Springer's Final Thoughts

And so another season of the college football pool has come to an end. The question I have gotten most since midseason is, "Who is this Steve Wells guy?" Wells has now won the Classix at Oaklawn, the NCAA tournament pool, and the college football pool. I guess the karma is good when you pay to build a church in Honduras and also when you host a victory bash to watch the BCS Championship Game. Arkansas Lottery, look out. In a year as unpredictable as any, Wells turned in a stellar performance. But the 2006 winner and resident pool heel, Jeremy Peppas, would like me to point out that his pool record of 162 points and 77 wins still stands.

Congratulations to everyone who won this season, including the champs of the Davis Cup, Shields Cup, Verizon Cup, and all the other side bets within the standings. I'd also like to note Jeff Kendall and Chad Chambliss, who continue to finish high in the standings year after year but have yet to place, and Michael Hinchey, who finished fifth this season after having his big-money dreams sabotaged by Troy for the second year in a row.

Thanks to everyone for entering, and thanks to those who provided me with so much entertainment during the season –– Scott Faldon's Five Things, Doug Virden's haikus, Jeff Goebel for the most entertaining game analysis available anywhere, Will Johnson and Robyn Edwards for the e-mail designs, Oscar Davis's weekly explanation for his picks, John Kriz's Seminole Fact of the Week, Janis Morrow and Brad Heifner for the conference calls, and all those funny comments in the e-mails every week. Special shout out to Moose Thomas for the Big Daddy.

After 111 games, I hope you feel like you got your $10 worth even if you didn't come close to winning. The whole idea of this pool is to add another element to the college football experience to make it even better than it already is, so I hope the pool accomplished that for you even when the ACC4 of Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Boston College as well as teams such as Oregon and Notre Dame were making a winning Saturday so difficult.

So until next time, remember, it's all about The U. 'Nuff said.

The next five games with be out August 31.

2, 3, 4...