Arrowhead Addict 2011 Put Up Or Shut Up Prediction Results
Every August (or early September) the staff members and readers here at Arrowhead Addict go on the record for our annual “Put Up Or Shut Up” season predictions.
We predict each division winner, the wildcard teams, AFC and NFC champs, Super Bowl Champs and the major awards including MVP, Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Super Bowl MVP.
Each correct prediction earns the contestant one point and a correct prediction of the Super Bowl Champion is worth two points. This year, not a single staff member or reader predicted the New York Giants would win it all.
Last year’s winner was AA Senior Contributor Merlin.
This year, I am proud to announce that for the second straight year, Merlin is the Put Up Or Shut Up Prediction Champion.
I will pause for applause and general Merlin gloating.
Merlin once again kicked the living crap out of the rest of us. The standings and point totals are below. These are out of a possible total of 23 points.
Champion:
Merlin (10 points)
Runner Up: (tie)
Big Matt and Nick Clayton (8 points)
Please note that Big Matt could have done better had he not incorrectly predicted Thomas Jones to win Offensive Player of the Year.
Bronze Medal:
Andrew “Crock Pot” Crocker (7 points)
The Rest:
Lyle Graverson (6 points)
Double D (5 points)
Patrick Allen (5 points)
Jeremy Hanson (5 points)
Randy Murawski (5 points)
Victor Wishna (4 points)
Ladner Morse (4 points)
And finally…
The Big Matt Award for Prediction Futility:*
Nick Rogers (2 points)
*The Big Matt Award for Prediction Futility goes to the staff member or members that finish dead last in the yearly prediction standings. In 2010, Big Matt turned in such a poor entry that he accumulated only 1 point. As such, this award was named in his honor.
Congratulations to Merlin on his predictions domination. He will receive a fruit cake and a 5% raise. The bad news for Merlin is that 5% of 0 is 0.
Reader Standings
This year we had six readers submit full prediction entries. Our reader winner actually tied Merlin with 10 points. Impressive.
Congratulations to reader Talicore on being crowned this year’s Champion! Well done!
Champion:
Talicore (10 points)
Runner Up:
Pickle (7 points)
Bronze: (3-way tie)
Chief Hokie, Michael Travis, Michael Shaw (6 points)*
*This proves our readers are way smarter than we are.
The Jung Gunz Award for Prediction Futility*
Justin R Groth (4 points)
*The Jung Guns Award for Prediction Futility is named for the first reader ever banned from AA, Jung Gunz. Jung Gunz was prone to random and often disturbing rants in the comments section. He preferred to use profanity whenever possible and also seemed to enjoy insulting others, often for no apparent reason. When AA switched to the Livefyre commenting system, Jung Gunz came back and begged to be allowed to stay. He lasted about a month before another outburst sent him packing.
While Jung Gunz never made any predictions, we decided that if he did, they would be futile. This is our way of honoring him for the good times. This way, though he’s gone, he’ll never be forgotten.
Congratulations to Merlin and Talicore. You now have bragging rights for the rest of the year. I challenge the staff to step it up next year and dethrone Merlin. He is clearly using some sort of dark magic to look into the future. Should he win a third year in a row, it may destroy us all.