Season of Ben

Something's been bothering me all day, in a sort of creepy, Twilight-Zoney kind of way.  Like sitting with your back to an open door.  Appropriate I should be on edge, you say, it being Halloween and everything.  True 'nuff.  Cue the spooky music.

Then it hits me.  We've been here before.  You know this week's winner was Ben, and if you were looking closely, you might have noticed he took over the top spot overall too.  So?  Well, he did exactly the same thing at this time last season.

Little chill up your spine?  No?

I can do worse.  I doubt you're ready for it.  In fact, whatever you do, do NOT click this link.

In Contrast To Last Week

"Kirkaz! Great win success!  We can now
drive to Pearl Harbor.  High five!"

Last week I covered someone who wins these weeks as often as LeRoy Butler turns up on local media.  This week, the story is someone who wins as often as Tony Mandarich turns up on local media.

It's 2006.  The Iraq war is going on four years old.  Brett Favre hasn't retired, not even once.  Borat is still a pretty big deal, and Smoove will not be attending your wedding.

This would also be the last time our good friend Uncle Kirk won any coin in this thing.  You read that right.  His last win was six years ago.  I think I was still driving my Studebaker.

To be sure, he won big that year.  One second-place during the season, and then he went on to win the whole thing, if my oddly complete records are, uh, complete.  So congrats dude.  It was a hard-fought victory over Laurie, going to the points tiebreaker, so well-deserved.  If patience is a virtue, you've displayed enough virtue to be the Virgin Mary.

Reminder to get those Thursday picks in.  I guess I don't need to say that too often anymore.

And in case you were wondering, my Wednesday night tradition of watching baseball while on hold with BMO Harris continues for the third straight week.  I have yet to identify the wailing sounds that pass for BMO's on-hold "music."  They must have been painful to record and I suspect may not be of this Earth.

Binders Of Wins

And now, for the late late show.  The new football week has started and here I am still wondering if the Buccaneers won last week.  Tampa still has a team down there, does it not?

Compliments to our first multi-week winner, and as usual, it's Sarah Schneider.  Number one with a bullet this week, really, as there was a ton of daylight between her and Ben, the runner-up.

Winning a lot of confidence pools has been de rigueur for Sarah for some time now.  I don't have an exact count - that would require some digging - but someone has obtained evidence, as seen on this image of her bookshelf, sent anonymously:

Anyway, that's all for now.  I'm on hold with my new bank, BMO Harris (not my choice), at the moment, and any day now, someone is going to pick up and thank me for my patience during this time of transition.  And I will say no problem, two weeks to reset a password is a small price to pay to be a small part of your multinational conglomerate.

QB FB Awesomeness

Read this.

http://profootballmock.com/?p=4810

Note: language is NSFW.

Hang On To Your Soul

There was a time when a game like yesterday's would ruin dinner for the next seven days.  But for whatever reason, I've learned to live with Packer losses over the last couple years, to the bewildered wonder of my wife, the neighbors, and a multitude of small, terrified animals within earshot.

Within the context of watching sports on TV, losses do, however, make irritating things doubly irritating, and that brings me inevitably to Coors ads.  So when I ran across this gem yesterday, I figured I'd share.

The challenge is to hang on to your soul. If I ever have to sell beer by putting girls in bikinis on TV, you'll know I've checked out.
-Dale Ketechis, Oskar Blues Brewing

Thus Smoove's Postulate is born: the hotter the girl in the bikini, the worse the beer.  Anyway.

Those of you who have checked will see that the nice girl I married borrowed a page from the Dean-Marlene strategy that has paid them off any number of times over the years.  Kelly bet it all on the Colts and with a lot of Luck, her horse came in (Rimshot!  Groans.  Thank you, I'll be here all week).

Laurie, congratulations to you also, for winning Week Four.  There was no recap last week as I had absolutely nothing useful to say.