Updated Standings - thru December 19th

Thankfully, NFL Week 15 is finally behind us and 24,726 college football maniacs got to watch a Bowden brother get smashed in a bowl game last night in Boca Raton.  America's classiest coach, Lane Kiffin, put his sportsmanship on display beautifully, converting a 2-point conversion with a 31-point lead in the second half and even attempted a halfback pass with a 47-point lead in the 4th.

I've got August 31, 2019 circled on my calendar already, as that's when Lane brings his Owls into Ohio Stadium for a season-opening showdown with URBAN MEYER.  I can't wait to show him how to properly administer a beatdown, when we run the read-option 75 times in a row for 700 yards.

Andy Barrell clinging to a comfortable early lead in the Pick Em Standings.  Sorry to report this to you, Andy, but history is not on your side.  Not sure we've ever seen a wire-to-wire run to the Championship.  I wish you luck nonetheless.  Meanwhile, Jim "Hotpicks" Davis narrowly missed out on 35 points last night with the Zips defeat and is bringing up the rear with a despicable 14 points earned thus far.  Impressively horrible, Jim.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank several participants who sent some extra $$ to donate to Jerseys of Hope:

Bronze Stars to:
Kevin Dietz for throwing an extra $5 in the hat.
Angie Guidi for her $10 donation.

Silver Star Award to Eric Fox for his $25 donation

Gold Star Award to Allan Guidi for his $50 donation!

I certainly never expected this pool to grow to the point that we would be making charitable donations on its behalf.  We're not moving mountains, but that's $90 right there.  JOH can find something productive to do with $90 that lifts the spirits of someone who is battling something in a hospital bed.  Pretty cool, folks.

Hey, tune in tonight as Louisiana Tech takes on SMU.  Congrats to these two programs for drawing glorious Frisco, TX for their destination bowl game.  I had the pleasure of attending a Frisco Roughriders game several years back with my main man, Andrew Guidi (we went to a game there, didn't we? I think we did, not sure, might have had a few beverages that day).  Interesting tidbit about LaTech, they are led by another legacy coach, Skip Holtz.  Less interesting tidbit about LaTech, their QB coach is former NFL superstar Tim Rattay.  So look for some really explosive quarterback play out of them tonight.  SMU, on the other hand, should be coming out of their Death Penalty doldrums any day now, and is the alma mater of another NFL legend, Josh McCown, along with mediocre running backs Doak Walker and Eric Dickerson.

Name	Paid	Points	Correct Picks	Points Possible	# of Favorites Picked
Andy Barrell	14-Dec	185	6	830	19
Mike Fitzpatrick (2)	11-Dec	136	5	818	21
Jason Tolman		123	6	825	25
Rodd Reinhart	18-Dec	119	4	768	28
Mike Fitzpatrick (1)	11-Dec	118	5	834	25
John Carter	14-Dec	118	5	825	34
Nick Carter	20-Dec	116	3	750	28
Tyler Henry	16-Dec	114	5	833	27
Julie Carter	14-Dec	111	3	781	28
Mike Merwin (1)	5-Dec	111	3	763	38
Mike Merwin (3)	5-Dec	111	3	763	38
Mike Merwin (2)	5-Dec	111	3	763	37
Mike McDonough	16-Dec	110	3	804	27
David McDermott	12-Dec	109	6	847	20
Dan Bialek	15-Dec	108	4	791	30
Brad Gmerek	16-Dec	107	5	815	27
Doug Beebe		106	3	757	32
Chris Duff (1)	18-Dec	104	3	801	34
Max J Hofmeyer	11-Dec	103	4	766	25
P. O'Keefe	19-Dec	102	3	753	30
Jared Penrod (1)	16-Dec	100	5	824	31
Curt Wininger	18-Dec	100	3	774	32
John Biemer (2)	9-Dec	100	4	769	28
John Biemer (1)	9-Dec	100	4	769	27
Marc Kellogg (1)	14-Dec	98	4	823	23
Dan Bailey	16-Dec	98	3	771	31
Boy2 O'Keefe	19-Dec	97	3	817	29
Mike Merwin (4)	5-Dec	97	3	794	38
Tim Smith (2)	16-Dec	95	3	785	18
Tim Smith (1)	16-Dec	94	4	816	25
Dallas Hannigan	8-Dec	93	6	835	21
Ben Widenmeyer (1)		92	5	827	24
Ben Widenmeyer (2)		92	5	827	22
Jared Penrod (2)	16-Dec	92	4	816	28
L. O'Keefe	19-Dec	90	3	801	27
Dan Grendziak		90	3	779	28
Lindsay Rice	16-Dec	90	3	772	31
John Stromberg	16-Dec	90	3	750	27
Chad Welty (2)	9-Dec	89	5	850	27
Mike Melink	18-Dec	89	4	780	29
Eric Hostetter		88	3	754	34
Matt Jones	15-Dec	88	3	735	27
Jason Jakubson (2)	5-Dec	87	5	842	23
Max P Hofmeyer	11-Dec	87	3	747	32
Jimmy Norris	16-Dec	86	5	806	25
Andrew Guidi	14-Dec	85	3	765	30
Jeff Crouse (2)		84	4	798	28
James Hancock	13-Dec	84	4	783	32
Ed Purcell		84	3	754	32
Mia LaCommare	15-Dec	83	5	815	24
Chad Welty (1)	9-Dec	82	3	835	31
Brian Reedy		81	4	813	30
Eric Cannon	13-Dec	81	3	797	34
James Skidmore		80	3	804	30
Noah LaCommare	15-Dec	80	3	776	21
Paul Luxem		80	2	741	32
Jason Jakubson (1)	5-Dec	79	4	832	26
Ryan Stewart	15-Dec	79	3	788	31
Kyle Burton	16-Dec	79	3	753	29
Bryan Hoenig	15-Dec	78	3	789	33
Tom Ancelet	18-Dec	77	6	845	24
Randy Jacobs (2)	18-Dec	76	3	762	32
Chris Duff (1)	18-Dec	75	3	780	28
Randy Jacobs (1)	16-Dec	73	3	765	33
Rob Holub	15-Dec	72	4	780	28
Kevin Dietz (2)	15-Dec	72	2	747	37
Jeff Zipp	15-Dec	71	3	807	26
Eric Fox	16-Dec	70	3	778	31
Kelly Winterheimer		70	3	771	24
Kristy Kaufman	16-Dec	69	3	816	29
Corey Ohalek		67	3	783	28
Rick Tober	11-Dec	67	2	754	35
Paul Widenmeyer		66	4	810	27
Rob LaCommare	15-Dec	66	3	807	23
Ed Jones	14-Dec	64	2	765	35
Marc Kellogg (2)	14-Dec	62	3	819	21
Kenon Carter	12-Dec	62	5	818	24
Alan Jozefiak	5-Dec	60	4	854	24
Joe Smith	16-Dec	60	4	849	25
Bella LaCommare	15-Dec	60	3	791	32
Matt Neugebauer	12-Dec	60	3	788	27
Doug Rice	16-Dec	60	2	756	31
Andy Scism	15-Dec	58	4	842	23
Brian Kibler	15-Dec	58	3	789	27
Jeff Gilkey	15-Dec	57	5	857	27
Kyle Robbins	11-Dec	57	3	797	24
Sean Davis	12-Dec	56	5	824	28
Alex Athan		55	3	800	22
Kurt Rosenwald	15-Dec	55	3	742	30
Jeff Crouse (1)		54	2	768	32
Chad Gorfido	15-Dec	53	4	842	23
Morgan Helmick	11-Dec	53	3	811	31
Mike Lasko	18-Dec	52	3	831	28
Mike Kerins		52	2	803	21
Chad Shinabargar (2)	18-Dec	50	3	769	22
Angie Guidi	18-Dec	49	3	736	18
Jim Dove		48	3	800	23
Sheli Jones	16-Dec	47	4	798	29
Larry Frischen	16-Dec	46	3	826	28
Robbie Walnuts	15-Dec	46	2	774	21
Ryan Hannigan		44	3	839	29
Jason Walker	19-Dec	41	1	690	28
Kevin Kmetz	11-Dec	35	3	799	26
Ross Hoewischer		34	2	733	28
Chad Shinabargar (1)	18-Dec	32	2	773	24
James Schiro	16-Dec	31	4	815	18
Brian Jones	16-Dec	28	3	816	22
Stacy Carter	15-Dec	28	2	774	19
George Neugebauer	14-Dec	27	4	842	28
Kevin Dietz (1)	15-Dec	26	3	806	22
Allan Guidi	18-Dec	23	4	845	22
Brad Laney	16-Dec	20	4	850	20
Jake Hofmeyer	11-Dec	20	1	767	24
Seth Bancroft (1)	18-Dec	16	3	849	20
Seth Bancroft (2)	18-Dec	16	2	767	24
Jim Davis		14	1	784	22

Updated Standings - thru December 16th

Monster start for Andy Barrell, rough go of it for Jason Walker, who managed to miraculously go 0 for 6 on day 1.  Enjoy two days of professional football before LANE and the Zips lock horns in Boca Raton on Tuesday night.

Name	Paid	Points	Correct Picks	Points Possible	# of Favorites Picked
Andy Barrell	14-Dec	144	5	830	19
Mike Fitzpatrick (2)	11-Dec	98	4	818	21
Jason Tolman		84	5	825	25
Marc Kellogg (1)	14-Dec	82	3	823	23
John Carter	14-Dec	80	4	825	34
Rodd Reinhart		78	3	768	28
Mike Fitzpatrick (1)	11-Dec	77	4	834	25
Tyler Henry	16-Dec	73	4	833	27
Julie Carter	14-Dec	73	2	781	28
Kelly Winterheimer		70	3	805	24
Mike Merwin (1)	5-Dec	70	2	763	38
Mike Merwin (3)	5-Dec	70	2	763	38
Mike Merwin (2)	5-Dec	70	2	763	37
Mike McDonough	16-Dec	69	2	804	27
David McDermott	12-Dec	68	5	847	20
Brad Gmerek	16-Dec	67	4	815	27
Dan Bialek	15-Dec	67	3	791	30
Doug Beebe		65	2	757	32
Dallas Hannigan	8-Dec	63	5	835	21
Chris Duff (1)		63	2	801	34
Dan Bailey	16-Dec	62	2	771	31
Max J Hofmeyer	11-Dec	62	3	766	25
Jared Penrod (1)		59	4	824	31
Curt Wininger		59	2	774	32
John Biemer (2)	9-Dec	59	3	769	28
John Biemer (1)	9-Dec	59	3	769	27
Mike Merwin (4)	5-Dec	58	2	794	38
Tim Smith (2)	16-Dec	54	2	785	18
Tim Smith (1)	16-Dec	53	3	816	25
Jeff Crouse (2)		53	3	798	28
Chad Welty (2)	9-Dec	52	4	850	27
Ben Widenmeyer (1)		52	4	827	24
Ben Widenmeyer (2)		52	4	827	22
Jared Penrod (2)		51	3	816	28
Dan Grendziak		49	2	779	28
Lindsay Rice	16-Dec	49	2	772	31
John Stromberg		49	2	750	27
Marc Kellogg (2)	14-Dec	48	2	819	21
Jim Dove		48	3	814	23
Mike Melink		48	3	780	29
Eric Hostetter		47	2	754	34
Matt Jones	15-Dec	47	2	735	27
Jason Jakubson (2)	5-Dec	46	4	842	23
James Hancock	13-Dec	46	3	783	32
Max P Hofmeyer	11-Dec	46	2	747	32
Chad Welty (1)	9-Dec	45	2	835	31
Jimmy Norris	16-Dec	45	4	806	25
Andrew Guidi	14-Dec	44	2	765	30
Ed Purcell		43	2	754	32
Tom Ancelet		42	5	845	24
Mia LaCommare	15-Dec	42	4	815	24
Brian Reedy		40	3	813	30
Eric Cannon	13-Dec	40	2	797	34
Ryan Stewart	15-Dec	40	2	788	31
James Skidmore		39	2	804	30
Noah LaCommare	15-Dec	39	2	776	21
Kyle Burton	16-Dec	39	2	753	29
Paul Luxem		39	1	741	32
Jason Jakubson (1)	5-Dec	38	3	832	26
Bryan Hoenig	15-Dec	37	2	789	33
Angie Guidi		35	2	736	18
Chris Duff (1)		34	2	780	28
Ross Hoewischer		34	2	739	28
Randy Jacobs	16-Dec	33	2	765	33
Kenon Carter	12-Dec	31	4	818	24
Jeff Zipp	15-Dec	31	2	807	26
Rob Holub	15-Dec	31	3	780	28
Kevin Dietz (2)	15-Dec	31	1	747	37
Eric Fox	16-Dec	29	2	778	31
Kristy Kaufman	16-Dec	28	2	816	29
Stacy Carter	15-Dec	28	2	787	19
Sheli Jones	16-Dec	27	3	798	29
Kevin Dietz (1)	15-Dec	26	3	809	22
Corey Ohalek		26	2	783	28
Rick Tober	11-Dec	26	1	754	35
Paul Widenmeyer		25	3	810	27
Rob LaCommare	15-Dec	25	2	807	23
Jeff Gilkey	15-Dec	24	4	857	27
Jeff Crouse (1)		23	1	768	32
Ed Jones	14-Dec	23	1	765	35
Mike Lasko		21	2	831	28
Alex Athan		20	2	800	22
Matt Neugebauer	12-Dec	20	2	788	27
Jake Hofmeyer	11-Dec	20	1	770	24
Doug Rice	16-Dec	20	1	756	31
Alan Jozefiak	5-Dec	19	3	854	24
Joe Smith	16-Dec	19	3	849	25
Bella LaCommare	15-Dec	19	2	791	32
Brian Kibler	15-Dec	19	2	789	27
Andy Scism	15-Dec	17	3	842	23
Sean Davis	12-Dec	17	4	824	28
Kyle Robbins	11-Dec	17	2	797	24
Kurt Rosenwald	15-Dec	16	2	742	30
Jim Davis		14	1	819	22
Brad Laney	16-Dec	12	3	850	20
Chad Gorfido	15-Dec	12	3	842	23
James Schiro	16-Dec	12	3	815	18
Morgan Helmick	11-Dec	12	2	811	31
Mike Kerins		11	1	803	21
Chad Shinabargar (2)		11	2	769	22
Seth Bancroft (1)		9	2	849	20
Allan Guidi		9	3	845	22
Ryan Hannigan		9	2	839	29
Robbie Walnuts	15-Dec	9	1	774	21
George Neugebauer	14-Dec	7	3	842	28
Seth Bancroft (2)		7	1	767	24
Larry Frischen	16-Dec	6	2	826	28
Brian Jones	16-Dec	6	2	816	22
Kevin Kmetz	11-Dec	5	2	799	26
Chad Shinabargar (1)		2	1	773	24
Jason Walker		0	0	690	28

Last Chance to Enter the '17 Contest!

If you're reading this e-mail, you are officially entered in the 2017 Baddest Bowl Pick Em Ever sweepstakes.  I call it a "sweepstakes" because that's what we're dealing with here.  There's very little skill involved here, despite what some of you meatheads think.  I might as well throw all your names in a hat and draw five of them.  It would save us all a great deal of time.  But it sure wouldn't be very much fun.  Like many of you, I prefer to lose my $10 as slowly and agonizingly as possible.

As of press time, we have 103 entries.  There will most definitely be some more between now and kickoff.  There's a Steve Sarkisian look-alike out in Licking County, OH who should be scrambling to get his picks in as we speak.  So once the numbers are finalized, I will publish the payouts.  But we're looking at $500-ish for the winner at this point.  Remember, I pay out the top 5 and last place gets a special prize.

Attached is the file.  This is the only time I'm publishing it so familiarize yourself with it, caress it, nurture it.  The "Picks" tab is the most useful one, as it gives you all of this information below about how many people picked each team and what the avg. confidence points are.  LANE KIFFIN is an overwhelming favorite, at 93.2% and 36.5 avg. confidence points.  According to this collection of college football degenerates, the Zips have no shot.

Finally, PAY ME.

Matchup	% Picked	Avg. Confidence	Matchup	% Picked	Avg. Confidence
Grambling	31.1%	8.8	North Carolina A&T	68.9%	16.4
Troy	86.4%	20.4	North Texas	13.6%	11.4
Western Kentucky	87.4%	20.1	Georgia St.	12.6%	10.6
Boise St.	23.3%	10.7	Oregon	76.7%	23.2
Marshall	26.2%	11.1	Colorado St.	73.8%	20.0
Middle Tennessee	35.0%	10.7	Arkansas St.	65.0%	14.6
Akron	6.8%	15.4	Florida Atlantic	93.2%	36.5
Louisiana Tech	21.4%	11.9	SMU	78.6%	17.7
Temple	72.8%	22.6	Florida International	27.2%	14.6
UAB	12.6%	15.2	Ohio	87.4%	23.9
Central Michigan	44.7%	12.6	Wyoming	55.3%	14.6
Texas Tech	30.1%	14.8	South Florida	69.9%	17.3
San Diego St.	77.7%	22.5	Army	22.3%	15.0
Appalachian St.	6.8%	16.3	Toledo	93.2%	26.6
Fresno St.	45.6%	14.3	Houston	54.4%	13.6
Utah	62.1%	22.9	West Virginia	37.9%	18.1
Duke	69.9%	19.3	Northern Illinois	30.1%	18.4
Kansas St.	52.4%	19.0	UCLA	47.6%	17.9
Southern Miss.	9.7%	15.3	Florida St.	90.3%	33.5
Iowa	72.8%	19.1	Boston College	27.2%	16.8
Arizona	71.8%	21.5	Purdue	28.2%	14.5
Texas	54.4%	18.6	Missouri	45.6%	17.4
Virginia	29.1%	17.2	Navy	70.9%	16.7
Virginia Tech	14.6%	17.9	Oklahoma St.	85.4%	28.2
Stanford	49.5%	20.2	TCU	50.5%	17.9
Washington St.	39.8%	19.3	Michigan St.	60.2%	20.9
Wake Forest	61.2%	19.0	Texas A&M	38.8%	18.0
North Carolina St.	87.4%	26.6	Arizona St.	12.6%	19.6
Kentucky	12.6%	21.5	Northwestern	87.4%	29.8
Utah St.	71.8%	20.3	New Mexico St.	28.2%	17.9
USC	14.6%	18.8	Ohio St.	85.4%	28.1
Louisville	83.5%	28.5	Mississippi St.	16.5%	18.2
Iowa St.	38.8%	20.4	Memphis	61.2%	23.8
Washington	18.4%	17.9	Penn St.	81.6%	24.1
Miami	24.3%	22.0	Wisconsin	75.7%	27.4
Michigan	81.6%	27.8	South Carolina	18.4%	19.4
Central Florida	13.6%	11.9	Auburn	86.4%	33.5
Notre Dame	45.6%	20.4	LSU	54.4%	20.8
Georgia	32.0%	16.5	Oklahoma	68.0%	18.0
Alabama	44.7%	19.9	Clemson	55.3%	15.2

Jerseys of Hope

Thanks to those of you who have submitted your picks early.  Just a reminder, action is underway this Saturday, 12/16, at 12:00 Eastern.  Those of you who have capacity to get your picks completed in the next couple of days, it helps me out a great deal! 

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to mention Jerseys of Hope. This Bowl pool has grown by leaps and bounds since I started it up back in 2006.  Many of you are people I've never met personally, and quite frankly I have no idea who the hell you could even be associated with.  Somebody must have forwarded you my e-mails back in the day.  And it's kind of cool to see those same names coming back year after year to participate in some stranger's pool.  

One of our longstanding participants, whom I've never met personally, is John Biemer.  John and I must be affiliated through some mutual professional connection, as we've both circled the city of Columbus in our retail careers, but never actually crossed paths.  While John's mother was battling cancer in a Baltimore area hospital several years back, he was moved by the excitement in the hospital as patients gathered to cheer on the Ravens.  Since then, he has made Jerseys of Hope an important part of his life, committed to providing similar opportunities to as many hospital patients as possible.  By donating new or gently used jerseys, you can bring an afternoon of happiness to someone who really needs it.  It's a unique way to help someone out, and a simple one.  Please take a moment to check out the Jerseys of Hope website.  Your William Green Cleveland Browns jersey still has value.  

http://www.jerseysofhope.com/

Thanks,
Kenon

Twelfth Annual Baddest Bowl Pick 'Em Ever

In just 12 short days, another episode of Baddest Bowl Pick 'Em Ever will leap into action as degenerate gamblers all across the nation tune in to see a horrific American football contest between the Tigers of Grambling State University and the Aggies of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University.

Action will culminate on January 8th when someone hoists the BCS National Championship trophy in Atlanta.  The good news, is that Mark Richt is no longer the coach at Georgia.  So despite a playoff field consisting of mostly horrible choices, brave punters (that's a European soccer gambling reference) do still have at least one option (Bulldogs) that doesn't activate your gag reflex.

Don't miss out on this annual opportunity to prove to yourself once again just how little you really know about college football. 

Rules haven't changed, but I'll reiterate them here anyhow: 

Entry fee is $10 and there is no limit on the number of forms you can submit. 

Preferred payment method is two crisp five dollar bills. You can also PayPal me at: 

kjcarter@gmail.com 

or send me a check to: 

Kenon Carter 

5719 Alderbrook Dr.

Dublin, OH 43016 

Please try to have forms to me by Friday, December 15th at 6:00 PM EST. I will accept forms up until kickoff at 12:00 PM Eastern on the 16th, but prefer to have them a little in advance. 

Rules are as follows: 

Pick the outright winner of all 41 Bowl Games (no point spreads), including the BCS National Championship game. 

You will assign confidence points to each selection. Assign 42 points to the pick with which you are MOST confident. Assign 1 confidence point to the pick with which you are LEAST confident. 

The participant with the most points WINS! 

S/he who finishes last will win the Angie Guidi Lack of Achievement Award, which is really hard to do. I encourage you to submit a secondary form in an attempt to finish dead last. Harder than you think, tough guy. 

Payouts will be contingent upon the number of participants and announced on Saturday, December 16th.  

Last year's winners and payouts:

1st place - Mia LaCommare $500

2nd place - Chad Welty $210

3rd place - Lindsay Rice $140

4th place - Jason Jakubson $75

5th place - John Carter $50

Angie Guidi Lack of Achievement Award - Ed Jones