Three contests, two winners, one blog post

As you all know, I host an annual over/under NFL pick ‘em contest on this website.  This year made it 11 years running.  When all the dust settled, only one contestant remained standing.  Despite a relatively easy year picking futures outcomes, there were no perfect scores as we’ve had in the past.  It should be noted that I once again looked kindly upon ties, awarding points for pushes, which came in handy this year as there were four: Buffalo’s projected (and actual) win total was 11, New Orleans’ and Indy’s was 9 and Houston’s was 4.  Look for Vegas to add a lot more halves to next year’s projected win totals to avoid the long line of gamblers asking for their even money back.

I hate to say it but once again, I won this contest, which means I have tied KP as the only person to win this thing twice.  I’d considered awarding a SportsChump t-shirt to the runner-up but I’m pretty sure he’s already using one he’s won in the past to line the bottom of his birdcage.  Thanks to all those who participated.  Here are your standings in reverse order.

In last place, a former winner, Ravenous with 28 points.  His downfall was having no faith in either the Patriots or Bengals, who he felt would both finish under their projected win number (9.5 and 6.5 respectively).  They didn’t, as both teams finished with ten wins.

BCole finished in 7^th with a still-respectable 35 points.  Her biggest mistake came in betting the Seahawks to finish over ten wins.  They ended up with seven.  BCole also felt the Giants would finish with over seven wins.  They ended up winning only four football games.

In sixth place, J-Dub (39 points) put all his marbles in his Eagles finishing under 6.5 wins on the season.  They over-achieved.  Who knew?  Obviously not J-Dub.

In fifth place, Deacon Blues with 40 points.  Deac felt the Chiefs would finish the season with over 12.5 wins.  KC’s slow start screwed a lot of people in this contest.  They finished the season 12-5.

In fourth place, Moose BNR with 43 points.  Like Dubs before him, he felt the Eagles would not reach 6.5 wins.  They won nine games.

In third, Sauze Bauze with 47 points, who only missed two out of ten.  He had KC over their projected win total for five points and the Bengals to finish under for 2.  Those two teams alone were enough to keep him out of contention.

In second place, KP.  So close… and yet so far away. 51 points, only one off the lead to his nemesis: me.  His only miss was the Washington Football Team, who he felt would finish over 8.5 wins for some reason.  They finished with seven.  That’s going to leave a mark.

And your winner, SportsChump, who only missed two games, the ones that mattered least.  My two and one pointers were New England under and Seattle over but those combined three points are less than the four KP missed with Washington.  As I did have a push with the Colts, considering I’m a fair sport, I plan on sending KP a virtual laurel and hearty handshake for his efforts.

Now onto our Super Bowl pick ‘em contest.  In mid-November, on a whim, I hosted a “Who will beat whom in the Super Bowl” contest to see just how close, or how far off, we could be when it came to picking Super Bowl winners.

Less than two months away from the big game, here were our picks.  This should amuse you…

Jason Rotgun: Bills over Rams (one point)

TJ: Cowboys over Bills.  What is this, the early nineties? (zero points)

Brian: Titans over Packers. Neither team came close. (zero points)

Heavy D: Packers over Bills.  (zero points)

J-Dub: Packers over Colts. (negative one point as the Colts missed the playoffs altogether)

Speedbeagle: Chiefs over Cardinals.  Once again, (zero points)

Moose BNR: Patriots over Bucs in the Brady Bowl.  Didn’t happen.  (zero points)

SportsChump: Bucs over Bills.  (zero points)

KP: Bucs over Pats.  Another Brady Bowl.   Another zero points.

BCole: Bucs over Titans.  Swing and a miss.

What this contest demonstrated is just how unpredictable the NFL has become.  With only a few weeks left in the season, only ONE of us picked a team that even MADE the Super Bowl.  I hereby award a SportsChump t-shirt to the one and only JRR for picking the Rams to at least make it.

And to our final contest.  Going into the Super Bowl, BNR Moose had a razor thin lead over J-Dub and Nick Gee.  The only problem is, they all took the Bengals plus the points meaning Moose has won it all.  I will be contacting you for your prizes.

Thanks to Tom Brady’s return to the NFL and a wide open and highly competitive AFC, it promises to be another wild season.  Stay tuned for more giveaways and as always, more unpredictability.