Ok all my friends are doing brackets for final four, and i feel totally left out. I realize that basically the ONLY sport i really follow is triathlon.
I think slowtwitch should hold some sort of pool/brackets thing so we can have an equivalent experience as we watch pro’s race.
I think this would be fun because:
-it would just be plain old fun
-it would be fun to have someone to root for in races that i dont otherwise really care about- beyond a few pros i know personally, it would be fun to have a few more on my “fantasy triathlon team” that i could hten cheer for
-it would really weird out the pro’s themselves, which would be fun. I love the idea of walking up to a pro in transition and telling him he is on “my team”.
I think it should work something like this:
-every player gets 1000 “bucks”. There is some sort of bidding system so all the pros get auctioned off.
-There will have to be some system to keep chrissie wellington from totally spoiling the system. Maybe just take her out alltogether
-then everyone ends up with a portfolio of pro’s
-we assign a points value to all the races- ie kona is worth 100, all other WTC ironmen +quell roth are worth 50, all 70.3s are worth 30, clearwater is worth 75, something like that
-each top 5 slot is worth X % of that race’s points- ie first is worth 30%, 2nd 20%, 3rd 15%, 4th 10%, 5th 5%, 1% each for 6-10th.
-so winning kona would be worth 30 points for that pro. getting 2nd in clearwater would be worth 15 points, etc
-the player with the portfolio with the highest points at the end of the season wins.
-what do they win? absolutely nothing. Maybe a slowtwitch T-shirt.
Other bonuses:
-it would also serve as a points system for making a world ranking of pro’s, which i have always thought we needed anyway.
probikepool is back. i think that’s our best avenue.
This sounds pretty cool, although it seems a little complicated but that might just be bc it is in paragraph form or something. If someone know how to set it up right I know there would be interest.
I just emailed probikepool- lets see if they have any interest in hosting us. if not, you should host it slowman!
we can make it simpler than my proposal- we just have to make it so that the best strategy isnt “just pick chrissie wellington”
Ok this was done once before that i can find- only for one race though- st anthonys last year.
Here is the system they used (much simpler, pretty good system if you ask me)
Each contestant chooses 5 MPRO triathletes and 5 FPRO triathletes from groups A, B and C. You are awarded points based on your triathletes’ finishing order, with 1st place being awarded the most points, 2nd place-next most and so on. The contestant that accumulates the most points will be the winner. There are valuable Kona Endurance prizes being awarded for first, second and third place and it’s free to enter. Never before has a FPRO 23rd place finish mattered so much!
This gets around the auction system. (though it doesn’t eliminate the chrissie wellington problem)
I’m sure you could arrange it if you knew someone with enough free time on their hands.
Also, you don’t have to eliminate Chrissie Wellington, but I’d make her cost high enough to make people think twice.
I would like to chime in on this subject. We at finishline-multisport.com have been working on a way to bring a fantasy league to the public. This amazing sport needs more of a spotlight and interaction. We have come up with a formula which we hope to launch with in a month or so.
Cheers,
kkflms
A few years ago there was a fantasy triathlon that worked like you said (original poster). I was in and had a great time. It was sponsored by American Tri Magazine and then it went kaput. I have often wondered what happened to the cool prizes…
I would love to do this again. I would even be willing to add some prizes from our company.
Jon
jon@tristuff4less.com