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Pick Six 2014: Calling All Entries

The AP preseason poll came out Sunday, and that means it's time for the Eighth Annual TMMPF Pick Six Game. 

If you've played before, you know the rules. If you are new, it's real easy. The AP Top 25 is divided into five groups: 1-5, 6-10, etc. You pick one team from each grouping: 

A: Florida State, Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Ohio State

B: Auburn, UCLA, Michigan State, South Carolina, Baylor

C: Stanford, Georgia, Louisiana State, Wisconsin, Southern Cal
D: Clemson, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Arizona State, Kansas State

E: Texas A&M, Nebraska, North Carolina, Missouri, Washington

Then pick one unranked team. The goal is to have the highest ranked teams at the end of the season. The game ends with the final AP poll after the national championship game. 

Grab a cold one. Research makes you thirsty.

SAME AS LAST YEAR: 

1) The scoreboard will be updated on Sunday evenings, or Monday morning usually at the latest. 

2) College football now has a four-team playoff. While this may make the on-field action more interesting, it doesn't affect the Pick Six. We still use the final AP poll.

NEW THIS YEAR: 1) I will send out occasional email updates to replace the weekly blog report. You'll always have access to the latest scoreboard. 

2) Free Points: I will award eight bonus points (in honor of the 8th annual game) if you correctly pick the winner of the wide open ACC Coastal Division. No penalty for incorrect guesses, so have at it. The teams are: Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech. 

THE PRIZE: 

A college football-themed piece of kitsch of my choosing. Past prizes include a Tennessee beer coozie, an Alabama flag and a Texas finger puppet. 

Cuddle up to a prominent Group F nominee. 

WHAT TO DO:

Submit your six schools, bonus ACC pick and team name to tmmpf (dot) blog at googlemail by the deadline of Thursday, August 28 at 5pm Central. Picks needs to be in before the first game of the year, which is 8/28. If you played before, you can keep your team name or choose a new one. Don't write "OU" for Group A or I will give you Oglethorpe University. 

It's more fun when those in your household play too, so be sure to invite your spouse, kids, etc. Dogs and cats can play too! Quigley the cat won in 2010. 

Any questions, write to me. We look forward to another fun year, and good luck!

MPF004

P62013: Week 13 Says HOLY CRAP WE HAVE A NEW LEADER

Games watched: Kent St.-Ohio (Tues, for as long as we could stand); Northern-Toleldo (Weds, til the 4th); Navy-San Jose (Fri, because we're junkies); Iowa-Michigan, Mich St.-Northwestern (2nd TV); BYU-ND, Nebraska-Penn St (look-ins); Texas A&M-LSU (2nd TV, mostly); Arizona-UCLA (snippets); Missouri-Ole Miss (2nd TV); Baylor-Okie St., Wash-Oregon St (until sleepy).

No burying the lead here: for the first time all season, someone besides the "Dirty Diapers"/"No F'n Clue" tandem has a piece of the Pick Six lead.

As a refresher, this husband/wife combo has dominated the standings, with five of the same teams. But they both have UCLA and Baylor, big losers Saturday night. Plus our fearless leader also had Texas A&M, who lost on the road for the first time with John Manziel at quarterback.

Put another way: he had three of the four biggest decliners of the week. (Along with Oregon who had an inexplicable meltdown at Arizona.)

Hello: Notre Dame, finally ranked again at 8-3 and with a big game against Stanford on Saturday night. Adios: Ole Miss, who got thumped at home by Mizzou.

Biggest gainers: Arizona State, up 6 for beating UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

So if you want to be the biggest gainer of the week: it helps to have ASU. Congrats to "LGNDE & Jimbo Fisher" for a +10 week and a boost to No. 4 in the standings, and also to "Prestige Worldwide," who is a Michigan fan but despite that pick also had a +10 week, and No. 7 in the standings.

Enough jibber-jabber, who made this game interesting for the first time since August?

It's a tie! "Sodeh" (might technically be pronounced So-Day, but "soda" is a much easier visual) and "No F'n Clue" come in at 92 points. "Nope. I'm a Frayed Knot." lurks in third with 90 points. Our erstwhile leader "Dirty Diapers" is down to sixth.

Top cat: Tigger in 5th. Top kid: "Lightning McQueen" in 10th. Top dog: Anna in 18th.

I'm way down in the fifties (rank, not points) thanks to Oregon's collapse and UCLA's crapout. I kinda hate the state of Arizona today. My cat has 25 points more than I do.

The links:

P62013 Scoreboard
Points for each team
AP Top 25 Poll

Next weekend is the last weekend of the regular season. Enjoy it, and enjoy your time on Thanksgiving with friends and family and assorted pets. Iowa plays Nebraska at 11am (Central) on Friday. Neither team is ranked but this is the biggest game of the year after Iowa State. There are a ton of other great intrastate rivalry games, including UCLA-USC, Florida-Florida State, Clemson-South Carolina, Washington-Wash State, Oregon-Oregon State, and, of course, the Iron Bowl. Happy Thanskgiving everyone.

Time To Play Pick Six 2013!

If you live in the Upper Midwest, like many TMMPF.com readers, you've noticed a certain chill in the air. A crispness that says ... it's football season. And as of today, it IS officially football season, because the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll was released, and that means the Sixth Annual TMMPF Pick Six Game. Cue the Viking kitties.

The Viking Kitty video actually won't play within Blogger. Watch here to get psyched up.

THE GAME IS EASY! If you've played in previous years, you know how simple it is (to enter at least, winning is a different story) ....

The preseason Top 25 poll is divided into quintiles (a word that probably gets used once a year and on this blog only):

A: Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Stanford, Georgia
B: South Carolina, Texas A&M, Clemson, Louisville, Florida
C: Florida State, Louisiana State, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Texas
D: Oklahoma, Michigan, Nebraska, Boise State, Texas Christian
E: UCLA, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Southern Cal, Oregon State

Pick one team from each group. Then one unranked team (Group F). There's your Pick Six. The goal is to have the highest ranked teams at the end of the season. (The game ends after the bowls, with the final AP poll in January.)

FAMILY FUN! We've learned the game is more fun when multiple members of your family or household participate. Think you don't care about that Georgia/Clemson game? You will, if you've got the 'Dogs and your spouse has the Tigers!

Cats can play ....

This is Franklin on my lap as I entered my 2011 picks. 

Dogs can play ....

USC or UCLA ... which kibble looks tastier?

Heck in 2011 we had a fetus enter the game. He finished 19th. The next year after he was born, he played again and finished first!! (I hope to have more from last year's winner, "Thomas the Train," next week.)

Last year we had a TMMPF-record 60 entries. The more the merrier, so share the info with friends, co-workers, your bookie, whoever you think would enjoy.

PRIZES! Every year I give a kitchsy, college-football themed prize for first place. The last few years have been memorabilia for teams from the Southeast, which is ironic given I live in Big Ten/Notre Dame country. But along with the glory, you could walk away with a prize valued at up to TEN WHOPPING DOLLARS.

You don't have to know anything about football. You don't even have to be sober.

DO I NEED TO DO RESEARCH? If you want to ... whether you are online ...

...or prefer old school newspaper.

IT'S TIME TO ENTER! To play, simply submit your six teams and a name for your entry. If you submit picks without a team name, I will pick one for you. That can be dangerous. If you played last year, you can keep your name or choose a new one.

Send your picks to tmmpf.blog (at) gmail dotcom. Any advice, decision angst you felt, or pictures of kitties/dogs/babies making picks is always welcome, and in fact is a key component of the game.

Call your friends...

Send an email ...

tell them to get their picks in!

DEADLINE: The deadline is Thursday, August 29, 4:55 pm Central, which is five minutes before the first game of the season. No I don't know why North Carolina vs. South Carolina (and Kent State) felt it necessary to start at 5pm.

Every Sunday (God willin' and the Creek don't rise), I'll post a recap on Saturday's games and an updated scoreboard.

QUESTIONS? Reach out to me at my email address if you've got it, the email address above if you don't, or leave a comment here on the blog if it's general.

Thanks and good luck to everyone!

If the sight of this doesn't make you retch, congratulations on giving up on twenty years of hate. You've just identified your Group A pick.

Kitten No Longer Cutest Thing In House

Palatine, Ill. (AP) -- Franklin, an 11-month-old kitten, was replaced Friday as the Cutest Thing in his house, according to suburban household sources.

Franklin had held the Cutest Thing title since this photo from summer last year.

The grey striped kitten has reigned as the Cutest Thing in his house since being adopted in June 2011. But a new arrival, brought home Friday, has relegated Franklin to second place.

The new Cutest Thing has yet to make a statement to the press, beyond jagged screams and occasional gurgles, which have been confirmed as the cutest thing ever, or at least since that little grey kitten. Household cats had suspected a change was coming, because the new arrival merited its own room, whereas the cats slept throughout the house but without a dedicated spot.

Experts predict that not even putting a sports cap on the kitty can help him regain the title.

Franklin had maintained his iron grip on title of Cutest Thing with such actions as cuddling in laps, furiously chasing toys and his silly attraction to water. However, the new Cutest Thing has overtaken the cat by doing little more than sleeping. The kitten attempted to plead for attention, noting that he is smaller (approx. 5 pounds vs. 8 pounds for the new thing) and covered in soft fur. The meows were acknowledged and dismissed as the people hovered over the new Cutest Thing.

"Oh, Franklin is cute, you know," said one person close to the situation. "But he's getting bigger, he's almost an adult kitty now ... and look at this little one! Oh yes, wook at dis widdle one!"

Luckily, no kitties have to move out to make room for the new one.

News of the arrival of the Cute Queen spread quickly, with visitors arriving from out of state, and many more expected over the coming months. Despite being only a few days old, the Cutest Thing is already planning a tour this summer to display her household-dominating cuteness to the Midwestern region of the U.S.

The prior Cutest Thing in the House, 8-year-old Quigley B. Katt, was unavailable for comment as he was sulking under a bed.

Franklin might disagree, but THIS is cute.

Overjoyed

Everybody's been waiting for months now for yesterday to happen ...

...this is the very picture of anticipation at our house.

And sitting on the "daddy couch" in a mother-baby room in a hospital, having gone through one of the weirdest, most intense 24-hour periods of my life, my mind buzzes through a million different thoughts and feelings, but also, the pajamas.

The first article of baby clothing I bought in my entire life happened about a month ago at JCPenney's. I saw these and couldn't resist. And since they were on clearance I bought two sizes, so they can be in use as long as possible.

I was rightfully proud of that first choice, even though I didn't know who (or what) would occupy those pajamas. And now that I know, I can't wait to get her home and sleeping in these:

The words on that chest label, by the way, say "Mommy's Rockstar."

Thank you to everyone who sent their good wishes via text or email. So many song lyrics flying through my head at this busy time, including many from Craig Finn, like "the kids at the shows will have kids of their own" or the idea of the "First Night." But I think it's best to just simply say: "We were overjoyed."

Big News, Told With Movie Posters

is

?

That's right! So in less than

(less than

actually),

and we

for

.

Your two biggest questions: the

is late February. Now,

is a

and the kid COULD be born on Feb. 29.

you ask? Well to me: an 80-year-old who can't legally drink alcohol.

And... boy or girl? Well, we are

so we're not finding out and going to

.

Thanks to everyone for all your wishes and prayers!

Hello Franklin

Good thing we have a "TMMPF News Flash" tag on this blog: yesterday we adopted a kitten!

Hello TMMPF.com readers. My name is Franklin.

This is the first ever picture I took of him:


Our new kitty came from Second Chance Pet Adoption here in the northwest suburbs. We were familiar with the "big shelter" model from Anti-Cruelty Society in the city. But apparently in the suburbs, foster arrangement are more common: agencies put strays with foster parents until they can find a permanent home. Then the agencies host shows at pet stores on the weekends for people like us to fall in love.

I'll say this, he isn't camera shy:

Just for the record, the flash going off in his face was an accident.

It's hard to express how small a 10-week old kitten is when you are used to an adult cat (at nine pounds, Q isn't huge). This picture comes close to getting them in scale:


A better way to describe our reaction is at the 0:25 mark:



Luckily, Quigley has been a very welcoming older brother. They are playing together:


So far there have been no struggles similar to the Booni introduction.

We want to say thank you to Sharon, who was the foster parent to our kitty, and all the folks at Second Chance. If you live in the suburbs and are thinking about adopting a cat, please check them out.

And welcome to our home, Franklin!

TMMPF News Flash!

Hey look what we did last week:


That's right, we bought a house! In the suburbs!!


So anyway, that's the update from here. We'll try to keep you posted on our progress as we move in etc.

In the meantime here's hoping our new furniture is nicer than pictured here: