Learned League 87 -- Nov/Dec 2020

[classicroadster]

Man, my defense has absolutely sucked this season. I'm at .596, which would be only my 2nd sub-.600 season (.575 in my rookie season). I have given away 3-pointers on 18 of 23 MDs.

Same here. I'm at .609, which would be my worst, after fridays 3(3)-6(3) loss...My worst previous was .628 when I was a rookie. Fortunately, I'm on pace for my highest TCA so I'm still in middle of my C rundle and can't get relegated (or promoted for that matter).

[alietr]

That Amelia Earhart clue might be my favorite. The Northern Ireland part of the clue meant nothing to me even after trying to come up with some Irish names that might fit. I didn't know about the Kansas or civil rights connection and couldn't come up with anything there. I don't know who the 99s were. But then I started thinking about the "died around 1937". Why would he say it like that? Why would you not know when someone died? Did they just disappear? Ohhhhhhh ....

And then someone gives me a 3 for DSOTM. Not only am I an amateur astronomer, but I was a DJ in that era andcurrent events is one of my strongest categories, AND that question played easiest for the day.

[Volante]

That Amelia Earhart clue might be my favorite. The Northern Ireland part of the clue meant nothing to me even after trying to come up with some Irish names that might fit. I didn't know about the Kansas or civil rights connection and couldn't come up with anything there. I don't know who the 99s were. But then I started thinking about the "died around 1937". Why would he say it like that? Why would you not know when someone died? Did they just disappear? Ohhhhhhh ....

And then someone gives me a 3 for DSOTM. Not only am I an amateur astronomer, but I was a DJ in that era andcurrent events is one of my strongest categories, AND that question played easiest for the day.

I was kicking myself over that one. 99s felt like something I knew, but it just wouldn't click. Turned out last issue of Air & Space had an article on female pilots and 99s came up often in it...guess I'll get it right next time now.

Least my stupids didn't cost me (I also outsmarted myself and said PS4...) Got a tie and safely out of relegation.

[econgator]

Least my stupids didn't cost me (I also outsmarted myself and said PS4...) Got a tie and safely out of relegation.

I own a PS4, so I knew that wasn't the system. Otherwise, I probably would have bit on it.

[teapot37]

Not gonna lie, I kinda mixed up The 99ers with the Voyager episode "The 37s" (where they awaken Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan from suspended animation on an alien planet) in my head, although the nebulous death date in the question also helped.

[Bamaman]

I have an outside shot at winning my rundle. Yes, it is E, but a win is a win. On the other hand, I don’t think I am assured of finishing in the top six and getting promoted.

Registration for the MLs is now open.

[alietr]

Not gonna lie, I kinda mixed up The 99ers with the Voyager episode "The 37s" (where they awaken Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan from suspended animation on an alien planet) in my head, although the nebulous death date in the question also helped.

TIL what the 99s are, and that they were established by Earhart at a former airfield (Curtiss) that I didn't know existed, that was only a few miles from where I grew up.

[twelvefootboy]

I have an outside shot at winning my rundle. Yes, it is E, but a win is a win. On the other hand, I don’t think I am assured of finishing in the top six and getting promoted.

Registration for the MLs is now open.

I like your odds, if you tank today, it still takes 5 wins of the six below you to bump you. I will be vacating a slot in D rundle for ecological balance. But the JBL will get smarter with you and twelvefootbro both moving up to D .

You should get a third place podium finish in the JBL, but Armandillo (the defending champ) still has a shot mathematically. ClassicRoadster needs a slip from morbeedo to break the tiebreaker edge from morbeedo's huge MPD.

I'm mired in dead last in the JBL, but there is a lot of parity in the bottom five. It could be more volatile, but it hasn't been. It's been a meh season to end a meh year.

[mahatma]

I'm looking forward to joining y'all next season. It's been a really good rookie campaign, although based on what I'm hearing, I happened to luck into one of the easiest seasons in recent memory. I'll be playing in a B rundle next time around (anybody else here in Fjord?), so I may not be this sanguine about LL in a few months.

Happy mini-leaguing and one-daying to all.

[Lefty]

I'm looking forward to joining y'all next season. It's been a really good rookie campaign, although based on what I'm hearing, I happened to luck into one of the easiest seasons in recent memory. I'll be playing in a B rundle next time around (anybody else here in Fjord?), so I may not be this sanguine about LL in a few months.

Happy mini-leaguing and one-daying to all.

If it has been an easy season, it ought to have been just as easy for your rivals. I have scored better than my average, though with some late-season regression to the mean. Still, I clinched promotion to A in Monday's round, but I am likely to meet you in a Fjord one of these seasons. I'm not sure I'd ever qualified for A outright; I think I benefited from expansion a couple of times.

Among yesterday's clues, I also liked the Earhart, though I do tend to be partial to ones I get right. My initial thought was toward a revolutionary/nationalist type, partly due to Thorsten's choice of "Derry", but the significance of "around 1937" eventually dawned on me.

As for the video game question, if "Astro" wasn't the Jetson's pet dog, I was facing bleak odds. It did at least inspire me to look up "haptic", though I now have to go check "proprioception" (aha, it's a synonym for "kinaesthesia").

[seaborgium]

My newest referral, who won his rookie rundle at the beginning of the year but got relegated to C after last season, is set to be promoted back to B, and in fact can still win his rundle: he's in second, one win behind first but with a better MPD, and he's playing someone he tied 0(1)-0(0) earlier this season, while first place is rematching against someone who beat him 6(4)-4(3). Also, he referred his mom, and she's already set to win her rookie rundle.

Meanwhile I'm in fourth in my A rundle, behind third place by a tie but also with a better MPD, so all I have to do is win while he doesn't, or tie while he loses, to make it into the championship.

[trainman]

I was kicking myself over that one. 99s felt like something I knew, but it just wouldn't click. Turned out last issue of Air & Space had an article on female pilots and 99s came up often in it...guess I'll get it right next time now.

As someone pointed out on the LL message board, the 99s come up in Mary Robinette Kowal's "Lady Astronaut" series (particularly the first novel, "The Calculating Stars")... and I've read all three of the existing novels within the past 6 months.

[seaborgium]

Meanwhile I'm in fourth in my A rundle, behind third place by a tie but also with a better MPD, so all I have to do is win while he doesn't, or tie while he loses, to make it into the championship.

I lost so it didn't matter, but I was so focused on the stats of the person ahead of me that I didn't notice I led three other players by MPD alone, so they all could have overtaken me if I tied while they won. Losing, in fact, left me open to being surpassed by six players, and half of them pulled it off, so I fell to #7.

[alietr]

I ended up beating my all-time TCA by one, so I guess I would say it was an 'easy' season. Given Thorsten's amazing ability at consistency, all that means is that it was ever-so-slightly easier than other seasons. Checking my stats, for the 32 seasons I've been a Llama, the league get rate is .487, and this season it was .505. Different sample bases, so make of it what you will.

[morbeedo]

Oh well. I was hoping to avoid relegation to B Taiga. I knew I needed to win my last match - and I did - but the people ahead of me needed to lose - and they tied instead. So many near misses this season - just one question along the way could have kept me above the red line. That said, I started in 26th and stayed in the red zone for the entire season, so no real surprises here.

My consolation prize is winning the JBL private rundle. Thanks, twelvefootboy, for the recaps!

[sarisson]

I thought it was a tough season.
Before our match yesterday, quarterrican and I would've been in danger of relegation if not for the fact that two of the people below us were playing each other. They couldn't both win, so we were safe. Anyway, he ended up beating me and now leads our all-time series.
If you had told me in 2015 that I would spend 10 consecutive seasons in A...

[This Is Kirk!]

I ended up beating my all-time TCA by one, so I guess I would say it was an 'easy' season. Given Thorsten's amazing ability at consistency, all that means is that it was ever-so-slightly easier than other seasons.

Yes, it was slightly easier than average for me. I had my fourth best season ever for TCA with 119.

Took the loss to jeff yesterday 5(4)-7(5) and ended up in seventh. On paper it was a good season, but the fact I fell from third after MD17 down to seventh at the end kind of soured it.

[Volante]

Tied for second highest TCA (would have been by itself except I *cough* typoed Goya as Hoya (Look! The keys are right together, man!). That's my story and I'm sticking to it... Actually, if I counted up all my stupids it could very well have been highest...but then I'd have to go back and do the same for other seasons so that doesn't seem fair either)

But for the past 12 seasons I've mostly fallen in the same 11 point range, so I wouldn't consider it an outlier season, just the happy side of the deviation.

[econgator]

I managed to defend a 4(4) and 5(4) on my last two days, so I did get my DE above .600. Finished with a middle-of-the-road 10-10-5 record and 91 TCA, 6 short of my best.

[alietr]

Tied for second highest TCA (would have been by itself except I *cough* typoed Goya as Hoya (Look! The keys are right together, man!). That's my story and I'm sticking to it... Actually, if I counted up all my stupids it could very well have been highest...but then I'd have to go back and do the same for other seasons so that doesn't seem fair either)

But for the past 12 seasons I've mostly fallen in the same 11 point range, so I wouldn't consider it an outlier season, just the happy side of the deviation.

One of my favorite pun names for a store is the carryout on Georgetown U's campus (it helps if you know the school's motto):

Hoya Snaxa.jpg (11.49 KiB) Viewed 388 times