proudly resents ...
- The Week in Loserdom:
- The Gopherdrool.Com e-empire added a retail e-botique to its ever growing, Ramjac-like e-operations. This is your chance to get Dudzik's mug on your mug. And remember the prices are low. How low? Well, they are Susan Anton's career low. They are a pot belly on a slug low. They are Newt's approval rating low. They are as low as the junior senator from New York's standards for a husband low. We are talking low.
- Results of Week XLII
- Summary: Week XLII* called for merging of two TV shows to create a new, fun, rip-off TV show. Jonathan Paul had, by far, the best of the bunch for the win. Ink was spread widely with several unfamiliar faces in the crowd. Overall, however, the results were, we're sad to say, a little disappointing.
The Siberian Express: Dashing through the snow this week is the "Catfight! Catfight!" entry of Chris Shreves who, perhaps, gets some consolation from also having scored the first runner-up.
Score Losers: Tom Witte climbs to the very edge of the 400 career ink mark, but hasn't quite pulled himself over, yet. Meanwhile, at a different location, Paul passes the 250 career ink mark, becoming just the seventh to do so. Pierce pulls into 15th for the year with an entry shared by fellow Charlottesvillan Brian Broadus. Hart extends the greatest Loser year ever and continues the long march toward Smith (now 24 back).
- Week XLVI:
- The Weak Week Prediction: Oh that Czar, he lifts a contest idea from David Letterman and gives credit to O'Byrne. You can expect, again, thousands of entries, so make yours stand out.
The Weak Week Word to the Wise (WWWW) : Don't spend a lot of time on the Dennis Miller sub-contest. The Czar has a habit of discarding his seconds (some of us are still waiting for ink for explaining an Ester Drigger). One more bit of advice, the folksy little "as low as" ideas at the top of the page are ours. Do you hear us, OURS! Get ink with them and...well...just don't even think about it.
Russ to Judgment: On a one-seventeen scale, sixteen being best, Week XLV gets a:
Thousands of entries, three of four really great ones, a borrowed idea, total score: nine (though we think the Bulgarian judge is screwing the Czar this week). Say no more.
- The Week Link: (Where have all the Bredecks Gone)
- TWW Historical Auxiliary has noticed a distinct falling off in the number of new faces getting regular ink. There was a time when rookies raced up the standings faster than anyone thought possible. It all started in Week 6 when a new comer named Smith got three hits. Romm, Krattenmaker, Litz, and Genser, in turn, tore through the rankings leaving a trail of dust that stretched from one end of Herndon to the other.
This happens no more. The top-ten for this year includes just one Loser from year four (Genser), one from year five (Genz), and none from year six, year seven, or this year. Even if you extend the analysis to the top-25, there are only two Losers who started after year five (Pierce and Bredeck). In contrast, more than a third of the current top-25 started in year one. You would expect the career stats to be dominated by veterans, but these are the stats for the restoration only.
Some of this can be explained by the natural flow of the contest. Statistically, the bulk of those who were likely to enter the contest did so in the first few years. Thus, the pool of potential new Losers gets smaller over time. There may also be a learning curve to the contest. Hart didn't do particularly well her first two years, then she exploded. Several other Losers show a similar (if less dramatic) pattern. Still, the dearth of new regulars is not a good sign. The Style Invitational is like a vampire. It requires new blood to stay vital. So do your bit and get someone funny to enter the contest. But please, not too funny.
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