Draft Results: What do you think?

If you got Ghana in the draft, you may want to dress like these guys on match day.

The draft is now complete and everyone's BISERGS teams have been determined.  To check which teams you got, go to the team selection page.  In just 10 days, the World Cup will kick off in Brazil and we all have at least four teams to be cheering for.  Are you happy with the teams you've  got?  Do you think your teams are strong enough to win the BISERGS this year?  Which other BISERGSer do you think has the best shot at winning right now.  Please use the comments box below to let everyone know what you think. The more comment you make on these pages, the more fun this event will be.  On the team selection page, Carol Barrera made many comments with her observations about the draft as it was going.  Thanks for setting the tone for another great BISERGS Carol.

Every World Cup there are a few unexpected teams that do well and a few favorites that don't reach expectations.  So, no matter what your feelings are about the BISERGS at the moment, it is the results on the field that will determine everything.  Which team do you think will be the biggest surprise this summer?  Is there a favorite you expect to collapse under the pressure?

Here are a few more quick draft facts.  Iran is the only team to not be selected by anyone and 24 teams were selected by the maximum 5 participants.  Dan Rutz can't complain about his teams.  Remarkably, he got the first four teams on his draft list.  Rick Samuelson and Emilie Samuelson had to dip down to their 20th choice when it was their turn to pick in the fourth round.  If you want to have a look at the draft orders for everyone playing the BISERGS, you can see the original submissions here.

BISERGS Draft - Couples Day

The 2nd round was couples round

It was couples day in the BISERGS draft as Carol and Rodrigo Barrera, Dan and Dawn Rutz and Derek and Rachel Samuelson all came out of the round with shared teams.  The Barreras will be supporting the Netherlands together,  Dawn and Dan will by cheering for Mexico and even though Derek will be away from Portland all summer, he and Rachel will be united every time Uruguay take the field.

There are two other couples of a different kind remaining after the second round.  Brian Markwood and Doug Samuelson both have Argentina and Belgium and Ivan Glenney and his uncle Matt Snyder both share Brazil and Columbia.

The second round saw Argentina, Germany, the USA, Belgium and Portugal removed from the draft board.  The third and fourth round selections will set the true contenders apart from the rest as everyone tries to land two World Cup dark horses with their remaining picks.

BISERGS Draft - First Round Report

Brazil, the host nation and the oddsmakers favorite to win the World Cup, was the first team selected in the 2014 BISERGS draft.  Matt Snyder had no doubt about his choice and used the number one overall pick to take el Seleção.  With the second pick in the draft, Rick Samuelson moved across the Atlantic and chose Christiano Ronaldo's Portugal team.  Derek Samuelson went with the defending world champions and current world number one Spain with the third pick overall.  Evan Samuelson used the next pick to take Germany, which is ranked second in the world.

To accommodate 35 participants in this years BISERSG, each World Cup team can be picked by up to five different players.  Ivan Glenney was thrilled to see Brazil still available when his 15th pick came around.  When he became the fifth BISERGSer to claim the hosts, Brazil was removed from the draft board.  Spain is the only other team that won't be available in the second round.  Josh Rutz became the fifth player to pick the defending champs with pick number 25.

Argentina and Germany were both taken four times in the first round and aren't likely to last long in the next phase of the draft.  The only other teams to be taken more than once in the first round were Italy, Switzerland and Portugal.  All three were selected twice.  In all, 18 different teams were selected in the first round.

Krista Rutz must have felt unlucky that her top two teams Brazil and Spain were unavailable when it was finally her turn to pick in the 31st position.  She was the only player to not get her first or second choice today, but she still managed to get the highly regarded Germans.  She also gets the fifth pick in the second round and may well have the last laugh come July.

The draft will continue tomorrow night Abu Dhabi time.  To check which team you got in the first round, go to the team selection page.

Submissions Close and the Draft Begins

BISERGS Draft Headquarters in action.

In the most dramatic fashion imaginable, Matt Snyder entered his picks at 11:59 PM, just one minute before the team selection window slammed shut.  With the close of team selections, the BISERGS staff has snapped into action.  Over the course of the next few days, they'll be matching up the picks with the draft sequence and team selections will be revealed one at a time on the team selection page.  Thirty one BISERGSers submitted their picks and four decided to take their chances with a random draw.  While it appears Spain and Brazil were the most common first pick, BISERGS participants made 14 different countries their first choice.  That means the likelihood of getting a number one choice is higher than ever.

Last Minute Heroics

Less than 24 hours remain for all BISERGS participants to get their team preferences in.  A steady stream of picks have been getting registered over the past week, but 17 players have waited until the last minute to pick their teams.  Waiting until the last minute isn't always a bad thing as the US team showed us in South Africa in 2010.  They were just minutes away from exiting the World Cup prematurely when this happened.

If you are looking at this on a phone or iPad, the video may not appear, so you can follow this link instead.

Defending champion Carol Barrera and three time winner Sharleen Samuelson have selected their teams, but current BISERGS world number 3, Dan Rutz, and number 4, Gray Samuelson, are still contemplating their strategies for this huge event.  Matt Snyder who was the lucky winner of the first pick after the draft order draw has also delayed submitting his teams.  He is certainly feeling the huge pressure of choosing the first team.   BISERGS newcomer Renee Samuelson was the first to submit her teams back on May 16th and has been patiently waiting for the draft tomorrow.

Tomorrow at midnight pacific time, the team selection form will be shut down, and the draft will begin.  You can watch the draft board get filled in on the Team Selection page.

Good luck everyone.

New Page - Team Selection Check

You may have noticed that there have been a few changes to the website recently as the World Cup kickoff draws nearer.  There is a new page where BISERGS scores will be updated daily.  For the rest of this week, this page serves a double purpose of reporting who has made their team selections.  If your name is highlighted in green, that means you have selected your teams.  If your name is in a white box, you haven't sent in your teams yet and need to before Friday night.  I haven't heard of any problems with the form, but please check and make sure that your team selection has been sent in.  If someone that you live with or live near hasn't sent in their selections yet, please remind them that time is running out.  I'm sure that the reason for some of your slow responses is a desire to watch as many warm-up matches as possible and monitor the injury status of all the players up until the last possible minute.  Wow, I'm glad you guys are taking this so seriously.

The other changes to the website are the leaderboard that will also be updated daily throughout the tournament, the label cloud (scroll down on the right side) that will help you to locate the BISERGS posts and a space that collates all of the comments that are made on the website.  

And Your First Pick is ...

Don't be sad because you forgot to pick your favorite teams

Don't make it Iran or Australia.  Wouldn't you rather have your first pick be Brazil, Spain, Germany or Argentina? If you don't get your picks in by May 30th, your picks will be made randomly and you may end up with teams that you don't want.  My apologies to all of the Iran and Australia fans playing the BISERGS, but I'm sure you can get your teams in the later rounds of the draft.  Make your picks here.

Picking your Teams

With only 6 days left to select your BISERGS teams, some of you may still be looking for help. The odds makers know exactly who the favorites are and using one of their lists isn't a bad idea.  FIFA ranks the teams based on their performance over the past four years and if Vegas betting isn't your thing, FIFAs formula based system may be just for you.  Some of the major media outlets have their own guides such as Fox Soccer , ESPN, BBC, but beware, there are some national team biases there.  It is also a good idea to keep up with injuries that could have a huge impact on your BISERGS success.  However you decide to choose your teams, make sure you do it before May 30th.

Slogans - Another great way to pick your teams

If you are still struggling to rank your World Cup teams for the BISERGS, even with the help of the recent guest posts about uniforms, studying each countries slogans may be just what you're looking for.  If you already have your teams selected, at least this article from the Washington Post will make you laugh and get you even more excited about the world's biggest sporting event that starts next month. 

Another BISERGS Fashion Update

Here is another guest post, this time by the reigning champion Carol Barrera.  Thanks for your contribution Carol.  To the rest of you, please send me anything you'd like posted

Ladies: this is our chance to shine by discerning posts showing our fashion sense.

Sharleen’s description of our watching the 1994 World Cup together while she recuperated from a tonsilectomy is bitter sweet—because it was the last time she lived at home with us.  I treasure the memory, while lamenting her suffering from the sore throat and the disappointment of that last failed shot by her hero.  After running through all the webs sites showing the uniforms, my favorites are in this order:

1)      Russia (away) astronaut theme.

Carol's favorite - the Russian away astronaut theme

2)      Mexico (home), sharp lightning design

3)      Costa Rica (asymmetrical v design and clever neck pattern)

4)      Germany (home): wing shaped design on front

5)      USA (away): something about that red, white and blue

6)      Nigeria (simple, clean lines with pleasing shades of green)

7)      Argentina classic white and sky blue horizontal stripes (or is it just nostalgia over my Messi shirt bought by Greg for me in a Moroccan market.)

Some uniforms have nice details up close, but these touches are not visible from afar.  Cases in point: Ghana (neck pattern on home, horizontal strips with designs on away), Belgium’s crown motif and Iran’s water mark cheetah. But for someone like me who is visually challenged and watching games on an old, small TV, I like a uniform that sticks out so that I can identify it easily.  Of course, on that basis alone, I would have chosen the Netherlands survival orange, Croatia’s home red and white checks or Japan’s away Electric Yellow (to me, chartreuse) with orange paint swipe on back.

Strangest: Iran’s socks, which have small white and red bands, but from a distance just look pink.

Originally Posted May 21, 2014 on http://grssam.wix.com/bisergs2014

True Confessions of a Three Time Champion

The following is a guest post by three time BISERGS Champion, Sharleen Samuelson.  Please respond by using the comments section below.  BISERGS 2014 welcomes guest posts from all BISERGS participants.

As the current record holder for BISERGS wins (1998, 2002, 2006), I have a true confession to make. The only World Cup I really ever watched was in 1994. I had just graduated high school, all my friends had flown away, and I was laid up recovering from a nasty tonsillectomy. I watched every game and all the commentary in between spooning ice cream down my sore throat. I shouted "GOOOAAAAL!" from my heart even though I could barely whisper. I also may or may not have developed a slight crush on Roberto Baggio (named as having one of the "30 most breathtaking mullets in sports history") and was truly heartbroken at his missed penalty that cost Italy the win. 

Sharleen's heartthrob after penalty kick failure.

In fact, it may be that Baggio's missed penalty was the beginning of the end of my short lived passion for soccer. My only strategy in those first three BISERGS Championships was to choose Italy and wait for them to be vindicated. When they finally won in 2006, it also brought my reign to an end.

Will Mexico's Power Stripe lead
them to World cup Success?

This year, however, I've decided on a new strategy (although I'm not saying whether or not Italy will still be my first pick). After reading Slate.com's "The Horrifying True Story of the Ugliest Jerseys in U.S. Soccer History", I was inspired to take a look at this year's team jerseys. Check out this storyif you want to see them for yourself. I admit that I might not be completely impartial, but I like Mexico's "power stripe", here's hoping that it is more than metaphorical. I also like Cameroon's African print, and the Netherland's choices are classy as usual (especially the away print). 

If you were choosing your team solely on their team jersey, what would be your favorite? What other non-strategic criteria could you use to choose your teams?

Originally Posted May 20, 2014 on http://grssam.wix.com/bisergs2014

Snohomish Snyders and Portland Samuelsons Dominate Draft Order Draw

Matt Snyder was the big winner today as his name was the first pulled from the hat at BISERGS headquarters in Abu Dhabi.  When news reached Snohomish, Matt (pictured above, thanks for sending me the photo Carol) ran into his backyard and slid across grass on his knees in celebration. Rick Samuelson was the second name selected and he was followed immediately by his sons Derek and Evan. Irma and Byron Xitumul wrapped up the top 5 and Max Snyder joined his father in wild celebration as his name was pulled out 6th. Current BISERGS World #1, Carol Barrera, watched the entire event live via Skype, but had to wait until number 17 to hear her name called. Not every Snyder in Washington state was pleased with their place. Cookie Snyder didn't receive a mother's day gift from the draw as her name was picked last. She'll take consolation in the fact that she has the first pick in the second round and can possibly snatch up two World Cup group winners. For the complete list of draft results, visit the draft page.

Originally Posted May 10, 2014 on http://grssam.wix.com/bisergs2014

Draft Order Draw - Saturday May 10th

On Saturday evening Abu Dhabi time, the draft order for the BISERGS team selections will be determined by drawing names from a hat.  You can see the event results live here or here.  Follow @_GregSam on twitter to get updated information about the exact start time of this monumental BISERGS 2014 event.



Originally Posted May 9, 2014 on http://grssam.wix.com/bisergs2014