2012 Scrabble year in review
First, a look back at all previous installments, which include the first ten years before my lj account existed:
Year W-L SPR FOR AGN
1996: 4-3-0 +566 402 321
1997: 21-3-0 +1817 420 345
1998: 80-66-0 +2743 399 381
1999: 137-86-0 +7946 409 374
2000: 211-117-1 +9985 408 378
2001: 186-97-0 +10442 414 378
2002: 184-109-1 +8899 417 387
2003: 157-96-0 +6970 415 387
2004: 159-97-0 +7147 413 385
2005: 121-70-1 +6385 418 385
2006: 148-91-1 +6055 422 397
2007: 145-74-0 +8196 431 393
2008: 117-56-0 +5656 429 397
2009: 142-101-1 +6319 421 395
2010: 143-89-1 +5424 420 397
2011: 157-79-1 +9879 430 388
2012: 97-65-3 +4479 429 403
Other than the occasional facebook update, I haven't mentioned my ineptitude in the world of Scrabble in 2012 very much. I don't keep every single statistic in my head as well as I did in my heyday (a heyday which I hope has a sequel at some point in my lifetime), but I always enjoy taking a look back and see how everything added and subtracted up. There were a few things that stuck out like sore thumbs:
1. I finished with 97 wins. I was literally 3 points away from 100 wins, because I tied three times this year. In all likelihood, I will end up with my lowest yearly win total since 1998. I didn't realize that a whopping 22 of the games in the New Year's Albany event will be played in 2012, so I really hope I find a way to reach the century mark in wins before the year is out.
2. My overall point spread for 2012 currently stands at +4479. That's less than half of my point spread from last year, albeit in 72 fewer games.
3. I won zero tournaments this year. I wasn't even that close in many of them, unless you count this past New Year's as a tournament in 2012 (I have yet to figure out the proper way to designate the year for such overlapping). I had my usual decent record at the BAT, which has been basically the same for four straight years, but I was otherwise playing in a lot more irrelevant games than usual.
4. That 403 defensive average might bug me the most. That isn't unexpected in the stiffest competition, but the thing is that my opponents had an average rating of 1728! That was WAY lower than any other year this century, and yet they found a way to give me fits all year. It really made me wonder if I was playing too recklessly, but it probably had more to do with me falling behind in so many games, resulting in shootout after shootout on boards that I needed to keep volatile.
On the plus side, I had no losing records for the second straight year, and was one point away from having a two year streak of winning records. Otherwise, I blame this on the whole year ending in 2 or 9 theory. They just don't go as well as their counterparts ending in 1, 7 and 8. I guess that means I have a lot of average years coming up, but I'll settle for one of them.
Year W-L SPR FOR AGN
1996: 4-3-0 +566 402 321
1997: 21-3-0 +1817 420 345
1998: 80-66-0 +2743 399 381
1999: 137-86-0 +7946 409 374
2000: 211-117-1 +9985 408 378
2001: 186-97-0 +10442 414 378
2002: 184-109-1 +8899 417 387
2003: 157-96-0 +6970 415 387
2004: 159-97-0 +7147 413 385
2005: 121-70-1 +6385 418 385
2006: 148-91-1 +6055 422 397
2007: 145-74-0 +8196 431 393
2008: 117-56-0 +5656 429 397
2009: 142-101-1 +6319 421 395
2010: 143-89-1 +5424 420 397
2011: 157-79-1 +9879 430 388
2012: 97-65-3 +4479 429 403
Other than the occasional facebook update, I haven't mentioned my ineptitude in the world of Scrabble in 2012 very much. I don't keep every single statistic in my head as well as I did in my heyday (a heyday which I hope has a sequel at some point in my lifetime), but I always enjoy taking a look back and see how everything added and subtracted up. There were a few things that stuck out like sore thumbs:
1. I finished with 97 wins. I was literally 3 points away from 100 wins, because I tied three times this year. In all likelihood, I will end up with my lowest yearly win total since 1998. I didn't realize that a whopping 22 of the games in the New Year's Albany event will be played in 2012, so I really hope I find a way to reach the century mark in wins before the year is out.
2. My overall point spread for 2012 currently stands at +4479. That's less than half of my point spread from last year, albeit in 72 fewer games.
3. I won zero tournaments this year. I wasn't even that close in many of them, unless you count this past New Year's as a tournament in 2012 (I have yet to figure out the proper way to designate the year for such overlapping). I had my usual decent record at the BAT, which has been basically the same for four straight years, but I was otherwise playing in a lot more irrelevant games than usual.
4. That 403 defensive average might bug me the most. That isn't unexpected in the stiffest competition, but the thing is that my opponents had an average rating of 1728! That was WAY lower than any other year this century, and yet they found a way to give me fits all year. It really made me wonder if I was playing too recklessly, but it probably had more to do with me falling behind in so many games, resulting in shootout after shootout on boards that I needed to keep volatile.
On the plus side, I had no losing records for the second straight year, and was one point away from having a two year streak of winning records. Otherwise, I blame this on the whole year ending in 2 or 9 theory. They just don't go as well as their counterparts ending in 1, 7 and 8. I guess that means I have a lot of average years coming up, but I'll settle for one of them.