And the winner is....

Jingjing takes it! With an Olympic Record 474 Superpower Points, Emma IS the winner of the Olympic Supergreat Fun Pool Time.

The Olympic Pool rookie, John, turned in a great pillar-to-post performance to take the Silver Medal ahead of the only other researcher, Scott, this quadrannual pool's Bronze Medallist.

You three will be taking home the big bucks. Your cheques for the full winning amounts (minus administration fees) will be sent as soon as you've submitted Prize Claim Application Forms W-3 and W-4, presented your cases to the SGFPT Prize Claimation Committee and awaited the necessary 90-day appeal period.

The two fabulous McDonald's Mascot Mugs will be delivered to the Official Honorable Mention Award Near-Winner, Meggy M. Congrats on being just good enough to not win anything of any real value.

Jubiliant cheers go out to Laura and Nicole as well for correctly guessing the number of SCANDALS! We extinguished the flame with a total of 9 global embarrassments. Three fewer than that achieved on my first real date in high school.

As for the rest of you (us), I suggest that you take a few moments to post polite messages of congratulations to the winners while contemplating why you didn't take the time to actually figure out who might win some of the damn events. I don't think you were given a single Taikwando contender...I mean, c'mon. Are you all that rich that you don't even want to try to win? Did you think you were going to get a charitable donation receipt? (You are not)

Now, on to our Biggest Loser (TM, thanks NBC). Izzy, you really sucked eggs, didn't you? Although it was great to see you pick up a point for Dong Dong's trampoline bronze, it seems that your strategy to pick the athlete with the greatest name and not the greatest training regime (or narcotic supplier) failed to meet the minimum Olympic qualifying standard.

As made clear in the rules and regulations, the last place finisher of this pool will be required to sport (pun intended) a henna tattoo, as selected by the other contenders, in a public place of the body for no less than one week.

Non-loser competitors: please post your suggestions, with doodles if possible, on the blog at your earliest convenience.

Thanks to all of you for donating copious amounts of time and Olympic Spirit. We'll see you in Vancouver, re-incarnated as an Inukshuk in just 20 months or so!

With great respect,

Huanhuan

The Final Tally:

Emma, 474
John, 432
Scott, 414
Megan M., 382
Laura, 377 (includes 10 SPPs for SCANDAL! Guess)
Grant, 368
Lisa, 359
Laurie, 359
Shelli, 326
Jennifer, 319
Megan W., 301
Luke, 300
Mark, 299
Nicole, 296 (includes 10 SPPs for SCANDAL! Guess)
The Bell Family, 292
Colin, 276
Alli, 262
Craig, 232
Izzy, 146

SCANDAL! Ruling - Final Day

Moosemoose thinks this may be the final scandal, however, the day is not yet over and surely something scandalous will occur during the closing ceremonies?!

So, this kick in the face... Moosemoose hopes that by 2012, we will see judges wearing face masks and carrying mace to protect themselves from such vicious attacks. Being disqualified from the Olympics for over-sitting your time-out is a pretty crappy way to go but seriously, dude, buy a stopwatch or something!

Official ruling: SCANDAL!

Scandalous Kick!

Oh my, check out this kick to the referree's face.

MooseMoose, this is SCANDALOUS with a capital "S", No?

http://www.nbcolympics.com/taekwondo/news/newsid=251304.html#kicked+out+cuban+banned+outburst

Day 14 - Emma hits the IV-century Mark

Emma has crossed the 400 point mark for the first time in her pooling history making her the greatest pooling Olympian in history, according to some. Her sister, Izzy, on the other hand continues to struggle leading this reporter to wonder how she ever met the A standard to qualify for this competition.

It looks like the three medals have been all but spoken for, but the battle for the honorable mention position, and two remarkably heavy McDonalds glasses, rages on late in the games. Megan has been outclassing the best-of-the-rest field consistently over the past few days, but Laura, Grant and Lisa remain nipping at her heals with many medals still to come.

Day 14 Standings:

Emma, 401
John, 376
Scott, 349
Megan M., 326
Grant, 315
Laura, 314
Lisa, 306
Laurie, 297
Shelli, 275
Jennifer, 274
Mark, 264
The Bell Family, 264
Megan W., 260
Luke, 259
Nicole, 242
Colin, 236
Alli, 233
Craig, 195
Izzy, 124

Day 13 Results

The field continues to spread out and it looks like the fiercest battle will be for fourth place (which comes with at least TWO Mcdonalds Olympic Glasses, perhaps more if we are able to find stores that still have them in stock). Grant and Laura has been tight for a few days now, with Meg keeping a small lead in the battle for Miss Congeniality. Day 14 update will be posted as soon as possible!

Emma, 368
John, 349
Scott, 329
Megan M., 303
Grant, 293
Laura, 291
Lisa, 281
Laurie, 273
Shelli, 253
Mark, 253
The Bell Family, 245
Jennifer, 243
Luke, 242
Megan W., 232
Nicole, 223
Alli, 221
Colin, 221
Craig, 181
Izzy, 116

SCANDAL! Rulings

Two important items to review:

(1) Submitted by Craig: http://olympics.thestar.com/2008/article/481950. Basically, a Canadian taekwondo competitor suspects that the judges purposely failed to score her as they should have, causing her to lose her match. One of the judges happens to be Chinese and the Canadian contingent feels that this judge may have influenced the match scoring to help set up a Chinese competitor in the next round. Moosemoose thinks, however, that it would be difficult for one judge to convince the other 3 to go along with such a dastardly plan (unless they were threatened with reeducation - see below). This is just one of those sports where the human judge factor leaves the results open to conspiracy theories.

Official ruling: No scandal

(2) Blingbling's article about protesters being sent to work camp (see post below). This is sketch, sketch, SKETCHY! Did you see how adorable those two grannies are?? After committing to allow peaceful demonstrations, this one is just plain wrong.

Official ruling: SCANDAL!

Chinese Refusal to allow protests =SCANDAL!

This is scandalous at its utmost. Not only are these two elderly women threatened with "reeducation" in a labor camp, but everyone who has applied for a permit to protest in the "approved" Olympic protest zones has yet to receive an answer from the government. A weak attempt by the Chinese government to appear "fair"....

"Elderly women face 'reeducation' for protest bid"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26305623/

Day 12 Results

Well, John is really starting to pull away from Scott now. Can he keep up this pace? Is he hydrated enough?? Who knows! For enquiring minds, Emma, John and Scott have ALL lost their shot at the SCANDAL! bonus points (all three guessed under the current tally).

By the way, good old Dong Dong from Korea really came through with a bronze on the trampoline for Nicole, Izzy and anyone else who made their picks based on funniest name.

Oh, and speaking of everyone's favorite underdog, it appears that we have lost our first pool competitor to injury!! Izzy has been struck down with a case of kidney stones and has submitted a request for 10 extra Superpower points due to this unforeseen hardship. Perhaps the stones blocked her ability to make reasonable pool picks at the outset?? Should she get a handicap for this handicap??

Emma, 334
John, 318
Scott, 303
Megan M., 278
Grant, 267
Laura, 267
Lisa, 249
Laurie, 245
Shelli, 233
Mark, 232
Luke, 226
The Bell Family, 225
Jennifer, 222
Megan W., 210
Alli, 209
Nicole, 206
Colin, 198
Craig, 159
Izzy, 111

Day 11 Results

After Day 11...Day 12 coming in a minute.


Emma, 318
John, 298
Scott, 291
Megan M., 263
Grant, 258
Laura, 255
Laurie, 234
Lisa, 233
Shelli, 226
The Bell Family, 219
Mark, 218
Luke, 215
Jennifer, 213
Megan W., 202
Alli, 202
Nicole, 202
Colin, 190
Craig, 156
Izzy, 111

Major SCANDAL! Updates

Ok, Moosemoose has been asleep on the job (literally asleep all weekend) and the SCANDAL! inquests have been piling up. She's back in business today and totally alert, as you can see here.

(1) Two potential doping scandals were submitted by Shelli for consideration on Friday (http://www.sunherald.com/olympics/story/749847.html). A North Korean shooter and Vietnamese gymnast both tested positive for banned substances. The shooter is (a) not only doping in SHOOTING, of all things, but (b) was the bronze medallist in the 10m Air Pistol AND silver medallist in 50m. He has therefore been stripped of his medals. The gymnast managed to finish in last place despite her doped-upped-ness so Moosemoose thinks that perhaps she should have avoided the discount-store drugs and shelled out for the good stuff.

Official Ruling: Shooter = SCANDAL! Gymnast = No scandal.

(Note: Craig picks up a HUGE point for the updated bronze in 50m - score adjusted below)

(2) Jen's fake children used in the opening ceremonies story (story below): though Moosemoose imagines that it can be difficult to find representatives from each of the ethnic groups in a country of 1.3 BILLION and everyone knows that Han children have the best stage presence, Moosemoose feels that there are a few kids from other ethnic groups on summer vacation who would have been more than willing to participate.

Official Ruling: SCANDAL!

(4) Blingbling's gymanastic brouhaha: Moosemoose has been keeping an eye on this whole gymanstics age saga. More documents are being uncovered to show that Chinese gymnasts who were officially 12 last month are now officially 16. Perhaps the Chinese can prove that they have developed an age-acceleration cream (and fulfill the wishes of pre-teens everywhere who just can't wait to grow some boobs), but for now, this one still smells mighty fishy.

Official Ruling: SCANDAL!

(5) Blingbling's vault tie article: sorry, just not juicy enough (Liukin doesn't even seem that concerned!)

Official Ruling: No scandal.

Gymnastic Judging SCANDAL?!?

Not only is the judging SCANDALOUS!, the gymnast who won the gold is not even 16!
http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/news/newsid=231153.html#liukin+loses+tiebreaker+wins+silver+bars

Day 10 Results...185 down, 117 to go!

Team Canada has jumped 40 places in the overall medal count in the past 3 days. It seems likely that they will soon catch Team USA who has not increased its position since early in the competition.

True to form, The Bell Family has slipped suddenly falling from 8th to 13th overnight. Welcome back to the dumpster, Bells.

If anyone is curious to know what they hell Craig and Izzy were thinking when making their picks, feel free to email me. I'll happily forward the Master copy of the scoring sheets to any for sneak-peaking and auditing.

After 10 Days of Competition:

Emma, 293
John, 279
Scott, 273
Megan M., 247
Grant, 240
Laura, 234
Laurie, 216
Lisa, 215
Shelli, 203
Luke, 201
Jennifer, 198
Mark, 198
The Bell Family, 197
Megan W., 190
Alli, 189
Colin, 185
Nicole, 183
Craig, 137
Izzy, 104

New scandal?

How about this one: I just read a report that the children that participated in the opening Olympic ceremonies to represent the 56 "ethnic minorities" in China were FAKE! No... they weren't little persons... but these imposters were children from the larger Han population.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijm2i9qyr5mG6icgCv0gBqnpwx0g

Scandal!

Day 9 Results - Emma Storms Back!

The Pool Queen was in fine form today bruising rival John with an flurry of medals to finish the day 14 points ahead. Scott, too, fought well on Sunday to climb within a point of the Silver Medal position.

Of note lately has been the remarkable performance of the Bell Family, perennial bed-crappers, who have somehow placed themselves in the top half of the pool less than a week after sharing the basement suite with Izzy. While this rise if fortunes is sure to be temporary, it is nice to see a bit of light shining on that dog's ass.

Day 9 Results:

Emma, 262
John, 248
Scott, 247
Megan M., 215
Grant, 213
Laura, 205
Lisa, 194
Laurie, 189
The Bell Family, 177
Jennifer, 176
Shelli, 174
Luke, 172
Mark, 172
Alli, 171
Megan W., 166
Colin, 162
Nicole, 160
Craig, 125
Izzy, 95

Day 8 Results - A Tie Atop the Leaderboard!

Since I missed posting this yesterday, my options were to disqualify myself or reinstate you all. Welcome back.

Day 8 Results:
Emma, 195
John, 195
Scott, 186
Grant, 160
Laura, 159
Megan M., 154
Laurie, 152
Lisa, 147
Jennifer, 142
Shelli, 139
Megan W., 130
The Bell Family, 129
Luke, 128
Alli, 127
Nicole, 121
Mark, 121
Colin, 120
Craig, 97
Izzy, 70

Day 7 Results

Well, I found my first two real screw-ups...

1) All of the names I gave you for the Women's 10,000M race are actually competitors from the 100M srint. So, those who actually took the time to research (Emma, John, Scott and Mark) picked up some huge points.

2) I somehow completely missed the Team Sprint event in Track Cycling, meaning you made only 301 picks and not the 302 required for entry in the Official Summer Olympic Pool competition. Thus, each of you are now disqualified.

Day 7 Results:

Emma, 154 (DQ)
John, 152 (DQ)
Scott, 147 (DQ)
Grant, 129 (DQ)
Laura, 126 (DQ)
Megan M., 125 (DQ)
Laurie, 125 (DQ)
Lisa, 123 (DQ)
Jennifer, 113 (DQ)
Alli, 113 (DQ)
Luke, 104 (DQ)
Shelli, 103 (DQ)
Megan W., 102 (DQ)
Nicole, 98 (DQ)
Mark, 94 (DQ)
Colin, 93 (DQ)
The Bell Family, 91 (DQ)
Craig, 76 (DQ)
Izzy, 48 (DQ)

T.G.I. SCANDAL! Ruling Time!

Ok, Moosemoose burned the midnight oil on these ones so here we go:

(1) Spanish Basketball Team in Hot Water: Moosemoose's research finds that posing in this manner seems to be a popular pastime in Spain (see Exhibit A, the Spanish Federation Cup Tennis Team http://www.theimproper.com/Template_Article.aspx?IssueId=5&ArticleId=2157) and is quite surprised that no one has thought to explain to Spain how this gesture might be construed as 'rude' as opposed to 'affectionate'. The fact that the Spanish team is still confused as to why this is a problem adds to the very essence of this issue's scandalousness.

Official ruling: SCANDAL!

(2) Canadian Water Polo Coach ejected from game, suspended from next game (http://olympics.thestar.com/2008/article/478294). Likely entertaining from a fan perspective but overzealous coaches are a dime a dozen.

Official ruling: No scandal.

Public SCANDAL! Hearing Requested

Judge MooseMoose has requested some public input regarding the recently proposed Spanish Basketball team scandal (see post below). If you have any evidence that you would like to submit for or against this scandal, MooseMoose will hear it today and make a final ruling. Evidence may include, but is not limited to, news article links, direct testimony from people who are/are not offended, hearsay and baseless accusations.

Day 6 - It's a Log Jam for Gold!

The race for gold is tightening up with John and Scott right on the Pool Queen's heels. Scott, in particular, had a great day with some remarkable efforts on the Greco-Roman Wrestling mat.

Alli also put in a notable performance in G-R Wresting winning the first complete sport with 3 Golds and a Bronze.

The battle for the Biggest Disappointment award (4th place) is a beauty with just 4 points separating 5 participants. Spoiler Alert: we're collecting some pretty nice McDonald's glasses for 4th place finisher.

The battle for the basement is officially over. Congrats, Izzy, you suck the most by far. We'll let you know closer to the end of the competition what your "award" will be.

The second-to-last contest is raging nicely among those who felt it was unpatriotic to pick non-Canadians. With no medals after 6 days, the Canadian team has left Mr. Ripper, The Bells, and Snow Axe with some very salty faces. Cheer up guys, we have 14 rowing events being awarded in the next 3 days. Canada just has to win one of those 42 medals.

After Day 6, and 84 Medals:
Emma, 123
John, 121
Scott, 117
Grant, 102
Megan M., 101
Laura, 101
Laurie, 99
Lisa, 99
Jennifer, 90
Alli, 89
Luke, 88
Shelli, 85
Megan W., 78
Nicole, 73
Mark, 71
Colin, 68
Craig, 68
The Bell Family, 67
Izzy, 35

SCANDAL!?!?

Spanish Basketball Team in Hot Water After Racist Photo Published

http://sports.aol.com/olympics/story/_a/bbdp/spanish-team-in-hot-water-after-photo/131295

MooseMoose, your thoughts?

Day 5 Results - Emma and John Hit the Century Mark

Michael Phelps has now won 5 gold medals and broken 5 world records in 5 days. He's on pace for 16 Golds and 16 WRs...and I like his odds!

Fairing much better is Emma with her 30 gold medals. She's on pace for 129 by the time the torch is extinguished. That would put her in some pretty exclusive company with only Kim Jong-il in the 120+ Gold Medal club.

Scott and Megan M. continue to battle it out for the bronze position, but many remain within striking distance with 232 medals to go.

We're happy to see Izzy earn a few more medals today putting her narrowly in front of Canada and the Vatican City for the games. She'll be happy to know that, on a per capita basis, she is fairing much better than the Bell Family with their measly 18 1/3 points each.

After Day 5...

Emma, 107
John, 100
Scott, 95
Megan M., 92
Laurie, 89
Grant, 88
Laura, 87
Lisa, 81
Luke, 76
Jennifer, 76
Alli, 69
Shelli, 66
Megan W., 66
Nicole, 65
Colin, 64
Mark, 64
Craig, 56
The Bell Family, 55
Izzy, 33

Go Idaho!

A big shout out to Idaho's hometown girl!

Yeah for golden girl Kristen Armstrong!

Our Favorite Olympian

Here's a cool shot of Erin, sister of our current 4th place holder, Meg M (and sister-in-law of points-challenged Craig) during Team Canada's game today against Sweden. Link to full article: http://olympics.thestar.com/2008/article/476815 (thanks, Shelli!)

SCANDAL! count increased by 2

(1) This gem of a scandal was submitted by both Craig and Shelli for consideration: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26153578/. Basically, the 7-year old girl who sang "Ode to the Motherland" for the opening ceremonies was deemed too hideous to appear on television and was replaced at the last minute by a lyp-synching rival. See picture above if you care to review the aesthetic attributes of both tots.

Official ruling: SCANDAL!

(2) Moosemoose has reviewed Blingbling's submission yesterday regarding Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou's ejection from the games. This was a tricky one as most of the actions here took place PRIOR to the opening of the 2008 Olympics. However, the ruling by the IOC was made during these games, which seems scandalously late given that this has been dragging on for 4 years. She is now threatening to sue the IOC and Olympic prez. Not only that, Thanou has been accused of crashing her OWN motorcycle to evade an earlier drug test... that is the sign of a truly committed scandal-maker.

Official ruling: SCANDAL!

Day 4 Results

After 4 Days, we're seeing the see-sawing continue atop the leaderboard with Emma currently edging out John by 4 SPPs (SuperPower Points). Scott had a hell of a day, surging up the leaderboard to take third place away from the pool's sexiest man. Lady Meeds moved into the dreadful runners-up position, but is only a point away from a spot on the podium after 52 of 302 events.

We're still waiting for one Day 4 Equestrian Medal to be announced, so we'll lump it in with tomorrow's tally.

Note: If you want a copy of the master .xls file so you can check your tally and see how you fair against others in the mix (might be helpful for those looking to develop rivalries), email Huanhuan. It's a 5MB file, so I don't want to blast it out to everyone each day.

After Day 4...

Emma, 81
John, 77
Scott, 71
Megan M., 70
Grant, 66
Laurie, 63
Lisa, 61
Laura, 59
Luke, 58
Jennifer, 56
Shelli, 50
Alli, 49
Colin, 43
Megan W., 41
Craig, 41
Nicole, 41
Mark, 38
The Bell Family, 35
Izzy, 21

SCANDAL?!

If at first you don't succeed try try again. MooseMoose, how about this one?
http://www.reuters.com/article/telecomm/idUSPEK7189920080811

SCANDAL?

Chinese citizens accused of committing fashion faux pas...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/2483793/Beijing-Olympics-2008-Chinese-fashion-police-crack-down-on-style-horrors.html

Day 3 Results...which may include a SCANDAL!

After 13 more events on Day 3 (34 in total), John has retaken the lead. However, his power move of the day came in the Men's 62kg Weightlifting event in which he was the only participant to write in a Mr. Zhang of China, the gold medal winner...

Potential SCANDAL! - It so happens that the official name of Mr. Zhang is "Xiangxiang Zhang". John has submitted "Jie Zhang" as his write-in. If John wants to keep these precious 3 points, and his overall lead, he must submit proof to Moosemoose that Jie Zhang and Xiangxiang are, indeed, the same person.

The SuperPower Point Leaderboard after Day Three:

John, 53
Emma, 52
Grant, 48
Laurie, 45
Megan M., 44
Lisa, 43
Scott, 41
Jennifer, 40
Shelli, 39
Laura, 38
Luke, 32
Megan W., 28
Alli, 28
Colin, 25 (*First Appearance in Summer Olympics Pool)
Craig, 24
Mark, 24
Nicole, 23
The Bell Family, 22
Izzy, 12

* Old Huanhuan here forgot to add his pal Yingying to the mix. Sorry Colin!

Day 2 Results - After 21 Events

What a difference a day makes!

Em's rocketed past John for new Olympic Pool Record 6 SuperPower Point Lead!


Emma, 37 (New Olympic Pool Record)
John, 31
Lisa, 29
Grant, 26
Laurie, 26 (New American Record)
Megan M., 24
Jennifer, 24
Scott, 22
Laura, 22
Shelli, 21
Megan W., 20
Luke, 18
Alli, 18
Craig, 18
Mark, 18
Nicole, 13
The Bell Family, 11
Izzy, 10 (Does not qualify for finals)

Jingjing's Must-See Moments

Men's 4x100m freestyle final... I may have peed my pants a little bit!

Be sure to catch the replay if you haven't seen it already. Jingjing out.

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/ondemand/

Standings After Day One

It's not even close. It seems that John did real research, while the rest of us just picked the funniest names.



Here are the standings after the first day of competition (7 medals awarded)...

John, 13
Lisa, 8
Scott, 6
Grant, 5
Laura, 5
Laurie, 5
Luke, 5
Megan W., 5
Shelli, 5
Emma, 4
Megan M., 4
Alli, 3
Craig, 3
Izzy, 3
Jennifer, 3
The Bell Family, 2
Mark, 0
Nicole, 0

Iraq? What Iraq? I've got things to do!

George Dubbya Bush gets "on court" with Walsh and May-Treanor

1st SCANDAL! - Relative of U.S. Coach Stabbed in Murder-Suicide

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26104003/

BEIJING - A knife-wielding Chinese man attacked two relatives of a coach for the U.S. Olympic men’s volleyball team at a tourist site in Beijing, killing one and injuring the other on the first day of the Olympics on Saturday, team officials and state media said.

The man then committed suicide by throwing himself from the second story of the site, the 13th century Drum Tower just five miles from the main Olympics site.

The brutal attack shortly after midday was all the more shocking because of the rarity of violent crime against foreigners in tightly controlled China, which has ramped up security measures even more for the Olympics.

First 7 Medals to be awarded tomorrow, the 9th!

We're off with at least 15 competitors in tow. The first 7 medals will be awarded tomorrow in cycling, weightlifting and a bunch of sports that only exist every four years (fencing, judo and shooting).

I've added the official Olympics schedule to the top of the blog's list of links...its an interactive schedule that leads you to the results for each event.

We'll post pool standings beginning the 10th.

Submit those picks by noon today if you want in!

Bring on the Bling Bling!

In the spirit of the games I am changing my blog name from yankeeskier to "Bling Bling" because I will be bringing home the gold bling bling to the good ole U S of A! YEEHAW!

One day to go!!

Don't forget that TOMORROW (Aug 7th) is the last day to submit your Supergreat Fun Pool picks! Stay up all night if you need to... you don't want to miss the Supergreat fun train.