This post will officially close the book on the Official George Carter Super Bowl XLI Challenge...seven months after it happened. Sometimes I am a bit slow on getting things done.
This was an actual statement from the very end of my last Xanga post on February 5: "My next post will be all about the winners. Look for that later this week!"
One of those sentences was correct. This is my next post, and it will be all about the winners. However, one of those sentences was a bit misleading. "Later this week" turned into "later this year." If you were anxiously awaiting that post, I apologize. But you don't have to sulk any longer. It's here!
P.S. This isn't the first time I have done something like this. I didn't even give out the awards to Joy Rumley, the Super Bowl XL contest winner, until shortly before Super Bowl XLI...Last week, I gave Jen Hall her birthday present. Her birthday was in March...And I still have an unfinished poem I started here on Xanga in 2004, a poem in which I asked readers to help decide the ending. Again, sorry about that. Maybe someday I'll get to that, and we'll see what happens to Squeaky the Squirrel. No, I'm not making this up. Feel free to go back into the archives and find that.
Anyway...this post is all about the winners. But the last thing I want to say before honoring them is that the real reason I am finally doing this is because I have a sweet Xanga post I want to make soon, but I can't do it without making this post first. I need to make this post now or it will never get done. Actually, there are two posts I want to make. So enjoy this post, but understand that in the on-again, off-again relationship I have with Xanga, I am on again for now. Yay!
PARAGRAPH OF ADULATION
Andy DeLong, Jessica VanHoose, Jonathan Hensley, Laura Hitt Shipp, and Lyndsey Stewart are football geniuses! It is hard to believe that anyone would have the intelligence, insight, and guts to defeat so many people in a contest like this, but that's exactly what these five amazing superstars have done. These folks are in the upper echelon of the world's prognosticators. They deserve to be hailed as heroes henceforth. Congratulations on your superior achievement.
WHO GOT WHAT?
Since there were five winners, I had to split the prizes amongst them. I tried to do this as evenly as I could, even allowing them to rank the prizes in order by what they wanted the most. I couldn't give everyone their first choice, but I did the best I could to make them happy. The prizes ended up being disseminated thusly:
Andy DeLong received five dollars and a six-pack of Ale-8.
Jessica VanHoose received a box of Cap'n Crunch and a miniature Etch-A-Sketch. (Now that I think about it, I think I gave her a miniature magnetic pad thingy because the Wal-Mart was out of miniature Etch-A-Sketches. But that might be an upgrade.)
Jonathan Hensley received a rubber duck and a yo-yo.
Laura Hitt Shipp received five dollars and a bag of candy.
Lyndsey Stewart received five dollars and a Slinky.
HOW I KNOW THE WINNERS
I know Andy from high school. No, we didn't go to high school together. I taught him in high school. I spent some time teaching geometry as a long-term substitute during my year away from Morehead and Andy was one of my students. I actually graduated high school with his brother Corey. Andy went to Morehead State, but I think he has since transferred to Marshall.
Jessica VanHoose is my cousin, so I've known her since she was born.
I met Jonathan through Allyson Dockery, who used to be my RA in Fields Hall.
I worked Centrifuge with Laura in 2004, my first summer with Fuge! We were on the Mississippi College team. She now lives in Nashville and works as an editor for a magazine called Coping With Cancer. An interesting fact about Laura is that she recently had the opportunity to interview '80s wrestling superstar "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, who recently wrote a book about becoming a Christian and dealing with cancer. You can order it here.
I don't even know Lyndsey Stewart. For some reason, however, we are Facebook friends.
FROM THE WINNERS THEMSELVES
I asked each winner to share some information with me regarding their strategy as well as other random tidbits. Here is what they had to share...
Andy DeLong
On his strategy: Well the Colts have a high-powered offense, which would have steered me to give them lots of points, but then you have to realize that the bears have a very good defense. So I figured the Colts would still put up a lot, but not huge numbers like they've done before.
On the magnitude of winning the contest: This is a huge award. I'm honored to be one of the five winners out of 166. I haven't won very many contests, so this is a pretty big one.
Favorite NFL Team: Colts/Eagles
Jessica VanHoose
On her strategy: Honestly, I took a guess. I would love to say that Fantasy Football helped out, but I really just guessed.
On the magnitude of winning the contest: I think it's cool. I've seen you hold the competition the other years and didn't participate. I Just thought I'd take a chance this year.
Favorite NFL Team: Cleveland Browns
Jonathan Hensley
On his strategy: Its kind of funny how i came to the score, I was checking facebook the night before when I found out about your competition and I really wasn't sure about the score so I went to sleep, While I was eating my breakfast the next day(cinnamon toast crunch) it came to me, 30-17 colts so that's what I sent in. I would have had it perfect if the colt didn't fumble an extra point attempt.
On the magnitude of winning the contest: Its pretty awesome winning considering the amount of people that signed up.
Favorite NFL Team: Cincinnati Bengals
Laura Hitt Shipp
On her strategy: I knew that the Colts were favored, but that the teams were fairly equal, so I, along with my husband, chose a mid-range score with the Colts on top.
On the magnitude of winning the contest: I think it's awesome, especially since it was the only NFL game I watched all season.
Favorite NFL Team: I grew up watching the Saints, but I should probably say the Titans like a true Nashvillian.
Lyndsey Stewart
On her strategy: Well, the Colts are my team!! I knew I had to pick a score that would make them win. Other than that, i just pretty much pulled the numbers out of head
On the magnitude of winning the contest: I was very excited!! I haven't been a fottball fan very long adn this was my first year participating in the challenge , I was very proud of myself
Favorite NFL Team: Indianapolis Colts
Lyndsey also says she is going to marry Eli Manning, the starting quarterback for the New York Giants (and Peyton's little brother).
So there you have it...the Official George Carter Super Bowl XLI Challenge is officially over in every way possible...three weeks into the next season. As you can tell, it takes a lot of football knowledge and serious contemplation to make these winning picks. Or just picking random numbers because you don't watch football. Apparently you can win either way.
The anticipation is building for this year's contest. Begin studying now.
No comments:
Post a Comment