best numbers to have in a football pool ?

rob021275 said
If you have crappy numbers (which, to me, is anything other than 3, 6, 7, or 0), you want the score to go high -- and the higher the better. For instance, 1 is a guaranteed loser unless the score gets over 10, and 11 is very unlikely, but 21 is more likely. 4 is almost guaranteed to be a loser under 10 -- even 5 has to have better odds under 10. But then 14 is more likely than 15, 35 is probably as likely as 24, 34, etc.

If I ever get the time, this would be something to look at mathematically. Kind of like odds in craps or rolling dice.

I was in an office a few years back with a guy who ran a squares pool for every Saints game during the season (plus one game each playoff weekend and the SB). We came up with a method to minimize the "crappy numbers" issue. We would draw the numbers for the 1st quarter, and then would shift the numbers for the second quarter, then shift again for the 3rd quarter, and again for the 4th quarter. Essentially, it gave everyone 4 sets of numbers per square. We had a sheet set up that made the process simple, and everyone loved it -- he's been using that method ever since.

I've also seen pools that automatically give a payback to (2,2), (5,5), (2,5), and (5,2), win or lose.