Rusty's Blog

I’m going to do NCAA Picks in some form this year, but I’m also going to do a separate little side game here for anyone interested in playing. Below I’ve projected each SEC team’s regular season win total, not including the SEC title game. Leave a comment calling over, under, or push for each team. Correct picks are worth one point, incorrect picks are worth nothing.

For a tiebreaker, pick the two teams which will appear in the SEC championship game AND predict a score. You can predict the same teams as other players, but you can’t predict the same score as anyone else who has picked before you.

I will buy the winner a beer if they live in town. No prize if you live out of town, sorry (unless I see you when you’re visiting Atlanta, in which case I will buy you a beer).

Alabama – 10

Arkansas – 8

Auburn – 5

Florida – 11

Georgia – 7

Kentucky – 6

LSU – 11

Ole Miss – 10

Mississippi State – 3

South Carolina – 8

Tennessee – 6

Vanderbilt – 7

If you’re curious how I came up with these numbers, I looked at all the schedules and made a chart:

Some of my predictions surprise me, but I have to go with my gut. Maybe there will be another post breaking down my chart, or maybe not. We’ll see.

Speaking of gambling, I realized today I never posted results from election day over/under. Here they are:

Congratulations to Ben, who was the only person to successfully peg the Jim Martin and Jim Marshall races, and is therefore our winner.

You can view the full results spreadsheet here.

Returns from Cobb County

While that was fun, even more fun is the Cobb County write-in results (warning, large PDF) are available!

In my quixotic quest to be elected Cobb County tax commissioner as a DeKalb resident, I appear to have garnered three write-in (type-in?) votes.

For this job, I gained more votes than:

• Al Sharpton (2)
• All Idiots (1)
• Anyyone More Capable (1)
• B (2)
• Baracck Obama (1)
• Batman (2)
• Bart Simpson (1)
• Bob Barker (1)
• Boy George (1)
• Bozo Clown (1)
• B-Real (1)
• Bullwinkle (1)
• Cher (1)
• Chipper Jones (1)
• Clark Howard (1)
• D Duck (2)
• David Letterman (1)
• Dog (2)
• Drew Brees (1)
• Dude McRude (1)
• Elmer Fudd (1)
• Elvis (1)
• Fairtax Fairtax (1)
• Frank Zappa (1)
• Gen Robert E Lee (1)
• George Jetson (1)
• Herman Cain (1)
• Homer Simpson (1)
• Hunter S Thompson (1)
• I Do Not Know (1)
• I Vote Against This Person (1)
• I Want a Choice (1)
• Illegal Alien (1)
• Ima Notgonna (1)
• Jackie (1)
• Jay-Z (1)
• Jesus Christ (2)
• Joe the Plumber (2)
• John Lewis (2)
• Johnny Depp (1)
• Judge Dredd (1)
• Julius Caeser (1)
• Keith Richards (1)
• Ken (1)
• L Ron Hubbard (1)
• Libertarian (2)
• Lou Dobbs (1)
• Ludacris (1)
• Max Cleland (1)
• Michael Jordan (1)
• Mick Jagger (1)
• Minnie Mouse (2)
• Ms Piggy (1)
• Muffin (1)
• My Dog (1)
• Neal Boortz (2)
• Neither (1)
• No More Evil Nazis (1)
• No Republican (1)
• No Taxes (1)
• None I Pay Too Much Already (1)
• Not Inerested (1)
• Not Sure (2)
• Obi Wan Kenobi (1)
• Oprah (2)
• Opt Out (1)
• Paris Hilton (2)
• Paul Johnson (1)
• Pedro (1)
• Pink Panther (1)
• Pluto (1)
• Present (1)
• Prince (2)
• Rad (1)
• Republican (1)
• Right One (1)
• Rocky (1)
• Roy Barnes (1)
• RRHHFDD (1)
• Samuel L Jackson (1)
• Santa Claus (1)
• Sarah Palin (2)
• Snuffalufagus (1)
• Solomon (1)
• Spiderman (1)
• Sponge Bob (1)
• T Boone Pickens (1)
• Tax Man (1)
• The Hell With IRS ;] (1)
• Tinker Bell (1)
• Ty Cobb (1)
• Utah (1)
• Vincent Fort (1)
• Warren Buffett (1)
• Woodrow Wilson (1)
• Your Mom (1)
• Zombie Reagan (1)

Take that L. Ron Hubbard! I tied “Democrate” and Jimmy Carter, who also earned three votes each. God beat me by one vote.

I think this sets us up nicely for 2012, or whenever the next election is.

Update 12/9/2008 4:01 p.m.: Thanks for the link love from Fresh Loaf, Drifting Through The Grift, and Decatur Metro!

Prize to be determined later, but will probably involve alcohol. If you think a number is too low, take the over. If you think a number is too high, take the under. If you think it’s exactly right, say push.

• 298 electoral college votes for Barack Obama
• 53 percent of the popular vote for Barack Obama
• 57 U.S. Senate seats for Democrats
• 51 percent of the vote for Jim Marshall in Georgia’s 8th District
• 45 percent of the vote for Jim Martin in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race

So, for example, if you think Obama will win more than 298 electoral votes, take the over.

You can enter your predictions in the comments like this:
over, under, over, under, push

And if you live in Cobb County, remember to vote Rusty Tanton for tax commissioner! This is how I will run staff meetings.

Update 11:14 a.m. I’ve added a tiebreaker: name the exact minute Twitter first goes down tonight. You can’t pick the same minute as anyone else.

Also, FYI for people who pick “push” on percentages, we’ll round up decimal places five or higher (i.e. 52.3 percent counts as 52 percent, 52.6 percent counts as 53 percent).