SuperBowl XLII pick:(a full year in advance!).
PHI Eagles 24 NAS Titans 17
I’ll go with Chargers over the Bears. 14 - 3.
The trendy pick is the Chargers vs. the Saints. Someone’s gotta be a loser, and it’s going the be the Chargers.
Ravens over the Saints, both feel-good stories go down in flames as the Ravens contain Brees and the passing to a score of 24-13
Wha-oops – I neglected to update this thread after Wild Card Weekend. Let’s patch that up:
Eliminated on Wild Card Weekend:
Hal Briston – Giants 38, Chargers 23
MadTheSwine – Ravens 42, Cowboys 10
What Exit? – Giants 24, Jets 20
Frosted Glass – Saints 24, Jets 21
Martin Sable – Patriots 24, Cowboys 17
Ok…now that we’ve got the complete losers out of the way, here’s who dropped off this weekend:
Eliminated on Divisional Championship Weekend:
flickster – Chargers 35, Eagles 21
neutron star – Eagles 24, Chargers 21
Kiros – Patriots 24, Eagles 17
Oakminster – Saints 31, Ravens 27
Least Original User Name Ever – Ravens 24, Saints 13
BrattiAtti – Patriots 32, Seahawks 24
Jackknifed Juggernaut – Chargers 21, Bears 9
brewha – Chargers 14, Bears 3
microbubble – Chargers 24, Bears 0
jackelope – Chargers 38, Saints 17
garygnu – Chargers 34, Saints 30
hajario – Chargers 27, Bears 17
633squadron – Chargers 38, Saints 7
There were quite a few left until the Pats upset the Chargers…that knocked another seven players out of the running, and left the field pretty damn thin:
Still Alive:
Gadarene – Patriots 26, Saints 17
Grits and Hard Toast – Saints 41, Colts 38
Which means that for the second year in a row, we’ll have our winner two weeks before the Super Bowl even takes place – it’s all going to be a matter of who wins the AFC Championship game between the Patriots and the Colts. Good luck to you both*!
*****and by “both”, I mean Grits and Hard Toast. Nothing personal, Gadarene…I’m just sick of the fucking Patriots and a Colts/Saints Super Bowl would be a kick-ass game.
What if it’s Bears-Colts? (Not impossible, just unthinkable.)
Then the winner will be Grits and Hard Toast, who picked the Colts. If the Saints lose next weekend, then neither finalist will have a shot a being completely correct, but GaHT will have come the closest.
Bascially, this will be decided by the AFC Championship game.
If it’s Bears-Colts, then someone who picked Bears-Chargers will be just as correct as someone who picked Saints-Colts, right?
Not when the Chargers have already been eliminated. I mean, I understand your angle, but sorry, no, you’re out of the running. No fabulous cash prizes for you this season.
Thank you very much! It was funny, when I made my original pick of Saints and Colts, and then saw no one else had chosen the Colts, I almost made my most common mistake when handicapping horse races. At the races I often find a horse I love at reasonable odds. Then at post time, I see my pick’s odds have gone WAY up. I should think, “Great, if my horse wins I win a bundle!,” instead I think, “Man, what is it eveyone else can see that I am missing? What is wrong with this horse?” Then if I don’t bet him he wins, making me crazy, and if I do bet him, he comes in DFL and I kick myself for not switching because there obviously was something wrong with him.
So this time I resisted the urge, I went with my gut; the colts reminding me this year of an Elway Bronco team, pulling out a win in a wildcard game and getting to the Bowl only to lose. (I see now I was much kinder to the Colts with regards to the final score, when the Broncos would lose, it was usually a blowout)
Had I switched, it would have been to the Pats, so I am really, really, hoping for my handicapping future’s sake that the Colts pull off the win and I can stop my self from second guessing unpopular choices. Should the Pat’s win, then I will know I should have switched, and I am doomed as a handicapper.
What do you mean this is only a game???
Anyway, thanks for the well wishes and having the contest. And congrats and good luck to Gadarene as well.
I thought it.
Colts 27, Bears 24
You heard it here first.
Close Saoirse but it’s Bears 27, Colts 24.
Your game, your rules. 
Hmmm… can I get back to you guys in a week or so?
Aaaaand, we’re done – congratulations go out to Grits and Hard Toast, winner of the 4th Annual Early Super Bowl Pick-Off!
Interesting to note – GaHT was the only entrant to pick the Colts, and there were four players who picked the Bears. However, all five of these players picked that team to lose in the Super Bowl.
Perhaps I’ll update this in two weeks to reflect who came closest to the actual result, keeping in line with hajario’s way of thinking. Unofficially, of course.
(note to self: Next year, remember to bump the thread closer to Wild Card Weekend…more players = more of a chance of someone picking both teams.)
Blasphemy, sir. Pistols at dawn?
Thank you Hal! At half time I would have bet on Gadarene, but somehow they pulled if off! Seems the only horses that I can bet on and win these days are “Colts.”
That is interesting that all five that had picked one of the teams to actually make it to the bowl, picked that team as the loser of the bowl. That possibilty was why I figured you set the game up as you did, players eliminated once one of their teams were eliminated. Otherwise, who would be the winner?
In this case, if the Colts should win the Superbowl, it would be easy, as only one person had them. But if the Bears win, of the four who had the Bears, which of them would win? If they had chosen the Bears to win the whole thing, you could use that score. But since they all had the Bears losing, those scores for a winning team look very odd now. I would think that Hajario at 17 would have the best shot. It would be hard to imagine the Bears winning with a score closer to 9, 3 or 0.
Is there another way you had in mind to select a winner? I had also thought of replacing each player’s losing team with the actual winner, then using those scores, but that would be odd since all of us then would have a higher score with a team we didn’t pick.
So I am just curious what would make the most sense if you were to do it the way Sal Ammoniac and Hajario mentioned? If all those that had one team make it were to compete, what scores and what winners would be used. It is sort of a puzzle to me, I think there is an answer that makes sense, but I don’t see it yet.
Any ideas?
Thanks again for having the contest. Always makes watching the playoffs more fun when your own team doesn’t get there but you can still have teams to root for.
I just wanted to bump this thread up one more time to give some props to hajario. While Grits and Hard Toast has already been declared the winner here, hajario brought up a point above that will probably bring about some changes in how we do this next year.
hajario said “Chargers 27, Bears 17”. That means he correctly predicted a Bears loss, was dead on with the Bears’ score, and was only two points off on the winner’s score. Damn good call for being made pre-playoffs.
Of course, this is all just for bragging rights, so it doesn’t matter much in the long run. Congrats to both of you.
Oh yes, one more thing I wanted to bring back up: