Guest Post: Pickmoto Tracks the ESPN NFL ‘Experts’

(Editor’s note: This is a guest blog from the folks at Pickmoto, a fantasy sports mobile app.)

One thing that ESPN is right about with its “Experts” Picks is that predictions are, indeed, a skill. Week 8 is evidence of that. Only 4 Experts’ scores went up – Wickersham, Keyshawn, Schefter, Hoge – and (surprise), they are all in the Top 5. The bottom 7’s scores dropped.

Wickersham picked against the grain with 4 of his picks – Bucs, Lions, Colts, Cowboys – and was a knuckle away from nailing all 4. We particularly like his Bucs pick. Vikings stock hadn’t been higher all year. And the Bucs are better than their record: all four of their losses are by a touchdown or less. Classic case of an undervalued team against an overvalued team.

On the other end of the leaderboard, Allen and Jackson played it safe, save for their pick of the Redskins over the Steelers. Not a bad pick. The Redskins are playing better than expected and the Steelers worse. But at this point, when those 2 put their heads together, you know what’s going to happen.

Even though he’s third from last, Ditka deserves credit for being the lone ESPNer who tabbed the Browns and for going out on a limb with the Rams and Cowboys. If you are going to be an “Expert”, might as well offer some out of the box thinking.

Week 8 – ESPN Experts Leaderboard
-All players start with 300 points.

+Seth Wickersham – 660
Chris Mortensen – 563
+Keyshawn Johnson – 360
+Adam Schefter – 340
+Merrill Hoge – 288
Ron Jaworski – 236
Cris Carter – 220
Mike Golic – 208
Mark Schlereth – 187
Mike Ditka – 158
Eric Allen – 153
Tom Jackson – 126

Pickmoto is recreating the fantasy sports experience on mobile. Its first app for the 2012 NFL season is free for iPhone and iPad. Pickmoto asks the most basic question in sports – which teams will win. It’s pick’em with a twist: there’s a crowdsourced scoring system that rewards correct picks based on their popularity – the less popular, the more points.

Pickmoto’s 2nd app for the NBA season just hit the AppStore. Try it today.

Guest Blog: ESPN Experts Have a Good Week, says Pickmoto

(Editor’s note: This is a guest blog from the folks at Pickmoto, a fantasy sports mobile app.)

We were sorta mean to the ESPNers last week. We ridiculed their lack
of insight and mocked their label “Experts”. One week later, we have
to give credit where credit’s due. The Experts (no quotation marks)
killed it in Week 7.

On average, they went 11-2 and gained 29 points in Pickmoto. Among the
highlights, Seth Wickersham and Mike Golic were a perfect 13-0! Mark
Schlereth, Mike Ditka(!!), and Cris Carter went 12-1. Even Tom Jackson
picked up 9 points with a 9-4 week.

Now that we’ve duly doled out credit, we’re going to temper the
plaudits lest anyone thinks they’ve earned their title.

Picking well in a week with no real upsets is about as easy as it
gets. It’s not like they bucked conventional wisdom and were proven
prescient. They stuck to conventional wisdom and for one week looked
good. They only disagreed on a few games – Titans v. Bills, Browns v.
Colts, Steelers v. Bengals – none of which were premier matchups.

To really earn our respect (as if it’s worth earning), they need to
rally behind an underdog or call an evenly matched game between two
strong opponents e.g. 49ers-Bears. In other words, to earn their title
they need to demonstrate a level of insight beyond that of the
football fan public.

Til then, we’ll continue to give props to Wickersham, Mort, Keyshawn,
and Schefter. Everyone else had a good Week 7, but they’re a long way
from earning their label.

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ESPN Week 7 Leaderboard
-All players start with 300 points.

Seth Wickersham – 599
Chris Mortensen – 593
Keyshawn Johnson – 362
Adam Schefter – 336
Ron Jaworski – 255
Merrill Hoge – 251
Cris Carter – 246
Mike Golic – 217
Mark Schlereth – 216
Eric Allen – 199
Mike Ditka – 188
Tom Jackson – 129

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Pickmoto is recreating the fantasy sports
experience on mobile. Its first app for the 2012 NFL season is free
for iPhone and iPad. Pickmoto asks the most basic question in sports –
which teams will win. There is a crowdsourced scoring system that
rewards correct picks based on their popularity – the less popular,
the more points.

New! Pickmoto’s 2nd app for NBA hit the AppStore today.

Guest Blog: Pickmoto Rates the ESPN Pickers and Finds them… Average

(Editor’s note: This is a guest blog from the folks at Pickmoto, a fantasy sports mobile app.)

Football studio shows are fans’ ambient noise, like waves crashing or birds chirping … only the waves are a typhoon and the birds are tucans with megaphones. The analysts talk as if they know how you watch them – getting ready in the morning, eating, before you fall asleep. If they speak with less than complete force, we won’t pay attention.

At Pickmoto, we’re trying to figure out who we should tune in to and who we can put on mental mute. ESPN publishes a dozen “Experts” picks every week. We created a fake user for each Expert and entered all of their picks through 6 weeks. Of course, these guys don’t know they are playing Pickmoto. So their picks deserve some slack for being out of context.

But not much slack according to their Week 6 performance. Mort was the only one who cracked .500 and saw his Pickmoto score go up. (Editor’s note: See the Pickmoto FAQ for explanation of the scoring.)

The odd thing is it was not a crazy week. Sure there were upsets. But there weren’t any shockers. The Titans over the Steelers qualifies on paper – 85% on Pickmoto took the Steelers. But considering how lackluster Pittsburg has looked, you’d think at least one “Expert” would have foresaw struggles on the road in primetime.

And that’s the point. The “Experts” offer evidently little insight. Their picks are nearly uniform and uniformly boring. Removing Mort from the equation, the other 11 unanimously or just short of unanimously picked the Steelers, Falcons, Eagles, Bucs, Ravens, Cardinals, Patriots, and 49ers. Those teams were 3-4.  

No NFL game is a no-brainer. Last week we might have conceded that Raiders-Falcons was an exception. But the Silver and Black were one horrible Carson Palmer interception return for a TD away from taking a lead with 2 minutes to go.

Yes, hindsight is 20/20. And yes, these guys undoubtedly know way way WAY more football than we do. But it’s still frustrating when we see them day after day, segment after segment yammering on about blitz packages, injuries to the secondary, and trick Tebow plays. Their picks demonstrate a lack of recognition of the strongest, most consistent, most important force in all of football: PARITY.

ESPN Pickmoto Standings Thru Week 6
Chris Mortensen – 582
Seth Wickersham – 535
Keyshawn Johnson – 352
Adam Schefter – 337
Ron Jaworski – 230
Merrill Hoge – 225
Cris Carter – 206
Eric Allen – 205
Mark Schlereth – 166
Mike Golic – 153
Mike Ditka – 138
Tom Jackson – 120

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Pickmoto (www.pickmoto.com) is recreating the fantasy sports experience on mobile. Its first app for the 2012 NFL season is free for iPhone and iPad. Pickmoto asks the most basic question in sports – which teams will win. There is a crowdsourced scoring system that rewards correct picks based on their popularity – the less popular, the more points. The basketball app will be out at the end of October and a College Bowl app will be available in December.

Grunts of the Week: Saints WR Nick Toon Talks About Team’s 1st Win

Our second installment of “Grunts of the Week,” video messages from NFL players courtesy of the new Gridiron Grunts app, which lets you hear from pro players via your phone. In the segment above Saints WR Nick Toon gives QB Drew Brees a shout-out after New Orleans’ first victory of the year.

Below, Chicago Bears safety Major Wright talks about having “a lot of juice, a lot of energy” as he heads early to practice, and shows off his Gator gear prior to Florida’s big win over LSU. Download the Gridiron Grunts app for more.

Pickmoto Moves NFL app to iPad, Preps for NBA Season

Pickmoto, a startup app developer seeking to firmly establish itself in the growing market for social betting has expanded its offerings by adding a version for the iPad. Currently the app runs on iPhones, with an Android version “coming soon.”

The latest move is a welcomed one because while the app works well on a smartphone, a tablet simply provides additional viewing space and so makes that app easier to view and simpler to use.

The game follows the same procedure as with a smartphone including picking winners with no spread, playing friends one on one, or random opponents. You can win trophies, climb a leaderboard and play in preseason, regular and post season as well.

The company is moving pretty fast for one that was just established earlier this year and it already has its sights set on expanding to additional sports. With hockey an obvious no-no due to the lockout it has targeted the National Basketball Association and said that it expects that it expects to have a sports betting app out for the NBA by the opening regular season tip-off.

The UFL Started Play Last Week-I Think

When news of tremendous import breaks often lesser stories are lost in the mix so you may be excused that amid your rejoicing about the return of the regular referees for National Football League games you missed that the United Football League has launched its latest season.

At least I missed it. Then again if you went by the leagues’ web site you would have thought that the season started a week earlier even though a press release on the site on a different topic does have the correct day.

Its Facebook page says that it is having Internet issues and that currently the only way to follow the teams and the league is via twitter. However a quick look around at newspapers based in cities that have teams shows it is having issues with the print media as well.

The league has a broadcast partner, having signed a deal with CBS Sports Network which promises to broadcast two games a week for the course of the leagues eight week season, one each every Wednesday and Friday. It will also broadcast the Championship game on December 1st.

I actually root for the UFL to succeed. I just see huge challenges facing an upstart league that has a tradition of money problems really getting heard above the noise of the NFL and NCAA. It seems now that one or the other plays almost every day from mid-week on, and with the huge following for the two it is hard to play third string.

I imagine that it has talked with the NFL about serving as a minor league of sorts, which seems to make sense on a number of levels. A pool of players ready for games that NFL teams can call on in case of injuries and the reflected glory of being associated with the NFL and possibly even attached to an individual team could be the ticket to longevity.

The minor league approach is what the rival USFL is trying, and it has not appeared to make any headway yet but with a spring schedule it still has time. The UFL might not.