IWS#195 - The results

[MIJB#19]

IWS#195 had a total of 24 entries. Not as much as I anticipated for, but it's good enough to get some spreads here or there. The hardest decission as the administrator was to decide whether to seperate teams by year or to group the 2007 and 2012 New York Giants together. I decided to go with grouping, as most sports teams live by their legacy, the story of a single season hardly ever goes alone. With these specific questions, most of them, if not all of them, require past seasons' history to make a team a 'cinderella', 'once in a lifetime' or 'least surprising'. I did use a strict policy for team names that were unclear, because the entry only listed a nickname. A lot of teams eventually fitted in several questions, which resulted in many cross references. It wasn't an eliminating strategy (or lack there of) though.



1. In sports, which team pulled the biggest upset in a championship game, series or tournament?
8x New York Giants
8x USA men's ice hockey
3x Villanova Wildcats men's basketball
2x New York Jets
2x NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
1x [undefined] Giants

Apparently upsets are rare and the spread wasn't very wide. Two teams jumped out ending in a tie between the Miracle on Ice and the Patriots-beating Giants.


2. In sports, which team was the most enjoyable cinderella story in a major sports league or championships?
7x USA men's ice hockey
3x NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
2x Butler Bulldogs men's basketball
2x New York Giants
2x St. Louis Rams
2x Villanova Wildcats men's basketball
1x Florida Marlins
1x George Mason Patriots men's basketball
1x [undefined] Kings
1x Los Angeles Kings
1x New England Patriots
1x New Orleans Saints

Many entries went with the NCAA men's basketball theme here, but the Miracle on Ice ended up being the 'winner'.


3. In sports, which team recorded the least surprising championship victory in recent history?
8x Miami Heat
5x New York Yankees
3x USA men's basketball
2x Chicago Bulls
2x Los Angeles Lakers
1x FC Barcelona
1x Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
1x Pittsburgh Steelers
1x Spain men's soccer

The phrase 'recent history' kind of steared this question into one direction, yet only a third of the participants went with last week's NBA champions. Perhaps timing kept this thing from a run-away for the Yankees, but we'll never know for sure.


4. In sports, which team can be best discribed as a once in a lifetime champion?
6x USA men's ice hockey
2x Chicago Bears
2x New York Mets
2x Villanova Wildcats men's basketball
1x Boston Red Sox
1x Chelsea FC
1x Chicago Bulls
1x Chicago Cubs
1x Los Angeles Kings
1x Manchester United
1x Miami Dolphins
1x Miami Heat
1x NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
1x [undefined] Rangers
1x Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1x USA men's basketball

The toughest question of them all, it appears. An amazingly large spread. Nevertheless, we had one relatively popular team, which for several participants was their crossover answer. The Miracle on Ice will never be repeated, says Stupid.


5. In sports, which team is most famous for coming close, but never winning a championship?
19x Buffalo Bills
1x Boston Red Sox
1x Chicago Cubs
1x New England Patriots
1x Texas Rangers
1x Utah Jazz

It was over right here if you didn't have the Buffalo Bills. Despite their AFC domincance being nearly 20 years ago, the Bills still stand out as the most (in)famous championshipless sports team.


6. In sports, which team should be considered the most undeserved champion?
6x New England Patriots
4x New York Yankees
3x Miami Heat
2x Kansas City Royals
2x New Orleans Saints
1x [undefined] Giants
1x Italy men's soccer team
1x Los Angeles Lakers
1x New York Giants
1x St. Louis Cardinals
1x USC Trojans men's football
1x USSR men's basketball

This question was also a popular crossover with other questions, but still resulted in a variaty of answers and was far from an elimonator.



So, how about them results!?

[undefined]
24. Pyser

"Cinderella? I don't believe in fairy-tales."
23. Chief Rum
22. Solecismic
21. claphamsa
20. cartman
19. nilodor
18. Abe Sargent
17. Alf
16. EaglesFan
15. albionmoonlight

Hoping to be NCAA's cinderella's one day?
14. britrock88
13. Warhammer
10. Grover

Bitter about the New England Patriots?
10. StLee
10. Dark Cloud
9. digamma
7. Suburban Rhythm
7. Radii

Wide right!
6. CrimsonFox

Living in 1985
4. panerd
4. TRO

Living in 1986
3. Raiders Army

Had a Dream Team, but couldn't stand the Heat
2. Julio Riddols

Living his own Miracle on Ice
1. kcchief19


That's right, we have a brand new IWS champion! Congratulations!

rk	predictor	score
1.	kcchief19	102144
2.	Julio Riddols	76608
3.	Raiders Army	17024
4.	panerd	14592
4.	TRO	14592
6.	CrimsonFox	6720
7.	Suburban Rhythm	5472
7.	Radii	5472
9.	digamma	3648
10.	StLee	2736
10.	Dark Cloud	2736
10.	Grover	2736
13.	Warhammer	1824
14.	britrock88	1216
15.	albionmoonlight	1008
16.	EaglesFan	912
17.	Alf	760
18.	Abe Sargent	608
19.	nilodor	560
20.	cartman	504
21.	claphamsa	456
22.	Solecismic	320
23.	Chief Rum	304
24.	Pyser	95

kcchief19 scored 33% of the maximum score, taking the Saints over the Patriots in the last question. Julio Riddols scored a respectable 25% and was the only true contender for kcchief19. The rest of the field scored lower than 6%.

[CrimsonFox]

Best I've ever done. Nice.

And not even remembering the Buffalo Bills did me in. Ha! I wonder why I didn't remember them...

[CrimsonFox]

Miracle on Ice is nice! I was hoping to wedge them into every answer but they just didn't fit

[Young Drachma]

Yeah I knew this one would be rough.

[TRO]

As a Royal fan, yes I am living in 1985.

[Julio Riddols]

Wow. not a bad showing this time. Answered USA hockey on every question it was applicable, and it worked.

[kcchief19]

Wow ... I wasn't expecting to pull off this one. I thought it was an extremely difficult but well designed IWS. Kdos to MIJB.

Oddly when I first started answering filling this out I didn't have the '80 USA team on any answer. I had NC State basketball for biggest upset, then changed to Giants because I know Stupid has a short memory. I had the Butler Bulldogs for best Cinderella story for the same reason.

I was racking my brain on who was the best once in a lifetime champion, then finally stumbled upon the Miracle on Ice. Once I figured that was an automatic, the Giants and Butler didn't seem to make any sense compared to that.

I'm usually horrible at this ... I think I had a top 5 finish once, but I'm typically an also-ran. Hope I come up with a good one, will try to post today or Sunday at the latest.

Any past champ mind sharing the spreadsheet?

[britrock88]

Augh, Miracle on Ice. Too bad I submitted answers before the Heat won their "least surprising" championship.

[Lathum]

Someone wanna tell MIJB the Giants beat the Pats

[Lathum]

I didn't enter this one but am really surprised . I thought for sure Miracle on ice would run away with the first question and second

[Radii]

I got my head locked in on college basketball upsets and completely forgot about the miracle on ice, ugh.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

Wow. not a bad showing this time. Answered USA hockey on every question it was applicable, and it worked.

I was REALLY tempted to just write USA hockey for every answer LOL

YOu never know. I didn't think I was going to win anyway.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Someone wanna tell MIJB the Giants beat the Pats

He has it written that way. "The Patriots beating Giants" is written to have "Patriots beating" as an adjective of Giants. Of course, to make it more clear, a hyphen should be used: Patriots-beating Giants.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Izulde

He has it written that way. "The Patriots beating Giants" is written to have "Patriots beating" as an adjective of Giants. Of course, to make it more clear, a hyphen should be used: Patriots-beating Giants.

Heh, that's what I meant to say there, yes.