And the winner is...

Craig Emmert. After 4+ hours of Tecmo strategy, fun, throwing of controllers, food and really bad weather, Craig made it through the Tecmo Madness.

A few stats:
There were 15 people in the tourney, ages ranging from 9 to 33?

When each person arrived, they took a number (seed) out of the cool whip dish. Yes, the cool whip was all gone. So, 15 people meant one person got the bye...Craig.

For the night, Craig only had to play 4 games to take home the Championship trophy...Bobblehead. Craig finished 4-0.

On the other hand, Brad Speirs, 2nd place, had to play 8 games before he lost in the championship.

Host Nathan Haag, 4th place, had to play 6 games. He was knocked out by Brad Speirs:
49ers: 24
Oilers: 21

Biggest upset(s): 16th seed and 9 year old Tyler Brandel knocked off the #1 seed after coming back from being down two TD's. Tyler was the Giants. Following the win, Tyler then knocked off Nathan Haag, 22-21 on a 30-yard FG to win the game as time expired. By the way, Tyler made the Giants look like the 49ers passing offense:
Giants: 22
Bengals: 21

Other notables: Jason Pierce, O-G football coach, 3rd place.
Nathan Fritz: 1-2
Aaron Barrigar and Kevin Schott: 0-2

Teams used the most: 49ers, Oilers, Chiefs, Eagles/Giants/Bengals.
Yes, someone used the Lions. That's right, the Chiefs. In fact, the Chiefs were involved in the first 4 games played. I think the Chiefs were 0-4. I can't remember, they might have gotten a win.

I told Fritz on Wednesday I'd be happy if I finished in the top 5. However, the next night I "scrimmaged" Jason Pierce 4 times and won all 4 games, 3 of them using the 2nd player controller. Prior to that point, I had never beaten Jason and he was my pre-tournament pick to win it all. Side note, back at Christmas break, Jason whooped me 3 games in a row. So, after beating Jason Thursday night 4-0, I thought I had a better chance than Top 5 finish.

So yes, the 9-year old, comes to my house and beats me. Shows up the host. Now that just isn't Tecmo etiquette. However, in hind sight, it was the best thing that could happen. Tyler then had to play Jason Pierce (loss #1) then played Brad Spiers (loss #2). So, had I beat Tyler, I would probably been finished by Jason and Brad as well.

My biased opinion: This tourament was sweet. We even had a guy bring his own pool stick...check that, sticks. A "breaking" stick and the "regular" stick. He plays in a Bay City pool league, so he's pretty good. I didn't get to see him play though, too busy making sure the Tourney finished by 1 a.m. You know how in March madness every 5 minutes there is a game just about to end and it comes down to the wire or has an incredible finish? And then the TV station breaks into the next game about to finish, and then when that game finishes there is another game ready to end with both teams close? Are you picturing it? Like at a sports bar/restaurant, there are 4 tv's with a different NCAA game on each one so you can see all of them have great finishes? Well, that is exactly what the Tecmo Tourney was like. We had 3 rooms with a TV in each room with a Tecmo game being played. Even better was the fact all the games were staggered, so you could go into each room and see them all end individually. You never had to miss a finish. Every time you went into a room another game was coming down to a tight finish. And then boom, go into the next room for another one. Incredible!

See you in 2007!