About the worst thing anyone can do when trying to win the current version of TQBR Prediction Game is to be someone who had won an earlier version of TQBR Prediction Game. Something about being inducted into the Hall of Champions makes just about everyone go on a miserable prediction streak or flat stop playing. Over the past weekend, though, two champs of yesteryear revived some of their glory days… but is a new champ emerging?
Paul Kelly took the lead all by his lonesome by predicting a Daniel Ponce De Leon knockout of Antonio Escalante. But Miggs 88, a Hall of Champions inductee, also predicted a De Leon KO and is a mere 100 points behind him. And another inductee, Pretty Toney, had the most accurate call of the week by predicting De Leon would score the knockout in the 7th round, the closest to the actual KO round, the 3rd. So while we celebrate Paul Kelly’s new leaderboard status, it’s too early to celebrate him or anyone else as a future champion, as five fights remain. As such, we celebrate old champions this day (Would anyone have picked Carmen Basilio, with the way he fought, to live to be 83? Oh, wait, now that I think about it, it totally makes sense) with the idea that the next champion’s day will come.
Most of the rest of us were bamboozled in at least one way. The Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora draw robbed everyone of points, a bitter pill for those of us who thought Mosley deserved the win and probably for some of you who thought Mora did. Meanwhile, 20 of us picked Escalante to 13 people picking De Leon (including Beard of Zeus aka Eugene Dammrod, who broke a five-fight skid). It now feels like my dumbest pick of 2010. I usually can imagine how my picks might lose, but I simply didn’t imagine the kind of demolition job De Leon did on Escalante.
The problem for those of us who aren’t doing so hot is that, yes, we still have a chance at this thing, but we might have to sit with our shame for a long time. I don’t see anything prediction-worthy until Nov. 6, unless there’s a sudden grassroots groundswell for a prediction on Oct. 15 for Lucian Bute-Jesse Brinkley and/or Oct. 16 for Vitali Klitscko-Shannon Briggs. Let me know what you think, people.
Until then, here are your standings. As usual, if you see any tabulation errors, notify me and we’ll adjudicate:
STANDINGS
Paul Kelly: 3000
Miggs 88: 2900
the legend: 2450
stickfigure: 2350
JB: 2300
Team Tommy Westphal’s Mind (willfrank): 2300
Pale Fire (Apemantus): 2200
cardscott5: 2200
Team Ivan Drago (edub): 1800
Unifythebelts: 1750
Arthur Billette: 1750
Da Weasel: (FunkyBadger): 1700
Neon Leon’s Two Front Teeth (Andrew Harrison): 1700
The Road Warrior (Hit Dog): 1700
Team Count of Monte Fisto (cguenard): 1700
The Ghost With The Hammer In His Hand (Tim Starks): 1650
The Flying Kermits (cNcEDDIE): 1600
Sure Shot Sabotage (Dobbler): 1600
Not Sure (Jay Ari Yin): 1600
Trainwreck (nazarioz): 1600
Johnkzoo: 1550
Basque Country: 1550
Team Iron Psych (PJ): 1550
DukeShadeBlue: 1500
Team Death Shift (ALEXMAC): 1150
IrvinRyan: 1100
morelandj: 1050
Team Million Dollar Dream (Scott Kraus): 1050
Bigmaxy: 1050
ShortFuse (RoWyN): 1050
Pretty Toney: 1050
David Schraub: 1000
Quensburry Wench: 700
Violent Demise: 650
Duan: 650
JasonTO: 600
Beard of Zeus (Eugene Dammrod): 550
baron: 500
Sam Fong 500
Ingo’s Bingo (BenOlson): 0
Topanga (ScottB): 0
FightFreak: 0
team individuality: 0
Don Pe pe: 0
gavaniacono: 0
