A mélange of award-winners today, based on yet another in a long line of spectacularly clever comments from you good people out there.
In honor of the phenomenally frigid weekend soon to be upon us, we have a few cold-weather anecdotes – including one from All Pro Newsday blogger Neil Best himself. We went to four winners, because, quite frankly, it was impossible to limit it to three.
Besides, we make the rules around here. 
:-)
1. Hookslide on predicting the divisional playoff round – as well as a few other predictions and comments: (As you can see here, Hook took a doughnut in the picks, but we’ve given him the business enough about that.)
Jax 24 - NE 20
Ind 28 - SD 17
SEA 17 - GB 10
Dal 24 - NYG 14
Best name: bigfroe
Some other predictions for 2008:
- The price of oil will hit $110 a barrel this winter.
- People in the Middle East will kill each other over religion.
- Jeff P will continue to scour the google image search for look-alikes
- Bob will let his youngest daughter make football picks based on who has the cutest starting QBs.....(and probably improve from 2007)
- One of the "Hollywood bad girls" will show their privates in public.
- Bill Gates will earn a lot of money.
- My kids will spend less time playing sports and reading, and more time playing video games, watching Family Guy, South Park, 24, and Scrubs.
- Someone will win the Presidential election...Democrats will advocate change, equal rights, and protecting the environment...Republicans will look for strength, stability, and a free-market economy...the winner will vow to unify the country...
- The Knicks will have a new coach
2. Devout Packers fan and loyal reader Karl on losing out to a nun in an essay contest to take part in the pre-game coin toss at Lambeau Field:
I also submitted my essay to Packers.com trying to win tickets for the game. I wrote about how I wanted to take my dad to our first Packer game at Lambeau together.
There were 4 other essays in competition, but the fans all voted for her story. I guess the fans thought that she provided Divine help. Next time I write an essay to win Packer tickets I am going to mention that I am a pastor...
3. Neil Best on the coldest he’s ever been:
The coldest I ever have been was walking from the Sheraton to the Carrier Dome for a Syracuse-St. John's game, which is uphill but only a quarter mile or so. I was walking with Dave Cummings, then of the Daily News, now of ESPN The Magazine. I have lived in Ithaca, NY, and Anchorage, AK, but I never, ever have been through anything like that. It was minus-43 with the wind chill.
I truly believed if we had taken a wrong turn or found the door to the dome locked, we would have died on the spot. This was in the early 1990s sometime. We ended up going in through a fan entrance because the media entrance was around back, and we would have been dead by the time we got there.
4. Black N Gold’s “coldest ever” story:
January 19th 1994. I was living in Pittsburgh and training for my 30th marathon. I was working as an CTO for a large mortgage finance company and training twice a day.
My lunchtime runs were typically an easy 6 miles over Pittsburgh's hilly terrain. My training partner, a 'C' programmer for the company, was a nationally elite marathoner who had recently run a 2:16 marathon and was training for the 1994 Boston marathon. He approached my office that morning to confirm that were 'on' for our normal six mile effort.
It was -22 F !
Dressed in running gear, we made our way along our usual route. More than one motorist nearly swerved off the road seeing two idiots pounding the pavement.
I spent the rest of the afternoon, holed up in my office, with my work spread out in front of the heating vent, with a space heater turned up full blast.