haysie wins it! Having already split first place in the original survivor pool after Wild-Card Weekend, haysie caps off possibly the biggest single winning season in MyOfficePool.ca history (no, I didn’t check to confirm that) taking first place in the NFL Playoffs Pool.

So how did this happen? Well, I assume all of you watched the big game, Super Bowl XLIV, even those of us long out of contention in the pool (cough, Chargers, cough). Underdog or not, the Saints prevailed, and won by a surprising margin of 14 points in the process.

Not that the game was in the bag from the get-go. They were down 10 early before starting to turn things around. The Saints inexpicably kept Peyton Manning at bay, mainly off the field, for about 75 minutes real time from the second quarter over halftime and into the third. The big play was the surprise onside kick to open the second half. That was huge.

Give credit to the Saints defense, they played possum in the first half and didn’t show their stuff – the wrinkles they had planned – until the second. Excellent defensive teams the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets each went after Manning early in their playoff games. He figured it out and then picked them apart.

The Saints by changing things up in the second half instead picked Manning. It was a game changing interception returned for a TD that turned a seven point lead for the Saints into 14. The Colts had another chance to bring it within seven, but couldn’t convert and the Saints ran out the clock.

My expectations were certainly up hoping for an offensive shootout like we’ve never seen before in the Super Bowl, but it didn’t happen. The game was a bit of a downer on the excitement scale, but I have to remember we’ve been a bit spoiled from the prior two Super Bowl nail biters between the Steelers-Cards, and Giants-Patriots.

Okay, back to the pool. We’ve established haysie in first place. Emma takes second. Man, did that lack of TD by the Colts at the end make a difference. Had the Colts punched that in, fadeleyp would have scored an extra four points, Emma would have had an extra one, and they would have tied for second and third place.

Instead, debbieblows, Cowboys homer and all who earned a lot of points through the first two rounds, holds on to a share of third place with fadeleyp.

mean1001 and rydel were just a point behind to tie for fifth place. Rick, our resident baseball expert, had a surprisingly strong showing landing in seventh.

jsimpson suffered the most from the Colts blowing it. He stayed at 43 points and finished in eighth but would have otherwise likely claimed the top spot.

Congrats to our winners, and thanks everyone for playing! That concludes another pool season on the football front.

Next up, I’ll have to see about another Hockey Survivor Pool, but we are running out of weeks in the NHL season. If you are really pining for some hockey action, the deadline is fast approaching but check out buddy Dwayne Schrader’s Olympic Hockey Box Pool. You can find it on Facebook right here.

52 entries. $988 on the line. The biggest game of the year.

That’s right folks, it all comes down to this – the Super Bowl! Not only does it pit two teams known for their killer offenses, but it will decide in a big way the top 3 finishers in our annual NFL Playoffs Pool.

Before we get to what could happen, let’s recap what happened so far. With her curious but appropriate (so I’m told) choice of username, debbieblows continues to hold down top spot in the pool. She couldn’t hit on both picks from Championship Conference week, having already picked the – Homer alert! – Dallas Cowboys to advance through the NFC and win the Super Bowl. So, great job db, but even with a 5 point advantage over the current number two spot, she is going to drop out of the top spot after the final whistle this Sunday.

Now, one would think he’s won enough, having already split the Football Survivor Pool, but haysie is in the thick of things in this pool currently sitting in second place. He’s got 43 points and picked the underdog New Orleans Saints by 3.

Tied with haysie, but not for long, jsimpson picked the Indianapolis Colts by 9.

Down in fourth place we have a three-way tie, but again, only one will be moving up in the world. mroliversson hit all four back on Wild-Card Weekend, and in fact every game except those stupid San Diego Chargers! He had them all the way to win the big game, so he’s stuck at 41 points.

Sitting along side mroliversson but each liking their chances, good buddy Emma picked the Saints by 2 and msweezy has the Colts by 3.

Trailing this bunch, we have a lot of other Saints backers, and Colts backers. Lets see if I can figure out how this is going to play out. Note it is 10 points for picking the Super Bowl winner, and 0, 1, 3 or 5 points for margin of victory.

If the Colts Win

Before we get into bonus points for the margin of victory, jsimpson jumps to 53, msweezy to 51 and mmhast to 50.

If the Colts win big, jsimpson looks safe for at minimum a first place tie, but watch out for Cacciatorini, who would have 49 points plus potential bonus for picking the Colts to win by 13. msweezy and mmhast both picked the Colts by 3, so they are hoping for a close one.

uhh0hh and recent 2nd Half Survivor Pool winner, cneilson, also picked the Colts by 3 while markymark2281 picked the Colts by 4. I’m not double checking my math here, but it doesn’t look like any of these guys can catch the top dogs.

If the Saints Win

Totally different ball game here. Before margin of victory, haysie has 53, Emma has 51 and fadeleyp and rydel each have 47.

fadeleyp picked the Saints by 7, while rydel says they win by 3. Margin of victory could break that tie. Don’t forget debbieblows already has 48, so a zero margin of victory for each of them would still leave her in third place.

I don’t think mean1001 or Rick, each a little further down and picks on the Saints by 7, can quite catch up. Even with a perfect 7 point spread they couldn’t overtake fadeleyp, plus haysie and Emma will get some bonus points. I think fadeleyp could catch Emma by a point with a 7 spread.

Man, my head hurts. Can we just get to the game? Who won the Pro Bowl by the way? I missed it for a trip to IKEA, so you can guess how much importance I put on the Pro Bowl.

Looking for some odd sidebets to include in your Super Bowl degenerate gambling habit? Check out Tony Ricciardi’s Off the Air podcast with guests Chris Prospero and myself talking about the big game. We all picked the Colts to win, so that is a good sign for you “Who Dat” supporters.

Finally some less interesting but important news in case you missed the last blog post or the note on the home page. If you are trying to login to the website your password is likely not working. Check here for details and how to solve it.

Go Colts! I promised John I would back the Colts after they knocked off the stupid Jets who beat my stupid Chargers. It may not be much of a reason to support them, but its a reason. Enjoy the game!