Another One (A)lights the Bust

 Another exciting year of the SeegerOlympics is behind us with Reese winning the 2023 contest with a final score of 4 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 0 - 0!  It was a nailbiter, coming down to the final day of the year with Joel's hopes of tying (or going ahead, depending on rules interpretations that we can thankfully ignore) evaporating as he pulled even with Reese's Competitive Wordle score total with one puzzle yet unsolved.  Here is how it all went down (and a hint at what's to come in 2024):

1. Basketball One-Shot Challenge (Jen) - The competition got off to a start with the first of the 8-Person (all competitors playing simultaneously) to be played taking place during Davin's Graduation Weekend (I know nothing can match the satisfaction of winning the Dick Koch Trophy, Davin, but in case I forgot to mention, congratulations on overcoming that whole high school thing...) at the Black Elk Elementary playground.  After Joel & Andy exhausted themselves during warm-ups, Tim sunk a gimme (I think, correct me if I'm mis-remembering) from inside the paint, which Reese immediately bettered from a foot or so further, which Davin, Brooke and Joel failed to beat, before Jen stepped up and nailed a shot from inside the circle (is it called the circle? I forget basketball terms) just in front of the free-throw line.  Claire missed a free-throw length shot, before Andy stupendously failed his braggadocios three-pointer attempt. (Don't worry, they won't all be this long!)

Jen 1 - 0 All Others

2. 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Pick-Em (Brooke) - An exciting upset with Brooke's strategy of "picking all 'S Countries'" paying off in the form of Spain winning the tournament, and Sweden finishing third place (no thanks to you, South Korea), and Brooke finishing just ahead of Reese, Tim and Jen in total points (the bonkers thing is that Tim would have shared the point {or also had a point, depending on that rules interpretation I mentioned earlier} had he not subbed out Sweden for Denmark after they got matched up vs. USA in the round of 16.  Reese also had a chance to win this event heading into the final had those Cheeky Lionesses pulled it out.

Jen & Brooke 1 - 0 All Others

3. Music League (Joel) - Trailblazing past our pace of the 2022 competition, we Seegers finished our 3rd event at the end of November, with Joel hitting the equivalent of Andy's last-ditch 3-Pointer in the form of "Peaches" by performed by Jack Black from the Super Mario Brother's movie in the "New Hotness" (songs that came out in that same year) final round edging past Jen, who had been in the lead for much of the year.

Jen, Brooke & Joel 1 - 0 All Others

4. Mini-Golf (Tim) - This event all but ended on December 15th with Tim rolled an 8 on a 20-sided die, selecting his 8th hole from the round on which he had scored a hole-in-one, but Joel held out hope of rolling a lucky 13 (the hole that he got a hole-in-one) when we were all together at the house in Clinton.  He failed to do so...

Jen, Brooke, Joel & Tim 1 - 0 All Others

5. Farkle (Brooke) - Mom & Papa nearly joined to make it a 10-Person Event (the precedent having been set in Music League with Dave T. & Mark C. joining, but they went to bed at the last minute, and Brooke took the point.

Brooke 2 - 1 Jen, Joel & Tim [0 All Others]

6. 8-Person War (Davin) - We immediately followed up Farkle with an 8-Person War event, thankfully lowering the amount of cards to 1/4 of a deck (rather than the half that was originally suggested), so the event came down to Davin & Reese battling out over 2 decks, and devising a speed version of the game (I think where they both showed and stacked winners into 2 piles).  Interestingly, because we played this in the New Room*, Brooke abandoned a small discard pile of some pretty powerful cards and eliminated herself from the event prematurely, accidentally.

Brooke 2 - 1 Most Others [0 Reese, Andy & Claire]

7. Sorry! Tournament (Reese) - Reese won her second point of the competition narrowly defeating Joel, Claire & Davin in the final round, after she and Claire cruised to victory in the first round over the summer beating Brooke & Tim.

Brooke 2 - 1 Most Others [0 Andy & Claire]

8. Random Arcade Console Game Tournament (Joel) - On the 28th of December, 7 Seegers headed to Vintage Vault Arcade in Mukwonago with 5 of them still eligible to win this point.  Davin defeated Claire in the first round at Q-Bert, and Joel moved on to the finals narrowly defeating Reese at Pole Position.  Davin joined him there with a win at Rampage: World Tour, and Joel narrowly won the point beating Davin at a terrible shooter called Target: Terror

Brooke & Joel 2 - 1 Most Others [0 Andy & Claire]

9. Strategy Board Game Tournament (Reese) - Reese wins in the final round, defeating Andy at Inside Moves (after Andy interestingly made the change from last year's same event that the same game could be randomly selected from the stack of 8...)

Brooke, Joel & Reese 2 - 1 Most Others [0 Andy & Claire]

10. Competitive Wordle (Reese) - Reese stormed into the lead surpassing Andy & Tim's combined score of 33 guesses at each of the other 7 competitor's Custom Wordles, landing at 32 total guesses!

Reese 3 - 2 Brooke & Joel [1/0 All Others] 

11. Throwing Cheeseballs in the air and catching the in your mouth (Reese) - That's what Tim named this event!  Reese went 10 for 10, securing the victory for the 2023 Competition!  

Reese 4
- 2 Brooke & Joel [1/0 All Others] 

Congratulations, Reese!, we'll need to get that etched in brass plating (I recommend Center Trophy)

... Tabled until next year were The Christmas Song Writing Competition (judges tbd), Tennis Tiebreakers (matchups tbd), Croquet, Casino Night, Trivial Pursuit Glory (8 of us being together tbd!), & Clinton Scotland Yard (exact mechanics and approval tbd), so the 2024 Competition is^ about to get under way!

*see "Anbau 1990" (a VHS Tape in the Seeger Collection)
^possibly