Commissioner Tadros Press Conference,
The Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites
Brighton, Michigan

Ladies and Gentlemen, we had a situation that never occurred in the PYX before.  The Front Office had a problem trying to determine the winner between Paul Landry and Al Nowak.  Here are the facts of the CASE:

Mr. Landry submitted his picks on Friday, January 12 at 10:32 pm.  Mr. Landry picked:  Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Diego.  Landry applied 3 points to Baltimore, 1 point to Philadelphia, 2 points to Chicago and 4 points to San Diego.  He also gave 48 points to the Tie-breaker.  NOTE:  Mr. Landry also added the comment, "Down Goes Nowak!!!".

Mr. Nowak submitted his picks on Saturday, January 13 at 11:21 am.  Mr. Nowak picked:  Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Diego.  Nowak applied 1 point to Indianapolis,  2 points to Philadelphia, 3 points to Chicago and 4 points to San Diego.  He also gave 37 points to the Tie-breaker.  NOTE:  Mr. Nowak did not add any comments to the first submittal.

Mr. Nowak submitted a second set of picks on Saturday, January 13 at 1:06 pm.  Mr. Nowak picked:  Baltimore, Philadelphia and Chicago.  Nowak DID NOT pick the 4th game on the 2nd submittal.  He applied 1 point to Baltimore, 2 points to Philadelphia and 3 points to Chicago and 4 points to an unknown team.  He also gave 44 points to the Tie-breaker.  NOTE:  Mr. Nowak also added the comment, "Bite this bone Landry.  The gloves are off!!!".

 If we accept Nowak's first set of picks, then he defeats Landry based on straight up picks.  Nowak did not have to submit any more picks.  But for some crazy reason he submitted a second time.  He switched his game winning Indianapolis pick to Baltimore.  And he forgot to submit a winner between San Diego and New England!!  And yet he still pulls off the victory but virtue of confidence points.  Nowak just wanted to make it more interesting.

AROUND THE LEAGUE...

Matt Cushman ended Gary Bonn's run at repeating.  Gary had a string of 5 consecutive play-off victories snapped on Sunday.  It was pretty close...he and Cushman picked identical picks.  Then they both had the same amount of "confidence points"...6.  But Mr. Cushman took the lower point total of 46, while Gary went high with 54.  At one point, the score was 24 to 21 with San Diego attempting a game tying field goal.  If the field goal was good, then the score would have been 24 to 24 or 48 points.  But then they would have went to overtime where at the minimum, another 3 points would have been scored (although a safety wouldn't be impossible).  But 3 more points would have brought the total to 51 points.  Gary needed 51 or more (50 would have went to Matt).  So the underdog, expansion team, Matt Cushman goes to his first Championship game ever!  And just imagine, the league was debating about letting him back into the league.

The powerful Jay Zink defeated Don Zysk based on the confidence points.  Both pickers took the same teams.  But Jay put EVERYTHING (4 points) on Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.  A gutsy call from the top seeded picker.

Brent Van Wieren keeps his PYX Bowl hopes alive after beating the #1 seed Linda Dalman.  This match-up was the the easiest to decide...no tie-breakers.  Linda took San Diego and Brent took New England.  It came down to the last second field goal attempt...and it was wide to the right and not long enough.  Linda drops a heart-breaker.  And somehow Van Wieren lives to see another day.  Will Van Wieren make it to a second PYX Bowl in a row?  He is the last surviving Hamiltonian...and he keeps the Hamilton streak alive (Hamilton has been represented in the final 4 in every single PYX season (12 years in a row).

Matt Cushman defeated Gary Bonn = 46 to 54 (Double Overtime)

Jay Zink defeated Don Zysk = 7 to 6 (in Overtime)

Al Nowak defeated Paul Landry = 3 to 2 (In Overtime)

Brent Van Wieren defeated Linda Dalman =  4 to 3 (In regulation)

Two home teams won and two away teams won.  That's the way the entire season has gone.

Here are your Championship Game match-ups:

MATT CUSHMAN at JAY ZINK
This is the battle for bragging rights of the Rockford & Company---although, Zink lives in Allendale and Cushman lives in Grand Rapids.  Zink is clearly the favorite going into this weekend...but Cushman has been the underdog in every game this year.  These two pickers did meet in Week 11 this year, which saw Zink easily defeat Cushman 9 games to 6...but now we are in the Play-Offs and it's tough to beat the same team twice.  This will be very interesting to watch!

BRENT VAN WIEREN at AL NOWAK
Al Nowak is the 3 seed and Brent Van Wieren is 4 seed.  These two pickers have a combined 17 years of picking experience between them!!!  They are no strangers to each other.  In fact they did play each other once this season (week 3) in which Van Wieren won a squeaker in overtime.

Van Wieren has been in the Play-Offs in 8 out of 9 seasons.  He lost a heartbreaker in last year's PYX Bowl, and he vowed to return to the PYX Bowl this year if it's the last thing he does.

Nowak is making his 7th consecutive play-off appearance, which is the longest such streak of any picker!.  But interestingly enough, in 4 out of the past 6 years, Nowak was eliminated by a Hamilton Picker.

Get ready for the Conference Championship Games!!!

 Your Commish,


________________
Peter Tadros
The Commissioner & CEO
THE PYX