STRATEGERY*

Hey, Tiger Fans!!!  Congrats to Mike on his win in last week's matchup against the Air Force Bird!!! We fought a good fight, and because of our efforts, Mike has recently won 2 of his matchups, putting him in the #11 spot in this week's standings!!!! Way to GEAUX Tiger Fans!!!!

Don't let Mike's #11 ranking get you down. The last thing Mike needs is any of his loyal followers thinking "What's the point? He'll never catch up." It may seem hopeless that Mike is almost halfway down the 2nd half of the list, but if you take a closer look at all of the upcoming matchups, you'll see that a very interesting mascot season could be in store for us.  Stranger things have happened...Remember 2007, LSU football fans??  Missouri, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and an idle Ohio State??  Ring a bell??  BCS chaos due to upsets during championship weekend.  And in the end, WE WON THE WHOLE SHEBANG!!!   I'm off topic again, but my point is that sometimes you can be catapulted to the top by upsets elsewhere.

Up until now, I've been pushing text voting as often as possible in order to just simply rack up some votes, and hopefully get Mike some wins.  While the "text like crazy" plan has worked pretty well, it's time to start putting a little more thought into our votes. It's time get on the computer and vote for some mascots in other matchups. It's time for some STRATEGERY.  Let's open the LOCKBOX that holds the key to putting Mike closer to the top of the standings.

This week is where it gets interesting.  All of those mascots at the bottom of the rankings are about to start matching up against each other, meaning some of them are about to rack up a few wins.  And all of the heavy hitters at the top of the rankings....they too are about to be matched up against each other, leaving some of them with more losses.  For now, Mike is sitting pretty right near the middle.  I expect that he can pull out a win against Joe Bruin this week, and move up in the rankings because this week, at least 4 of the mascots ranked ahead of him WILL inevitably suffer a loss.  The true problem right now is that #1 Old Dominion, and #2 Paydirt Pete don't meet in the regular season, probably leaving them as the #1 and #2 seeds in the playoffs....but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Here are my picks for this week.  Hopefully, this voting method will maximize Mike's movement up the rankings:

1. Monte and the Duck - Don't vote on this one, Tiger Fans.  They are both ahead of Mike, and one of them will fall.  They both have a boatload of cumulative votes, and neither needs any voting help from us.  Leave this one alone.
2. Brutus and Paydirt Pete - same as above.
3. Smokey and Goldy - VOTE GOLDY ONLY IF HE'S LOSING TO SMOKEY.  This one is risky, but we need Smokey to lose.  Goldy has a tough schedule ahead of him, and this recommendation comes with the assumption that he will lose a few in the upcoming weeks. Although his win - loss record beats Mike's right now, Goldy has less cumulative votes than Mike.  Just don't vote too often for him.
4. Mr. C and Big Red - VOTE BIG RED ONLY IF HE'S LOSING TO MR. C AND ONLY IF HIS TALLY FOR THIS WEEK IS NOT OVER 4000 VOTES GREATER THAN MIKE'S  - we need Mr. C to lose, but Big Red has the same win - loss record as Mike, just a few less votes.  Again, don't vote too often for him.
5. Big Blue and Bearcat - Don't vote.  See 1 & 2 above.
6. Joe Vandal and Sebastian - Vote Sebastian.  He is behind Mike in both win - loss record and total votes.  We need Joe Vandal to lose. 
7. Mike and Joe Bruin - VOTE FOR MIKE!!!!!  No further explanation necessary.
8. Testudio and The Bird - The Bird is too close to Mike for comfort.  Plus, I like any school that has the gumption to use a turtle as their mascot.  Kudos to you, U of Maryland.

So, to sum things up, here is what your votes should look like:

Continue your text voting for Mike!!!  Text "Mike" to 69866.  It is the fastest way to rack up votes....but if you're sitting at your computer late at night feeling helpless because of the other mascots' standings, cast a few votes for other matchups.  Just not too many!!!!  Think of it as similar to how you rooted for South Carolina to beat 'Bama last weekend.

Good Luck, Mike!!!

www.capitalonebowl.com/vote/main

*For all you critics who don't watch SNL, and are thinking that LSU must not have given me a very good education due to my choice in the use of the word "strategery," you're wrong.  I just have a sense of humor.