2020 NFL Draft Game in Excel

It's been a couple of weeks without sports now and man has it been hard. I've especially missed March Madness and filling out brackets.

I've been trying to think of ways to make up for the loss of sports. The 2020 NFL Draft is one of the few sports-related things still scheduled to go on (for now). My friend Isaic gave me the idea to make a NFL Draft Game in Excel.

Inside this template I've listed the top 100 draft prospects according to ESPN. Each player (and the template is setup to handle ten players) are randomly assigned ten future NFL players by using a randomize macro. The earlier your players get drafter the better as the draft position counts for points and the lowest number of points wins!

Update 4/17/20 - new options added!

Based on some good user feedback I added the option where each player can now try to predict which team will select their players.

See how the Draft Game spreadsheet works in the video below:



Download the NFL Draft Game Excel Template here.

Even if you have no interest in the NFL, football, or drafts, you can still learn a bit about Excel by examining the random number generator macro, or the vlookup and sumif formulas used.

For now, the spreadsheet is setup to handle ten players. To add more, the formulas and macro will need to be modified. If enough people are interested in using this sheet, I will work on making it scalable so it can automatically adjust to the exact number of players.

Let me know if you like this game or if you have any suggestions or questions.

Super Bowl Squares Template 2020 - SuperBowl Grid Game

The match-up for the Super Bowl is set which means it's time to download your Super Bowl Squares Template 2020 edition. Finally! We don't have to watch the Patriots. The Chiefs and the 49ers square off in Super Bowl 53 on Sunday, February 2nd at 6:30pm. To make the big game more interesting you can start a football office pool using our printable Super Bowl spreadsheet. 

Fill in the squares, watch the game, laugh at the commercials, and see who wins and maybe make a little money at the same time (or help raise money for charity). If you’re a fan of a team like mine (the Factory of Sadness Hope) that will never make it to the championship (or even get a taste of the playoffs), then playing Super Bowl Squares will make watching the game more exciting and gives you something to actually root for. Others may be torn between cheering for their favorite team and cheering for their squares.

This year’s Super Bowl Squares spreadsheet includes three different versions so you can choose the way you want to play:

1. Printable version - This print ready version contains a blank grid, simply print it off and write all the player’s names down on the piece of paper. It’s quick and easy.
2. Pick your own squares - Manage the office Super Bowl pool directly in Excel. In this version, each player gets to pick what squares they want. Once all are taken, press the randomize button to generate the random score numbers. No modifications are necessary, though you can if you so desire.
3. Assign squares randomly - In this latest version, type each player's name in the manager sheet and use the drop down menu to assign how many squares to give each player. Then click the Assign Names Randomly button and it will automatically populate the grid with all of the names.

Super Bowl Squares Rules & How to Play

Listed below are the basic instructions on how to play Super Bowl Squares (which are also included within the spreadsheet for the three different versions, along with an example):

1. Participants “purchase” individuals squares by writing their name in their desired squares, until all one hundred are filled.
2. After all squares are taken, the numbers 0 through 9 are written in the empty horizontal and vertical rows in random order (draw the numbers out of a hat).
3. After the end of each quarter of the game, match the last digit of each team's score to the corresponding square to find the winner.

Tip: 0, 3, and 7 are the best numbers to get. 8, not so much.

Added again this year is the option whether to keep the same random numbers chosen for all four quarters or to have four different sets of random numbers for each quarter. Using the rotating quarters method, someone could theoretically still get the number 3 for all four quarters, though that’s not very likely, or four different players could each get a 3 for different quarters.

Below is a short video tutorial I put together of how to use my Super Bowl Squares template in Excel.

Super Bowl Squares Template 2020 Download

The beauty of this football bowl manager is you will not have to change or modify any formulas yourself (unless you want to of course). Instructions are included within the Excel file and shows you exactly how to add more players (either manually or by using the button that is linked to a macro). If you enjoy using this sheet football pool manager I would really appreciate it if you would share it with friends, family, and coworkers. 

To be notified when any updates are made to the file or to get a notification when next year's template is available, download using this link(requires an email address):

Download the Super Bowl Squares Template 2020.xlsm file here

Please let me know in the comments or by email which version you'll use to play - printable, pick your squares, or randomly assign names. Or if you have any requests for modifications shout me out!

NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION FOR 2021! 

https://excelspreadsheetshelp.blogspot.com/2021/01/2021-super-bowl-squares-spreadsheet.html

2019 College Football Bowl Prediction Pool Manager with CFB Playoff Bracket

The college football conference championships were played this past weekend which means the 2019 NCAA college football bowl season is here again! Therefore, it’s time to make your picks and predictions about who you think will win each bowl game. One of the best times of the holiday season (other than giving and receiving gifts) is gathering around the TV and rooting for your Alma mater or hometown football team. This year has the added bonus of not just single bowl games but the sixthyear of a four team playoff to determine the national champion.

Features for this year's bowl prediction pool over the previous college football bowl pool manager spreadsheets include the following:

• Easy method to make each bowl game worth a different point value, so the national championship game and semi-finals can be worth more points, or however you want to customize it.
• Updated leaderboard tab with new stats
• Separate entry sheet to pass out to participants or co-workers that can be imported automatically by a built-in macro
• Complete NCAA college football bowl schedule with game times and TV stations
• New stat sheet to track each conference's record during bowl season (Go Big Ten! Go MAC!)
• The bowl prediction sheets include the football helmet designs for every team (taken from the 2017 college football helmet schedule spreadsheet), their win-loss record, and the logo for all bowl games. I added the helmets so those players who aren't big college football fans can pick a winner based on their favorite helmet design!
• Download the CFP Pool Manager and Single Entry Form here.

How to Enter Player's Picks

There are now three ways to add participant’s data:

• Manual entry using the drop down lists
• Copy and paste from the selection sheet to the bowl manager
• Use the import macro to automatically import a player’s data into the pool manager by way of a macro

Below is an older video of how to use the bowl pool manager spreadsheet.

The beauty of this football bowl manager is you will not have to change or modify any formulas yourself (unless you want to of course). Instructions are included within the Excel file and shows you exactly how to add more players (either manually or by using the button that is linked to a macro). If you enjoy using this sheet football pool manager I would really appreciate it if you would share it with friends, family, and coworkers.

I am working a version where you can add confidence picks by ranking the bowls in order of how confidence you are with your picks. I did one for 2017 but have not updated 2019's for this yet. Let me know in the comments or via email if this is something you would be interested in.

Here are some of my Bowl Game Observations that may interest only me...

• Only bowl eligible team to not make a bowl game? My University of Toledo Rockets.
• Most lopsided records? 6-6 Washington State vs 10-2 Air Force. Next you have 7-5 Washington vs 12-1 Boise State
• There are now 6 independent teams not residing in a conference, 3 of which made bowl games. Can you name them?
• Matchup with most combined wins: 13-0 OSU vs 13-0 Clemson
• The ACC leads all conferences with 10 teams represented, followed by the Big Ten and SEC with 9 apiece.
• There are no teams with losing records this year. There are 13 teams with 6-6 records, though there are no 6-6 vs 6-6 bowl match-ups
• There are 22 teams with 10 wins or more

Download the 2019 - 2020 CFP Bowl Prediction Pool Manager.xlsm file here

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, find any bugs, or have any suggestions for improvement. I love that people are using this Bowl Prediction Game to help raise money for charity, that's so awesome to hear! What team are you rooting for?

2019 Gift Guide for Excel Users

The 2019 holiday season is officially upon us here in the United States which means it’s time for my annual gift giving guide. I used to panic every year whenever my spouse, parents, and siblings asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I needed to give them an idea otherwise I’d end up with an ugly sweater or some random gadget I would never use.

So to help alleviate some of my stress I started compiling my own holiday gift guide. It’s kind of like the big toy catalog you used to get as a kid, only this is for adults. I’ve made a list of items I think would be very useful or exciting for your fellow Excel users, sorted by different categories. Some of these items I already use on a daily basis and others are things that are on my own personal wish list. It's my biggest and best gift guide yet! Enjoy!

MY GO TO EXCEL BOOKS

Excel 2016 Bible - The complete guide to Excel 2016, from Mr. Spreadsheet himself! Whether you are just starting out or an Excel novice, the Excel 2016 Bible is your comprehensive, go-to guide for all your Excel 2016 needs. Whether you use Excel at work or at home, you will be guided through the powerful new features and capabilities by expert author and Excel Guru John Walkenbach to take full advantage of what the updated version offers. Learn to incorporate templates, implement formulas, create pivot tables, analyze data, and much more.

Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA is fully updated to cover all the latest tools and tricks of Excel 2016. Encompassing an analysis of Excel application development and a complete introduction to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), this comprehensive book presents all of the techniques you need to develop both large and small Excel applications. Over 800 pages of tips, tricks, and best practices shed light on key topics, such as the Excel interface, file formats, enhanced interactivity with other Office applications, and improved collaboration features.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself “there has to be a better way to do this,” while using Microsoft Excel, then know you're probably right. There probably is a better way to complete your tasks you just don't know what it is and you don't have time to read a boring, expensive, thousand page manual on how to use Excel. 76 Excel Tips to Increase Your Productivity and Efficiency is for you. No fluff, just Excel tips and tricks you can put to use right away.

OTHER BOOKS WORTH READING

Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money by Pat Flynn. I’ve been following Pat’s blog and podcast for a number of years, and you might have seen some of his tips at work on my site. If you’re new to the online business world, this book is fantastic. Lots of practical steps to take to prove whether your idea has validity or not. Over 700 reviews and a five star rating, that's impressive!

The Martian by Andy Weir. If you only read one (fiction) book this year, The Martian has to be the one. I absolutely love this book (and it’s even better than the movie). As soon as I finished it the first time, I immediately re-read it – something I’ve never done before. It’s about an astronaut (with a great sense of humor) who gets left behind on a mission to Mars and has to figure out how to survive. If you’re interested in space exploration, problem solving, engineering, chemistry, botany, or disco + 70s TV shows, I highly recommend you read The Martian. Maybe the best book I’ve read in the past five years.

Another quick, shameless self-plug. Where are the most terrifying roller coasters found? Who designs them? Which park builds the craziest rides? Find out by reading my book 50 Groundbreaking Roller Coasters. Another reason for including this book on this list is to show you a real life usage of Excel. How's that? Because this is one of the books I wrote using an Excel spreadsheet!

Nowhere in the world is there a more bizarre theme park than Happy Fun Land. Nike Farmington’s twelve years of thrill-seeking and roller coaster riding has brought him to exotic locales like Perth, Australia, Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands, and Santa Claus, Indiana. He's marathoned a roller coaster for ten consecutive hours and conquered the world’s tallest and fastest. Yet nothing has prepared him for the insanity of Happy Fun Land and it’s mind blowing attractions: a drop ride with no brakes and a death simulator, just to name a few. Will Nike survive his hilarious adventure through the world's craziest theme park? I thought this book was hilarious and I think you will too!

Tools for the Job

Excel Quick Reference Sheets - Laminated quick reference showing step-by-step instructions and shortcuts for how to use Microsoft Office Excel 2016 (Windows Version). Written with Beezix's trademark focus on clarity, accuracy, and the user's perspective, this guide will be a valuable resource to improve your proficiency in using Microsoft Excel 2016. This guide is suitable as a training handout, or simply an easy to use reference guide, for any type of user.

TechSmith Snagit takes the hassle out of creating images and videos. Capture your screen, edit images, and deliver results. Snagit is also the only screen capture tool with built-in advanced image editing and screen recording. So you can easily create high-quality images and videos all in one program. Quickly explain a process, build visual-based documentation and be more engaging by adding images and videos to your communications. It's the tool I use to create all the images for Excel Spreadsheets Help and well worth the price.

Microsoft Surface Tablet. Need to use Excel on the go put don't want to lug around a larger laptop? A Surface tablet is great way to go.

Dimmable Eye-care LED Desk Lamp. A great lamp and exactly what I was looking for in a new clip on lamp for my drafting desk. It has six different light settings so I can find the right lighting for all of my needs. It is well built, works great besides being stylish.Besides using at work can use at home as a reading lamp too.

Keyboard Case for Tablets. How do I get so much done, especially when I’m traveling on the road a lot? I use a combination of a Samsung Galaxy Tablet and my new Keyboard case. They’re small so I can take it almost anywhere and the keyboard allows me to do things like type out this blog post, reply to your email questions, and write Excel macro code.

USB Heated Mouse / Hand Warmer. I'm not sure about you but the office at my day job can get really cold during the winter, especially after weekends or holidays. One solution I've found that helps is a heated mouse to keep you hand warm while not impacting my ability to get things done.

Laptop Privacy Screen Protector. Whenever I visit a customer I always take my privacy screen protector for my laptop. It keeps your personal or confidential information safe from prying eyes as you’ll see the information on your display while people on either side only see a darkened screen. If you’re ever on an airplane or in a coffee shop and feel like your neighbor is constantly looking over your shoulder at your screen then you need to get one of these today!

A good quality laser point. This laser pointer always comes in handy when it’s time for a meeting or presentation. Plus, it doubles as a toy to keep your cats entertained.

Rocketbook Smart Erasable, Reusable Wirebound Notebook with Penstation – the last notebook you’ll ever need!

Krieger Plug Adapters (Most of Europe (type C)) - If you're going to do some international travel I highly recommend taking this adapters with you. They come in a pack of four so you can share when your travel buddy forgets his.

Toys, Tech, Gadgets, and Others

Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphone – Outside of this website, in my spare time I like to make and edit videos and montages (mostly of my family). It’s easiest just to use a cellphone but the video is often shaky due to my unsteady hands. So I decided to get a gimbal and I’ve had fun playing around with it.

Anker PowerCore Fusion - This is a portable power charger that plugs directly into the wall so it works as your regular charger, but is also a battery so you always have power on the go.

In my little free time from working and being a dad, I like to play around with my Samsung Gear VR headset. Virtual Reality is really taking off and the technology is getting much better. Though be warned it may cause motion sickness if the app you’re looking at doesn’t perfectly track your head movement.

Solar Powered Christmas Lights. I love putting up Christmas lights and trying to out-do my neighbors, but I have to admit I feel a little guilty about using the additional electricity. Luckily I found these solar powered Christmas lights and they actually work very well! They’re environmentally friendly and they automatically turn on and off each night. They also don’t have to be attached to a power source so I can put them in areas I normally couldn’t string lights.

Dash and Dot – programmable robots. If you’re into programming things like Excel macros and you want to teach your kids the joys of programming then I’ve found the perfect gift for you. These cute robots are designed to help introduce children to the wonderful world of programming. Oh, and they’re fun for adults too! Can’t wait to use this with my son in a few years. For now he just likes watching me drive it around with my phone.

Fitbit Alta. Let’s face it – us engineers nowadays sit in front of a computer a lot. I didn’t realize how much I wasn’t moving until I started wearing a Fitbit. It now helps me to stay motivated by tracking all-day activity like steps, distance, calories burned and active minutes so I can stay healthy for my family. When I’m sick I can’t answer your Excel questions and help you out, so I use Alta to help stay in shape and on top of my game!

Amazon Prime Membership. If you haven’t joined Amazon Prime yet, why not? I do almost all my shopping online and I get free two-day shipping on nearly everything. You can also borrow books, watch movies, and stream music. Get your Prime Discounted Monthly Offering here.

YOUR SUGGESTIONS?

Are you putting any of these items on your holiday wish list? If so, let me know which ones in the comments below. Do have anything you’d like to recommend to me?

How to remove ordinal abbreviations from dates and numbers

Did you know there is a term for the two letters that follow the number of a date? You know, the "st" in 1st; the "nd" in 2nd; the "rd" in 3rd; the "th" in 4th? They're called ordinal abbreviations. These ordinal abbreviations are actually hybrid contractions of a numeral and a word. 1st is "1" + "st" from "first". Similarly, "nd" is used for "second" and "rd" for "third". Sometimes they're also referred to as elevated terminals due to the way they're typically written: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc..

What does this have to do with Excel?

Recently, a reader asked me a question. He was the the date in column B written as 11th, 1st, 2nd, etc., the month written out in column C, and the year in column D. So the question was how to transform these three separate columns: 11th December 219 into this one single column in Excel: 11/12/2019.

Here's how to solve this seemingly complex problem: break down into smaller problems.

First, to combine multiple columns into one, use concatenate. =b2&"/"&c2&"/"&d2.

Next, to change a month written out to a number, use this formula: =MONTH(1&C2)

Third, use SUBSTITUTE to find the ordinal abbreviations and replace them with nothing.
=--SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(B3,"st",""),"nd",""),"rd",""),"th","")

Finally, put all the elements together for one long formula that seems complicated but is quite simple when you break it down into parts:

=--SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(B2,"st",""),"nd",""),"rd",""),"th","")&"/"&MONTH(1&C2)&"/"&D2

2019 College Football Schedule Spreadsheet in Excel

The 2019 college football season is here! Sorry, I had some trouble with the macro I setup to automatically help in the creation of this spreadsheet so it took longer than expected to finish.

This spreadsheet of the college football schedules includes every team from all conferences plus independents. Every game is listed as either home, away, or neutral site (noted at the bottom of each sheet). 

One of the differences in this year's sheet is I opted to use the team's logos from ESPN rather than their helmets, since I was missing quite a few of them. Let me know if you are OK with this change or not.

For the third year in a row I’ve used macro automation to automatically create this sheet - no more manual copying and pasting for hours with many mistakes. The schedules are imported directly from ESPN (so if there is a mistake blame them!). 

Download the CFB schedule spreadsheet here. To get it for free, enter a 2 into the "name a fair price" box, click "I want this!" then on the next page enter discount code "2019" and it will drop the cost to zero dollars. I had to do it this way due to the size of the file and the limits placed on my Gumroad account.

2019 CFB Schedule Spreadsheet

As always, I welcome any comments or suggestions about how to fix or improve the sheet! Let me know if and how you’re using the sheet.

2019 NFL Helmet Schedule Spreadsheet

Sorry this took a bit longer than I was expecting it to but now available to download is the 2019 NFL helmet schedule spreadsheet. You’ll see a comprehensive breakdown of every NFL pro football team's 2019 season schedule with an image of each team’s helmet design. 

Use this link to download the NFL schedule spreadsheet. Please note, an email is required to download it. I do this so you will be automatically updated you if changes or additions are made and will update you when the next year’s schedule is ready. I do not use your email for anything else.

Here's a video overview of last year's sheet to show you what it looks like:

As you can see, the NFL helmet schedule is printable too. You can save the spreadsheet as a PDF file or print it out and pin it up in your cubicle at work. If you do, please email or tweet me a picture of it hanging up - I'd love to see it!

As always, I welcome any comments or suggestions about how to fix or improve the sheet! How can I improve this football spreadsheet into something you’ll use all the time during pro-football season? What future features would you like to see?