Friday, June 19, 2009

FAQs about the Great Sports Name Hall Of Fame

Because I keep having to answer the same questions about the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame over and over again, I figured I'd put the answers all in one easy to find place. Hopefully this will explain anything you need help understanding, but if it doesn't, feel free to email me at GSNHOF at gmail.com.

1. You used to post names all the time, but now it's more like once or twice a month - what gives?
A: When I was just out of college and working here and there, posting was easy.  As I've gotten more adult, this blog has been pushed aside at times, especially while I try to keep my other hobbies alive like watching movies and playing video games.  I'll try to get names on here every now and again though!

2. Could you give me the official rules?
A: Sure, I'll give you a rough outline. I nominated 21 names to begin, naming 3 names a week for 7 weeks. We then had a ballot, where I mostly facebook messaged friends (but also requested votes from the blogosphere) asking each person to write up a list of their favorites from the 21 players I named, minimum of 1, maximum of 10. These lists acted as each person's ballot, and I totaled these ballots in an excel file. Based on these percentages, players got sent into different portions of the hall, Baseball HOF style:

Those on 55% or more of the ballots are elected to the Truly Great Names section.
Those on 20-55% of the ballots who have been on 10 ballots or less remain on the next ballot (Names Awaiting Placement)
Those on less than 20% of the ballots are eliminated from hall contention and deemed "Good Names"

I wrote up a page explaining who had made it and who didn't. Then I added 10 more names to the list in Names Awaiting Placement. After the names were added ballot two occurs, voting, elections, it all repeats. Got it? Good!

3. Coco Crisp is AWESOME! Can he enter your hall?
A: As of Ballot Nine, nicknames are okay as long as the nickname is the name the player went by (so it would appear on their baseball card, or it's what they went by socially).  So Coco Crisp works for Covelli Loyce Crisp, but "Foxxy Grandpa" does not work for Jimmy Bannon since he still went by Jimmy.  Prior to Ballot Nine, no nicknames were allowed.

4. Does anyone ever make the Hall of Fame? I feel like I vote for the same names over and over again!
A: Over 55% of the votes gets a guy into the Hall, under 20% knocks him off the ballot. Everyone in between sticks around until the next ballot and gets voted on again. After 7 ballots, however, guys are removed, because you only get so many chances.

5. Do these names belong to real people?
A: Yes, they all belong to real people. A friend of mine thought that I was making up names and then having people vote on which name that I had made up was the best. I don't get why anyone thinks that makes sense...why would I waste my time with a website dedicated to a bunch of made up stuff? Regardless...they're not made up, they're all very real people with very awesome/great names.

6. Is a player really done/unable to be considered for the Hall once he's eliminated FOREVER?
A: Yes and no. As in right now yes, but in the future maybe not. As I said, we base our site on Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame, which has a Veteran's Committee to vote in players years after they were initially rejected. Partially because I like some of the names that have been eliminated and partially because my girlfriend is really sad that Dick Butkus left, I am leaving the possibility of a GSNHOF Veteran's Committee open. Of course, I'll probably need a regular stable of voters before that becomes a possibility, so we'll see what happens there. If you're interested in joining the Veteran's Committee, then email me or comment somewhere.

No comments:

Post a Comment