Your Picks

Week 1 Wrapup

Before I get into the picks for last week, let me tell you that this page is my favorite page on the whole Sandro Extravaganza website. I love reading y'all's picks and comments. You guys come up with selections I would never have thought of (see below: number 24 picks), and your comments are great. The more you write, the better. There's a reason I didn't set a limit on how much you can type in that comments box. Keep it coming, superfans!

Daytona 500, Race No. 1

I only have three words for the Daytona 500: What a race. Actually, I have a lot more than three words. Here they come.

NASCAR's biggest race was a classic this year. Although my favorites all got knocked out long before the checkered flag fell, you couldn't ask for a more tense finish. The vomit-inducing Dale Earnhardt fought it out with the sleep-inducing Jeff Gordon, and rainbow boy won the race. I never even thought about picking him to do well. Not very smart on my part, seeing as how he's won at this track in 1997 and 1998 (Daytona 500 in 1997 and Pepsi 400 in 1998). I felt good about my picks, but the Labonte brothers garnered nothing but trouble. Too bad Bobby's engine went bad, else he would have cleared the field. Terry had a little problem known as "wreckus maximus," characterized by the violent removal of the front half of one's car.

Our Pickers' Picks
Sean "Frenchy" F. did a great job picking last week's top five. Sean went with the 31 Lowes driver (Mike Skinner) as his surprise pick, and that pick served him well. Sean's picks matched mine almost exactly, except he picked a certain man from California to win it all, and that man did just that. Sean is our points winner for the first week and our current leader at 65 points. Nice work, Sean.

Sean also made a prediction that was eerily on target:

"Look for the Roush cars of Martin and Burton to be there right at the end but I predict they'll just get shuffled out of line at the end of the race."

Martin and Burton were both eliminated in Dale Jarrett's automotive interpretation of a square dance at lap 140, but a pair of Roush cars driven by Rusty Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield did exactly what Sean predicted. Several of us picked Mayfield in the top 5 only to see him (and Rusty) squeezed back like a rabbit in a python.

I came in second with 45 points. My pick of Earnhardt held true, and my surprise choice of Mike Skinner (same as Frenchy's) was on target. That 15-point bonus for picking Skinner really helped me out. Chris G. was third thanks to his pick of number 24 to win.

Several people went with Tony Stewart as their surprise pick, and let me say that pick took a lot of class. It was a good pick -- the Home Depot Pontiac was a rocket for the first 40 laps, but then engine trouble, apparently the same affliction borne by teammate B. Labonte, knocked him out of the race.

Of the 9 people who played this week, 4 people picked Terry Labonte; 6 picked Bobby; 4 picked Gordon; 4 picked Earnhardt. Why the high picks for Bobby Labonte? He is considered one of the greats of restrictor-plate racing. There's three more such races this year, two at the Taledega track and one more at this Daytona track, and you'd be a fool not to put Texas Thunder number 18 in your top five. That's a little tip from me and Ned Jarrett.

Let's get to some more comments. This week's winner for best comments is Nathan "My other car is a Land Speeder" S. He gets 5 bonus points for the following words:

"You bet your ass there are some comments. Martin is gonna be breaking hearts this Valentine's Day as he beats Gordon by at least two seconds. It's gonna look like Chewbacca vs. a Tuskan Raider out there. Lanky, ugly, and just plain mean. (I hope you don't deduct points for sentence fragments.) I like Burton as my surprise. He finished pretty strong last year, and he drives a cool car."

First of all, anyone who manages to get the word "ass" into car racing deserves credit. I love the part about Martin breaking hearts. But my favorite part is his reason for picking Burton as his surprise: he drives a cool car. Enough said.

So Nathan likes cool cars. What does Neil W. think about when he makes picks?

"I'm all about picking winners and making comments on something about which I have no knowledge. I picked all my winners based upon how funny their name sounds: John Andretti, ha! Thanks for taking the time to put this webpage together."

Very nice, Neil. There are indeed some great names in NASCAR. Andretti did get a first place, but it was for first driver to have to go behind the wall. Don't worry -- you get a bonus 5 points for ingratiating yourself to me.

I'm not going to recount all of this week's comments right here, but there's some good stuff in those comments that y'all should read (example: Charlotte Motor Speedway to be renamed for retail giant? Say it isn't so!). I've made a page containing each player's picks and comments, so check it out to see what your friends said. When you make your picks for the next week's explosive race, feel free to respond to comments made by other pool members. You can, of course, continue to expound upon that week's race and upon my greatness.

Don't forget that you get 10 points just for playing. The totals below include all bonus points.

Here's the points breakdown for week 1:

1) Sean F.		65 points
2) Sandro V.		45 points
3) Chris G.		40 points (nice work from the rookie)
4) Nathan S.		35 points (that 5 for comments really helps, no?)
5) Neil W.		25 points (nothin' wrong with 5 for kissing up, eh?)
6) Sharon H.		20 points (picking drivers from her home state of IN works well)
7) Guy V.		10 points (keep playing)
7) Mom V.		10 points (better luck next week)
7) Tom V.		10 points (am I related to you three?)

I'll post the current week's points on this wrap-up page, but I'll have a cumulative points page to show how many points each player has accumulated thus far in the season. Remember that you get points just for submitting picks, so take the two minutes necessary to name some names and say some says to qualify for the week's big show.

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