…but I told you so. In fact, that’s the award I’m giving myself this year, the I Told You So award. If you will recall, I said that Memphis’ woes from the foul line would eventually come back to haunt them. Sure enough, they did. Up 9 points with 2 minutes to play, Kansas began to foul, and Memphis missed 4 out of 5 free throws in that final 2 minutes. This opened the door for Mario Chalmers’ Most Important Shot Of The Tournament award, a crazy, quick-release, man-in-his-face three pointer to tie the game. Dorsey had fouled out. The momentum had shifted. Game over.
That being said, this is one of the best Finals we’ve seen in years. The fine folks at CBS told us the last overtime Final was 1997 with Lute Olsen’s amazing Arizona Wildcats who defeated three number one seeds on the way to an improbable championship. After two consecutive Gator blowouts, this game was a refreshing change of pace.
And even though our contest winner led wire to wire, this year’s contest was also one of the most interesting in years. Because of the historic Final Four of all four top seeds, we had more people with a stake in the Final Four games than ever before. Though I cannot prove it, it also seems to me that there was more movement in the standings in the last three games than we’ve seen in most contests.
And now, without further ado, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…drum roll, please….
The Final Contest Awards
The Fabulous Fifty award goes to the two contestants with the best win-loss record of 50 wins and 13 losses, Jason Glassley and Pat Beck. Winners will receive an autographed photo of Fitty Cent.
The Next Time, Flip A Coin award goes to Bob Hillman, who had the worst win-loss record of 16-47. In honor of his accomplishment, Bob will receive free tickets to the final Miami Heat home game.
The Best Change Of Alias award, sponsored by Jason Bourne, goes to Kory Wilcoxson – “Still Pickin’, No Longer Grinnin'”.
The I Hate This Stupid Scoring System award goes to Caleb Davis, who tied for third in terms of sheer wins at 47, but scored only 5 bonus points and finished in 93rd place.
The I Love This Awesome Scoring System award goes to Matthew Hand, whose win-loss record was barely above .500 at 33-30, but who scored 64 bonus points including a coveted Scategories bonus. Matthew finished with 126 points and 5th place.
The Well, Since You Said “Please” award goes to Trevis Litherland, who got his wish and wracked up 60 bonus points from this year’s upsets. This was good enough for 2nd place overall.
The Give ‘Em A Hand award goes to the Hand Family, who won this year’s Family Feud with an average score of 108.75. The Hand Family will receive a year’s supply of Hamburger Helper.
This award has to come with a disclaimer. Normally, I give the Jimmy Neutron Award For Childhood Genius to the top contestant in the 12 and under age group. Since this year’s “winner”, Mason Ables, is admittedly only 7 weeks old at the time of this writing, and since we know it’s absolutely impossible that he made his own picks, I’m giving this year’s award to the 7-year-old who finished one point lower, and whom I know made his own picks, Elliott Murray. Incidentally, Elliott had picked Memphis to go all the way, and had they done it, he would have absolutely finished in the top 5.
The Biggest Thing To Hit The Teen Scene Since Hannah Montana award goes to our top contestant in the 13-19 age group, Evan Gidley. Evan receives an autographed photo of Miley Cyrus, which I’m sure he’ll cherish forever.
The Hey, Didn’t You Already Win An Award? award goes to Jason Glassley for top score in the 20-29 age group.
The Be Nice To Geeks, You Might Work For One Some Day award goes NOT to Trevis Litherland, but to his Computer, for helping him win the 30-39 age group.
The Too Old Play, But Not Too Old To Win award goes to David Blankenship for winning the 40-49 age group. David will receive a year’s supply of Icy Hot.
Since I make it a policy to never give more than one award to the contest champion, the Aloha! award goes to this year’s winner of the March Madness 5-0 group (ages 50-59), Clark Rivers. Book him, Dan-O!
The With Age Comes Wisdom award goes to Pat Beck, this year’s winner of the 60 and over age group.
Pat also was the top woman in this year’s contest, so in the interest of giving out more awards, I’ll give this year’s Margaret Thatcher, Iron Lady award to Jen Burkhardt, who finished second amongst this year’s ladies.
The Rookie Of The Year award is difficult to choose this year, because the top rookies finished 1st and 4th, and have received or will receive their awards. So, I have decided to give this year’s award to Josh Tolliver, who finished 12th with an impressive 115 points.
Since the contest has grown to 444 people, I think every contestant who finished in the top 10 deserves an award. To that end, here are the awards for top-10 finishers who have not otherwise received an award already…
The Way To Make Jeff Look Foolish award goes to 7th place finisher Dave Barndt, whose pig Latin alias went right over my head. LIB. MR GR8 PICKS!
The Crazy Eight award goes to William “LittleWill” Sedam for his 8th place finish with 118 points.
The I Don’t Need No Steenkeeng Ree-Picks award goes to Jason “Mystery Gaidin” Ritchie, who didn’t re-pick a single game, and still finished 9th. He finished 9th with Duke and Texas in his Final Four, folks.
The Give My Regards To Bo Duke award goes to Paul Schnaitter (yes, I know the actor spelled it differently), who finished in 10th with a score of 116. Paul will receive a 1/16 model of the General Lee.
The Best Wife In The Contest award goes to my wife, Heather Little, of course, who finished in 85th, but without whose patience this contest would neverhappen. Love ya, hun. And speaking of my wife, ….
The I Lost To HER AGAIN??!!!! award goes to my good friend Brad “Chamomile Slim” Schafer, who complains every year about only one thing…losing to my wife. It’s become a near obsession, Brad, but look at the bright side. Your brother finished ahead of her this year. 🙂
The I’m Sorry I Didn’t Give You An Award award goes to the unsung, un-lauded masses who didn’t receive an award this year. Thank you for playing. Please try again next year.
And finally, this year’s Gold Medal Winner, the BMOC, the MVP, the Grand Poo-Bah Of Prognostication, the utterly dominant, wire-to-wire leader and undisputed Jeff Little’s March Madness Contest Champion is Robert “Smoke” Tipton. Robert’s victory is the result of a rather amazing turn of events.
After leading for the vast majority of the contest up to the Final Four, Robert appeared to be in big trouble. He had Texas as his national champion, and could only win one more game. What’s more, that one game he could win was Kansas over UNC, which was his only re-pick of the tournament.
So, here’s the scenario. He had a two point lead over Trevis with only five more points that he could possibly score for a Kansas win. Trevis had ALL FOUR Final Four teams correct. Guess who Trevis’ winners were. North Carolina and UCLA! So, Trevis loses both games, and finishes 7 behind Robert. Here’s the kicker. Trevis changed his pick FROM Memphis TO UCLA!!!!! Had he stuck with Memphis, he would have scored 7 for the original pick win, and would have been tied going in to the final game. Alas, since Robert held both tie breakers, it wouldn’t have mattered. Trevis still would have needed a North Carolina win, or a Memphis championship to win the contest.
You see, the contest was just as exciting as the championship game. You just needed me to tell you about it.
With that, it is time to sadly say goodbye until next year. I appreciate so much all the kind emails that many of you sent along the way. The contest has truly become a labor of love, and I appreciate all the new friendships and invitations to “stop by if you’re ever in my part of the country”. I pledge to hold on to those invitations and look you up should my travels indeed take me where you are.
May God richly bless you all.
Jeff, Exhausted Contest Manager