(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.
