From: andrew@idacom.hp.com (Andrew Scott)
Subject: Announcing the Sixth Annual USENET Hockey Draft
Reply-To: andrew@idacom.hp.com (Andrew Scott)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, IDACOM Telecommunications Division
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 03:31:27 GMT
Expires: 7 Oct 92 12:00:00 GMT


__
\ \
 \ \
  \ \
   \ \                          The Sixth Annual
    \ \                         USENET Hockey Draft
     \ \
      \ \
       \ \______
        \_______|  ==


The leaves are falling, there's a nip in the air, and the thoughts of
all rabid puck fans everywhere turn to the upcoming NHL season.  To
celebrate our appreciation of the game, and to have some fun, I'm holding
the Sixth Annual USENET Hockey Draft.

For those of you new to rec.sport.hockey, the draft is a season long game
whereby each contestant picks a set of NHL players for his/her team.  The
scoring points of each player on the team are totalled to give the score
of the contestant.  At the end of the regular season, the contestant with
the most points is crowned "Champion of the USENET Draft", and gets all
the glory deserved of such a title.

Last year, 254 teams from all over the world (including many from Europe!)
participated in the draft.  The winner, Dave Snell, accumulated 1531.9
points.

This (lengthy) posting describes the draft and lists the rules.  Past
players may want to skip the introduction and go down to the list of rules.
I haven't changed them very much from last year, but you might want to
refresh your memory.  (The only changes are the change to 84 games from 80
and a minimum price increase to 60.0 from 50.0.)

Introduction
------------

The draft will operate like a stock market.  That is, you can buy and sell
players according to their worth.  There is no restriction on who you can
pick - every NHL player is eligible.  Also, anybody can have any player on
their team.  (It would be too difficult to coordinate via email if no NHL
player could appear on more than one team.)

Each contestant will start off with 1000 points to buy a team as he/she
sees fit.  Each player will have a value associated with him.  The initial
value will be last year's point total projected over 84 games.  It is
supposed to represent the potential number of points the player will get
this year.  Thus, when picking a team, a contestant may choose ten 100 point
players or sixteen 60 point players.  The only restriction is a minimum player
purchase price of 60 points.

The player's net value will fluctuate throughout the year.  The value will
be the point total of the player projected over 84 games *of his team*.
Therefore, an injury or suspension will cause a player's value to drop.
The idea is to buy players when their value is low and sell when their value
is high.

The distinction between how a player's initial purchase price and his mid-
season value is computed is important.  The pre-season price is based on
points per player game because it should (theoretically) represent what
the player would get were he to play a full 84 games this year.  The mid-
season price is a prediction of what the player will actually get by the
end of the year.  Injuries or suspensions will reduce the point total, so
that is why the number of team games and not player games is used when
computing the 84 game projection.

For example, Mario Lemieux had 131 points in 64 games last year, for a
pre-season purchase price of 171.9 points.  Suppose he gets 50 points after
19 regular season Penguin games.  His value at that point would be 221.1
points.  If you had bought him before the season began, you would be ahead
49.2 points.  If you don't think he will keep the same pace, you could sell
him.  You would make a profit, but sales are subject to a 10% "commission".
You could sell him for 199.0 points, for a profit of 27.1 points.  You would
then be able to buy other players you feel are under-valued at the moment.

Since it will undoubtedly be difficult to spend exactly 1000 points when
buying your team, you will have some points left over.  These are "cash
points", which you keep.  You will need them for later, when you buy and
sell players of unequal value.  They will count towards your total point
value when the standings are computed, but only to a maximum of 60 points.
This is to discourage people from hoarding cash points excessively.  If you
have at least 60 cash points, you can always buy a player.

Rules
-----

0.  You will have fun participating in the draft!

1.  Each team starts with 1000.0 points with which to purchase players.

2.  The pre-season price of a player is computed using statistics from
    the previous season.  However, see rule 5 also.
        pre-season price = player points / player games * 84

3.  The pre-season price of a player who is classified by the NHL as a
    rookie is 60.0 points.

4.  The mid-season value of a player is computed as follows:
        value = player points / team games * 84
    The mid-season purchase price of a player is the player's current
    value, subject to the minimum price described in rule 5.

5.  The minimum purchase price of a player at any time is 60.0 points.

6.  The mid-season sale price of a player is computed as follows:
        sell price = current value * 0.9
    You must take into account the 10% loss when you are thinking of
    selling one player to buy another.  However, see rule 7 also.

7.  The minimum selling price of a player is 50% of what you originally
    bought the player for.  This rule is designed to give you a break if
    a player you buy doesn't play any games.  For example, you could give
    up on a rookie if he is doing poorly and still get 30.0 points for him.

8.  You can buy and sell players in the pre-season with no 10% penalty.

9.  Buy and sell prices are rounded to the nearest 0.1 point.

10. Cash points are included in team totals only to a maximum of 60.0 points.

11. Teams with more than 60.0 cash points when the season begins will have
    the totals reduced to 60.0 points.  You must buy as many players as
    you can before the season begins.  During the season, you can carry
    more than 60.0 cash points from week to week, but the excess will not
    count towards your team total.

12. Once a player is sold, you cannot buy that same player back again at
    any later date.  Players sold in the pre-season (as per rule 8) are not
    subject to this rule.

13. You must keep a player on your roster for six weeks before you can
    sell him.  This implies that no players can be sold until week 6 of
    the season.  If you pick a player in the pre-season who doesn't pan
    out in the first six weeks, tough luck.  You can, however, sell a
    player before the season starts because of rule 8.  Once the season
    has begun, the "six-week rule" goes into effect.

14. At most, 100 different players can be bought (and sold later) in one
    season.  This limit should not be restrictive for any team.

15. Each week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday.  Each players point totals
    are updated on Tuesday for the previous week.  Point totals from the
    most recent update are used for transactions during the week.
    
16. I will post the current contestant standings of all entries and the price
    list for each player each Tuesday.

17. It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to.  In other words, I have the
    final say on matters that may arise during the course of the draft.
    There will undoubtedly be situations that I haven't considered - I'll do
    my best to be fair in resolving them.  In ten previous drafts (playoffs
    and regular season), there hasn't been any big dispute.


Instructions
------------

Your buy and sell transactions are sent to me (andrew@idacom.hp.com) via email.
I have set up a server program to aid in running the draft.  When I get mail
requesting changes to a contestant's team, I run it through my server.  Any
line beginning with a percent sign ('%') will be interpreted by the server.
Mail headers and any other lines will be ignored by the server, but not by me.
Therefore, any comments or questions can appear in the same email letter as
database requests.

Note that the "server" is not automated - I still have to read the mail and
run it through my program myself.  This ensures that I get a chance to inspect
each set of commands before they are processed.  It also means that your reply
will only be sent when I read the mail - which will likely be Monday morning
for mail sent after Friday evening.

I use the date that you posted the mail (not when I receive it) to determine
which price list to use for transactions you want to make.  I often receive
mail sent late in the week after the Tuesday update.  Do not worry if it takes
a few days for mail to reach me.

When you first enter your team into the database, you must supply a unique
identifier for yourself.  Subsequent requests will use this identifier to
refer to your team.  The identifier is a string (max. 31 characters), with
no embedded spaces.  The underscore character, however, will be replaced by
a space when current standings are posted.  For example, I will use the ID
'Hurricane_Andrew'.  (Apologies to easily offended Florida residents.) You
can use any identifier you want:  calling your team the "Walla_Walla_Warriors"
is fine by me.

In the same manner, references to players will use the same syntax, e.g.
Wayne_Gretzky.  Make sure you spell the player's name correctly when
making a request (Mario's last name is spelled L-E-M-I-E-U-X!)  The capital-
ization is important - don't send commands with "mark_messier".


Commands usually have one operand.  At least one whitespace character (tab
or space) is required between the command and operand.  Anything after the
operand will be ignored, so comments may be put there if desired.


There are seven commands:

%mail <address>

This command instructs the server to mail a response letter to the given
address.  The mail will contain the output of each subsequent command, and
a list of your team after any changes have been made.  I can't be responsible
for mail that doesn't make it back to you, but I'll do my best to make sure
that it does.   Note that the mail address is the path *from me to you*.  
Internet addresses are preferable, but a bang path can also be used.


%begin <name>

This command instructs the server to apply the following commands to the
entry associated with the given name.  This command will also create a new
database record (with no team and 1000 cash points) if the identifier isn't
already in the database, so please don't misspell your name.


%buy <player>

The named player will be added to the contestant's team; his cost will be
subtracted from the contestant's cash points.  Obviously, you should have
enough cash points for the buy request to succeed.


%sell <player>

The named player will be removed from the contestant's team; his cost will
be added to the contestant's cash points (less the 10% commission).


%price <player>

The current selling price of the named player will be sent in the return
mail notice.  This command is used for querying the database before a buy
request is made.  You can also use the player name "all" to get a complete
price list of all players currently entered in the database, but I would
discourage you from using this command as I will post the complete price
list each week.


%name <name>

This command is used to change the name of your team, if you desire.  The
supplied identifier will be used in future requests to refer to your team.


%log current
or
%log all

Produces a log of your current team or all transactions you have made from
the start of the season.  The log listing indicates the current point totals
for each player, the week number when he was bought, and the week number he
was sold (%log all).  The %log current form only lists players currently on
your team.



As an example of the above, I could enter a request as follows:

%mail   andrew@idacom.hp.com    (I want a mail notification)
%begin  Hurrican_Andrew         (my team identifier)
%sell   Mario_Lemieux           (sell requests)
%sell   Steve_Yzerman
%buy    Joe_Sakic               (buy requests)
%buy    Cam_Neely
%price  Petr_Klima              (price request)
%log    all


Your first mail to me, entering your team into the draft, will consist of
a %mail request, a %begin request, several %buy requests, and perhaps a
%log request.

Notes:

1) The server processes each command sequentially.  Thus, the %mail command
    must come first so that you can see the results of every subsequent
    command you try to execute.  Also, %sell commands should precede %buy
    commands in order to ensure you have enough cash to make the deal.

2) If you want to buy a player who hasn't been listed before, I will work
    out a purchase price for the player and add him to the database.

3) If you just want to see what how your current team is doing, you can simply
    send mail similar to the following:

%mail   andrew@idacom.hp.com
%begin  Hurricane_Andrew
%log    current

    You will get a list of all players on your team, their point totals,
    and your team standings relative to the rest of the "league".

4) There may be new commands added during the year.  I will inform you of
    them, as well as any other changes of procedure.


In a separate posting, I have included a list of some players you might want
to buy, and their pre-season purchase price.  Remember, you are not limited
to these players - you can buy anybody.  Send me mail (or a %price request)
and I'll set a price and get back to you.

There is an entry deadline to keep in mind.  Your team entry must be made
before the first regular season games (October 6).  Remember to buy as many
players as you can before that date.

If there are any questions, don't hesitate in sending me mail.  My address is
shown below.  For newcomers to the draft, I would suggest sending me mail
with at least a %begin request to register your team as soon as possible.
We can iron out any mailer errors (if any) right away, instead of near the
deadline.

One more wrinkle: I'll be away on vacation from Sept. 13 to 27 (any hockey
fans in the Cayman Islands?  :-), so any email sent in those two weeks will
just sit in my mailbox until I get back.  There are 8 days from my return to
the start of the hockey season, so there ought to be plenty of time to get
your entry in.

I really want to make the draft a success, and I need your help in doing so.
-- 
Andrew Scott			| andrew@idacom.hp.com
HP IDACOM Telecom Division	| (403) 462-0666 ext. 253

Live now!  Always make now the most precious time!  Now will never come again.