ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

"Ladies and Gentlemen .... (microphone feedback) ....  uh ... hee hee ..  uh I would just like to say thank you for the honor of winning the I-L-L-I-N-I online NCAA brackets  ...  I am humbled and truly honored by this really little statue of some disproportionate stiff ...  y'know, this is really what it's all about and throughout this whole zany season we always just took it one game at a time, put our pants on one leg at a time (except for Cal and Moses), and always gave 110% and left it all out there on the floor ('course, we made sure to come back later and pick it up) .. oh, and we always avoided cliches, too ... but anyway ... I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this silly award possible .. first of all, to my son-in-law Jason who organized this outfit of social misfits into a fine-tuned, humming machine ...  and to my oldest daughter I say thanks for showing us that you not only know how to pick games, you can also pick a husband ... ...  a big thank you goes out to Mosespoopypicks for not only coming in second place and almost winning it all, but for inspiring all of us to do our very best ... after all, if a baby who has to use creative forms of communication can do well in the brackets, what does that say about the rest of us who speak pretty good English and have an IQ above 57?  ... and to think that we were almost defeated by a 2 month old bracketeer !!? ...   I would also like to thank the Galloping Phlegm for not only his choice of a pretty name, but for his tenacity in holding on to the top spot until it was wrested from him by the only two who picked UCLA ....  many others, too numerous to mention, contributed to my bracket success, but I would just like to thank one more, and that would be thefourthwoody, for he is truly responsible for my victory ... before he had us all fill out brackets in our home, he gave me a tip that made the difference .. other than Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton and what happens when the smog lifts, I had no idea what UCLA was ... until thefourthwoody gave them a favorable report as a team to watch .. so I went with the team from the left coast, and so apparently did Moses, and the rest is history ..  So I guess the moral of the story is ..   well, I am not sure .. really not sure .. y'know, it's a wacky world out there, and our brackets may not amount to a hill of beans in the eyes of some ... but y'know what?  This is OUR hill... and these are OUR beans!!!  So to all who took part in the brackets, a big thank you .. and good night !!!