2008 Summer Olympic Challenge Welcome

When someone mentions an athlete with a long streak of dominant performances, do you instinctively counter with Edwin Moses? Did you shiver at the sound made when Greg Louganis decided to peel open his head on the 3m springboard? Did you wonder if someone’s car caught fire thanks to that Robin Hood guy in Barcelona? Do you effortlessly use the words: coxswain, Greco-roman, and pommel horse in casual conversation? When you are out on the street, are you always on the lookout for crazy defrocked Irish priests? Are you openly wondering if Tanith Belbin is on the beach volleyball team? Did you take 1 look at Ben Johnson’s bulging yellow eyeballs and say “no freaking way he’s clean?” Are you proud that in Atlanta, the USA created the first sperm-based mascot, Whatizit? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then this is the pool for you. Welcome to the 2008 Summer Olympics Challenge!

This is the 4^th installment of the challenge, with each one more closely contested than the last. Although Vegas is already installing Lisa McDynasty as the 3-1 favorite. The rules will be no more complicated than filing your taxes, and it will cost much less!

Attached is an entry form where you must pick 1 country in each of 5 groups. The one exception is group A, where you can choose either 1 super-sized or 2 medium-sized countries. Points are awarded to your countries according to medals won: 5 points for gold, 3 for silver, and 1 for bronze. There are 10 prestige events which will count double – they are listed in a separate tab on the entry form.

In addition to picking your countries, you must pick one Olympic event where you “guarantee” a gold medal from one of your countries. If you are right, you get 15 bonus points. Please be specific in your event selection (and no, “running” or “jumping” is not specific enough. “men’s swimming 200 meter butterfly” would be much better…).

For the tiebreaker, please guess the time (to the hundredth of a second) of the gold medal winner in the men’s 100 meter dash. (In 2004, it was 9.85).

The entry fee is only $5 US or CAN payable to your local Poolmaster representative. Note I will be at the Ukari Figgs/Brokeback Alex wedding on Aug 9 so some of you can pay me then! Feel free to submit multiple entries and to share this with all of your friends and enemies.

Please consult the poolmaster website (http://www.poolmasterblog.blogspot.com/) for all standings updates, quirky comments, and egregiously photoshopped slander photos you could ask for in an Olympics pool.

Links:

Poolmaster Website

NBC Olympics

Wikipedia Olympics

SI Olympics

Good luck!

Poolmaster

On Tapas the World

It must be soccer when the referees get medals, the winners wear their country flag as a skirt, and a 1-0 match can be described as an exciting lively attacking affair. But for those of you who watched, you know that it was lively. Germany had their chances (including an uncalled handball in the penalty area), the semifinal hero Lahm became the goat ... (est devenu le mouton) ... as he let Torres beat him to the ball. But Spain were the clear and worthy champions.

The same can be said for Lisa McElfhatsarethenewbling, as her dominating performance was well deserved. Her Turkey pick alone was a damning indictment of the sheer lack of imagination the rest of us have in our picking strategy. While we toil away trying to grind out a few points taking Germany and Italy and ho hum Portugal, Lisa was cashing in on Turkey, Russia, and Croatia.

The final standings are:

rank	player		points
1	lisa mcwingandaprayer		153.3
2	full monte		118.4
3	halfpoint		108.9
4	ukari figgs		99.9
5	joan benoit		91.1
6	dental hygenius		90.8
7	poolmaster		89.8
8	mimi		86.7
9	sissy sara		85.1
10	doctor norway		79.9
11	sneakey peakey		69.8
12	flippy flyer		47.3
13	brokeback alex		46.5
14	quarterpoint		32.4

Full Monte makes a nice late charge with his Spain investment, but even his 25 chips of Spain were not worth their weight in silver...

Congrats also to Quarterpoint, who begins life with a last place pool finish. Nowhere to go but up, little one!

Thanks to everyone for playing! Don't forget to pay your local Poolmaster representative.

Bye bye for now, but we will see you in exactly 2 months in Beijing for the Poolmaster Summer Olympic Challenge and Creepy Burning Cartoon Fiesta!