Each Sunday night we all gather together for two hours of racing. Over the past week, most of SNAIL has been busy buying and painting their cars, changed some oil, broken them in and spent some time learning the latest combinations. Some SNAILs pound countless laps looking for just another tenth of a second in preparation for Sunday night's competition. Those epic two hours we all look forward to. When I first began racing with this league, I would practice when I could, show up Sunday night and race to the best of my ability. That was about it. I was oblivious to what was going on around me. Because I have been having so much fun I decided to jump in and help out where ever I could. They say that ignorance is bliss. With my eyes now open, I have begun to really see what it takes to run this league and all the hard work that goes into those two glorious hours we all so enjoy. Now, this time line is about League Night only. It does not include any of the other SNAIL events that occur throughout the week. This post is not only to educate but to pay homage to all the souls that work behind the scenes to ensure that our Sunday runs smoothly.
Beginning Sunday Morning
Archive and delete old scoring sheets from the Directors Spreadsheet.
Update Lineup in Template sheet in the Directors Spreadsheet.
Create weekly Division Scoring Sheets from the Template sheet in the Directors Spreadsheet.
Enter drivers in Weekly Division Scoring Sheets in the Directors Spreadsheet.
Update references to new weekly Division Scoring Sheets in the Scoring Summary sheet of the Directors Spreadsheet.
Create and send the Sunday Race Reminder.
Sunday Afternoon/Evening - Pre Race
Follow up with any last minute requests or new drivers.
Sunday 6:00pm (PST) 9:00pm (EST):
Division race directors start getting everything ready.
PS3's get fired up and caches get cleared.
Personal computers are signed onto and the Director's Document is brought up.
The room host signs on and begins getting the lounge set up for the nights racing.
Sunday 6:30pm (PST) 9:30pm (EST):
Divisions 1, 2, 4 and 5 begin qualifying.
Sunday 7:00pm (PST) 10:00pm (EST):
Division 3 begins qualifying.
In between each race, while everyone else is getting ready for the next round, the race director/host is saving replays, changing grid order/car/track/tires etc while recording pole position, total race time and where all drivers place in the last race, and also getting into the right car and mentally prepping for their own races.
Sunday 10:00pm (PST) 12:00am (EST):
Racing for all divisions have concluded.
Final entries for the Director's Document are complete.
Individuals responsible for replays begin transferring to PC, zipping files and uploading to Sugarsync.
Monday's:
Throughout the day, the remainder of the the replays are uploaded.
The preliminary/unofficial race results are posted including which combinations got the most votes and who the prize winners will be. (Provided they are not involved in a complaint)
Race complaints begin to get generated.
zer05ive's inbox is full.
Ensure all results are entered in the Directors spreadsheet.
Transfer Division scoring sheets to S.N.A.I.L. Results spreadsheet.
Ensure scoring is calculated correctly in the Monthly sheet.
Backup S.N.A.I.L. spreadsheets.
zer05ive lets everyone know he has cleared some space in his inbox.
Monday 7:00pm (PST) 10:00pm (EST):
Deadline for all race complaints
Deadline for all divisional race replays
The Stewards now begin downloading all of the replays for the divisions they are responsible for and start the process of determining the outcome of each complaint that has been filed.
Tuesday's
Deadline for all divisional data entry onto the SNAIL Results document by the Data Specialists.
If all prize winners are in the clear regarding complaints, a preliminary post is generated so the replacement cars/tracks
can be decided on. If any prize winner is in question, this post will also state that not everyone is in the clear.
Once the all clear is given and the prize winners make their picks, another post will be generated stating that Post #2 has been updated.
Wednesday's
The official Stewards post is generated.
The SNAIL results doc is updated to reflect penalties, point and position changes.
Everyone else starts getting new cars ready.
zer05ive's inbox full again... (for those that don't know, a premium account holds 2000 PM's!!)
Inquiries for the evening practice begin (i.e. room hosts etc)
Internal coordination between Wolf and practice hosts.
Wolf generates the official practice night post.
Wednesday 7:00pm (PST) 10:00 (EST):
Official League Practice begins.
Laps for the new combinations are determined and communicated to zer0 so post #2 can be updated once more.
The Remainder of the Week:
Answer questions about S.N.A.I.L.
Mediate thread disputes.
Poll and discuss new ideas within the league and implement new policy.
Enter new drivers into the Drivers List.
Place new drivers that have submitted a time trial time into a division.
Send new drivers a pm for which Division they are in, zer05ive sends out PSN friend request.
Keep drivers list up to date.
Make attempts to contact drivers that have not shown in awhile.
Keep data in Results sheet current.
Check for any new One Year S.N.A.I.L.s
Once penalties are entered copy weekly sheets to GranStand scoring sheet.
Check data in GranStand scoring sheet for accuracy.
Try to get some practice in.
Try to race in any S.N.A.I.L. series.
kcheeb and zer05ive meet to discuss S.N.A.I.L. (Regularly)
Weeks when we Promote and Relegate
Try to get as much data entered as possible.
Set up Qualifying times spreadsheet for P/R.
Identify P/R candidates based on performance.
Identify P/R candidates to level Division numbers.
Meet with zer05ive once or twice to discuss P/R.
Update Drivers List with P/R results.
Make P/R post.
Answer pms about P/R.
Create and set up new Monthly scoring sheet in S.N.A.I.L. Results spreadsheet.
Archive prior months Monthly and Weekly scoring sheets.
Update prior months Monthly scoring sheet to not use sheet references (creates space and minimizes load times).
In conclusion, you all can see just how much work goes into a two hour League Night. All of these weekly responsibilities fall squarely on the shoulders of zer05ive, kcheeb and the rest of Team SNAIL. Keep in mind that they all have families, jobs, school and a myriad of other Real Life responsibilities that they have to balance with keeping our league what it is today... We all need to recognize and appreciate what these folks do for us day in and day out and if you find a little spare time in your world, think about joining up with Team SNAIL. There are still plenty of slots open for data entry, photography, back up lounge hosts and directors. This is with out a doubt the best GT5 league available and as they say, It Takes A Village
Now I best go get some laps in or I will be doomed tonight!!
