Getting Started with My NFL Picks Page
So, a bunch of my friends and I, we’re always yapping about NFL games, right? Who’s gonna win, who’s gonna cover the spread, all that jazz. It used to be a total mess in our group chat, picks flying everywhere. Someone would forget what they picked, or who picked what. So, I thought, heck, I can probably throw together a simple webpage for this. Keep things a bit more organized, y’know? And that’s how the ‘bman nfl picks page’ idea kinda just popped into my head. “Bman” is just a nickname folks have called me for ages, so it stuck.
Figuring Out the “How To”
First off, I ain’t no pro web developer. Not by a long shot. I know a little bit of HTML, just the basics from tinkering around years ago. So, I figured, let’s keep it super simple. No fancy databases, no complicated scripts. Just a straightforward page.
I started by just opening up a plain text editor. Yeah, good ol’ Notepad. I thought about what I needed to show:
- The week number, obviously.
- The games.
- And then, under each game, who picked which team.
Seemed simple enough. I decided a basic list format for each week would probably be the easiest to read and manage.
Building the Thing, Bit by Bit
So, I got to work. I remembered some basic HTML tags. Like, <p> for paragraphs, and <ul> for lists. I decided to use a heading for each week, maybe an <h2> tag, to make it stand out.
For the first week, I just manually typed in all the games. Stuff like “Kansas City Chiefs vs. Detroit Lions.” Then, under that, I’d list who picked who. For example:
- Bman: Chiefs
- Dave: Lions
- Sarah: Chiefs
It was a bit tedious, typing it all out. I thought for a second, “Maybe there’s a smarter way?” But then I figured, for a small group of us, just updating it manually each week wouldn’t be too bad. It’s not like I’m running a giant sports site here.
I made a really simple structure. Just one HTML file. When a new week comes, I plan to just copy the previous week’s section, paste it at the top, and then edit the game details and the new picks. Old school, I know, but it works for what I need.
Making It Look… Okay-ish
Once I had the basic info in, it looked pretty bland. Just black text on a white background. I thought, “Gotta make this a tiny bit more presentable.” I didn’t want to get into complex CSS or anything, but I remembered you could add a little bit of style. Maybe some bold text for the winners later on, or different colors for different people’s picks if I got ambitious. For now, though, bolding the team names seemed like a good start to make them pop a little.
I also played around with just using line breaks and spacing to make it readable. Nothing fancy, just trying to make sure it wasn’t a giant wall of text. The key was just keeping it clean and easy to scan quickly before the games started.
The “Live” Version and Keeping it Up
So, after a bit of tinkering, I had a basic page. I saved the file as an HTML file, like “bman_nfl_*” or something equally imaginative. To share it with my buddies, well, I just found a simple way to host static HTML files. There are a few free options out there if you look around, or sometimes your internet provider gives you a little web space. For me, I just needed something basic where I could upload this one file.
Now, every week, usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday after the lines are mostly set, I open up that HTML file, add the new week’s games, get everyone’s picks (usually through a quick message), and then type ’em in. Then I re-upload the file. It’s a manual process, for sure. Sometimes if someone’s late with their picks, I gotta go back and edit it again.
It’s not perfect. It’s not automated. But, y’know what? It does the job. Everyone can see the picks in one place, and it’s stopped the chaos in the group chat. Plus, it’s kinda fun to have my own little corner of the web for our NFL hobby. Maybe one day I’ll learn some more advanced stuff to make it fancier, but for now, simple is good. It’s just a fun little project that solved a simple problem for me and my friends.
