Football, Bowling Balls and Snow

Posted by The Snowman on September 6, 2011
Posted in: Uncategorized.
Just a quick hello to anyone that still stops here every now and then. The last couple of days has had me thinking about the contest once again. With SU starting and winning the first football game of the season along with the cool rainy couple of days I think we all know that summer is coming to an end. Hopefully plenty of nice weather is still in the forecast before that naughty S word gets mentioned :). What a comeback game it was too. Way to go Syracuse and let’s keep that never give up spirit going all season long.

I figure I’ll spend a little time posting some shameless plugs for my shopping websites that are relevant for this time of the year. Several of my Halloween sites and a bowling site that seems to be starting to pick up now. So if you’re looking for bowling balls, bowling shirts and bowling shoes I have a site that has a few of the best bowling merchants on it. The prices are competitive even after you consider having your ball drilled. All the newest bowling balls for both dry and oily lanes. The bowling shirt merchant has some great prices on shirts for your whole bowling team. They have one of the largest selection of bowling shirts in all sizes. They also have a great selection of bowling shirt styles to choose from. You should also find good prices on new styles of bowling shoes for men, kids and women.

Click here for our bowling ball stores!

Shot In The Dark Forecasts: Winter 2011 Wrap Up

Posted by Stephen on May 29, 2011
Posted in: forecasts.

Yes, I know, it’s the end of May, not really time to be thinking about snow right now. That’s why now is the perfect time to have the SITD Wrap Up!

Up first is the April forecast, which involved rankings for the five GSB cities. Below are the rankings as of the end of April, with the range I had given them in parenthesis.

Albany: 9th (5-9)
Binghamton: 6th (3-6)
Buffalo: 15th (13-19)
Rochester: 12th (8-12)
Syracuse: 4th (3-4)

Bull’s Eye: All five GSB cities are within the given ranges.
On Target: Three or four are in the given ranges.
Complete Miss: Two or fewer are in the given ranges.

All five were in range, with 4 of them being just making it. That’s a Bull’s Eye!

Finally, it’s the Season outlook, which was made in the beginning of January. It involved the rankings of the five cities in this contest. Below are the cities’ placements with my predicted rank in parenthesis.

1. Syracuse (1)
2. Rochester (2)
3. Binghamton (3)
4. Buffalo (4)
5. Albany (5)

Bull’s Eye: The standings at the end of April will be Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, Buffalo and Albany.
On Target: Three are in the forecast spots.
Complete Miss: Two or fewer are in the forecast spots.

All five were in the position I had predicted, so that is another Bull’s Eye!

Unfortunately, these two Bull’s Eye forecasts were not enough to reach my 1.00 goal. The April and Season forecasts over on GSG were Complete Miss outlooks, so my average for the season is 0.90, the same as the Point Blank Range! This time, it was the GSG forecasts that let me down, as only one forecast was a Bull’s Eye while three were of the Complete Miss category. On the GSB side, three were Bull’s Eyes and two were Complete Misses.

So, the goal for next season will be the same this one, 1.00 or better.

Speaking of next season, I have some changes in mind that I’d like to get for the 2011-12 snow season. First and foremost, I got off to a late start, so I want to get the forecasts started in December and go through March instead of January through April like I did this season. Another idea floating around in my head is to have some sort of video forecast with these, instead of just text. I’ll have to play around with that during the off season. If I can get it to work, it’ll be here next season, if not, then it won’t. I don’t want to change it from text to video mid-season. All this been said, I feel like the current forecast structure is a keeper, so I will not be changing it next season.

Enjoy the off season everyone!

It’s a Wrap – Syracuse Wins the 2010 – 2011 Golden Snowball Award!

Posted by The Snowman on May 1, 2011
Posted in: syracuse wins golden snowball award.

It’s May 1st which means one thing, It’s time to wrap up the 2010 – 2011 snow season here in CNY!!! It’s official, Syracuse with another repeat victory wins the Golden Snowball trophy once again. What’s that like 7 – 8 times in a row now. Whose counting huh? December really set the pace and there really was no looking back.

We kept hoping that the GSB contest would get close but everytime Rochester or Binghamton made a move on the snow hill Syracuse would just bounce back with even more snow. As for Buffalo it was all around them just not hitting in the right spot and Binghamton was able to slip past them.

I’ll have to see how many times since we restarted the contest that Bingo has beaten Buffalo. Most likely not too many times. Stephen or I will put together a summary of how the 2010 – 2011 snow season went. For now I’m out to enjoy this nice run of weather that we are having. Congrats once again to Syracuse 🙂

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all!

Shop and Save at Good Online Stores!

I Think It’s Time for a NO Snow Dance

Posted by The Snowman on April 21, 2011
Posted in: Uncategorized.

Snowflakes were flying around once again in some of the Golden Snowball cities today 🙁 I think we are at that point, make that past that point where it’s time to say enough already. Don’t get me wrong! I would still love to see some more records broken instead of the cold rain but I don’t think it’s going to happen this late in the game.

So I think it’s time to throw in the beach towel (beach sounds good huh) and do a No Snow Dance to see if we can get the spring weather going. These cold and rainy with snowflakes days are getting old pretty fast. Not to mention my grass is as high as a few of the good snowfalls we’ve had this season. Nine more days and the 2010 – 2011 snow season will be just a memory. If it ever decides to end that is.

Here is Binghamton’s latest season at a glance:

1. 1993-1994 (131.3)
2. 1995-1996 (131.2)
3. 1992-1993 (122.7)
4. 1955-1956 (122.6)
5. 2002-2003 (117.6)
6. 2010-2011 (117.5 so far)
7. 1977-1978 (115.3)
8. 1969-1970 (114.0)
9. 1970-1971 (108.6)
10. 1957-1958 (108.3)

Have a Super Weekend All!

Shot In The Dark Forecasts: Winter 2011 Update

Posted by Stephen on April 10, 2011
Posted in: forecasts.

Got a bit behind where I wanted the updates to be, but here it is now. In this update, I’ll be looking back at the March results, and see where the April outlook stands. It’s about 3 weeks before the SITD Wrap Up, in which the April results will be final, as well as the forecast made at the beginning of the season. The goal is 1.00, when both Golden Snowball and Golden Snow Globe are combined.

The March forecast involved snowfall for the month compared to the historical average. Below are the snowfall totals for the five cities, with their respective averages in parenthesis.

Albany: 8.8 (10.9)
Binghamton: 25.9 (14.2)
Buffalo: 13.3 (12.4)
Rochester: 15.1 (16.6)
Syracuse: 18.5 (18.8)

Bull’s Eye: All five GSB cities will have above average snowfall for March.
On Target: Three GSB cities will have above average snowfall in March.
Complete Miss: Two or less GSB cities will have above average snowfall in March.

I know there were some comments at the beginning of the month that basically said this was a no-brainer. Well, this season, there is no such thing as a no-brainer this season as only 2 of the 5 were above average for March.

With both GSB and GSG giving me Complete Miss outlooks for March, my average has now dropped to 0.83, below the goal of 1.00. Of the four remaining results, it looks like I’ll be needing at least 2 Bull’s Eye predictions to get to the goal.

With that in mind, here’s a look at April so far. I had ranges for where I believed each of the 5 GSB cities would be for the end of April, basically the end of the snow season. Below are their current rankings (as of the 9th), with the range I had given them in parenthesis.

Albany: 9th (5-9)
Binghamton: 6th (3-6)
Buffalo: 16th (13-19)
Rochester: 12th (8-12)
Syracuse: 4th (3-4)

Right now, all five are in the ranges I set. The best way for me to get a Bull’s Eye with this forecast is for there to be no more snow for the next few weeks. I’m sure most people would be fine with that!

Hey, have a great week everyone!

Point Blank Range Forecasts: Winter 2011 Wrap Up

Posted by Stephen on April 3, 2011
Posted in: forecasts.

With the silliness that comes with the start of April out of the way (yes, the last post was an April Fool’s Day joke!), it’s time to see just how much of a joke this season’s Point Blank Range Forecasts were.

To start, it’s a look at the final forecast of the season: temperatures, and their relation to average. Below are the number of days the GSB cities had high temperatures below average from the 29th to the 30th.

Albany: 1
Binghamton: 1
Buffalo: 2
Rochester: 2
Syracuse: 1

Bull’s Eye: All five GSB cities have below average highs both days.
On Target: All five GSB cities have below average highs in one day.
Complete Miss: Any GSB city has above average highs both days.

All five were below average on the 29th, but only Buffalo and Rochester were below average on the 30th. So, the final PBR Forecast of the season was On Target.

As a result, I do not meet the 1.00 average goal set at the beginning of the season. It was these forecasts that did me in this season, as of the 10 forecasts, only 1 was a Bull’s Eye while 5 earned the Complete Miss designation. Golden Snow Globe forecasts were almost the exact opposite: 1 was a Complete Miss while 3 were in the Bull’s Eye category. For the grand total, it’s 18 points out of 20 forecasts, a 0.90 average.

So, the goal for next season will be the same as this season: 1.00 or better.

Tomorrow, I will try to get the Shot In The Dark Forecast results in for March. The SITD have 2 forecasts waiting for verification: the April outlook and the one done back in January for the entire Winter season. I’ll try to get the full SITD wrap up done in the next few weeks.

Have a great week everyone!