Quote of the Day     “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”     –Ricky Bobby, Talladega Nights

TB did not want to be the winner of the inaugural season of Thursday Pickin, the best pickin game on the worldwide web (TM). Each week, when I tied with somebody, I bumped them ahead of me. I started givin bonus points away with reckless abandon. It didn’t matter. I had the pickin year of my life. Larry actually had a better record than me on Picks of the Week, but he was horrible in his bonus choices. Pitalo may have beaten me if he hadn’t missed the first three weeks. And MD had a good run on POTW’s but was subpar on bonus picks, missed a week and brazenly ignored the musical portion of the game. Nobody else was even close, really. See for yourself:

Final Season Standings, Thursday Pickin, Year One

1. Travellinbaen POTW 9-5, Bonus 43-25
2. Fig E  7-7; 27-26
3. RMac 8-5
4. RockStarRambler    7-7
5. Feidt’s Follies  5-6-1; 35-23
6. Ed  7-5-1
7. Pitalo  7-4; 27-20
8. Larry  9-4; 18-31
9. Stone  7-6; 12-14
10. Sweet  5-6-2; 18-35
11. Supercynic 7-5; 21-27
12. Zeek  5-6; 16-31
13. Maddawg 8-4-1; 9-15
14. OB 6-5; 22-29
15. JLM 3-7-1; 42-27
16. Smily 6-4; 21-16
17. TKH 1-9; 28-22 (wow)
18. BR 4-7; 10-18
19. Greeg 3-5; 15-10
20. Face 4-5; 9-13

Inside the numbers:

The TB community’s overall record was 118-112 on POTW’s and 373-382. If we decide to use our picks in Vegas we need to dump Sweet and Zeek at the curb on bonus picks and ignore TKH’s POTW’s.

Ten of twenty had winning records on POTW’s and eight of seventeen were above .500 on bonuses.

The girls went 18-19-1 on POTW’s vs the guys 100-93.

Direct descendants of Waldo went 8-11-2 and 33-45.

Non-Mississippians went 27-32 and 112-100, dispelling the myth that our best and brightest leave the state.

Now the Awards:

Best Overall Playlist–Larry edges out Fig. Both of these players can program TB’s Ipod anytime, but I can listen to Larry’s tunes allllllll night long.

The Thinkin Man’s Top Playlist–RSR; from the popular to the sublime and all over the spectrum, each week the tunes were put together with a purpose. Adding to the TB library in an attempt to improve my cool quotient.

Best Posts–Ed; everybody doesn’t get his humor, but he had TB rollin all year.

Livin Vicariously Award–Feidt’s Follies

Keepin the Blog Alive Award–Zeek and JLM, who post good comments on a range of topics. As I’ve said before, this page is a lot more fun when you add your two cents.

Terrorist Thread Hijacker Award–MD

I’m sure he had a good reason to quit in week XII award–OB and BR, both lefty pitchers. Coincidence?

Thanks for savin us all from havin to read about Third Week anymore award–MD; Ed and Stone I thought y’all were gonna step up on this one.

Beavis and Butthead Award–Smily

Miss you most award–RMac

Most Posts edited or deleted award–Sweet; Zeek had an early lead, but embraced the PG 17 nature of the site after a few weeks. I can always tell when Sweet’s drinkin.

Blank Stare Award–Smily

Pitalo Award–Pitalo; the only poster on this game I haven’t met. Hope you hang around during the off season.

All Blog Songs of the Year

• Brother Love’s Travellin Salvation Show–Neil Diamond
• Travellin Blues–Lefty Frizzell
• Travelin Man–Widespread Panic 
• Travelin Light–Robert Earl Keen
• Hard Travelin–Woodie Guthrie (cover linked here)

Liar’s Award–TB–I really wanted to crush you all.