Just to resolve any confusion, yesterday's news and notes was incorrectly listed as October 8th. It has since been fixed. Today is Tuesday October 8th, 2002.
Extensive research and statistics-compiling took place this afternoon as Halloween Foosball Committee member, James Ostis started the process of ranking the foosball competitors for 2002. A new version of the Julia Gulia Ranking System was created today. Although not 100% finalized, the JGRSIII comes from a combination of factors. First, the earlier version of the Julia Gulia Ranking System, (the JGRSII), was kept intact. The JGRSII total was then combined with other new statistics to form the third edition. Years played which was not included in the JGRSII was added to this edition.
The biggest change in the Julia Gulia Ranking System is that in this edition, a great emphasis is placed on last year's performance. Competitors who were involved in last year's tournament recieved bonus points for competing. Points were also awarded for wins and losses last year in addition to the totals in the JGRSII, making last year's games hold more weight than previous years. Goals for and against were also used for the first time in ranking the players. Since those statistics were not kept prior to 2000, they could not be included in any previous versions.
Jim believed it was time to make an adjustment. "The tournament has now been going on for six years, certainly what happened in 2001 is at least somewhat more relevant than what happened in 1997." Not only do the 2001 stats carry more weight, but the new system separates "active" players from "retired" players. Any player who has not competed since the 1999 Tournament will be considered "retired" unless they are expected to attend the tournament. This helps sort out the rankings which have been somewhat dominated by people who haven't competed in several years.
The JGRSIII may not be the only ranking system. Jim is looking into the format he used last year, known as the CTHD (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon System). It is expected that the JGRSIII, CTHD, and the proposed "voting poll" will be merged into a single ranking system. Jim even has a name in mind but has decided not to release it at this time.
One advantage the new JGRS has over the previous version is that ties are more easily broken. Whereas just about everyone with the same win-loss record recieved the same points in the JGRSII, there are several different variables this year which prevent that. The JGRSIII is not finalized, so therefore these rankings are subject to change, but this is how the top ten(active players) seems to sort out at this juncture.
1. Greg Ouellette
2. Corey Pinkham
3. James Ostis
4. Steven Ostis
5. Nicholas Ostis
6. Angeluis Nales
7. Keith Ouellette
8. Wilson Rith
9. Patrick Casserly
10. Kenny Stewart
When the brackets for the 2002 Celebrity Online Halloween Foosball Tournament are released tomorrow, expect it to be much more bizzarre than last year's edition. Since many of the "A-List" celebrities were used last year, some of the names you'll see this time probably aren't considered to be "celebrities" at all. Although it would have been interesting to see how the 2001 Tournament would have turned out this year (Tom Brady, for example, was shut out by Ray Bourque....that probably wouldn't happen this year), the plan is to have all new celebrities "compete" for the 2002 crown. James Gandolfini has been tabbed by Jim & Steve to be the early favorite, however, he might not be as dominant as Bill Clinton was last year. Speaking of Clinton, the voting in his 2001 finals match up against Adam Sandler has been reopened. The 2001 Champion will be crowned this year instead, as the finals were never truly completed. That goes for the match up between The Legendary Chuck and James Higson from the original VHFT as well.
Talks between representatives of the Mister Cyrs and the Greg-Angel Yackadoodles have been ongoing for the past couple days. An agreemnent has been reached in principle concerning the rosters for this years' game. The rosters will mostly remain intact from last year, with the Mr. Cyrs retaining all their players. After the new players are drafted to either team, some of the Yackadoodles may be reassigned to the Cyrs. Since they lost the game last year, The Greg-Angel Yackadoodles will have the first pick of the draft, which may or may not be held prior to October 26th. Also, so far neither Greg nor Angel have talked about renaming their team, apparently either content with it, or intent on improving the roster first. As was reported earlier, a page dedicated to The Big Game will be up by the end of this week.
Ouellette Brothers talking sweep. Greg and Keith Ouellette claim they will sweep the Halloween Foosball championships this year. In the surest sign that the doubles tournament will be back next year, Greg and Keith announced their intentions on being teammates in the tournament this year. Greg, who broke up with his teammate from a year ago, Lena in more ways than one, has been opening shopping for a new partner. Greg was quoted as saying "Like Tony says, you trust only blood", and Keith then confirmed the rumor by saying "I'm Greg's partner. there's gonna be a Ouellette sweep of the trophies." by joining with Greg, Keith is ditching his sister, Gina who teamed with him the year before.
Jim is not convinced the Greg-Keith team will actually occur. "I'm keeping my options open, and I suggest Greg do the same. While I'm certain a Greg-Keith team could be great, there's definitely only one possible team that will have the same or more foosball talent as the Steven/Corey team and Greg knows that. My partner from last year is Angel, and as far as I'm concerned we are still partners although we haven't discussed that yet either. I'm just saying I'm keeping my options open. My partner may end up being Angel, or it may end up being Greg. It could even be Lena, who knows?...at this point, I suggest Greg keep his options open."
