Paint the Town Orange and Brown

We finally have a new champion, and it is Holly.

It was a thrilling year in the pool, with no fewer than 10 people seriously in the hunt for a majority of the season.  Holly's worst-to-first rise to the top is one of the more amazing things, considering all the football knowledge in this family.

The playoffs were excruciating for me personally.  Not only was I battling for my first win in the pool since the inaugural season, but my Jets were also battling it out in the AFC Playoffs.  I was expecting more of us to be invested in the Playoffs this year, but the only two in the pool with a team in the tourney this year reside in Upstate New York.

Anywho, Holly and I picked the exact same teams for the first two rounds- generally playing it safe, not wanting to slip up.  This cost me dearly in the second week, as my heart told me to take the Jets over the Chargers, but my head said no.  Luckily, I knew Holly and I had made the same picks, so I felt free to root for the Jets without worrying about anything else.

As the Conference Championships loomed ahead, I knew what I had to do.  I couldn't pick against the Jets with a Super Bowl berth hanging in the balance.  I just knew Holly would pick the Colts (and why not? They were the class of the league all year), so I had to do the near-unconscionable: pick the Favre-led Vikings over the superior and inspirational Saints. 

With the Jets playing first, I was a wreck.  Jen and I went to our neutral corners; her upstairs, me in the Cave with the Hulk Hands.  The first half was amazing, until about two minutes left.  That's when Peyton Manning ripped my heart out with an amazing pitch and catch with Collie, and I knew it was over.

So with my Super Bowl dreams dead, I looked to the Vikings to keep my SBL title hopes alive.  The whole game was one tease after another, with the Vikings hanging around despite doing everything they could to give it away.  And then, of course, Favre does what Favre does best- screw over anyone rooting for him.  That pick, on a throw that was completely unnecessary, killed any chances I had to tie up the week and survive.  The rest is history.

Holly did a great job all year, climbing from the lower-middle in Week 6 all the way to the top.  She absolutely deserved this win.  I, just as last year, finish second.  Steph, as she has EVERY YEAR FOR 7 SEASONS, finished in the top 5 but not at the pinnacle.  Next year should be a great one, even though the blog now looks like a sick dog's poop.