Season Wrap-up and Awards

Hey there everyone. Sorry this is late going out. I was waiting on one more acceptance speech, but it is taking longer to get than I anticipated. So, I decided to not wait any longer in sending out the final e-mail (if I do end up getting that last speech, I’ll send another one). Here is where we ended up with out winners:

• Rawley Nielsen: 1^st Place (50% of the pot)
• Austin Archibald: 2^nd Place (30%)
• Tony Hull: 3^rd Place (20%) and 1 Win
• Johnny Jackson: 1 and ½ Wins
• Ryan Baughman: 1 Win
• Mike Rich: 1 Win
• Dave Christiansen: 1 Win (taken from Ryan Curtis’ win)
• Mike Foulger: 1 Win
• Brandon Morris: 1 Win
• Adam Davis: 1 Win
• Ravi Pillay: 1 Win
• Paul Bryan: 1 Win
• Beau Carlson: 1 Win
• Grant Ingersoll: 1 Win
• Mark Blake: 1 Win
• Clarke Miyasaki: 1 Win
• Jeremy Andrus: 1 Win
• Ted Davies: 1 Win
• Jordan Archibald: ½ Win (Sweet!)

Let me know if I missed anyone or screwed anything else up.

And last but not least, for the much-anticipated Year-End Awards. Our winners are:

 

2008-2009 Football Pool Awards 

Rookie of the Year:

*Winner – Dave Bryan – Just missed out on a top 3 finish in a very impressive opening season.

Runner-up – Mark Blake – Not much of a surprise here, Mark is a gamer. Had a baby midseason as well.

Honorable Mention – Jeremy Andrus – Apparently picks NFL games better than he does college football ones.

Honorable Mention – Dallin Bills – One missed week cost him an even higher ranking. Hopefully he doesn’t join his brothers in a threesome next year (you heard me).

 

Comeback Player of the Year:

*Winner – Tony Hull – 3^rd place finish after placing 28^th last year makes this a pretty easy choice.

Runner-up – Lance Archibald – Went from 32^nd last year to a top 10 finish. This was badly needed after being in the “Biggest Disappointment Award” Category the last two years.

Honorable Mention – Ryan Baughman – I know, it’s painful to see, but I had to sneak him in here somewhere after finishing14^th last year. It also gives me another opportunity to mention that he finished 4^th, just out of the money. So close. Keep your chins up.

Honorable Mention – Eli Storey – Not a stellar season but definitely better than last year. Baby steps.

 

The “Onions” Award:

Note: Awarded to the person with the guts to go out on limb every week with his picks, resulting in a win or two and a few other horrendous weeks

*Winner – Brandon Morris – Very creative pick resulted in one win and couple of close calls.

Runner-up – Johnny Jackson – A couple of exciting wins and some even more exciting pictures.

Honorable Mention – Paul Bryan – Very bold. Probably a little too bold most of the time.

Honorable Mention – Chris Baughman – Chris in this category is a sure thing, kind of like Soriano in the 9^th.

 

Biggest Disappointment Award:

*Winner –Cameron Pratt – The preseason rookie of the year had such lofty expectations; they looked to be unrealistic.

Runner-up – Richard Price – From 15^th to 38^th, and only getting worse. Hopefully his Gators fare better tonight.

Honorable Mention – Ryan Curtis – Second year in a row here; and he started so strong too. Not a lot to lose though I guess.

 

The “He was in the Pool this year?” Award:

Note: Awarded to the person in the middle of the pack doing just well enough and just poorly enough not to get noticed

*Winner – Jeremy Steen – Yes, the lefty was in it this year, I promise. You can check the standings.

Runner-up – Chris Hardy – Second year in a row here. Not a good sign.

Honorable Mention – Olivier Quinn – He probably doesn’t deserve to be here but I couldn’t really think of anyone else so I picked Olivier since he is normally in this category.

 

The “Least Supporting Actor” Award:

*Winner – Shane Bills – Tyson claimed he didn’t even help with one week this year. I think it’s time to remove his name from the standings for good.

Runner-up – Ravi Pillay – Anthony was pulling most of the weight in this partnership. They did win a week this year, but shattered a friendship along the way.

Honorable Mention – Rex Hardy – His wife would have done a lot better this year without his help.

 

Best Video of the Year Award:

*Winner – Hitler Video – So finally, I will reveal the man behind the curtain responsible for this masterpiece: Chris Hardy. He can now receive his due credit. Spectacular work.

Runner-up – Nuggets Cheerleader – I chuckle every time I think about it.

 

Anyways, thanks for making this such a fun year. I hope you all enjoyed it. I am trying to figure out if I’ll be doing this next year, but I will keep you posted. Whether it’s me or someone else, hopefully we can carry on the tradition. Hope everyone has a great 2009.

Thanks again,

Jordan

 

Ted D. Bears Down to Win the Last Week

Congratulations to Ted Davies who wins Week 17 with a score of 118.

“After three years of futility, I was finally able to pull out my first ”W”.  I understand my victory may need an asterisk because Johnny Jackson beat me by a point but was docked a couple of points for submitting his picks an hour late.  I’m sure most of you are disappointed that Johnny didn’t win because his pictures are much better than mine.  Hopefully, Jordan will still post a couple of pictures of the league mascot. 

I was on vacation last week and had to stop in the hotel’s business center to quickly make my picks - it cost me $10 to make the picks so I still ended up negative for the season.  After I got the email from Jordan telling me I had won, I sent Rawley Nielsen a text and he told me he won the whole league by a point.  Overall, it was a great week for the San Francisco based league members.  Also, I told Rawley that I took a helicopter ride to the wettest spot in the world on my vacation.  He attributed my trip there as the motivation for my victory and said every guy dreams of visiting such a place.

Finally I wanted to thank Jordan for organizing the league.  Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize Ryan Andrus and his whispering eye.  This victory coupled with the Cowboy’s collapse gives me a great feeling heading into 2009.”

Awesome work Ted. As a steady performer in this league for years, this was a long time coming. So, Ted was right, Johnny did have the highest score, but I have to maintain the integrity of the pool (don’t roll your eyes) and make sure our winners are getting their picks in on time. As many of you know, I am very flexible with people getting their picks in late, just not our winners. The moral of the story, be late with good picks, just not too good.

After Johnny, our top scores for the week were Rawley Nielsen (more on him later) and Mike Rich, both with 116 points. Then it was Austin Archibald with 113 (more on him coming up as well). Our low score for the week, by a long shot, was Brigg Bunker with 50. Way to finish on a high note Brigg. Just carry that momentum into next year. We also had a whole bunch of guys take the week off which was disappointing. Whatever happened to sprinting through the finish line?

Alright, I know the suspense is killing you so I will just get to it. We had the most unbelievable finish in the history of the pool as Rawley Nielsen edged out Austin Archibald by one point to win the title! Unbelievable. Seventeen weeks, 1500 points, and it comes down to one point. We almost had the two heavyweights battling to a draw, kind of like this fight:

I felt really bad for Austin who had basically been in the lead most of the season. I actually added up the scores right next to Austin so he got to see the carnage first hand. He took it a lot better than I did. He may have been a little more reserved about it because I don’t think he even realized it was football games he was picking, so I don’t know how into it he was. Regardless, a big congrats to Rawley Nielsen, a tremendous tale of fight and determination.

The other huge story for the week, and season, was the battle for third place. It came down to three formidable competitors: Tony Hull, Dave Bryan and Ryan Baughman. And the winner is (drum roll please)…Tony Hull! Fittingly, all three of these guys had scores in the last week one point from each other. Tony ended up winning by three points over Ryan, who had the dubious distinction of finishing in the worst spot in the pool, 4^th place (to the delight of many). In fact, if we took a poll of who people preferred to end up there, Ryan would win in a landslide. No doubt about it. Either way, Happy Birthday to you Ryan (it was actually yesterday). Wish I had a better present for you, but this is all I got.

Other noteworthy accomplishments:

• In the “Rumble for Ruth’s Chris”, Lance beat Clarke going away.
• In the “Fight at Foulger-Pratt”, Adam Davis handily beat Justin Alanis. Justin did give it a valiant effort by changing his picks hourly in the last couple of weeks, but to no avail.
• Yours truly crept into the top 10. I know it’s not really noteworthy, but I wanted to throw it in there.

Anyway, I plan on sending out the Year-End Awards in the next week or so, so stay tuned for that (yes that means you will be getting at least one more e-mail from me. Sorry.)

Speaking of which, there is still a handful of guys who haven’t paid their entrance fee yet. Please don’t make me hunt you down; it’s a pain in the neck for you and me. If you have paid recently or plan on paying shortly, please send me a note to let me know. Thank you.

Anyway, hope everyone had a good time this year. Here are the final standings.

FINAL STANDINGS

Jeremy’s Spoken: Andrus’ Voice is Finally Heard in Week 16

Congratulations to Jeremy Andrus who wins Week 16 with a score of 90.

\

I know, he was as shocked as you were. Jeremy, it’s all yours:

“This is absurd.  I never win these things, especially in such studied and elite sports knowledgeable company as Clarke Miyasaki, Tyson Bills, Austin Archibald, just to name a few.  It has taken me a few days to overcome my deer-in-the-headlights reaction upon receiving the good news from Jordan to even begin crafting my acceptance speech.  Admittedly I have always felt more comfortable behind an Excel spreadsheet than a Vegas bookie.  Jordan suggested that perhaps seeing him this past weekend in Vegas was the luck that rubbed off.  Unfortunately this victory will not come close to offsetting the “investment” losses incurred on Saturday by my pathetic Cougars or the 1.5 point missed spread by TCU last night (where were you then, Jordan?!).  It does, however, come with sweet vindication after a couple of individuals questioned my ability to compete in this group.  On Week #11 when I had my best finish of the season, Jordan chose to give props to both the winner and the 2 people that placed behind me without even a mention of my showing.  I’d then like to remind Ryan of the remarks he made only a handful of weeks prior when he said, and I quote:  “You’re an embarrassment to the Andrus family.  I’ve spent years building up our reputation and you’re ruining it after 6 weeks in the #28 spot.”  No joke.  Who says that to his brother? In any case, I’m not sure how many times Ry as won this season (actually I am, but I wanted you all to do the count), but I think with this victory I will officially pass him in the rankings.  Booyah.”

Jeremy, congrats on your first career win. You obviously needed this more than the rest of us.

After busting his chops for a couple of weeks, Brigg Bunker had a great week and came within an eyelash of his first win, losing by one point. Third place for the week went to Tony Hull with 85 points. Shane Bills (84 points) continued his solid outing this season and is within striking distance of third place. Other top scores for the week came from Rex Hardy and Dave Christiansen, both with 83. On a separate note, it’s nice to have Christian Mortensen back from his brief sabbatical.

Grant Ingersoll gave it the old college try to get into the top 3 and ended up in 12^th place. Still love the effort. I guess I also love the effort of Mike Foulger and Paul Bryan with 49 and 41 points respectively. Out of 136 points, that’s hard to do.

So, we are down to our final week and we appeared to be headed for a real nail biter. Austin Archibald and Rawley Nielsen are only separated by two points for first place (which is 50% of the total money in the pot). What makes this finish even more exciting is the battle for 3^rd place. With Tony’s great week, he moved into the coveted third spot, with Dave Bryan (3 points behind) and Ryan Baughman (4 points) breathing down his neck. This is as close as we have ever had it to finish in the money. Should be a really exciting ending. It will probably take a miracle finish for Shane to catch these guys, kind of like this:

So, since you are all dying to know, here is a recap of the trip to Vegas (most of the things we did probably can’t be repeated here – and that’s saying something for this blog). Here is a rundown of the highlights and lowlights for the things that I can mention:

• Biggest highlight of the trip: David Hasselehoff (no, not Hassle the Boff) sang the national anthem at the Vegas bowl while dogs howled in the distance.
• Eating until I was blue in the face at the Wynn buffet.
• The BYU basketball team getting robbed of a big win in Arizona.
• As Jeremy mentioned, the BYU football team laid an egg as we sat motionless in the freezing cold. This game (along with the Cowboys debacle did some damage to the bank account).
• Speaking of which, I had a tough time at the tables too. I felt obligated to give my annual donation. Those lights they have down there have to stay lit somehow. This is a good representation of what happened to me:

Games this week don’t start until Sunday, giving everyone plenty of time. It’s now or never for those wanting to win a week. It’s time to be creative. I don’t know if that’s the case for those in the top 5, but we’ll see what happens.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas.

WEEK 17

Jordan Rules? Or is it Johnny on the Spot?

Congratulations to Johnny Jackson and Jordan Archibald who win Week 15 with a score of 114.

All right, I’ll explain. So I decided to heed my own advice and made quite a few calls this past weekend. Luckily for me, some of these upsets happened and I was pretty sure I was going to win the week with my 114 (for those who don’t know, I do send my picks every week to an independent auditor who is in our pool). I had pretty much added up everyone’s scores when I came across another 114. Wouldn’t you know it, it was Johnny Jackson. Now, the story doesn’t end there. I then looked at the tiebreaker for each of us. I had 41, he had 39. The total points in last night’s game, 40. So we had co-winners for the week, which I think might be the first time this has happened in our pool. I wouldn’t have wanted to share the win with anyone else.

Since heaven knows you hear way too much from me, I thought I would have Johnny give the victory speech. It’s also appropriate since we weren’t doing this when he won earlier in the season. Here it is:

“twice (well 1.5) in one season??,, i couldnt be more delighted….  ,, and to actually be tied with jordan??,,im dam proud,,, in honor of jordan and his great job with the blog this year (especially the fact that my boat friend will now never talk to me again),,, i have officially decided to give my half of this weeks purse back to jordan for all his work,,lets be honest, harvard can be expensive,, well for most ,(jk..i hope u hire me one day),,,i would like to thank all my Scarsdale (NY) high school teachers through the years,,CC sabathia,facebook,charly bit my finger,  and especially my boat friend who has been a great sport through all of this,,oh and the mayor of Provo,Utah,, oh wait,, thats me….,,”

That’s just good stuff right there. I really hope you haven’t ruined your relationship with your “boat friend”. That is not a friendship that is worth sacrificing. I’ve got to say that 1.5 wins from Johnny was 1.5 more than I thought he would pull off this year. He’s also our first (semi) repeat winner of the year. Johnny, you have also changed the face of our pool, so thanks for everything.

Johnny and I pretty much ran away with it this week but there were a couple of other good scores a little further back. At 108 was our 2^nd and 3^rd place overall leaders, Rawley Nielsen and Dave Bryan. After that was Austin Archibald with 106. It looks like these 3 guys aren’t allowing anyone to gain any ground and appear to be our big pay-out winners. We’ll see what happens. Dallin Bills also had a solid week with 106 points. If it weren’t for missing a week, Dallin would have had a pretty good rookie season.

As you look at the scores for the week, you’ll notice that almost everyone was in the 90’s. However, we did have a couple of outliers. When I mentioned last week that now was the time to take some chances, I think Richard Price (64) and Mauricio Mallea (61) really took my advice to heart. A little too much I think.

I’d like to welcome Ravi Pillay back to the pool from his sabbatical. This was after he chewed me out for making a big deal about his last place score last week (or was it Anthony’s score, I can’t remember). He saw that there were a number of people that had one point lower than he did. I guess he didn’t realize those were the people he didn’t get their picks in. So, I apologize Ravi. You did beat those guys.

 

So, I am headed down to Las Vegas this weekend. I was thinking of taking all the money that was submitted from all of you guys and seeing if I could increase our pool of cash to be distributed at the end of the season. How about I just put it all on red right when I get down there and double the pot? Let me know what you guys think.

Anyway, I really can’t think of anything else (it’s been a long day). Eight hours on a plane with two kids will do that to you. So while I’m thinking of something more to say, I will shower you with more pics of our winner (here is one with him, his parents and Boozer):

 

Still thinking…

 

Thinking some more…

 

Never mind, I got nothing else. To finish things off, here’s Johnny and his former friend:

Picks due on Thursday again. Don’t forget. Also, only two weeks left in the season. Time to make your move.

WEEK 16

Do You Believe in Miracles? Miyasaki Wins Week 14

Congratulations to Clarke Miyasaki who wins Week 14 with a score of 117.

I apologize for being a little later than usual with this posting, but our winner for the week was traveling and I didn’t want him to miss his opportunity:

“Jordan’s email to me for my acceptance speech started off with “Believe it or not, you won this week…”  Believe it or not?  This is what I do.  I’ve been in the pool for three years and had a victory in week 12 or later every year.  Getting a victory late in the year is as sure of a bet as BYU football disappointing you or Jordan hitting 2 out of 3 on his 3-team parlay or every pool participant refreshing the blog site 10 times on Wednesday to see if a new blog mascot pic has been posted.  I knew I would have a good week when Michigan took care of the hated Blue Devils on Saturday.  I loved the Fab Five growing up so in honor of that victory, I’ll post a pic of me and my boy Jalen Rose.  Now I just need one more victory to pay for Lance’s Ruth Chris bill.”

All right, I know I have given Clarke a hard time about his performance this year. I stand corrected. As mentioned, this is what he does. He wins a week or two at the end of the season (and essentially takes the rest of the year off). I really don’t know if two victories will take care of  that $300 Ruth’s Chris meal he’s got on the table right now. Come to think of it, he’ll have more of an opportunity to make that up when we hit Vegas next week. For more of Clarke and his star-studded life, check out this video of him and Snoop (make sure it’s the Bigg Boss Dogg: Raod Trip video):

http://vids.eonline.com/services/link/bcpid1886158416/bclid1672079560/bctid1701297397

Our tough-luck loser for the week was Justin Alanis who missed out on his first win by a single point. I feel like he’s had a coupe of those this year. It’s been a solid rookie season nonetheless. The next top score for the week was Mike Rich who had 114. I know he didn’t win, but a third place finish is worthy of showing a picture of Mike. This is the best one I could come up with (all the other ones I came across weren’t very flattering):

 

The lowest scores for the week were from Ravi Pillay who got an 82 (I am thinking Ravi came back for a week to do the picks instead of Anthony). Our second biggest loser was Brigg Bunker with an 84. This is as pathetic a performance I’ve seen from him since I worked him over in Beach Bocce Ball this summer. I know Brigg was just trying to get his name mentioned for once. It’s a pretty pathetic way to do it, but there you go.

Essentially everyone else was pretty close together, especially in our top 10, so there wasn’t a lot of movement in the standings. The only thing worth mentioning is Ronnie was the only one who had a semi-off week and is now out of the money in 4^th place. Most of us don’t have a prayer in getting in the top 3 so it’s definitely time to start making some calls here. If you aren’t within striking distance, there probably needs to be some creativity to try and win and week. I am guilty of being gutless myself; so let’s see if I practice what I preach.

Ok, our little season is quickly coming to an end here. I know, it’s sad. It’s best just to not think about it. To help to get your mind off if it, I feel like I should show our blog mascot:

This picture actually came from a Halloween party from a month ago or so. Fortunately for us, another member of our blog attended the party, Mr. Beau Carlson. It was actually a dinner party as well and so Beau didn’t want to go empty handed. Knowing where he was headed, Beau’s wife decided to whip up some meatloaf and Jell-O and fittingly presented it in this matter:

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. Picks due tomorrow. Have a good one.

WEEK 15

Blake Finally Leaves His ‘Mark’

Congratulations to Mark Blake who wins Week 13 with a score of 107.

Mark’s acceptance speech:

“I was surprised as anyone with the win.  The only explanation is that most people forgot to get their picks in before the early Thursday games. Although, being off work on parental leave sure has helped me take extra time to make my picks.  In any event, this is a nice pick me up, especially after mulling over the spanking the Utes gave my Cougars.  Hopefully, the win will put me in the running for rookie of the year, as I have no chance in coming close to the veterans currently in the lead.  Thanks again go to Jordan for putting together this event.”

Well-done Mark. In fact, after saying earlier in the season that he wouldn’t win another week, I was proven wrong once again. Furthermore, it looks like he will be able to pay for that celebration dinner after all that he treated himself to after I mistakenly told him about a win in Week 3. Also, congrats on the new arrival to the family.

Mark actually won pretty comfortably this week. Our next closest competitors, Olivier Quinn and Ryan Curtis, were 5 points back. Ryan’s bounce back week is another chapter in his bizarre season. I guess this is the point where Ronald Miller goes back to totally sheek in Can’t Buy Me Love and ends up with the girl. Other top performers for the week were Brandon Morris and Richard Price at 99 points apiece. We just barely missed out on a Richard rant based on the surging Florida Gators and the pathetic Jacksonville Jaguars. I think we can all thank our lucky stars for that.

Not a whole lot of action in the overall standings. Ryan Baughman made up even more ground after last week’s gutty performance and moved back into 2^nd place, only 2 points behind Austin. I am taking bribes from anyone to make sure he doesn’t win this thing (I’m assuming I could make quite a bit of money that way). Mark’s win this week moved him into the top 10 for the first time this season. He is in a tie for 7^th place and is in prime position for a late season push. He is actually tied with Mike Rich who seems to be starting to show his true colors as he fades away down the stretch. We all knew this would happen eventually, it’s just sad to see when it’s finally here. It was fun while it lasted.

We also had some pretty awful scores this week. Ryan Andrus finished in last place with a score of 71. Ryan, what has happened to you? I really don’t know who you are anymore. Also worth mentioning was Clarke Miyasaki who got a 72. I think it’s safe to say that Ruth Chris dinner for Lance is in the bag. In fact, if you make up that 47 points in the final 4 weeks of the season, I’ll treat you to a dinner there myself.

Speaking of Lance, his Birthday picture got quite a response last week. Unfortunately I don’t have any more pictures of the one person in that photo that was most requested (I thought we had another mascot on our hands), but I do have this (I know, it’s really sad):

 

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I was back home in D.C. and got to witness in person how bad the Wizards are. I also participated in a Turkey Bowl with some other members of our pool. It turned out to be pretty physical. One guy on my team, Adam Davis (who you all know and love) got beat up pretty good and was bleeding from his nose profusely. I don’t have actual footage of what happened, but it was something like this:

 

Our team actually did pretty well except for the fact we couldn’t stop a 55-year-old quarterback from throwing darts all over the field and moving the ball at will. Granted, it was Giff Nielsen, the former NFL quarterback and BYU All-American, but I still thought our defensive scheme would give him more trouble than it did. It was actually the best performance I saw from a BYU quarterback in the last month or so.

Anyway, here are the latest standings and the games for Week 14. Once again, the picks are due by Thursday. Thanks.

 WEEK 14

 

 

 

Your Wish Is ‘Grant’ed: Ingersoll Finally Wins a Week

Congratulations to Grant Ingersoll who wins Week 12 with a score of 112.

Grant’s rant:

“Who would have thought my football pool returns (currently at break-even) would be the envy of almost every hedge fund manager in the country? This now clears the path for me to go after my picks with total wreckless abandon (ala Brandon Morris) in a hope to dethrone Austin. How in the world does Austin do it? This is a guy who uses a Mac to brush his teeth, proposed to his wife via IM, and spent every waking moment this fall either playing original nintendo games on his watch or programming traffic signals to turn green as any Archibald approaches. Does he actually watch the games or just hack into Jordan’s computer on Mondays? This being an era when Volkswagen is the most valuable company in the world for a day and Utah is going to another BCS bowl, I say anything is possible…so maybe Austin is an all-world pick-em genius. Two things I know for sure: 

1) if Utah play USC (my other alma mater) in a bowl, I will take all bets
2) my commute home is going to have a lot more red lights”

This was a long time coming for Grant. After bailing on the pool a couple of years ago, we welcomed him back with open arms. Hopefully this win will keep him with us for another year.

Our second place finisher for the week was fan favorite Craig Bench with a score of 108. One point behind Craig was Dave Christiansen and then Ryan Baughman after him with a 105. Other top scores for Week 12 were Olivier Quinn and Mark Blake, both at 103 points.

Grant’s win moved him all the way up to 5^th place in our overall standings, positioning himself nicely for a push into out top 3 by the end of the season. Ryan also slid up the standings and is now in a tie for second place with Rawley. Looks to be a pretty tight race to the finish. Doing his best impression of Ryan Curtis, Justin Alanis continued his free fall and has now dropped to 20^th.

I wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge Lance who celebrated his Birthday this past weekend. Since a few of the people in the pool happened to be at his party, I thought I would include a picture from the festivities. I really don’t know how these guys look themselves in the mirror every day:

 

Speaking of parties, there were some who questioned whether Ryan Andrus really did make contact with the blog mascot at the big Halloween bash a couple of weeks ago. Well, I now have documentation to validate the encounter. Our good friend Johnny Jackson was kind enough to pass this along. My only question for you Johnny: what are you doing with your hand in this picture?

 

On a totally related note, somebody from the pool sent me this great clip of a Denver Nuggets broadcast. Notice how the announcers go speechless for some reason. (I am warning you, watch at your own risk):

 

My favorite part has to be after the moment of silence there seems to be some sort of snicker while they try to regain their composure, and then say “A festive atmosphere here at the Pepsi Center.” The slow-mo isn’t bad either. Good stuff.

Lastly, I am sure some of you are waiting to hear some commentary on the big game from this past weekend. All right, here goes. I was really impressed with Harvard’s defense but I just wish Yale would have at least shown up to make it a decent game. Both offenses struggled big time to get anything going but I think the elements paid a big part in that. It was absolutely freezing and I am still trying to dethaw now, three days later. Either way, congrats to the Crimson, Ivy League Champs. (What, was there another game you thought I was going to talk about?)

So there are three games on Thursday, starting at 12:30 Eastern time. That means there will have to be quick turnaround on these picks. Please get them in on time. With Turkey Bowls and other Thanksgiving-related activities going on Thursday morning, you might just want to send them in either today or tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

WEEK 13

‘Beau’-Flex – Carlson Muscles His Way to Victory

Congratulations to Beau Carlson who wins Week 11 with a score of 114.

I know some of you were hoping for some more pictures from Beau’s honeymoon that were so popular last year, but no such luck. I still thought this one was a beauty though. The last thing I wanted was another Utah Ute fan winning, especially  this week with the big game happening on Saturday. Well, it happened. Beau’s acceptance speech:

“When you are doing good things off the field, the good Lord steps in and makes magic happen.” This is the now infamous quote from BYU’s own wide receiver Austin Collie commenting on last years “miracle” victory against the Ute’s. Austin is BYU’s own all around community service debutant off the field. Maybe it’s true? Maybe I owe this victory to my good work last week? Let’s see; I did put up the Christmas lights this week, Oh and I also helped my neighbor get away with the boys and see the new James Bond movie, oh wait I also agreed to see the new Twilight movie with my wife, that’s got to be it. Maybe I owe this victory to Austin Collie and his fine example. Austin if I were you this week I would stay away from any “dry dogging” with the ladies and anything that remotely comes close to caffeine, DON’T do it. Jordan keep up the good work with the blog. You make the work week that much more bearable, oh and can I buy a poster of our Blog Girl?”

(Sorry Beau, I had to put your quote in Cougar Blue. You deserved it.)

The big story of the week was the first tie in the NFL in six years. I got about a dozen e-mails/text messages asking how I was going to handle it. I decided to look at a number of web sites who run the same type of pool we do and there was a definite consensus. Because we are picking the winner of each game and neither team had won, no points should be awarded. So that’s what I did. The ones who were most hurt by this were Rex Hardy and Jason Baughman who would have tied for the win had the points been awarded. I didn’t check again to see who would have won the tiebreaker, just to save both of you the anguish. Beau only had 6 points on the game; Rex and Jason had 13 and 16 allocated respectively. As a result, Rex was our second place finisher with 109 points and Jason finished with 106.

Other top scores from the week came from Jeremy Steen with 107 (I know, big shocker) and Justin Alanis and Ryan Andrus with 106. Lance Archibald finished with 105 and would have won the week if he had the guts to pick his favorite team, the Browns, in last night’s game. What a sell-out! He should never be allowed to wear this thing again:

 

Rawley Nielsen also got a 105 for the week and actually moved into 2^nd place in the overall standings. He took advantage of some off weeks by Mike Rich and Ryan Baughman to sneak in. Besides Austin, who seems to be slowly separating himself from the pack, things are pretty tight in our top 10. Given that we are at 136 possible points available every week from here on out, there is plenty of opportunity for people to make up some ground.

Ryan Curtis struggles continued, but he is consistently coming up with the best quotes week after week. In response to the latest picture posted of our mascot, he said:

“That girl’s bombs make me want to lay down and take a nap, while sucking my thumb.”

Well said. Even though Ryan isn’t playing his best right now, he is finding other ways to contribute. The best always do that. For that, I will post another pic:

 

On a related note, I really don’t want this blog to become all about this, so I apologize that it has kind of taken on a life of its own. I will try to tone it down some. Most of us in this pool are married, so I don’t want wives to think you are just part of this to get some cheap thrills (although, let’s all admit it, we need them every once in a while). As a good friend of mine (who will once again remain anonymous, but is in this pool) once told me:

“It doesn’t matter where you get your appetite, as long as you come home for dinner.”

Picks due again on Thursday. Have a great week. Go Cougs.

WEEK 12

 

“Bryan’s Song”: Paul Sings Sweet Music, Wins Week 10

Congratulations to Paul Bryan who wins Week 10 with a score of 101.

Here is Paul’s acceptance speech:

“When I sent Jordan my picks this week, included in the subject line was ‘Week 10 – this is starting to get embarrassing.’ <insert irony here> As you look for my name on the long list of 44 participants, you will find me toward the bottom, flirting with last place, which is still easily within my grasps. Call it what you will. A fluke? A Rudy-like performance? I don’t really care, just let me know when you need my Paypal information. With Romo coming back this week and Singletary keeping his pants on after last night’s game, I feel like things are really starting to look up. Given the current financial situation, I’m just happy to get my money and get the WHAT out. Cheers.”

Well said Paul. And congrats. Despite the terrific score Paul put up, the win did not come easy. Brandon Morris only missed one game, a 4 pointer, but lost in the tiebreak. After grading Brandon’s picks early on, I was convinced he had secured his second win of the season, which would have undoubtedly resulted in some more disparaging remarks towards BYU. Thank you Paul for coming through.

We actually had quite a few impressive scores this week. In fact, we came so very close to another Johnny Jackson win, which would have pleased many, myself included. He had 98 points. After Johnny, there was the Rex/Lisa team (although I heard it was all Lisa this week) with 97. Then there was Ted Davies, Jason Baughman (I am thrilled to finally mention his name), and Mike Rich, all at 96 points.

Speaking of Mike, his amazing run continues as he is now in the money at 3^rd place overall. Ryan Baughman dropped to 4^th. We are all hoping that holds until the end of the season. Austin is creating a little distance at the top, but the top 5 is really tight.

In unprecedented fashion, Ryan Curtis had our lowest score of the week and dropped all the way to 29^th place. I don’t even have words to describe what has happened here. I think Ryan himself put it best when he said:

“My meteoric rise and fall reminds me of Ronald Miller (Patrick Dempsey) in “Can’t Buy Me Love”. Two weeks ago I was hammering the cheerleader, now I’m hiding in my 20 year old station wagon…”

Now that is a perfect analogy. In fact, it even gives me the opportunity to post a clip from one of my favorite movies of all time:

There are even more parallels to this movie for Ryan than you know. Not only did he do pretty well with the ladies in high school, he also drove around a sick station wagon like Ronald. The thing handled like he it was on rails.

So, for our latest installment on “News of Our Esteemed Lady Friend”, one of our pool participants (who should probably remain anonymous) had an interesting observation:

“On a side note, I have concluded that our blog mascot has a left breast that is considerably higher than her right one. Something her surgeon clearly overlooked. We’ll have to send Andrus in for closer inspection and confirmation.”

Ryan, get on it. If you need any other motivation, here’s another picture (uh, she’s the one on the right, just as a reminder):

So we are back to a full slate of games this week without any byes. That means you need to once again start your confidence ranking at 16, giving you 136 total points possible. That means there is a lot more chance to make up some ground. Like last week, the first game is Thursday night, so please get everything in before then.

Here they are:

WEEK 11

Ravi Finally Pillays Up To His Potential, Wins Week 9

Congratulations to Anth…uh, sorry for the typo, Ravi Pillay who wins Week 9 with a score of 94.

As you may have noticed, I started the tradition of allowing the winners to take some time to offer their acceptance speech. This is an opportunity to dedicate your victory to someone or something, or just rant about whatever is on your mind. It’s only fitting that this is Ravi’s editorial:

“Booyeah Jordan how bout them apples!”

To add a little more substance, I gave Anthony an opportunity to speak as well:

“Since I did the picks on behalf of Ravi, it only seems appropriate that I accept this win on behalf of him.  We were both running backs on the 3rd-grade football team back in 1988 and I think our deep roots of being on the same teams for the last 20 years are paying great dividends.  Here’s to the strongest team in the league!”

It was a resounding victory for Ravi, as he only missed two games, and there weren’t a whole lot of other scores even in the same ballpark. Craig Bench came awfully close to his first win of the season with a second-place 89. This is a bright spot in what has otherwise been a very disappointing season for Craig. Other top scores for the week came from Beau Carlson, Ryan Andrus and Mark Blake, with 85, 84 and 83 points respectively.

Our top 3 in the overall standings remained in place for the first time all season. What does deserve mention is the meteoric fall of Ryan Curtis. Two weeks ago he was in 1^st place. Now you need to look very close to find him. Yup, that’s right, he is in 18^th! That is truly amazing. I guess he doesn’t want to even know how much money he would have won if he had paid this year. That’s one way to do it. Other notable observations from the rankings:

• Rawley Nielsen has quietly crept into the top 5 with another good week
• Ted Davies jumped into the top 10, going from 17^th to 9^th in one week
• Tyson and Shane Bills continue to slowly move up the standings and now are at 8^th. I heard the big turning point in the season is when Shane started taking over doing the picks a few weeks ago. Doesn’t surprise me really.

I have received a number of notes of praise on the incredible video posted last week. A few really want to know the brains behind the operation. I will talk to the producers of the project and see if I can get permission to disclose the identity of the director. I will also see if he can bring similar forms of entertainment to our blog.

In the meantime, I thought I would post my football highlight video from when I was 12. The more I watch this, the more I wish I had stuck with football instead of basketball and lacrosse. I hope you guys don’t mind that I post it and hope a few might even enjoy it:

 

Lastly, I mentioned last week that Ryan Andrus had an encounter with our favorite female friend of the blog. It was at a Halloween party and apparently they really hit it off and had a good time. I don’t have a ton of other details at this time, but I did get a picture of the both of them:

 

I wanted to get the results out today because the first game this week is on Thursday. So please get your picks in before that night. I know this can be very difficult for a lot of us, so please do your best.

Have a great week.

WEEK 10