2012 Awards

Congratulations to our 2012 NFL Quint Pool Champion -- Brandon Utt

Brandon started the season 0-4, taking Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Green Bay, and the Giants, all in losing efforts. After his first win in week 5 (Chicago), he lost again, putting him at 1-5 and in danger of dropping well out of playoff range by the midpoint of the season. From there, he reeled off ten straight wins, five of them underdogs, to finish the regular season in third place behind the regular season champ Sal Cardinale and runner-up Jim Travis.

In the playoffs, it was essentially the divisional round that won the money for him, as he picked three out of the four games correctly, matched only by the aforementioned Sal and Sean Maniar. He was then only one of five people to take San Francisco to win the NFC, putting him in first place heading into the Super Bowl. And because nobody picked Baltimore to get to the Super Bowl, let alone win the whole thing, the standings didn't budge after that strange game last night. Had SF pulled off the comeback, Craig Grimm would have taken the trophy, since he was the only one to take SF to win it all.

The Hall of Champions:

2012 - Brandon Utt

2011 - Jeff Esteves

2010 - Sam Assad

2009 - Jason Sperinck

2008 - Jason Sperinck

2007 - Colin McCall

2006 - Janet Bejarano

2005 - Kyle Grimm

Congrats also to Mickey Maguire and Natalie Bejarano for taking 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.

The Money Winners:

Playoff Champs:

1st- Brandon Utt (13 points) - $850

2nd- Mickey Maguire (12 points)* - $230

3rd- Natalie Bejarano (12 points)* - $20

*Mickey held the regular season tiebreaker over Natalie

Regular Season Champ:

Salvatore Cardinale - $100

The Non-Money Awards (and more):

Regular Season MVP: Salvatore Cardinale - Like I say every year, this award doesn't necessarily have to go to the Regular Season Champ, but Sal pulled off something that had never been done in the eight-year history of the Quint Pool. He held that #1 spot all the way from week 1 through to week 17 without ever relinquishing it.

Comeback Player of the Year: Rachel Wescoe - Last year, she finished in 52nd place after winning only one of her final 10 games. This year, she finished with an 11-6 record and ended up in 12th place.

Falloff of the Year: Anthony Madonna - Anthony went into week 13 with a six-game winning streak, two of them underdog wins, and was well into the orange. He needed just an average finish to the season to make the playoffs. From there, he lost his final five games, two of them heavy favorites (getting a -4 and a -3.75 in consecutive weeks), and ended up in 30th place by the end of the season.

The Just Fell Short Award: Jason Dolan - This one normally goes to the player who finished just outside of the playoffs, which was Lisa McCall, but an exception will have to be made this year. Jason was originally in the orange at the end of the season, but when I went through and audited everyone's picks, it turned out he chose St. Louis twice, which had to be retroactively changed, giving him not enough points to compete in the playoff tournament. Making matters worse for him, he lives in the Baltimore area and would have picked the Ravens to win it, and would have likely been the 2012 champion. Always thoroughly check your picks each week, folks.

"E" for Effort Award: Mike Bell - This award goes to the lowest ranked participant who kept making picks every week. Mike made fairly conservative picks each week, usually going with 2-3 point favorites or slight underdogs, but luck wasn't on his side, as he ended up going 6-10 on the season.

"F" for Barely Any Effort Award: Stefanie Lachenauer - This award goes to the participant who missed the most weeks. Stefanie forgot to make her pick five times, but to her credit she didn't give up on the season, as most of her misses came in the middle of the season. She picked it up toward the end and even got a late-season win.

Best Faction: The Maguires - Mickey finished in 2nd place, Jamie was in the mix for the title right up until the conference championship games, and Kathy fell just six points short of making the playoffs. Sean and Jessie didn't fare as well, both falling to the bottom half of the standings.

Most Frequently Picked Teams:

1- Baltimore Ravens (51 times)

2- New York Giants (50 times)

3- Indianapolis Colts (46 times)

4- New Orleans Saints (45 times)

5- Minnesota Vikings (39 times)

Least Frequently Picked Teams:

1- Tennessee Titans (16 times)

2- San Francisco 49ers (19 times)

3- Miami Dolphins (20 times)

4- New England Patriots (23 times)

5- Dallas Cowboys (24 times)

Picked Against Most Often:

1- Philadelphia Eagles (71 times)*

2- Dallas Cowboys (47 times)

3- Seattle Seahawks (41 times)

4- Buffalo Bills (39 times)

5- San Diego Chargers (38 times)

5- Washington Redskins (38 times)

*A Picked Against record!

Picked Against Least Often:

1- New York Giants (13 times)

2- Indianapolis Colts (14 times)

3- Denver Broncos (16 times)

4- Green Bay Packers (18 times)

4- New Orleans Saints (18 times)