By popular request (well, a couple of people saying “Hey, let’s do both pools!”), I set up a Top 12 pool the way we used to do it. You have four days to get your one and only pick set in for the season, so get 'em in by Tuesday evening!
I’m in first place in the fun pool! w00t! That’s a first for me.
Enjoy it while it lasts, Rebo…
You still have the lead, but there’s a pack of us tied for second place nipping at your heels!
Good job Crotalus and Ataraxy for putting all 20 points on Didi.
Damn my bet-hedging – I knew Didi was doomed, but I still felt the need to throw five points on Aaron, just in case.
Ah well…your time at the top is coming to an end, Crotalus…I’m on your heels and ready to make my move!
Nobody was more surprised than me to see where I am in the standings.
So does anything change for tonight, with two going home? Or do we still distribute 20 points however we want? I guess I could go to the pool site and see, huh?
As far as I can tell, it’s business as usual – spread your 20 points around however you like, and if they go home, you score. Makes it twice as easy to get some points this week – I’ll take it.
Right you are. Good job, Hal.
I put my faith in Teflon Tim a little too long, but I’m happy to see the bonus questions did me some good this week. Without Tim I have even less incentive to keep up, but I’m hoping to prove I can win this thing without watching the show! Bwa ha haa!
Damnit, damnit, damnit – I had my points split between Michael and Siobahn, but at the last minute I decided to throw my entire lot in with Michael.
Still clinging to that lead, though – good thing not too many points were put on Siobahn.
I had no idea Siobahn was going. I put everything on the men, specifically on Lynche to get…wait…don’t say lynched*…booted off the show.
Yikes! :eek:
I always* split my points 10-10 between the two I think most likely to get sent off. Looks like that tactic actually paid off this week, since I split between Michael and Siobhan. Her scream has now transitioned into boring.
I was nervous for a bit though–I have Casey down as the overall winner.
*Except the double elimination week, when we were only required to pick one of the two.
I ignored the Casey-will-go groupthink and finally had a good week.
I find it so strange that Mike got voted off five weeks ago and he’s still here. I assumed that every judges’ save would end up gone soon after. Now he’s fighting with Lee for a spot in the finale. Or maybe he’s going home next week. Or…
Man, talk about being torn at the final – I’ve wanted to Aaron gone in the worst way for ages now, but I had five points on Mike.
So, I got the better final four, but damnit, now I’m in second! <shakes fist at Delores>
The good news: I got a perfect score this week.
The bad news: my overall winner pick was eliminated.
That pretty much puts me out of the running as the high scorer, but overall I did quite well this season.
All right, another season in the books! A quick check of the standings shows the winner was…me! 
Indulge me for a moment, as I repost my facebook status from yesterday afternoon:
Ok…done gloating now.
Let me give kudos to Pleonast here – I won the game, but it was he who did the best when it came to pure picking – it was only doing good with the bonus questions and picking Lee for the win early on that gave me the victory. Nicely done, Pleo!
For posterity’s sake, here’s how this all shook out (I know copying and pasting is going to blow up the formatting, but whatever – if someone wants to know the results a couple of years from now, they’ll be able to figure it out):
Overall Standings Through Week 14
Rank Selection Pts Bonus Over
All Total Overall Pick
(Max Pts)
1 Hal’s Croaky Karaoke 155 34 36 225 Lee D (36)
2 Rachael’s picks 154 23 27 204 Lee D (27)
3 Kolak of Twilo’s picks 157 23 18 198 Crystal B (36)
4 Pleonast 160 28 6 194 Lee D (6)
5 Rachel’s Groovy Picks 141 32 3 176 Crystal B (6)
5 Mahaloth’s picks 140 21 15 176 Crystal B (30)
7 Rebo’s picks 134 20 15 169 Crystal B (30)
8 drainbead’s picks 116 31 14 161 Crystal B (27)
8 judikium 113 30 18 161 Crystal B (36)
10 gonzoron 111 29 14 154 Crystal B (27)
11 My Picks 120 18 15 153 Lee D (15)
12 Jahiegel 96 27 18 141 Crystal B (36)
13 Kitten’s Picks 110 22 6 138 Crystal B (12)
14 Crotalus 100 28 9 137 Casey J (36)
15 Ataraxy’s Picks 102 18 8 128 Crystal B (15)
16 Os’s Picks 78 26 18 122 Crystal B (36)
17 mchapman’s picks 88 27 4 119 Casey J (15)
18 BetsQ’s picks 79 21 18 118 Crystal B (36)
19 Sam’s Picks 79 23 9 111 Casey J (36)
20 Gorgonzola’s picks 67 28 9 104 Casey J (36)
21 phungi 66 23 0 89 -none-
22 Blue Mood 67 19 0 86 Michael L (36)
Hey fifth place aint too shabby! I feel bad because I totally forgot to put my points in this week, but still happy with my place.
Well, considering I picked Crystal for the win and still managed to come in third without all those points I suppose I should be happy.
But, next year Hal…ooooh boy, wait 'til next year!
Well, we all know that the ones with real talent always get 2nd place… 
I don’t feel too bad being a bridesmaid for the second year in a row (or third?) since I mostly stopped watching at top 12 and completely stopped watching after Adam Lambert week (which apparently had something to do with Elvis too). If only I had picked Lee to take it all from the beginning like I did over at MJsBigBlog’s version of the same pool - I got 16th place out of over 1400 over there!
Congratulations, all! If it hadn’t been for the pool I wouldn’t have paid attention to this crap-ass season at all.
Huh. I would have gotten third if I had put my 40 points on Lee. I guess I went for “go big or go home” though- I would have had no shot at winning if I had split my points between my 40 for Lee and 36 winner points for Crystal.
I had a few good picks near the end but mostly failed this season. Oh well.
I wish I had done this back in Season 5 because I knew Chris Daughtry was going home.