Happy New Year’s Eve.
With the coming new year, comes the eventual Sabowl eliminations.  Going into today the following competitors have been Sabowled and will be suffering loser denial:
Jonathan
Emily
Danny
Jonathan
Christina
Michael
Jonathan
Stephen

Everyone else is still in the running although there will likely be some more eliminations today.

We are preparing for a great finish for this year’s championship.  Will Josh finish this epic collapse while seeking to be the first back to back champion?  Will Amateur Joe make history after coming back from a short retirement?  Will first timer Izabowla follow in her champion parents shoes and continue a championship legacy?  Will Jimmy or Jim sneak in and take the victory from all of them?  Still with a shot includes Rebecca, April, and Ellen.  Couple of notes: Jonathan is not on that list and has been eliminated. Also, Ellen wanted it to be mentioned that Michael was eliminated before she was.

There are many games today.  Is it possible that we will have a champion today?  We will see.

For those who are still in the hunt and for those who are now working to improve their career overall Sabowl record, here is some inspirational words.

Keep up with the spreadsheet and the Locker Room for updates.

Two Sabowlers have been eliminated that we know of.  I don’t feel like looking at everyone’s picks that much.  Seven or eight still have a legitimate chance and the rest have a glimmer of hope.

Since I am currently in the Anger Stage of Grief I think I should leave all Sabowl Analysis to you guys in the Locker Room.

Here are Today’s Games.

georgia vs. TCU

Favorite: georgia by 1.5

This is short video of some of my favorite highlights from Georgia’s season.

Stanford Vs. North Carolina

Fav. Stanford by 3.5

Tennessee Vs. Nebraska

Fav. Tennessee by 3.5

Air Force Vs. South Alabama

Fav. Air Force by 13.5

Michigan Vs. Florida State

Fav. Michigan by 7.5

It will be difficult to follow up post from yesterday.  Truly a Sabowl gem.  I will not try to force anything as you enjoy another day full of games.

Sabowl Analysis
Locker Room
After some resurgence with participation, the quantity of comments has been diminishing. Quality has been there I would say.  Remember that participation will result in better production in Sabowl competition. We still have not received the extensive post from Rebecca.  The report is that she is in the editing phase and may be ready very soon.

Standings
We are starting to see some separation.  There are still many people in legitimate contention. There is a massive number of Sabowlers in the middle of the pack.  Sabowl and Toilet Bowl Championships are well within their grasps. Josh has been steady and keeps his lead.  He has been a picture of consistency. This is usually followed by Sabowl heartbreak.  It will be great. The competitor formerly known as “The Amateur” has come on and does not seem to be going anywhere.  Newcomer, Izabowla, is in the arena.  And then there is Ellen. Everyone else is working to gain some ground which is quite possible at this point.  They will need to make their move soon.  Rumor is that Danny/Julian and Stephen are traveling to the campuses of opposing teams to the crumbs of iced cookies near locker rooms and practice facilities. Not sure what that will accomplish. We will see how that strategy works. You have to appreciate the effort.

Some of you may be doubting.  You may be at the point of giving up.  Hang in there.  Everyone goes through this.  You can overcome.  Take a look at some real life footage from the Rudy documentary.  Everyone knows that he went on to greatness in that one play against Georgia Tech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqVIsp-tQJA
Games today
We have some great games today with some teams that you may have heard of during the course of the season. Most had very little impact on the national scene. However, this is one of our favorite days for the Sabowl.   We call this “I am a man! I am 40! Day”.  Please see the video below.  What is significant about this day is that I can truly say that I am a man. That is because I am in fact 40.  Are you kidding me? Where are we at in society today? Makes me want to puke.

South Florida vs. South Carolina
Favorite: South Florida (10.5)
Picks

Virginia Tech vs. Arkansas
Favorite: VT (7.5)
Picks

Colorado vs. Oklahoma State
Favorite: Colorado (3.5)
Picks

Today we hit the halfway point in SABOWL XI! We’re 21 games in with 23 games to go and only 6 games separating first place from last place…this is anyone’s SABOWL! We have had a total of 80 Locker Room comments in the last 48 hours, the SABOWL is showing signs of life!

To spice things up a little more, I’m going to post some bold predictions of things that will take place during the rest of SABOWL XI…

Bold Predictions for the rest of SABOWL XI:
*Danny picked the favorite to win in 12 of the remaining games. In 8 of those games, the favored team will win but will not cover the spread, thus losing.
*The Amateur’s strong start will fade and he will finish in the middle of the pack as the SABOWL’s way of punishing a competitor for using a moniker.
*Ellen will get feisty in the Locker Room after repeated comments implying she can’t win a SABOWL. By feisty, I mean she will tell Michael to “Please, hush.”
*Georgia Tech will win their bowl game and cover the spread for an impressive and astounding second year in a row.
*Rebecca will post a novel length comment in the Locker Room and then go on a 5 game winning streak.
*Stephen will select the college he plans to attend and then change his mind after said college costs him an important SABOWL victory.
*Jonathan will continue to develop his conspiracy theory in unhealthy ways ultimately leading him to create a blog about the SABOWL faking its death and moving to a Caribbean island.
*The SABOWL will put a restraining order on Jimmy after he fills it with hot, delicious coffee on New Year’s Eve and proceeds to drink from it until its empty.
*The Kids SABOWL will come down to a nail biting conclusion during the National Championship game.
*Josh will become the first back-to-back SABOWL champion in SABOWL history, books will be written, a parade will be held, and secret meetings will take place to try to keep him out of SABOWL XII.

An Important Announcement…
KIDS SABOWL XI is live! Little Sabo’s with parental assistance fill out the selection form here before 11:30 AM on Friday.

Things to Watch and more Bold Predictions for Today’s Games…

Today’s picks:
Today’s games:
Pitt favored over Northwestern by 5.5
Pitt’s RB James Conner will run for over 250 yards in his last collegiate game. Derek Jeter will cause a delay in the game after insisting he take a few ground balls at short in preparation for his return to the Yankees in 2017 now that A-Rod is gone.

Miami favored over West Virginia by 3.5
Miami’s QB, Brad Kaaya, will pass for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns as Miami cruises to a victory. The story of this game will be the odd press conferences:
– Georgia Tech will announce at half-time that they are finally going to drop Russell Athletic and no longer be the only college team wearing Russell uniforms.
– After the game, in effort to brand himself Brad Kaaya will conclude each sentence about how awesome his performance was by yelling “Kaaya” and making karate chop motions.

Utah favored over Indiana by 8.5
Indiana’s QB, Richard Lagow, will throw 3 interceptions in the first half giving Utah a comfortable lead to ride throughout the second half. We have an advance preview of Lagow’s interaction with his coach after interception #3…

It’s a new day, almost a new year and it feels like the SABOWL is on its way to being great again…especially as long as I stay in the lead. We’ve got a great slate of games ahead of us today and truly a lot of competitors still in the mix to take SABOWL XI home!

Some of you are feeling a little dejected, you’re hovering around .500 and doubting your chances. I get it. You’re staring at the screen looking like this guy.

I had an original thought today based on a movie I saw 10 years ago and not related to a google search I did four months ago for inspirational quotes while writing a SABOWL X champion acceptance speech.  In Million Dollar Baby, Eddie Dupris says that “boxing is an unnatural act. Instead of running from the pain like a sane person would do…you step into it.” SABOWL after SABOWL the majority of us do just that, we step into the pain. Every SABOWL, almost all of us hit the point of no return and then deal with the fallout of our hopes and dreams crashing down. And yet, every next SABOWL we throw our picks back in the ring to try again. Why would we step back into the pain? Because its worth it. Plain and simple the joy that flows from the SABOWL is worth whatever pain we experience from its illusiveness.

Today, almost all of you are still in it. Step into the pain, step into the locker room and let’s continue making the SABOWL great. When you got a SABOWL, you got a responsibility, when the SABOWL is struggling you don’t cry about your picks and give up. You get your self in there and you make that  SABOWL great again.

Games and picks below if you’d like to keep track of how far you falling behind the reigning champion (who is performing incredibly well up to this point in the SABOWL). There is a 90% chance the below picks are accurate so use the SABOWL spreadsheet as your authoritative source.

Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl
North Texas favored over Army by 9.5
Army – Josh, Jimmy, April, Christina, Emily, Michael, Stephen, Izabella, The Amateur
North Texas – Jonathan, Danny/Julian, Rebecca, Ellen, Jim

Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman
Temple favored over Wake Forest by 13.5
Temple – Josh, Christina, Stephen, Jonathan, Danny/Julian, Rebecca, Izabella,
Wake Forest – Jimmy, April, Emily, Michael, Ellen,

National Funding Holiday Bowl
Washington State favored over Minnesota by 6.5
Washington State – everybody but Jonathan, Danny/Julian
Minnessota – Jonathan, Danny/Julian

Motel 6 Cactus Bowl
Boise State favored over Baylor by 8.5
Boise State – Josh, Michael, Danny/Julian, Rebecca, Ellen, The Amateur
Baylor – Jimmy, April, Christina, Emily, Stephen, Jonathan, Izabella, Jim

Congratulations on making it to this point of Sabowl XI.  It have been a good journey and we are looking forward to a great finish to the Sabowl season.  We have a good field ready to march towards a championship.  Everyone is still in contention (except Emily).  Toilet Bowl is making preparations on making a trip to the “Land of Lincoln.”

With the good news of this season, we need to address some serious concerns.  We need to be honest here.  What has happened to the Sabowl?  I am not sure when this decline started but I would like to draw you attention to last year.  The “Locker Room” was sub par to say the least.  We have not received an excessively long written post from Rebecca.  The Sabowl has not been in display of the champion’s home prominently.  We are off to another dismal start this season.  We have yet to hear from last season’s champion.  We have had little involvement in the “Locker Room”.  This is good…”WRONG!!!” What was once great, is no longer.

It is time to “Make Sabowl Great Again.”  It is up to us…the contestants, the competitors.  We need you in the “Locker Room.”  We need you ragging on each other.  We need you to laugh at Danny when he does his yearly “I quit. I’m done” speech.  We need you to start preparing Ellen for her eventual collapse from the top of the standings.  Seriously, we all know that will not last.  Has Georgia Tech lost their game yet Jonathan?  Christina has not been called out for being smug yet.  We have a newbie, “Izabowla”, who has not even been challenged.  What kind of adult can we expect her to be if we do not train her properly in this way.  If she ends up a dud, I am holding you all responsible.  Let’s go everyone, you can do this!  Am I missing something?  Has someone deleted 30,000 comments from the “Locker Room?”  This magnifies what the incredible event was built on.   This is still so much that I want to say so if I have not addressed you directly, I will work on that in the “Locker Room.”

We promise to post more regularly and keep the standing updated on a game by game basis.  If not, someone will be FIRED!  By the way, good job to the I-team for mentioning Russian hackers.  Sabowl.com has now been flagged and will be monitored. The Sabowl will have a hard time passing through security checks if it were to ever travel.  I am not too concerned about that.  I feel that one day the Sabowl will be running security in our nation.

Check the spreadsheet and standings throughout the games today.  I am not going to post the picks or the games because you are capable of doing that yourself.  Have a great Sabowl day.

We are almost a week into Sabowl Competition and here is what we can see so far:

• Ellen is off to her best start in the Sabowl (8-2) and a current 5 game win streak.
•  Josh is continuing his strong performance from Sabowl X.
• Seven Sabowlers are currently tied with 4-6 record.
• Only 10 comments have been made in the locker room.
• Danny has managed to pick every favorite that has won and Not covered the spread so far (There have been 3).

 Here is a brief preview of Today’s Games.

Today’s Games.

Popeyes Bahamas Bowl / ESPN 1:00 PM

Old Dominion (-3.5) Vs. Eastern Michigan

 Picks

Old Dominion – Josh, Michael, Stephen, Jonathan, Rebecca, Ellen, Izabella

Eastern Michigan – Jimmy, April, Emily, Danny/Julian, Jim

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl / ESPN 4:30 PM

Navy (-1.5) Vs. Louisiana Tech

 Picks

Navy – Jimmy, April, Christina, Emily, Jonathan, Ellen, Izabella, Jim

Louisiana Tech – Josh, Michael, Stephen, Danny/Julian, Rebecca

Dollar General Bowl/ ESPN 8:00 PM

Troy (-3.5) Vs. Ohio

 Picks

Troy – Jimmy, April, Michael, Stephen, Danny/Julian, Ellen

Ohio – Josh, Christina, Emily, Jonathan, Rebecca, Izabella, Jim

It’s that special time of year everyone! The SABOWL XI Selection Page is ready for you to enter all your hopes and dreams (and your social security number and major credit card information as well)!

SABOWL XI SELECTIONS

Merry SABOWL everyone!

Selections are due in by 11 AM EST Saturday, December 17th.

It’s taken 8 months for it to finally set in, I won SABOWL X!

5 games behind the leader with 6 unique picks left…that’s usually the time SABOWL syndrome takes over and you give up virtually all hope. SABOWL X proved that anything is possible. I could not be more honored to be a 2 time SABOWL champion, it ranks as one of the highest achievements of my life, even above winning the Woodmen of the World Award for Proficiency in American History in the 8th Grade.

I can’t wait to attempt to overcome all odds and become the first back-to-back SABOWL champion in SABOWL XI.

A word of encouragement for my fellow competitors. In Million Dollar Baby, Eddie Dupris says that “boxing is an unnatural act. Instead of running from the pain like a sane person would do…you step into it.” SABOWL after SABOWL the majority of us do just that, we step into the pain. Every SABOWL, almost all of us hit the point of no return and then deal with the fallout of our hopes and dreams crashing down. And yet, every next SABOWL we throw our picks back in the ring to try again. Why would we step back into the pain? Because its worth it. Plain and simple the joy that flows from the SABOWL is worth whatever pain we experience from its illusiveness.

We are a few short months away from another run at glory, let’s make SABOWL XI the best SABOWL in recent memory!