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Welcome
to our 44th season! Nice to see all the old familiar
faces back again. And look, over there in the second row -- why,
those are some new folks joining us for the first time. Can you
old-timers remember the thrill of being a rookie and feeling the
gravitas of years of FBP history? What a thrill is must
be for them! <grin>
Anyway, it's time to get started.
If you're a newcomer, you might want to use the Help
/ Getting Started button in the menu above to get the full
scoop on how the Pool works. Once you're ready to go, use the
Enroll button to create an account for
yourself. Oldtimers -- you also need to re-enroll since all of
last year's accounts have been wiped clean (definitely a blessing
for some of you given your 2024 performance!). Use Make
Picks to get your first round of picks into the system, then
whew! -- lie back, take a break from all your hard work, and hunker
down in front of the tube for the first games of the season.
An FBP feature that you
may have missed is the listing of weeks that have early games
(below). Take a look, mark your calendar so that you don't whine
about how it snuck up on you later. <grin>
Actually, almost EVERY week is an early week these days, so there's even less reason for surprise! As the season rolls on, take some
time to look around at the other FBP features. I particularly
recommend the History section if you
haven't seen it before. Not only can you be astonished at the
amount of energy we've put into this decidedly pointless human
endeavor over the years, but you'll also find the FBP
Hall of Fame listing all the previous champions.
Speaking of whom: Our defending
champs this year are Alan Hevner (Weekend) and Anand Rajan (Monday Night). While they are worthy champions, it's unlikely they'll be able to rest on their laurels.
We'll likely have a selection of our other rivalries back, including the perennial accounting-geeks-vs-techno-geeks
donnybrook and plenty of Advani and Tolopka internecine infighting. Probably see some new rivalries as well. In any case, have fun, bring a friend (you can still
join after the first week with little disadvantage!), and remember
-- you can squabble over the Monday Night championship all you
like, but this year the Weekend is MINE!
-- Steve
Tolopka, FBP Commissioner
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The
object of our affections & striving
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International Games: Once again, games have been scheduled in Europe this year, which means there are games with very early Sunday kick-off times in the U.S.
Flexible Scheduling: Just to aggravate me <grin>, the NFL has again listed two Week 16 games, five Week 17 games and ALL the Week 18 game times as TBD. All the matchups are set, but not the actual playing date and time. All the games are listed in the FBP schedule, but the TBD games are shown as occurring at a random goofy time. I'll update the schedule when the NFL makes up its mind.
For added excitement, flexible scheduling has been expanded this season to include Monday Night Football, as well as Thursday Night Football, which means games may move to other dates and times so keep an eye peeled throughout the year for changes. Fortunately, "the NFL is continuously reviewing its scheduling procedures to ensure exciting and meaningful games are available for viewing by the largest number of fans", which probably explains why this year's games have been parceled out to 43 different networks and streaming services. Good luck locating the game you want!
Monday Night Games: Thanks to the way FBP works, there is one and only one designated Monday Night game each week, and those games are designated at pool startup. (Some day this could change, but don't hold your breath.) Among other things, this means you may find games being played on a Monday that aren't "Monday Night" games, or "Monday Night" games being played on Sunday. Just roll with it.
Scoring Reminder: Beginning
with the 2011 season, we changed the way that default scores are
computed for the week. Specifically:
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You can make picks for any game until that game begins.
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If you make NO picks for the Weekend competition in a given
week, you receve the default Weekend score for the Weekend
competition for that week.
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If you make ONE OR MORE picks for the Weekend competition
in a given week, you are scored normally for the picks you
made. Any picks that were omitted score zero points.
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If you DO NOT make a Monday Night pick in a given week, you
receive the default Monday Night score for the Monday Night
competition for that week.
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If you DO make a Monday Night pick in a given week, you are
scored normally for your pick.
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The Weekend and Monday Night competitions are now considered
SEPARATELY for purposes of default scoring. That is, you can
receive a default score for one competition while being scored
normally for the other competition. For example: If you fail
to make Weekend picks but do make a Monday Night pick, then
you receive the default score for that week in the Weekend
Competition but are scored normally for the Monday Night competition.
For examples of how this works, see Get
Your Picks In On Time (And Default Scoring) on the Help page.
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Early Games this Season
There are early games on the following dates, be sure to make your
picks for these games on time:
- Week
3
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Thursday, September 18, 2025
- Week
4
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Thursday, September 25, 2025
- Week
5
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Thursday, October 2, 2025
- Week
6
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Thursday, October 9, 2025
- Week
7
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Thursday, October 16, 2025
- Week
8
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Thursday, October 23, 2025
- Week
9
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Thursday, October 30, 2025
- Week
10
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Thursday, November 6, 2025
- Week
11
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Thursday, November 13, 2025
- Week
12
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Thursday, November 20, 2025
- Week
13
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Thursday, November 27, 2025
- Week
14
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Thursday, December 4, 2025
- Week
15
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Thursday, December 11, 2025
- Week
16
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Thursday, December 18, 2025
- Week
17
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Thursday, December 25, 2025
See the Help section for rules and instructions.
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Up-to-the-minute
scores, news, and pix at the official site of the