WinPicks Reference Manual
Section 5.1. Keying in Data
It is much faster and more convenient to download updated files from the Internet than it is to key in data. However, if you are without Internet access and need to key in your own data, it will probably take just 15 to 45 minutes per week, per application. The amount of data that you need to key into WinPicks depends upon the application you are using. Pro Football Analyst (PFA) requires you to enter most of the information found in the game boxscores. College Football Analyst (CFA), College Basketball Analyst (CBA), and Pro Basketball Analyst (PBA) only require you to enter the game scores. The procedure for entering data into each application is explained below.
Keying Data into Pro Football Analyst
The stats used by PFA are found in the boxscores published in most daily newspapers. These boxscores usually appear the day after the game is played. Therefore, you'll always need to enter stats from the Monday paper (for the Sunday games) and from the Tuesday paper (for the Monday night game). A few NFL games are played on Thursday or Saturday, so you'll need to use the Friday and Sunday papers, respectively, when this occurs.
PFA stores an entire season of stats in one file. For example, the file PFSTATS.13 contains the stats from the 2013 season.
To key stats into PFA, select GAME SCORES from the FILE menu. A window appears listing the games scheduled for the current date. This window is shown in Figure 5.10.
Figure 5.10 - The Game Selection Window (PFA)
Select the game you want by one of two methods:
- Point to the game you want and double click the mouse.
- Highlight the game you want and click EDIT
The game input screen appears as shown in Figure 5.11. The home team is on the right, and the visiting team is on the left. To enter a stat, move to the category you want using either the arrow keys or the mouse. Then, use the number keys to type in the stats.
Most stats are quite easy to locate in the newspaper boxscore. One exception is the field goal stats (FG Attempts and FG Made). You'll need to look through the scoring summary to find the number of field goals made, and many newspapers include a section listing the missed field goals. By adding field goals made and field goals missed together, you can obtain the number of field goals attempted.
Figure 5.11 - The Game Input Screen (PFA)
Another stat that needs explanation is Return Yards. WinPicks counts return yards as the sum of interception and punt return yards. It doesn't count kickoff return yardage, because teams generally accumulate kickoff return yardage when they allow a lot of points.
After you finish entering all the stats for a game:
- To save the stats to disk, click the OK button
- To quit without saving, click the CANCEL button
In rare instances, the game site may change. This has happened in past years due to scheduling conflicts with baseball teams or natural causes (blizzards, earthquakes, hurricanes, and so on). If the game site changes, you can swap the visiting and home teams and fix the schedule. To swap the teams, click the SWAP button.
After you enter a game, you are returned to the Game Selection Window (Figure 5.10). The games you have entered are marked "Yes" in the "Complete" column. Enter the stats for the next game, and continue in this fashion until the stats are entered for all games on this week's schedule.
Keying Data into College Football Analyst, College Basketball Analyst, and Pro Basketball Analyst
CFA, CBA, and PBA include extensive databases with scores from thousands of past games. CFA includes the scores for college football games dating back to the 1985 season. Every regular season and bowl game involving at least one Division-1 team is included (more than 600 games per season). PBA includes the scores for NBA games dating back to the 1990-91 season. Every regular season and postseason game is included (more than 1,000 games per season). CBA includes all games dating back to the 2000-2001 season.
Game scores are published in most daily newspapers the day after the game is played. College football scores are usually in the Sunday paper since most games are played on Saturday. However, in many areas the scores of the night games played on the West Coast (and the score of the Hawaii game) may not appear in your paper until Monday. Likewise, scores from West Coast NBA games may not appear in your paper until two days after the game was played, since some games end after the paper has gone to press.
To enter scores, select GAME SCORES from the FILE menu. A window appears listing the schedule as shown in Figure 5.12.
Figure 5.12 - The Enter Scores Window (PBA)
After you finish entering the game scores:
- To save the scores to disk, click the OK button
- To quit without saving, click the CANCEL button
