The 2016 Chippens Tournament Challenge is underway! Click HERE for player picks, current standings, projected standings, and much, much more.
DAILY RECAPS:
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
This year's field is comprised of 105 magnificent competitors, each vying to lay claim to the Grand Prize T-Shirt and the lifelong glory that accompanies the Chippens title.
Trash Talk
Perhaps it is the heightened emotion of a campaign-season Challenge, but the pre-tourney rhetoric this year was especially fierce.
2013 Champion Cotter, who once again made his picks at the last minute after some hardcore study sessions, said that although he'd be vying to get his #1 spots back in the All-Time Records from perennial powerhouse Stumper, beating his arch-rival Bucephalus is "all that matters" to him. Cotter said Bucephalus "talks a lot of trash for never being a title holder."
Speaking of title holders, defending champ ILLINIT is back to defend his title. No player has won twice, let alone back-to-back, but ILLINIT has all but guaranteed he will be the first.
The Breeze 2 is one player who held back this year, sort of. He said he was going to call himself "The Stallion," but said he changed it because he didn't want to "intimidate" Señor Wences, who The Breeze 2 has renamed "Ole Man Senior Wences."
Back in Action
One player to watch out for this year is BrutalBrutis. She missed last year for only the second time in 11 seasons, but her sabbatical has no doubt left her hungry for success this year. Brutis is one of the two tournament savants (along with Blizzard T. Husky). She is the 2010 champ, has three other top 20 finishes, and will be looking to add to her trophy case this year.
Showing Their Dedication
Every year we get amazing stories of the trials and tribulations players overcome to participate in the Challenge, and this year was no exception.
BadgerHoopla couldn't access the site from work this morning because of some sort of nefarious firewall, so he ditched the computer and made his picks on his phone. That type of dedication has worked in the past for Cotter and Politicalgrrl (who this year bragged about NOT making her picks on her phone).
The stakes could not be higher for Badger. He is getting his Five Year Ring this year, which means he becomes eligible for the All-Time Records. He already has two top 20 finishes, and he's never finished in the bottom half of the standings. Other players getting Five Year Rings this year include Gibbons, #Blessed, Auntie Em, The Breeze, and Make-It-Count.
Another highly-motived player is HotRod (f/k/a Voltaire). He earned his Five Year Ring in 2014. That year, he'd already had four top 21 finishes and was poised to shake up the All Time Records ... then he finished in 101st place. Last year he had a better showing, finishing 69th, but still no where near his first four seasons. This year he said, "By God, I will win the coveted Chippens tournament and that t-shirt." HotRod is from Cleveland, where a certain someone else might be this summer at a certain convention. The Grand Prize T-shirt would be a great fashion choice for the event.
Who Wore It Best
This year features a lot of Donald Trump themed handles, and for the first time ever, two different sets of people who picked the same handle.
Who will win the Stone Cold Stephen F. Austin smackdown? #1 or #2? Which Breeze (1, 2) will blow strongest?
Will any of the Real Donald Trump's pixie dust sprinkle down on, say, Build a bracket and make Austin Peay for it? Or will His Yugeness give everyone a spanking with those small, small hands.
Check back often to find out! Standings will be updated as close to real time as possible unless otherwise stated.
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