Week 17: Results & Buh-Bye For Now

This is it, my friends. This is the end.

Its the end of Matty's Fifth Semi-Annual Football Pool(poop!). But before we say good bye until next fall, there's some unfinished business in the form of, well, everything actually.

First, the small potatoes: Week 17. This was a pretty tough week for me, so I was surprised to run every one's picks and see so many do so well. Of course when you look at my final ranking you will get some clue as to how off my opinion on the difficulty of a week really is.  But I digress.

Week 17 didn't have a Monday night game, which was fine because we ended up not needing one anyway. Karl Vaillancourt destroyed the field in the day games, taking a two game lead into the Sunday night match up and then, appropriately, slacking off.  Didn't matter, as Mr. Vaillancourt, with 13 wins, is our big wiener for this week.  Congrats, Karl.  You win a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni looking mouse poop from under my sink!  Drop it in a bowl and you won't be able to tell the difference, provided you don't, you know, eat it.

Here are the final standings for Week 17:

1. Karl Vaillancourt ... 13-3
2. Dave Labowitz ... 12-4
2. Gedeon Mariam ... 12-4
2. Josh Money ... 12-4
5. Alex Mena ... 11-5
5. Bill Denton ... 11-5
5. Robin Wood ... 11-5
8. Zack Klein ... 10-6
8. Sandy Kory ... 10-6
8. Matthew Mariam ... 10-6
11. Jon Stover ... 9-7
12. George Smith ... 8-8
12. John Weaver ... 8-8
14. Matthew Kory ... 7-9
15. Joey Bansen ... 6-10

Now to the big news.  My brother Sandy went into the final week with a huge massive huge gigantically huge three game lead over second placers Bill Denton and Dave Labowitz.  Could Sandy hold on, or would he choke under the pressure or, more likely, would he simply pass out in a puddle of his own stool and forget to send in his picks?  Sadly, neither of those happened, or if they did, they didn't affect him sending in his picks.  He wasn't the best this week, but he was just good enough.  Sandy held on by the skin of his skinny teeth to take the first overall prize by a single game.  Congratulations, Sandy!  Drinks on you at the annual Matty's Pool Bar-B-Q, which not coincidentally we're having at your house.  I mentioned that before, right?

Dave Labowitz continued his strong run to the top of the Pool(poop!) and had there been 18 weeks in the NFL season he may have made it.  Unfortunately for him, there aren't 18 weeks, there are 17, so even though he picked up two games on Sandy, he fell just short.  Happily for him though, through his strong performance in Week 17, he was able to shake Bill Denton off his ass, much like a sticky turd, and claim second place for himself.  Congratulations, Dave!

In fact, Bill not only lost second place, but got tied for third by a resurgent Josh Money, who managed to jump over Robin Wood and George Smith to claim a stake in the third place prize.  Of course, people who finish 13th (me) shouldn't make fun of those who tie for third (Bill) so I'll just say a hearty congratulations to Bill and Josh!

Robin's surge to the top, much like Dave's, just ran out of time. Happens to the best of us, Robin.  For example, if the Pool(poop!) had been one hundred and seventy eight weeks long, I guarantee I'd have won it.  Takes me some time to get into the swing of things, ya know?  Karl Vaillancourt's winning effort in Week 17 propelled him into a tie for fifth with the aforementioned Robin, one game out of the money. 

Here's the Final Overall Standings (FOS), with more notes on money and other stuff following:

1. Sandy Kory ... 161-95
2. Dave Labowitz ... 160-96
3. Bill Denton ... 159-97
3. Josh Money ... 159-97
5. Karl Vaillancourt ... 158-98
5. Robin Wood ... 158-98
7. George Smith ... 155-101
7. Matthew Mariam ... 155-101
9. Alex Mena ... 154-102
9. Jon Stover ... 154-102
11. John Weaver ... 153-103
11. Zack Klein ... 153-103
13. Matthew Kory ... 152-104
14. Gedeon Mariam ... 151-105
15. Joey Bansen ... 146-110

So that's how MFSAFP(p!) finished up.  Sandy in first, Dave in second, Bill and Josh tied for third.  For the record, Sandy's 161 wins places him in third place among Matty's Pool(poop!) Overall Winners behind 2007 Dave Labowitz (171 wins) and 2009 Dave Labowitz (179), but ahead of 2006 winner, Josh Shih (158). 

The money will be broken down as follows:

The First Place Prize of $335 goes to SANDY KORY.  (You also win your name capitalized, bolded, and underlined!)


The Second Place Prize of $225 goes to Dave Labowitz. (You also win your name bolded and underlined!)


The Third Place Prize of $125 gets split evenly between Bill Denton and Josh Money ($62.50 a piece).  (You both also win your names bolded!)

Congratulations to the big yearly wieners.  Here's the final money list (a list of all monies won this year including Week 17 and the final prizes) in order of who has won the most:

1. Sandy Kory ... $510
2. Dave Labowitz ... $260
3. Josh Money ... $167.50
4. Karl Vaillancourt. .. $140
4. George Smith ... $140
4. Matthew Mariam ... $140
4. Jon Stover ... $140
8. Bill Denton ... $132.50
9. John Weaver ... $70
9. Alex Mena ... $70
9. Joey Bansen ... $70
12. Robin Wood ... $35
13. Matthew Kory ... $0
13. Zack Klein ... $0
13. Gedeon Mariam ... $0

On a personal note, thanks everyone for putting up with me and playing along.  Its a joy to put this together and I hope you've got some fun out of it as well.  As always, if you have any questions/suggestions/compliments/criticisms, please shoot me an email.  I'd love to hear from you.  I hope you'll all consider signing up for Matty's Sixth Semi-Annual Football Pool(poop!)! next season.  I'll be emailing you late next summer.  Until then, have a great 2011. 
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