MHR Readers Lay Claim to Bragging Rights

The MHR Readers have once again proven that they are the best fans and participants on the web by laying claim to bragging rights over the MHR Staffers for a second consecutive year. The 2012 season was the second running of the MHR Readers versus Staffers prediction contest. In case anyone has forgotten: each week a Reader and a Staffer faced off to see who could do the best job of predicting which teams would win the NFL matchups for the week. Now I realize that this recap of that contest may be a bit late in coming -- I can only plead the insanity that goes along with an 11-game winning streak, a gut-wrenching playoff loss, increased busy-ness at work and the welcoming of my first grandchild into the world as the reasons behind the delay.

The 2012 contest was a grand and hard-fought affair. The Readers reeled off three straight wins to open the season and build up a five-game lead (Readers 26-19 to Staffers 21-24). It appeared as though the Readers were going to run away with the contest. The Staffers, however, had other plans -- winning four of the next five weeks, with the fifth week being a tie. When the dust had settled at the mid-point in the 2012 NFL season, the Staffers held a six-game lead (Staffers 70-41 to Readers 64-47).

The Readers were not the least bit intimidated by the Staffers come back and used Weeks 9-11 to regain their lead -- this time by a single game (Readers 95-54-1 to Staffers 94-55-1). Week 12 saw the contest all tied up at 102-62-1. That tie did not last long as the Readers edged ahead the following week then went on to cling to that lead by the time Week 15 had ended (Readers 128-81-1 to Staffers 126-83-1).

Week 16 saw the Staffers surge back to force the second tie of the season (137-87-1). Yet once again, the Readers were not to be denied by winning Week 17 to finish the contest with a two-game lead (Readers 149-90-1 to Staffers 147-92-1).

Congratulations to the Readers! You all rock!

Below is a week-by-week recap of the contest.

As was done last year, each of the Readers who "out-predicted" the Staffer on their given week received an autographed Denver Broncos ball cap. The autographs on these caps came through the gracious efforts of Kirk Davis who attended Training Camp and spent considerable time standing in line to acquire the signatures.

Also, as was done last year, the decision was made to award a ballcap to any Reader who tied their Staffer. In this case, Hogblog was the recipient. Further, it was decided to follow last year's pattern and randomly draw two more names: one from among those Readers who faced off against a Staffer but did not out-predict their opponent, and one from among the many Readers who submitted their names for the contest but were not lucky enough to have their names drawn for the contest. The lucky recipients of those two additional hats are:

Calikula (from the participants) and Diehardbronco2 (from the submissions list).

Congratulations to each of them.

One final comment: on a personal note, I would like to thank each and everyone of the contest participants (both Reader and Staffer) as well as each and every one of MHR's fantastic reader-base. You all are what makes MHR rock and I thank you for helping to make it a great place.

Brian Shrout
Mile High Report