Bookie Pool Final Standings, 2005

Bill Willis Rides System to First Bookie Pool Title!

After 28 years, the system that won Bill Willis the Colorado Springs Gazette football pool finally paid off again. Riding a 6 game winning streak that set a pool record for winning percentage, Bill finished with $11,425 and his first ever Bookie Pool title, outearning 2nd place Kale Glimore who finished with $10,160. It is expected that Bill's quarter century system will win him his next bookie pool title at the age of 71, and at age 70 he'll be the pool's biggest contributor again! Meanwhile, Brad Augustine failed in his bid to win his first title, and is probably poking pins in NFL ref voodoo dolls as we speak. Here's the Final Standings and Career Statistics.

In an big surprise, Nan Batchelor won the Tie-breaker pool. She was overlooked in the Super Bowl chart since she was in fourth place in this category heading into the Super Bowl. But she turned in her pick too late, so was stuck with the default of 25 points - this turned out to be near perfect given the low score of the Super Bowl, and it enabled her to win the TB pool by 3 points.

Don Sniffin won the low-ball pool for the second year in a row, and his fourth overall! I'm not sure if this should be a Hall of Fame record, or Hall of Lame record. I have decided it belongs in the Hall of Lame.

Following are the Final Season prize winners:

   Play money, 1st, $300.00  Bill Willis
               2nd, $200.00  Kale Gilmore
               3rd, $100.00  Al Buddy
               4th,  $50.00  Dino DeSantis
   Winning %,  1st,  $50.00  Bill Willis
               2nd,  $35.00  Al Buddy
               3rd,  $25.00  Dino DeSantis
               4th,  $15.00  Peter Odonnell
   Winning streak,   $35.00  Larry Williams
   Tie-breaker pool, $35.00  Nan Batchelor
   Best +6 winning %,$25.00  Mike Comstock
   Losing streak,    $25.00  Dick Cooley
   Low-ball pool,    $25.00  Don Sniffin

Bill Willis set several Hall of Fame records. He broke Fred Williams' season winning percentage record set in 1996 (.688 to .682), and Williams' record for most weeks with a net gain set in 1996 (16 to 15). Al Buddy moved past Larry Williams for most play money won in a career ($28,510). Larry Williams retook the career percentage mark (.530) over Chip Connolly (.525).

A new Hall of Lame record was added for most finishes in last place, which goes to Don Sniffin with 4. In somewhat of a surprise, Larry Williams is now the worst tie-breaker picker, barely surpassing TB Tatum.

Now for the Larry Wales Honorary Chair award that goes to the pool's biggest real money contributor that you all have been waiting for! Now that BIll has shook this monkey off his back, our new esteemed contributor is none other than Dick Cooley! You can be in our pool anytime Dick! Let's have a round of applause to our biggest contributor! (click here).

Bonehead Pick of the Week: Brad Augustine, Tie-breaker 63.

Check out the new photo archive for shots since 1996...

Note from Commissioner: Here's the credit list showing how much you have coming, and how much you will owe next year. As in past years, if you have under $63 in winnings, I'm going to assume you want it credited toward next year. If you have over $63, I'm going to subtract the $63 fee for next year and send you the balance. If you have a balance owed you, please either send me your address, or if you want me to email you the money via PayPal, send me your email address. The commissioner's preferred method for both receiving and sending payments is Paypal.

As in past years, I will wait about a week before sending payments, in case any errors are found in the Final Standings.

Next year I am considering adding 4 new members. We've had quite a few on the waiting list for some time, and I don't think adding 4 more will be too much trouble for me. If we go with 4 new members, I propose we add a 5th place payout, and bump the top four payouts to the following: 1st-$400, 2nd-$250, 3rd-$150, 4th-$75, 5th-$25. The pool would still payout slightly more than it takes in (I assume the interest I get covers the remainder).

Thanks everyone, and we'll see you next year!