The Return of "You Pick-Em" VivaLoudoun Style

We can't let the prep football season start without the return of our fun little (sure, sometimes it is just family and Jason Treon playing!) You Pick'Em Contest.

Here is how you play ... send us the final score (dan.sousa@verizon.net) of the following two Games of the Week:

• Dominion at Loudoun Valley (Battle of the second-year coaches!)
• Sherando at Park View (Patriots Open Division 3 campaign!)

It is that simple, tell us the winner and loser and the final score ... easy, squeezy, lemon, peazy. Just put You Pick'Em in the subject headline of the email or if you are really brave, drop your You Pick'em picks into the comments section of this blog entry (We take any and all entries with the exception of bricks through out world headquarters front window in Ashburn ... though if you attach your picks to a flaming Beanie Baby toy and toss it on our lawn ... well, that would be funny).

Prizes? Hmmmm ... we used to have the Chick-fil-A Prize Van but it has been up on blocks with a busted chicken finger for some time. We will dig up some prizes for the winners (if you are a business and want to donate some prizes ... ping us) ... rest assured ... but the biggest prize is ever-lasting world wide fame (honest!).

For those keeping score at home, the All-Time Winners Chart looks like this:

13 - Jason Treon

10 - John Koren

6 - Chris Tully

5 - Greg Dawson, Tim Lieb, Ryan Price, Ryan Rogers

4- Jane Baker

3 - Jamie Eberly, Chuck McDaniel

2 - Kathy Athey, Walter McCowat, Sam Plank

1 - Steven Balik, Leon Barber, Andrew Berdhal, Zirkle Blakey, Joe Conroy, Larry Hall, Hayden Hawes, Jeff Hawes, Marco Mastrangelo, Patrick McNanley, Phil Murphy, Trevor Scales, Ryder Sousa

A Brief History of You Pick'Em (May NOT be Factual)

You Pick'Em actually dates back to 1632 in Manchester, England (called them Ye'Olde Pick'Em).

Later in the colonies, Benjamin Franklin was a You Pick'Em Player and was actually struck by lightning while playing in 1772.

Pop Warner introduced You Pick'Em to football in 1892 and Jim Thorpe had to return his Gold Medals from the Olympics when it was discovered that he had received cash payments while on a hot You Pick'em streak in 1912.

In the 1950s You Pick'Em fell out of favor after it was caught up in the Cold War scare (Joe McCarthy said: "anybody can Pick em? Haruuump, sounds like Socialism!").

In the 1970s, You Pick'Em busted back into the national spotlight when Joe Namath not only called the Jets famous upset in the Super Bowl but did it so he could win the You PickEm Contest.

You Pick'Em then was dormant for some time until it was discovered by Dan Sousa in a government vault in 1989 (right next to that chest Indiana Jones had brought back from the Raiders of the Lost Ark).

You Pick'Em survived a steroids scare several years ago (a certain monkey looked like a gorilla, if you know what I mean) and is now rated by the Parker Brothers as the third most wholesome family game behind Monopoly and charades.

**I might have mixed up some of these facts ... but you get the point!