - for the losers).

Here's how we did in week #3 picking each game (sorted by our wins - most down to least):

We had the exact consensus picks as the Front-Page Writers (same majority preference for each game) in week #1. Ever here how one vote matters? In week #2, five of the FPWs picked BUF, and four picked MIA. Over 70% of us picked MIA. Our other fifteen consensus picks were identical. So, by the strength of one of the FPWs, they took a one-game lead over us after two weeks.

The same scenario played out this week, but this time in our favor. Again, our consensus matched their in fifteen of the games; five of the FPWs picked SF, and four picked ARI. Our consensus favored the Cardinals. So, we "won" this week, and are back even for the season.

Here is the table tracking our head-to-head with the FPWs:

As I already mentioned, this was a much better week. Our consensus got twelve games right, and we actually had some flirting with perfection during the day on Sunday. Look back at my comments/updates from last week's FanPost (beginning here) - and I plan to do more of that each week. So, come back to this FanPost on Sunday afternoon/evening for updates and reports through the completed games.

After Thursday night and the ten early games, we actually had two who were 11-0. The late games killed them; one missed SF-ARI, the other missed DEN-SEA, and both missed KC-MIA. But, we had six who posted the top scores of this new contest - a sparkling 14-2. They need to enjoy it, because byes are beginning, and it will be a while before anyone gets fourteen right (for example, this week - week #4 - only has thirteen games).

Congratulations to GalTex, goodnono, lonewolfz28, staubachfan, Yellowbeard, and Zubius for setting the high standard this week. Special congratulations go out to goodnono, who played for the first time in week #3, and smoked most of us who have been playing for a while.

Here are all 326 scores from week #3, sorted alphabetically by score:

After a nineteen-way tie in week #1, Dcowboy rose to the top and took solo possession of first place by one game. This week, he posted another near-top score and has expanded his lead to two games. Congratulations Dcowboy, and well-done. You have three on your heels, and thirty-four within five of the lead. So, keep the hammer down, and let's see if we can match your pace.

If you want to see your name without having to visually scroll through these two long tables, use the Windows shortcut CTRL-F (control key plus F) and enter your username. Every instance will be highlighted, and CTRL-G moves to the next instance.

Here are all 546 scores (everyone who played any or all three weeks), sorted alphabetically by score:

Look for O.C.C's Pick 256 newest post today; look for the Front Page Writers' picks to be published on Thursday morning; and get your picks in for week #4 before Thursday night.