2011 Rules

It's that time again...the fourteenth year of King of the Hill.

Please let me know if you would like to participate.

I am collecting money now. The season starts September 8th with a Thursday night game. Then on Sunday, September 11th a full schedule is played. I am running behind this year, but please send your money right away. Please mail a check to me at:

George Valcho
999 Bay Ridge Dr.
Benton, LA 71006.

Picks will be entered on ESPN's Eliminator, just like last year.

To enter you will need an ESPN ID and Password. Once you register at ESPN you go to this link...http://games.espn.go.com/eliminator-challenge/en/frontpage. Sign in, set up your eliminator entry and then "Join a Group".

Group: GV King of the Hill

Password: in email

Here's how it works, each week of the regular season you pick one team to win (no point spread). If your team wins, you advance to the next week. If your team loses, you drop into the loser's bracket. If you lose again, in the loser's bracket, you are out. I will keep track of this because on ESPN you can lose more than once.

Each week you advance, you again pick one team to win. Here's the catch -- you cannot pick a team more than once during the season, even if the team loses. ESPN enforces this selection.

The last person standing with no losses wins and is "King of the Hill", the last person standing in the loser's bracket (one loss) gets second place.

Your picks can be entered right up to game time. And they can be entered weeks in advance. If you do not enter a pick it will be counted as a loss. So here is some advice...pick every week of the year right at the start. Then each week simply modify your picks according to current performance. If you miss a week for vacation, as an example, you will already have a pick entered.

The entry fee is $40. The winner's bracket champion will receive $30 from each entry. The loser's bracket champion will receive $10 from each entry. I hope to have 40 paid entries - $1,200 and $400 to the champions. You can enter more than once, but not more than twice. To enter twice on ESPN you will need two User IDs.

King of the Hill is limited to people I know. If you don't see someone on this list and you think they would be interested, please tell me (most of you know many of the same people I do).

And my favorite rule. I play one pick for free (for all this work).

During the season I will update this blog
(http://www.gvkingofthehill.blogspot.com) at least once a week.

Previous Champions:
King I - Doug Horstman (11 weeks)
King II - Paul Bowman (5 weeks)
King III - Dick Hein (14 weeks)
King IV - Kevin Kelley and Rusty Atkinson (11 weeks)
King V - Ralph Berry (13 weeks)
King VI - Josie Valcho (9 weeks) My Mom
King VII - George Valcho (8 weeks) My Dad
King VIII - Mike Boggs and Tim Swigor (17 weeks - undefeated all year)
King IX - Mike Gilbert (15 weeks)
King X - George Valcho (9 weeks) My Dad again
King XI - Matthew Valcho, Gabe Cate, and Ralph Berry (tied at 16-1)
King XII - Charles Semon, Nancy MacAskill, Paul Bowman and George Melissinos (tied at 16-1)

King XIII - George Valcho (14 weeks) not my Dad, me

Tie Breaker Rules - Fine Print
If multiple players remain in the winners bracket and they all lose on the same weekend, they will all drop into the loser's bracket and play will continue (in this situation the winner of the loser's bracket will get 1st and 2nd place money). If there are two or three players in the loser's bracket, and none remaining in the winner's bracket, and they all lose on the same weekend, the pot will be split evenly. If there are more than three players that all lose and none in the winner's bracket, all will continue until a winner is determined. In this situation, the losing team selected cannot be used again.

Week 16 Summary

All three remaining 1 loss entries lost on Sunday. Therefore they split the second place pot. You can see this "rule" in the fine print of the first post of the year back in August.

Congrats to Lincoln Barrett, Kevin Kelley, and Matthew Valcho for getting a little money back!

These three will split $410.

Once again thanks for playing. Look for an email in August 2011 to start the 2011 contest!

Week 15 Summary

There are still three in the running for second place....Lincoln Barrett, Kevin Kelly and my brother Matt Valcho.

Out of the running are Chad Swigor and Jeff Fowler. They lost with MIA and TB respectively.

Two weeks to go. If memory serves second place has always been split, let's see what happens this year!

Counts:
1 winner
3 in with a second chance
39 out

Week 14 Summary - We Have a Winner

Yes! we have a winner, and the winner is me! I finally broke through after 12 years and at least 26 entries. I learned a lot over the years and it finally paid off. Here are the rules I follow. It's tough to stick with these and in years past, when I deviated, I lost.

1. Never pick a road team.
2. Never pick a divisional game.
3. Never save a team for a future game.

I stuck with these personal rules most of the year (I played a couple divisional games) and finally reached the top.

There are still five in contention for second place. Kevin Kelley lost this week and he joins four others. Kevin sent an email and indicated he saved ATL for next week, plus he picked a division game (of course my rules are not Kevin's rules, but I wanted to point it out.)

Others who dropped out of second were Charles Semon, Chris Parker and Gabe Cate who lost for the second consecutive week.

Counts:
1 winner
5 in with a second chance
37 out

Week 13 Summary

Three losers again this week. Two from the second place bracket and one out of first place.

Matthew Valcho, my son, is out. He didn't pick much this year, so it's really my fault. I picked both of the loser for this entry. Also out is Tim Swigor, on his second and final entry. Both lost with the Dolphins.

Gabe Cate dropped into second place with the Chargers. The Chargers had been hot but lost to division rival Oakland.

Only two remain for the championship. Kevin Kelley and me.

Counts:
2 vying for first
7 in with a second chance
34 out

Week 12 Summary

There were three losers, all from the second place bracket. Mike Boggs, Judy Williams and Alex Fowler had losers with DEN, PHI, and OAK respectively.

The three leaders advanced, but not without another close call. This week Kevin Kelley had to sweat through OT as PIT topped BUF.

It's tough to find a lock this time of year and next week looks especially daunting.

Counts
3 vying for first
8 in with a second chance
32 out

Week 11 Summary - Living on the Edge Part II

There were no losers this week. But there was almost a loser or two. How about those Jets? They lost a 13 point 4th quarter lead and then rallied for a touchdown in three plays after getting the ball with :44 seconds on the clock. What a thriller!

Counts
3 vying for first
11 in with a second chance
29 out