Bowl Pool - After New Mexico Bowl

We are 2 games into the Bowl Pool and the good news is that everyone is on the board.  No one is without a win so far.  That might not be that big of a surprise given that 53/54 of people went one way in a game, but it's always a little sad when someone manages not to win any games for a stretch.

Without any further ado, here are the updated standings after 2 games:

1. Brent E. #1: 72 (0)

2. CBS Hinnen: 58 (0)

3. Andrew D.: 57 (0)

4. Mark N. #1: 56 (0)

5. CBS Fornelli: 55 (0)

6. Brent E. #2: 53 (0)

7. Ally H.: 51 (0)

8. Becky H.: 49 (0)

9. Hutch H. #1: 46 (0)

10. Ray R.: 45 (0)

11. Ryan G.: 42 (0)

12. Pete J. #1: 39 (0)

12. Hal R. #2: 39 (0)

12. Pete J. #2: 39 (0)

12. Dave M.: 39 (0)

12. Jim W.: 39 (0)

12. Hal R. #3: 39 (0)

18. Carl B.: 38 (0)

19. Damien R. #2: 37 (0)

19. Michelle L. #1: 37 (0)

21. Hutch H. #2: 37 (-1)

22. Kevin W.: 37 (-2)

23. Chad L.: 37 (-10)

24. Mark N. #2: 37 (-15)

25. Brent S. #1: 36 (0)

26. Hal R. #1: 36 (-3)

27. Adam E.: 36 (-5)

28. Sarah G.: 36 (-6)

29. Brent S. #2: 36 (-8)

30. Mandi A.: 36 (-10)

31. Marc R.: 36 (-11)

32. Presley J.: 36 (-17)

33. Matt N.: 34 (-5)

34. Mike W.: 34 (-22)

35. Klei R.: 33 (0)

35. Mike S.: 33 (0)

37. Lance L.: 32 (-5)

38. Daniel D.: 30 (-8)

39. Ben W.: 29 (0)

40. Dustin B.: 29 (-7)

41. Tim N.: 29 (-16)

42. Scott H. #2: 28 (0)

43. Amos W.: 25 (-16)

44. Brad R.: 25 (-24)

45. Michelle L. #2: 24 (0)

46. Damien R. #1: 23 (0)

47. Dylan B.: 23 (-7)

48. Sally R.: 21 (-18)

49. Scott H. #1: 20 (-19)

50. Andrew O.: 16 (0)

51. Chad C.: 10 (-1)

51. Jay H. #2: 10 (-1)

53. Jay H. #1: 3 (0)

54. Ryan W.: 1 (-4)

It was a pretty precipitous fall for my Mom (6th to 48th).  You take big chances, and these types of things happen.  The nice thing is that there is still time to recover.

Speaking of which, we are about to kick off the most important bowl game, at least of today, and maybe of the entire bowl game.  The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, featuring my alma mater, the Western Michigan Broncos.  I am always confused about the name of this bowl game.  Is Idaho famous, or the potatoes, or the bowl game?  It seems presumptuous whichever noun it is modifying.  If it's the potatoes, does that imply that there are some other, less-famous Idaho potatoes that need to be differentiated from those that are sponsoring this bowl?  I find it as confusing as the blue turf that they play on, or the fact that they play a bowl game in Boise, Idaho in December.  Aren't these things supposed to be destinations for fans and alumni?  I'm alumni, and I'd never even consider going to Idaho to see WMU play.

Enough of my nonsense.  Vegas has this as WMU -1.5, so it could be a tight one.  In our little pool, there were 29 people who took WMU (12.24 points average) and 25 who took Air Force (14.88 points average).   The mean pick Air Force for .31 points, while the median was Western Michigan for 1.5 points.  The 727 total points up for grabs on this game, make it the 33rd place game in terms of points wagered.

Here are the distributions:

For Western Michigan:

Klei R.: 38

Brad R.: 35

Ally H.: 31

Amos W.: 22

Becky H.: 22

Brent E. #1: 20

Brent E. #2: 20

Mike W.: 19

Mandi A.: 16

Mark N. #2: 16

Sally R.: 14

Dave M.: 12

Andrew O.: 8

Pete J. #1: 8

Pete J. #2: 8

Scott H. #2: 8

Chad L.: 7

Michelle L. #2: 7

Michelle L. #1: 6

Chad C.: 5

Dustin B.: 5

Jay H. #2: 5

Kevin W.: 5

Ryan G.: 5

Sarah G.: 5

Lance L.: 4

Hutch H. #2: 2

Dylan B.: 1

Scott H. #1: 1

For Air Force:

Ray R.: 35

Andrew D.: 34

Ryan W.: 33

Damien R. #1: 29

CBS Hinnen: 25

Jim W.: 18

Matt N.: 18

Brent S. #1: 16

Hal R. #1: 16

Hal R. #2: 16

Hal R. #3: 16

Ben W.: 15

Damien R. #2: 15

Daniel D.: 15

CBS Fornelli: 13

Hutch H. #1: 10

Mike S.: 10

Brent S. #2: 9

Marc R.: 8

Tim N.: 5

Carl B.: 4

Jay H. #1: 4

Mark N. #1: 3

Presley J.: 3

Adam E.: 2

I see that my Dad and Ally have decided to join me in picking the Broncos.  That's good company to be in, if you asked me.  Go Broncos!!!!!