One Look Back

Wake up! The BCS is on! You're missing it! What's that? You don't care?

Time to wrap up the Friends of Smoove B pool for another season. Hard to fathom how quickly this always goes. I will try to be brief here, and considerably more relevant and interesting than, say, the Indpendence Bowl, featuring Some State U vs. the University of Haven't Played In Two Months.

First, I'd like to give myself a pat on the back for scoring big in week 17. I'm not talking about the pool; I'm referring to the one year subscription to Rhapsody that Kel gave me for christmas. Yeah, I won week 17 too, but you know what they say about blind squirrels and nuts.

Congratulations to Sarah Schneider, who in Week 17 not only took second based on a tiebreaker with Jim Newman, but also caught three passes for 70 yards as the Packers third string beat the Lions up on the tundra. And Newman! Where are you anyway? (see below).

It's payback time. I am warming up my checkbook (which is at this time trying to hide under the couch). As discussed earlier this season, here's who gets what:

Win: Jim Wiesner. Jim took the lead in week two and never gave it up. You may have noticed his name never appeared in the Mitchell Report, indeed, he won the whole thing without the benefit of HGH, andro, EPO, or anything else you'd be likely to find in the Roger Clemens Omelet at IHOP. Jim has been known to inhale sugar cookies, for what it's worth. $175.

Place: Rick Tulloch. That's MISTER Under-The-Radar to you. Throughout the season, Rick has been a model of consistency, showing himself only to claim 2nd in Week 15 before stealthily returning to his vigil in the distant hamlet of Racine. Rick never sleeps. He waits. $135.

Show: The Lannings. Chad returned refreshed after a season away in 2006 and sprinted to third place overall. The big mystery is where he was last season. He claims to have been starting up his own law firm. But some intelligence sources put his whereabouts in the California desert. Still others wonder about all the black SUVs in his driveway. And no one knows why he has been demanding, repeatedly, that his receptionist "get him the schematics. And a hacksaw!" Curious. $75.

The Roo Award: This award has had several names in the past. It is now named for its original winner, much like the Lombardi Trophy. Whoever scores the fewest points overall without missing picks in any week receives $25 and a framed printed story about Texas, signed and numbered by Roo himself. This year's recipient is the unstoppable Bill Gullo.

The Commish will be out $100 when the payouts are completed this week. Messrs. Newman and Graff: I still need your entry fees. If they were sent at some point, email me and let me know the particulars. Our postal carrier here is about as reliable as John Malan.

So that's about it. I may post stuff here as the mood strikes, especially if, no, WHEN we get the March Madness pool going in a couple months. If you're so inclined, check out the links at right for blog subscription info. A nifty free service I use called Feedburner will email subscribers a copy of stuff that gets posted here automatically. Another option, which is even cooler, is adding the feed from this site to a custom reader service like Google Reader or My Yahoo. You geeky types can learn more about this stuff here, if you don't already know all about it.

Thank you all for being in the pool this season, and a sincere Happy New Year to you and yours. Peace out.