Super Bowl Contest

Needless to say, we have a host, a multitude, a veritable galaxy of perceptive and prescient, and far-seeing readers. But occasionally one emerges who stands out as a true prophet or seer.

 

Back in April, we held a contest for newsletter readers to predict who’d make the 2016 World Series, and who’d prevail. There was a clear winner: long-time TWS subscriber Janis Evans of Chagrin Falls, Ohio—who predicted before the season started not only that the Indians and the Cubs would face off in the fall classic, but that the Cubs would take it in seven games. Which is precisely what happened.

 

What makes this prediction even more impressive is that Janis, a Cleveland-area resident, is an Indians fan. (She’s also a longtime member of the Chagrin Falls city council and ran for mayor last cycle, coming in second in a three-way race.) So Jan picked her favorite team to go farther than almost anyone expected—and then to fall just short. Such a combination of far-sighted prophecy and tragic realism is impressive, and rare.

 

So we rewarded her appropriately. Our own Jim Swift, whose parents happen also to live in Chagrin Falls, and who had attended games six and seven and therefore suffered through the tragic denouement in person, delivered Jan her winnings on Christmas Eve at Rick’s Cafe in Chagrin Falls.

 

Here’s what Jan took home for winning: A $50 gift certificate to Rick’s Cafe a well-regarded Chagrin Falls restaurant (where, Jim says, Jan seems to know everyone), lunch with the Swifts, an autographed copy of Matt Labash’s Fly Fishing with Darth Vader, an audio copy of Jack Kemp: The Bleeding Heart Conservative Who Changed America (with a note from temporary Indians fan Fred Barnes), a copy of Irving Kristol’s  The Neoconservative Persuasion, an extension of her subscription, and various TWS stress heads, drinking mugs, and the like. So you can see the rewards for success in these competitions are pretty impressive….

 

In any case, as I watched the Giants and Packers slug it out in beyond frigid temperatures at Lambeau Field (yes, Steve Hayes and John McCormack will be insufferable at the editorial meeting this morning), it occurred to me we should have a Super Bowl competition, so that someone else can demonstrate Janis-like clairvoyance. We’ll do this despite Geoffrey Norman’s devastating critique of the NFL a couple of months ago in the magazine. After all, even I, who agree with Geoffrey’s piece and have watched little professional football this year, have gotten kind of interested now that it’s the playoffs.

 

So: Which of the eight teams currently in contention will make the Super Bowl? Who will win? And what will the score be? Email your picks here.

 

I can’t guarantee the winner the kind of personal attention Janis got from her quondam neighbor, Jim Swift. But presumably the winner will live in a place where someone here at TWS has relatives, or friends, or an occasion to visit, so we’ll try to give the winner an equivalent reward with a similar personal touch. Or perhaps you’d prefer not to be bothered by one of my colleagues—after all, what if the person who lives nearest to you is Matt Labash? In any case, if you choose, we’ll spare you the personal touch, but still deliver the loot.