Pick Six Final Results

AKA, An Experiment Gone Horribly Wrong

OK, here is the final AP Top 25 college football for the 2010 season, preserved for posterity.


Hey everyone, raise your hand (or paw) if you had all six teams finish in the Top 25!

Oooh! Oooh! Mista Kotta, Mista Kotta!

Yes Quigley, way to go. You were the only player to get all six in the Top 25. And such, you shall not be surpised to learn that Mr. Q is the Champion of the 2010 TMMPF Official Multi-Species Pick Six Contest. Congratulations, have a greenie.

The second and third-place finishers were the respective winners of their division: Piece of Cheese, who is a dog took second (yes we all lost to two goddam animals) and Huskers Du of Madison, Wisconsin, a person, took third.

If you're curious, the perfect pick was:

A: Ohio State (21)
B: TCU (24)
C: Oregon (23)
D: Arkansas (14)
E: Auburn (25)
F: Stanford (22)

And, the worst pick:

A: Florida or Texas
B: Iowa (sigh)
C: Pitt, USC, Miami (two of three lost their coach, the third is on probation)
D: Penn State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech
E: Georgia
F: no shortage of ways to fail. I am going to single out Sidney for picking Michigan as his unranked even though he didn't pick his Ohio State Buckeyes with the "A" pick.

The results, as always, are here.

If you want to know if your team won its bowl game, click the "bowl results" tab or just click this guy here.

Thanks everyone for a fun game, and we hope to see you next year.

BEST OF MPF 2010

BEST DAY: May 12. We closed on our new house. (We moved in a week later.)


WORST DAY: Hundreds of bandwagon jumping fans crowded the trains and downtown to attend a rally for a minor sports team (sometime in June I think).

BEST NEWS STORY INVOLVING A CAT: Scientists gave a cat named Oscar new back feet after they were severed in a farming accident (June 24).

BEST SHOW: David Gray and Ray LaMontagne at Pritzker Pavilion (Aug. 25). Runner up: Elvis Costello at the Chicago Theatre (Dec. 20).

BEST SONG: "The Fixer" by Pearl Jam. Runners-up: "Beg Steal or Borrow" by Ray LaMontagne.

BEST VIDEO: "This Too Shall Pass" by OK Go. Most people would pick the Rube Goldberg video, but I preferred the version with the Notre Dame marching band.

NEITHER BEST SONG NOR BEST VIDEO BUT BEST COMBINATION OF THE TWO: "Tighten Up" by Black Keys.



BEST RECORD: "Band of Joy" by Robert Plant.

BEST PICTURE: Our morning DJ, Lin Brehmer of XRT, finally got to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley (Sept. 3). Later he posted this:


BEST BOWLING GAME: We joined a bowling league this year. On the first night of league play, I rolled a 200 game (Jan. 21).

BEST MOVIE: I didn't go to the movies in 2010.

BEST TV SHOW (AND EPISODE): "Lost" and the series finale (May 23).

WORST SUPREME COURT DECISION: Citizens United, which allows corporations to make unlimited donations in elections (Jan. 21).

BEST TIME IN WRIGLEY: Not a game but Residents Appreciation Day, where we got to walk around on the field, run the bases and sit in the dugout (Oct. 2).

BEST CUBS GAME: A 7-6 win over the Brewers, on the second home game, before the season went to hell.

BEST FOOTBALL GAME: Notre Dame beat Purdue (Sept. 4). This wins by default becuse every other game I went to, my team lost.

BEST STREET FEST: St. Nectarios Greek Fest in Palatine. Great food, good music, neat culture. Overall a lot of fun.

WORST AD CAMPAIGN: Anheuser-Busch went monosyllabic--It's What We Do, Here We Go, Grab Some Buds--with predictably stupid results.

BEST/WORST ROAD TRIP: Going to Tucson, Arizona, for the Iowa-Arizona football game was memorable for mostly the wrong reasons, but I'm still glad I went. (Sept. 17-19).

BEST DINING EXPERIENCE: Lowrys Prime Rib, celebrating my parents' 40th anniversary (Aug. 21).

WE'LL MISS YOU: Musician Alex Chilton, 59, on March 17; all-time Cub Ron Santo, 70, on Dec. 2. Read Paul Westerberg's remembrance; watch Pat Hughes' eulogy.


As most of you know, this is my annual year-end "Christmas letter." May this find you in good spirits and hopeful for a happy and peaceful 2011. God bless you and your family.

Monday Morning, Back to Work

For you, me ... and the kitty.

That look on his face is pretty much how I feel right now.