Almost a Hundred Thousandaire

The first two installments of my Hundred Thousandaire series are the third and fourth most viewed posts that I have written.  In Former Hundred Thousandaire, I gave an accounting of how I spent my ESPN winnings.  In Potential Hundred Thousandaire, I told the tale of how a financial broker promised to turn my small pile of coins into a mountain of cash.  Here is the dramatic conclusion to the Hundred Thousandaire Trilogy.

ESPN has changed some of the rules for Streak for the Cash since I won last April.  Instead of giving away $100,000 every month, the monthly winner gets $50,000.  If the winning streak is 27 or longer, the winners gets the second $50,000.  When no one's streak reaches 27, the $50,000 bonus rolls over to the next month.  It was August before anyone reached the magic number 27.  That player won $50,000 plus 8 months worth of bonuses for a total of $450,000.

On September 22 a player won his 27th game, guaranteeing that someone would win the full $100,000.  He lost on Sept 25 leaving the door open for someone to catch him.  Another player got his 26th win on Sept 24.  His winning percentage was .745 at that time. Winning percentage is used as the tiebreaker.  His percentage was better than the .696 winning percentage of the guy with 27 wins.  So he only needed just one more win to get the tie at 27 instead of having to go for 28.  His 26th win was a Georgia Tech football game.  He had 6 days to find the game that gave him the best chance at claiming his prize.  Finally on Sept 30, he picked the Yankees to beat the Tigers in the first game of the ALDS.  Unfortunately for him, the game was rained out.  By the time the game was suspended, there were no games left to choose.  He was stuck at 26 with no chance of extending his streak.

I also picked the Georgia Tech game that day, though my streak at the time was just 2.  I won 10 more games after that win.  Any of those would have been good enough to garner him $100,000.  I think that not picking a game before the 30th will haunt him for the rest of his life.  I still have not forgiven Big Erv for beating Ricky Ro last year to end my streak, and I won the money.  I can't imagine how hard it would be to get that close and loose because of rain.  I mentioned that I won 10 games in the last week, but I left out the part where I also lost 5 games.  Even so, I would rather lose on a complete game 4 hitter by Big Erv, than be robbed of a chance to win by a thunderstorm.