And The Winner Is ...

SEACREST OUT

I know. It is not a huge surprise. Although it is disconcerting that a newcomer could be so dominant, it does make me feel a little better that it is the one music business person we have stayed with for the last decade. He must know what he is doing. Thanks to Seacrest Out's prediction picks, he jumped to a huge lead in the Top 12 competition as well.
There were a few other people who took huge leaps on this last night as well. Sanjaya Rocks jumped into third place overall and 2nd place in the Top 12 by putting all his money on Archie and getting an extra 10 points for picking Archie to go at the #2 spot. I will get to the actual scores in a bit, but first there are a few matters of business since this will probably be the last post you will read on here for the next 8 months or so.

1. Recap of Finale
2. Awards
3. Exit Interview
4. Standings

1. RECAP
I never knew last night's show would be such a shocker. Not really because of what happened in the show - but because my TiVo was saying there was less than one minute left of recorded show and they hadn't announced the winner yet. Then Seacrest said ... "David ... Cook" and it cut off. The only thing I was watching for was to see who won and what the reaction was. I was robbed of the reaction and only saw the winner in the last 5 seconds of my TiVo recording. Why were they running out of time in a two hour show? Because they were busy whoring the show out for the first hour and 59 minutes to anyone who needed some publicity.

Mike Myers reached a new low in a video promoting his movie with Archie and Cook. He then reached a new new low when he came out live on stage to make predictions about the winner. "His name will be David." Gee. We didn't see that coming from a mile away. How did the man who brought us So I Married An Axe Murderer and Wayne's World become so much like Bob Saget. Other than that shameless shameless promotion, they had to add the usual Ford bits, Archie dancing in his regulation mormon underwear for Guitar Hero (I actually thought he did a good job except for his gaspy smile on his face the whole time) and guest appearances from more than a handful of artists who haven't even made it out of their nursing homes since Clinton was president.

The "big" special guest at the end was George Michael. Not only did he look kind of weird, he sang a song that not only made me long for a 90 second version like they normally sing on this show, but it made me want to slit my wrist - with a chainsaw. When it was over of course Seacrest had to talk about his upcoming tour because what would a performance be without a commercial? George Michael had time after the plug to say that he had a cold - which must have been the reason that he sounded off. I thought the judges said early on in this competition that real performers don't blame their sickness - they push through it. So it was finally clear that George Michael is not a real performer. (Of course Mrs. Commish was loving it. She used to write him fan mail. She didn't know then that he was far from interested in her.)

There were many other performances from all of the top 12 contestants.
It was good to see that Amanda Overmyer was back on the sauce. Her drunken stagger was just right.
We saw David Hernandez whisper the word "naked" while singing Father Figure. When he said that word he looked over at Johnsie and smiled. It was a little awkward.
In one of the early songs we saw that Castro sounds great as long as he stays in his range - but when he gets outside of those four notes he starts to sound questionable.
I rewound the TiVo at least six times to watch Brooke attempt her dance moves. I kept looking for the marionette strings from her elbows but they were hidden pretty well.
Syesha seemed much better than she ever was in the competition when she was singing with Seal. For that matter - same with Carly. The pressure must have been too much early on.

All in all, one thing I realized last night is that iTunes has changed the face of American Idol forever. It seemed like they were cranking out all of these songs last night just to have more to sell. Now that they know they can make millions every week on iTunes - it seems like it will drive every thought making process in the whole show.

So the show ended with David Cook winning by a whopping 12 million votes. We didn't get to hear him sing the finalist song - but I know I could look it up on YouTube if I really cared to see it. Fact is - I am over it. I am looking forward to next year - as you should be as well. The competition seems to get more fierce every year and next year we should have our own website. If you know folks who should be in the league, e-mail me and I will add them to my mailing list for next January.

2. AWARDS

Full Season:
First Place: Seacrest Out
Second Place: ProfB
Third Place: Sanjaya Rocks
Last Place: BadNewz

Top 12 Season:
First Place: Seacrest Out
Second Place: Sanjaya Rocks
Third Place: ProfB
Last Place: The New Last Place

White Trash Talker: (most trash talking) ProfB - he is always good for some sass.
Moster Poster: (the award for the most posts - 86) IdolSmith - I loved getting the notifications in my e-mail everytime Mrs.Idolsmith left a comment. The time stamps would be 10:23 pm ... 10:27 pm ... 10:30 pm ... 10:55 pm ... 1:25 am ... 6:50 am. As a creator of this monster, it brings me great joy to see someone so dedicated to the game.
Early Bird: Thaddeus Glapp - Good old Thaddeus was usually the first to post his picks. He was a pioneer - not afraid of anyone else stealing his good ideas.
Fall From Grace: Zebra Fight - he was doing so well early on and then just tanked - finishing just above the Three Amigos in the top 12 competition.
The Three Amigos: Team Hasselhoff, BadNewz and YoYoDawg - these teams stuck together at the bottom of the barrel. Even if they guessed the winner before Hollywood and predicted the top three finishers in order before the final 12 started, they still would be about 40 points behind the leader. There is always next year.

My son's kindergarten teacher made awards for every student so they felt special - I don't have the time for that so I am going to stop there. I do want to give a special thanks to Team35 for hosting the awesome party and getting the contest prizes. I want to thank IdolSmith once again for donating the food (including the cookies) for the party. I want to thank Rickey at Rickey.org for an easy place to steal photos from for this blog. I also want to thank Mrs. Idolsmith for raising the bar for commitment to American Idol. And thank the rest of you for making it so fun.

3. EXIT INTERVIEW
This league was formed back in 2002 during the first season. It was just us and Team 35 sending Word documents back and forth. Last year was the first year we utilized a website and invited other teams. This year we had 20 teams. In all that time - the scoring aspects of the game have had to adapt quite a bit.
If you have any suggestions on how to make the league better - I am all ears. Any of you who know me know that I love math, spreadsheets and making up rules for stuff like this - so I would love to find ways to make it even more fair and accurate - you know, like Fox News.
For example, I don't think I set the point values for the Pre-Hollywood picks quite high enough. ProfB deserves more than 10 points for picking David Cook to be the winner 15 weeks ago.
Or for another example, we started out having three bonus picks worth 8,5 and 2 and then switched to an "assign your own points" method after the top 12. Should we do it that way throughout the competition - or keep it like it was this year.
If you have any ideas - just leave them as comments on this post.

4. STANDINGS
Congratulations once again to Seacrest Out. Here are the final standings ...

FULL SEASON
1. Seacrest Out
2. ProfB
3. Sanjaya Rocks
4. JC
5. PaulaTics
6. (t) Bessie Moo
6. (t) Team 35
8. Thaddeus Glapp
9. Fire & Ice
10. The Indiananans
11. Team Shivers
12. Simonsays
13. Zebra Fight
14. IdolSmith
15. Team Hasselhoff
16. BadNewz

TOP 12 SEASON
1. Seacrest Out
2. Sanjaya Rocks
3. ProfB
4. Fire & Ice
5. Bessie Moo
6. Team 35
7. AMightyWin
8. Thaddeus Glapp
9. JC
10. (t) Paulatics
10. (t) The Indiananans
12. (t) Simonsays
12. (t) Team Shivers
14. Leftcoaster
15. IdolSmith
16. Zebra Fight
17. Badnewz
18. Team Hasselhoff
19. Yo Yo Dawg
20. The New Last Place

BONUS PICKS - BOXING MATCH

Time for the bonus picks. You have 10 points to use. Give the points to the person you think will be voted OFF. Of course, you could split the points to play it safe if you really want.

Although Seacrest Out has a commanding lead - it is mathematically possible for someone else to take the lead after tonight's result. One weird thing is I actually thought I would be picking Archie as an underdog last night. Shows what I know.

Now for some thoughts from last night's show ...

- Was anyone else hoping that they would actually fight each other with those boxing gloves? David Cook looked ready to throw some punches. Archie looked like he was swatting at butterflies. Poor kid. All of the tough photo opportunities where they were supposed to look competitive had Cook looking serious and Gaspy with a smile on his face.

- How was it that I actually enjoyed "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" and didn't fall asleep? Archie really did bring his A game.

- Did anyone else hear Randy say something about this being the year 2007? It isn't, is it?

- As Simonsays said, it was very entertaining to watch Paula turn every song title into a compliment. Cook's first song got "You still haven't found what you're looking for - but we have." She told Archie that the sun is not going to go down on him. I figured that she was going to do it for every song, but they must have edited that part out. In order that you will not be deprived of some of Paula's comments - here they are for the other songs (in my best estimation).

(David Cook sang Dream Big)
"David, you have been dreaming big but this is not a dream anymore. This is reality. And you are a big star. You should be singing 'Reality Big' ."

(Archie sang In This Moment)
"Let me tell you something, Gaspy. In this moment I just peed my pants because of your cuteness."

(David Cook sang The World I Know)
"Well the world I know is crazy about David Cook. The world I know wants to hear your record. The world I know has posters of you on the ceiling so that I can look at you when I lay comatose on the floor from taking all of my 'prescription' meds."

(Archie sang Imagine)
"Imagine? I can imagine. I can imagine just squeezing your cute little cheeks, then hugging you so tight, then wrapping you up with duct tape, then putting you in the trunk of my car, then taking you home, then giving you ice skates, then giving you a phone book, then putting you inside a life-size snow globe, then shaking it up, then watching you ice skate in circles while singing the phone book. Ahh. Heaven."

ARCHIE vs. COOK - PP PICKS

We are finally to the end of the road. Tomorrow night all the fun will be over. Although the game is not as fun at this point as it was 12 weeks ago, there is still more playing to do. Here is how the points will work these next two nights.
For the PP Picks - you give 5 points to the person you think is going to be voted off. Leave that pick as a comment to THIS post.
Tomorrow (just so you know) for the bonus picks - you will have 10 points to use however you want. If you want to put it all on Archie - you can. If you want to put it all on Cook - you can. If you want to put it all on Luke Menard - I guess you can do that too. But whatever you do, save that bonus pick for tomorrow's post.
Good luck to you all.

SCORES - FINAL 3 - Byeeesha

Ok - Sorry I have slacked off with my commissioner duties. Things have been busy here - so I will get straight to the scores. Basically everyone gave Syesha the highest ranking in their PP Picks. Most people gave her all 15 bonus points. Team 35 gave her 14, profB gave her 12 and Zebra Fight gave her 10.
I also added in a couple of bonus points. Each team that predicted Syesha going out at 3rd place in their Prediction Picks got 10 bonus points. Unfortunately one of those teams was Seacrest Out. The others were Fire & Ice, Sanjaya Rocks and TheNewLastPlace. Badnewz and Hasselhoff each got 3 bonus points for their pre-Hollywood prediction. I realize now that those picks should have been worth more - but oh well.

Here are the standings with all of those points added.

TEAM NAME / TOP 12 SCORE / FULL SEASON SCORE

Seacrest Out - 170 305
profB - 160 283
JC - 153 281
PaulaTics - 150 280
Fire and Ice - 166 274
Sanjaya Rocks - 150 274
The Indiananans - 150 271
Thaddeus Glapp - 149 270
Team35 - 142 264
Simonsays - 148 263
Bessie Moo - 143 258
Team Shivers - 138 258
Zebra Fight - 129 257
Idolsmith - 126 236
Team Hasselhoff - 131 231
Badnewz - 133 230
AMightyWin - 155 155
Leftcoaster - 141 141
Yo Yo Dawg - 130 130
The New Last Place - 93 93

FINAL 3 - BONUS PICKS

Time for your bonus picks. Same as last week - 15 total points. Divide them however you want.
Some thoughts from last night:

Paula totally gave Archie the easy ride with the Billy Joel song. I was reminded what a great song that was.

Randy totally gave Syesha the easy ride with that Alicia Keys song. One problem - she couldn't really hit notes in the chorus and it didn't sound half as good as Alicia's version. I was reminded of how much I like that song.

Simon was trying to give David C a challenge but if the song has a long verse that starts out low and then goes into a chorus that at ends on a long high note - that is right up Cookie's alley.

I was reminded that David Cook still sounds like poop in a blender when he sings those low notes.

I like Switchfoot's version MUCH better.

Paula actually made sense for most of the night.

"Boo"? Really?

"My personal song choice is Fever?" What?

I was afraid that Syesha was about to jump Rickey Minor when he was playing that upright bass.

Were all of Cook's songs 30 seconds long? I am not saying that I wanted more - just saying they seemed very incomplete.

Simon dissed a Dan Fogelberg song. It wasn't Archie's choice.

Aerosmith was much better. Come to think of it - David Cook was outdone by all of the original versions.

I am not sure how to feel about Dianne Warren.

FINAL 3 - PP Picks

Time to make your PP Picks for the final 3. There is a 4x multiplier this week.

Gaspy

I got this fine illustration from VoteForTheWorst.com. That site is so pathetic because it has changed its contestant fifty times this year. So now that they are down to the final three - they decide that they are going to support Archie. How daring of you guys.
However, I do like the puppet and I love the name they have given Archuleta - Gaspy. That is pretty funny.

Prediction Pick Points for TOP THREE

We made our Prediction Picks at the beginning of the Top 12 - picking the final three in order. You get an automatic 5 points for each of your picks that actually made it to the final three - and then will get an extra 10 points if they finish in the spot that you predicted them to finish in.
So for now - we are just awarding the points for getting your contestants into the final three.

ProfB was the only person who correctly picked the final three. That is pretty amazing. Job well done, cowboy.

15 points (3 in final three) - ProfB

10 points (2 in final three) - Shivers, Paulatics, JC, Hasselhoff, Indiananans, Seacrest Out, Sanjaya Rocks, Fire and Ice, Thaddeus Glapp, Zebra Fight, AMightyWin, The New Last Place, Leftcoaster

5 points (1 in final three) - Simonsays, BadNewz, Team35, IdolSmith, Bessie Moo, YoYoDawg

Just for your reference, here are the picks ...

Team Shivers 1 Archuleta 2 D Cook 3 Smithson
PaulaTics 1 Archuleta 2 Castro 3 D Cook
Simonsays 1 Archuleta 2 White 3 Smithson
Badnewz 1 Archuleta 2 Smithson 3 Johns
JC 1 Archuleta 2 Mercado 3 Castro
profB 1 Archuleta 2 Mercado 3 D Cook
Team35 1 Archuleta 2 Castro 3 White
Team Hasselhoff 1 Archuleta 2 Castro 3 D Cook
The Indiananans 1 Archuleta 2 White 3 D Cook
Seacrest Out 1 Johns 2 Archuleta 3 Mercado
Sanjaya Rocks 1 Johns 2 Archuleta 3 Mercado
Fire and Ice 1 Archuleta 2 Johns 3 Mercado
T & J Smith 1 Archuleta 2 Castro 3 Johns
Bessie Moo 1 Archuleta 2 Castro 3 White
Thaddeus Glapp 1 Archuleta 2 Mercado 3 Johns
Zebra Fight 1 Archuleta 2 Johns 3 D Cook
AMightyWin 1 Archuleta 2 Mercado 3 Castro
The New Last Place 1 Smithson 2 Archuleta 3 Mercado
Leftcoaster 1 Archuleta 2 Castro 3 D. Cook
Yo-Yo Dawg 1 Archuleta 2 Johns 3 Smithson

SCORES - FINAL 4 - If he wasn't smoking weed before ...

Sorry this took a while. Life always seems to get crazy towards the end of AI season.

As we all know Castro got voted out. Syesha somehow made it to the final three. Archie is totally boring. Cook is annoying. I am starting to wish Neil Diamond would come back for another performance.

Here are the scores. Once again TheNewLastPlace was among the weekly winners. Once again they made their PRE-performance picks POST performance. That is a great strategy to get weekly winner. Once again I will count it because they can't come back.
Team - Top12 - Season - Wk4PPPicks - Wk4Bonus - Wk4Total

Seacrest Out - 123 258 12 15 27
Fire and Ice - 119 227 12 15 27
AMightyWin - 118 118 12 15 27
Simonsays - 116 231 12 15 27
The Indiananans - 113 234 12 15 27
The New Last Place - 73 73 12 15 27
profB - 121 244 12 13 25
JC - 116 244 9 15 24
Thaddeus Glapp - 112 233 9 15 24
Leftcoaster - 104 104 9 15 24
Sanjaya Rocks - 103 227 9 15 24
Badnewz - 98 195 9 15 24
Team35 - 111 233 9 13 22
Zebra Fight - 97 225 12 10 22
Bessie Moo - 111 226 6 15 21
Team Shivers - 101 221 9 12 21
Idolsmith - 94 204 9 12 21
Yo Yo Dawg - 98 98 12 8 20
PaulaTics - 113 243 9 10 19
Team Hasselhoff - 91 191 9 8 17

BONUS PICKS - FINAL 4

This was the picture in Jason's mind while he was singing last night.

Time for the Bonus Picks. Same as last week - 15 points divided up however you want.

There were at least a few moments last week when I felt like just shooting myself to avoid having to watch the rest of the show. As much as I wasn't a huge fan of Carly - the show was better when she and Johnsie were in it. Who am I supposed to care about now?

I know the answer is supposed to be Jason Castro (IdolSmith) and I think that is actually who I care the most about. I think he is a goofball. He might not be a stoner but he might be a little more coherent if he was. It sure does seem, though, that he doesn't want to be in the competition anymore. I am not a Syesha fan but at least she really seemed to bring it emotionally. I say if he wants to go home - he should probably go.

Remember when Kristy Lee Cook got voted off? Nobody picked her because it was right after her best performance. Same with Carly. So even though most people thought Syesha would be going before the performances last night - it could be a surprise that she is actually voted off considering how badly Jason Castroted those songs. Who knows?

As for Davy Cook? I never thought I would say this but you could give him a face-transplant using Tyne Daly's face and it would be an improvement at this point. I can't stand to see his smug facial expressions one more time. On top of that, I thought his songs last night sucked. The first one helped me realize how great Simon Le Bon's voice really was. The second song sucked too. He only picked it so that he could sing that long high note - which wasn't really that great. Could he be folding under the pressure?

I would have some comments about David Archuleta but I think I fell asleep after the first 15 seconds of each of his performances. Stand By Me? Love Me Tender? Really? His record is going to be as exciting as Mannheim Steamroller's Romantic Themes record. The sad thing is that he has a really nice voice technically.

At this point I would be happy if they brought Jason Yeager back.

FINAL FOUR - PP Picks

It has come to this - Archie, Syesha, David Cocky and John Travolta. Can Syesha make it into the final 3 with the boys? We will soon find out. In the meantime - make your PP Picks ranking them 1-4. Since we are down to the final four - the multiplier this week is now x3. That means that the picks are really worth 12, 9, 6 and 3 points. (Hint: the multiplier next week will be x4) Remember - this is still anyone's game. By anyone I mean the Paulatics.

Tonights songs will be the "Songs that Shaped Rock & Roll" which is from a list made by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Here are the songs that each contestant is hoping to find on that list.

JASON CASTRO
Red Red Wine - UB40
Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
The Joker - Steve Miller Band
Smoking My Ganja - Capital Letters

DAVID COOK
I Am So Awesome - David Cook Original
I Touch Myself - Divinyls
You're The Best - Joe Esposito
Simply The Best - Tina Turner

SYESHA MERCADO
Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
Loser - Beck
Ain't Goin Down 'Till The Sun Comes Up - Garth Brooks
Milkshake - Kelis

DAVID ARCHULETA
Earth Angel - The Penguins
Mickey - Tony Basil
A Whole New World - Aladdin Soundtrack
Seventeen - Winger

SCORES - FINAL 5 - SOMEWHERE BROOKE IS CRYING

Well the crying nanny was sent home today. We no longer have to endure those overly-sincere looks into the camera, the talkback during the judges comments and the slouchy gumby-looking seated guitar playing style.

The weekly winner this week was TheNewLastPlace whose picks should actually be disqualified because they made their PPPicks on Wednesday night - but since they are so far down and have no chance of even moving up to 19th place, I figured I would let them have it. It also keeps my team from being the weekly winner which would probably bring up cries of foul play.

Speaking of cries of foul play - I saw Seacrest Out's comment on how strange it was that I changed the rules for the bonus picks then gave all 15 points to Brooke and heavily benefited from my rule change. Well, first I will say that the rule change was inspired by your cohort Sanjaya Rocks. Secondly I will say that you, too, could have given Brooke 15 points. Thirdly I will say that someone else could have been voted off - then I would look like a fool rather than a genius. Fourthly - and most important - it says somewhere in the bylaws that if you make such accusations against the commissioner then you shall be docked 8 points. Funny. That would put my team in the lead. What a coincidence.

Before we get to the scores - let us not forget about our bonus picks that will start adding up very soon. The Pre-Hollywood pick bonus points will only be added to the full season total. Three of the picks are still standing: Syesha (badnewz, Hasselhoff), David Cook (profB), and David Archuleta (Bessie Moo). The person who makes it the farthest gets 10 points. The person who makes it the 2nd farthest will get 6 points and the one who gets voted off first will get 3 bonus points. Too bad Josiah Leming isn't still in the competition or Seacrest Out might be eligible for some bonus points.

We also have the Prediction Picks to take into account. Each team gets 5 automatic points from each one of their prediction picks that makes it into the final 3 and an extra 10 points for each one predicted to go in the right spot. This could make a major difference in the outcome. For the record - nobody picked David Cook to win.

Now on to this week's scores. (I did not get PP Picks from Indiananans or YoYoDawg)

Team - Top12 - Season - Wk5PPPicks - Wk5Bonus - Wk5Total

The New Last Place - 46 46 10 15 25
PaulaTics - 94 224 8 15 23
Team Hasselhoff - 74 174 6 15 21
JC - 92 220 8 8 16
Bessie Moo - 90 205 8 8 16
The Indiananans - 78 199 8 7 15
Seacrest Out - 96 231 6 8 14
profB - 96 219 6 8 14
AMightyWin - 91 91 8 5 13
Team Shivers - 80 200 8 5 13
Sanjaya Rocks - 79 203 8 5 13
Zebra Fight - 75 203 10 3 13
Team35 - 89 211 8 4 12
Fire and Ice - 92 200 8 3 11
Simonsays - 89 204 8 3 11
Badnewz - 74 171 8 2 10
Thaddeus Glapp - 88 209 8 0 8
Leftcoaster - 80 80 8 0 8
Idolsmith - 73 183 8 0 8
Yo Yo Dawg - 78 78 6 6