Ok, we've found the silliest contest out there ... and no, it's not the "Predict When Neil Best Will Crack" competition started right here on this blog several days ago. (More on that later). 
This one is sponsored by NBCSports.com, and while the prize is decent - 2 tickets to an upcoming Sunday Night Football game, and some behind-the-scenes stuff for the TV production - the premise is as goofy as you can get: Predict how long it will take John Madden to go by bus from Indianapolis after the regular season opener to Dallas for his next assignment.
Before I go any further, I want to make it clear I have no idea who came up with this contest, on the off chance that I might know this person. But really. Couldn't they come up with something better, like, "When will Tiki Barber take his next shot at Eli Manning or Tom Coughlin?" or "Predict when Madden will bop his hilarious imitator, Frank Caliendo, in the nose for making fun of his Brett Favre adulation?"
Predict how long it will take Madden to get to Dallas. C'mon.
As for the "Predict When Best Will Crack" competition, we're still waiting for a ruling from arbitrator Hank Winnicki as to whether Best did indeed crack, or his blog post the other day was legitimately written because of some web-related confusion at Newsday.com.
In the meantime, we've got some fresh new information on Best's obsession with his job. A well-connected mole we know at ESPN headquarters in Bristol informed us just a few minutes ago that Best was actually on campus at some press event! Best was apparently stunned to see said mole, and was so flabbergasted he was left speechless.
We'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, go to Mapquest.com to get started on figuring out when Madden will get to Dallas.
Comments (2)
It's 1:16 a.m. Thursday. I'm going to be live on ESPN in a couple of hours. If anyone out there is awake and reading this, you might want to re-evaluate your life. But while you're up you should watch me.
Memo to Hank Winnicki: If you don't consider Best having cracked at this point, I don't know what has to happen.