Participants,

Well, we finally have determined the 12 teams that will compete for this year’s Super Bowl (SB50), and the playoffs start this Saturday with the WildCard Weekend round.  A few reminders before the real action begins as the 8 participants prepare to battle it out for the 28th season of the Hewes Super Bowl Trophy competition:

RULES
Please read the “League Rules” tab (found on our home page at www.hewessbt.com) to become reacquainted with all you need to know.  I’m available to answer any questions.  Please don’t hesitate to ask!

MAKING YOUR PICKS
All picks are officially submitted on our site, using the “Submit Picks” tab.  Please type in the team name and respective score you believe will be the final game score.  Once you have submitted your scores, they will be time-stamped and sent via email to The Commish, who will load them to the site.  Please – no last minute frantic text messages with your scores.  Assuming you read this, please send me a test set of picks before this Saturday to ensure that the submission process works.

KEEPING TRACK OF THE GAMES
Visit the “Standings” tab to get real-time updates on game scores and your points as games are played.  This interactive feature was implemented 3 years ago and has received numerous kudos.

REMINDERS (As I Do Every Year)
Picks for ALL 4 WildCard Weekend games are to be submitted no later than 4:30pm EST on Saturday, January 9 (which is just prior to the kickoff of the 1st playoff game).  Please do not submit only your scores for the 2 Saturday tussles at that time and then expect to submit your scores for the 2 Sunday clashes on Sunday morning.  In fairness to all participants, I have been asked not to waiver from this rule (which you have all agreed to abide by as part of your acceptance into the HSBT).

Any pick not submitted on time will result in a 25 point penalty for that game (meaning you will get -25 points for each of those games).  So, for WildCard Weekend, if you submit only scores for the 2 Saturday games (assuming on-time), you will get -25 points for each of the 2 Sunday games (for a total of -50 points).

No “partial scores” are to be submitted.  We did had this occur several years ago and it went like this:  “Chicago 24, SF”.  This will also result in the aforementioned -25 points for each game submitted with a partial score.

It’s shaping up to be another great year, with no team a clear favorite to win the Super Bowl.  The highly-anticipated Commish’s expert and in-depth analysis of each WildCard game will be coming later this week (or early on Saturday, January 9).  Use this information wisely to solidify your thoughts before submitting your picks Saturday afternoon.  Greg the Great currently holds the trophy (which I visually verified in-person during a visit to his new hometown, Seattle, last May) and he has told me that he has no intentions of relinquishing it to any other participant (now, that’s a bold statement!).

With 8 participants, it could be another record-setting year for points (Greg the Great eclipsed that magical and elusive 1,000 point season mark last season).

Lastly – if you would like any updates to your profile (found in “The Participants” tab on our site), let me know and I’ll make the updates for you.

Until then, I remain

~~The Commish