The Belt is in the building.
A huge thanks to the good people at
TROPHY WORKS and our own Stephen S.
When you approach someone about making a championship belt and they don't stare at you for 10 minutes, you're pretty lucky.
When we envisioned Rinkotology, we had dreams of the Fantasy contest coming down to this final weekend.
And it will.
So many variables to take into account here. It could be a small thing one way or another that wins it.
SMITTY2 is sitting pretty going into the final 4 games.
Taking
Heatley as a Captain resulted in 8 more points than if Crosby was selected captain. This was a brash move that has been rewarded, but
SMITTY2 can easily be bumped into the triple digits in standings if Crosby shows up and
Heatley doesn't.
Already, there's insane anticipation. Will Crosby show up?
All things equal, a solid game by
Mikko Koivu with
Selanne not getting on the board brings everything tighter between 1st and 2nd place.
A common thread amongst the top teams is they still have a goaltender in play. But MAC5155 should not be discouraged. Brian Rafalski is the great equalizer in this equation. A goal and assist and a shot or two from Raffy outweighs a 20-save winning effort by a goalie on another team. MAC5155 has to hope for some high-scoring games and some goalie-pulling.
The excitement doesn't stop there. Good God Almighty. A common thread amongst many of the top teams in
Rinko is having Marian
Hossa representing Slovakia. But
RAPENN carries some swagger into the final 4 games, as he has the Alternate multiplier to factor in for
Hossa.
Oh man. Out of the top 5, there are four different choices for Team Finland. Olli Jokinen hasn't produced much as of yet, but an unassisted goal and an assist here or there and possibly a game-winner in overtime turns the standings on its head.
We'd be here all day if we tried to relay all the different scenarios that could play out going into the Medal Round.
One thing we'd love to do would be to take points away from people that picked A.O.
Nothing like shoving people, Malkin would never do that..just saying.
First things first, thanks to goes out to
ANTEEPA for all their work in creating this beast.
We had no idea that 868 people would play.
Having only five winners out of this is really anticlimactic for 95% of the participants.
Much of the feedback we've received in regard to improving the operation of the game are things we've internally recognized as the game has unfolded, so that's sick.
We've already taken steps to ensure the Playoff version will include a compartmentalized system of divisions where you're playing against a smaller group of people, and more money will be awarded in prizes to more people.
In starting this game, we did our research and due diligence to make sure we didn't end up on Judge Judy. Laws of Fantasy games state that we MUST make users aware before the contest of the exact prize amounts. The prize amounts cannot be cumulative and reflective of the number of users. That results in the money being a "pot" and the game being considered as gambling. Before this Olympics version, we pooled some of our own money together to make up the $1,500 in prize money. If only 5 people played, we were still obliged to hand out $1,500. So you can understand the initial risk we had to make in this first game. There will be much less risk in future visions, and the prize amounts awarded will reflect as much.
Over three years, we're glad we've gained your trust enough for you to play this game. In reciprocation, we feel we owe you this kind of disclosure in how certain elements are run.
.
But F this shit.
There's Gold Medal games to watch...........
And there's a trading deadline on the horizon. We know we keep saying it, but look for a rinko blog to be popping up soon.
Go Country.
