Rowe Bowl
2011
Just as expected. It was a field goal snooze fest. First shut out in a BCS game. Have fun Aggies. Congratulations to Jeb Buddecke. There were five players tied for first going into the final game and they all picked LSU. Of the group one point behind the leaders, Jeb was the only one to pick Alabama. He also picked the lowest scoring game (36 points) of everyone who had 23 games correct which game him the top prize. Bill Boyd and Chris Funai came in second and third thanks to tiebreaker picks of 37 and 38 points. There was also a tie at the other end of the spectrum. Three contestants finished with only 9 correct picks. Bruce Nadall ignored all the talk around the SEC's defense and had a tiebreaker of 52 points. This was good enough to "win" the tiebreaker and finish in last place (300th) beating out Robert Johnson and JT Maddox.
In the Rowe section of the Rowe Bowl, there were actually some decent finishers. There were three Rowes who got 21 games correct which was the most in a number of years. Based on the tiebreaker, Mom took her second high Rowe title narrowly beating out Becky and Randi (who was low Rowe last year - nice turnaround). Speaking of Aggies, Aggie Ben Rowe took his second low Rowe honor. It was the highest score by a low Rowe matching the other time Ben took low Rowe.
2010
I was going to wait until the Longhorn bowl game before I sent out my final results and kept waiting - and waiting - and waiting. Finally gave up. They must have canceled the game or something. The championship game was a good game but didn't impact the standings like it could have. There were three entries tied for first going into the championship game with one picking Auburn and two picking Oregon. The game was a push so it came down to the tiebreaker. Scott Finger picked the lowest scoring game of the three with 67 points and therefore took the top prize. Scott needed a Nevada win in the game before the championship game to force the tie as the other top contestants all had Boston College. Following in the tiebreaker for second and third were Marla Quick and Melanie Spradling. Even with the extra games this year, the high score record of 24 points wasn't broken.
The bottom of the standings looked like a north Texas Class A football homecoming game. The bottom four entries had connections to Petrolia, Electra, Archer City, and I think Scotland. Ross Harrison may have been second team RB in the Lone Star Conference South Division in 2005 but he doesn't know much about Division I football. He missed the last four bowl games and that let him beat Ashton Hayers (Chris) and Randi Rowe for last place. Ross finished with 10 points while Ashton and Randi had 11 points. If it's any consolation, Ross did tie for the best score of a last place contestant. Not really much of a consolation.
Since I mentioned a Rowe already, you know that Randi took low Rowe honors. It was a close race there as well as Randi just defeated her husband Zach by one point (maybe they cheated on each others picks). This is the first low Rowe for Randi who took high Rowe in 2008. My wife, Rebecca, was hoping to repeat as high Rowe but was defeated by one point by my dad. This was quite the upset as my dad isn't very good at gambling (almost as bad as my mom). In fact, Dad too not only low Rowe honors in 1996 but was last place in the whole contest. It took a while but you have redeemed yourself (somewhat).
Tried something new this year with the new website. I know it was difficult for folks and it cost me on entries. The good part is that now all standings and updates are real time and you don't have to wait on me.
2009
I usually send out a recap immediately after the championship game but I can't get over the fact we were running the option when Colt got hurt. The option! Seriously, how many yards have we picked up all year from that play? Regardless, something good did come from the Alabama win. It kept me out of last place (which would have been a first). Instead, I finished in 327th. Josh Neff and Garrod Huebner tied with 8 points but Garrod won(?) the tie-breaker to take last place (329th place). Impressively, this is the third last place finish for Garrod who came in 154th in 2003 and 428th in 2007. That is hard to do. On the other end of the spectrum (the good end), there was a four way tie for first with JP Letendre, Scott Hill, Hal Cromwell, and Brad Powell all with 22 points. The Gilbert fumble and following TD decided the final order with JP taking first place.
I kept the Rowe honors in the house this year. As previously discussed, I stunk it up and no other Rowe did worse. On the other side of the standings, I'm afraid my wife took high Rowe honors. This is Becky's first time to be high Rowe after being low Rowe two other times. My low Rowe honor was my third. It was a very tough bowl season.
2008
Will Russell caught Jerry Buster on the championship game but thought it would be high scoring. Jerry missed the tiebreaker by 30 points but it was still closer than Will. They were the only two at 23 points and it made Jerry Buster the 2008 Rowe Bowl champion. 23 points tied the second highest point total. Five contestants finished one point back with Brett Holland, Chris Malone, and Heath Hindman taking third through fifth respectively. Alone at the bottom of the standings was Trey O'Neil with 10 points. 10 points is actually the highest score ever for a last place contestant so some solace can be taken for that feat. Seven contestants finished one point higher.
High Rowe honors went to newcomer Randi Rowe with 18 points. I guess that Tech pick didn't hurt her too bad. Of course, she also took Ohio St. Nephew Kolby takes low Rowe honors for the first time with 11 points. Kolby was high Rowe in 2006. I guess the Class A playoff run hurt his research time.
Thanks everyone for participating.
2007
It came down to a tiebreaker this year as Ty Howard and Mark Kane both finished with 23 points. Ty picked a high scoring championship game and that gave him the first place finish. Chris Hope finished tied for third with seven other contestants but got closest to the tiebreaker score to take the third place prize.
There were no repeat winners at the top of the standings but we did have a repeat winner at the bottom. Garrod Huebner scored 9 points (along with John Slating and Tom Scott) but the tiebreaker (by one point) earned him 428th place (otherwise known as last). 9 points ties the most scored by a last place contestant so maybe there is some consolation. The reason there isn't any consolation is that Garrod has done this before. Garrod came in last place in 2003 setting an all-time low in points and pick percentage. We all appreciate his entry fee.
Nephew Landon tied the Rowe record for most points and took high Rowe honors. Poker player extraordinaire, nephew Ben, won high Rowe honors in 1999 but took the low Rowe honors this year. He did have the most points and highest pick percentage of any low Rowe winner. I guess that means we're getting better as a family but I don't think Vegas should be worried yet.
Thanks everyone for participating. I hope 2008 is a good one.
2006
This
is about the third time I’ve tried to update my website with some sort of
interruption stopping me. The last was the blackout from the Great Ice Storm of
2007.
I
know. It’s taken me forever to provide a wrap-up. That’s what happens when
you finish in 333rd place. No typo there. Only one entry scored less
points than my 9 but he did it in a big way. Kevin Cashman has the second lowest
pick percentage in contest history (Garrod Huebner carries that distinction -
2003). That 22% pick percentage was good for 7 points and last place by two
whole points – not even a tiebreaker needed.
My
awful finished ensured that I took low Rowe honors for the second time the last
four years. Only my wife has taken low Rowe honors more often. High honors went
to nephew Kolby who scored 21 points and came in 6th overall.
That’s the best Rowe finish in a number of years.
Main honors go to William LaFayette who came in 1st place pretty easily. He finished with a two point lead over 2nd (Janet Bates) and 3rd (Brian Barron). William finished with 24 points and a 75% pick percentage.
2005
Congratulations to Chris McMahan who easily won this year's Rowe Bowl. I only had pick percentages back to 1999 and this was the first time anyone exceeded 80% (82%). You should have been in Vegas. Chris turned in three picks and it looks like he went with the opposites on one of them. His other two entries finished 66th and 309th (out of 317 entries). Speaking of 317 entries, number 317 in the standings was Adam Young. His winning percentage was 29%. Bad but not the worst ever. In second was Paul Rohlfs (20 wins), three wins less than Chris (23). There were five entries with 19 wins and Todd Hughes predicted the highest scoring Rose Bowl and winning the tiebreaker. Yours truly finished with 16 wins one less than brother David who took the high Rowe honors. Low Rowe was won by nephew Zach with 12 wins. He is a football player for Midwestern State so he's probably been spending too much time studying and not watching much football.
2004
2003
2002
2001
Please look over you picks and make sure I didn't make any mistakes.
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996