richl@daemon.UUCP (Rick Lindsley) (09/05/84)
I have written a program which uses a rather simple algorithm to assign ratings to teams and then pick results of games. It can sometimes be humorous to see people guffaw at the computer's picks and then end up 3-11 while the program is 8-6. The best it has done in a season is about 68%. The point spreads are really nothing more than an indication of the program's certainty; one of last week's picks (which I won't include since it's old news) was Oakland by 54 over Houston. Probably its only real strong point is to adjust quickly to a rapidly improving or failing team. I offer its picks and Top 10 here without comments, simply for comparison, and challenge all you hackers to come up with a better program. Rick Lindsley Last week: 6-8 Top 10 (rating last week in parens) 1. Raiders (2) 2. Washington (1) 3. San Francisco (3) 4. Miami (5) 5. Dallas (4) 6. Seattle (6) 7. New England (13) 8. Chicago (12) 9. St Louis (7) 10. Denver (15) Picks Jets by 3 over Pittsburgh St Louis by 7 over Buffalo Dallas by 21 over Giants Chicago by 3 over Denver Atlanta by 2 over Detroit Cincinnati by 3 over Kansas City Philadelphia by 2 over Minnesota Miami by 5 over New England New Orleans by 10 over Tampa Bay Rams by 2 over Cleveland Indianapolis by 1 over Houston Raiders by 16 over Green Bay Seattle by 7 over San Diego San Francisco by 3 over Washington