I am sorry to announce (as most already know) that I will not be in attendance for this year’s WSC.  This is the first time I have not been a participant in the Classic over the 8 year history of the event.  Please know that though I am absent in body from the Cook Elementary School tonight … I am with you all in heart.  My prediction for this year’s winner goes as follows:

Dani O’Shaughnessey - 26% chance of winning ( Dan, I love you and wish I could go higher, but I feel that you will be a target this year and the mob mentality will greatly hurt your chances.  Despite you being a target and the mob mentality, I still feel you have greater than a 1 out of 4 chance of winning)

Dave McClain - 17% chance of winning (Dave, I spoke earlier to the fact that I felt you would win this year and my gut still feels like that may be the case.  However, me giving you a higher percentage as this point would reverse the intended result of you winning, thus I must give you a conservative 17% simply because unintentionally, I believe, I may have placed too much attention on you and this will unfortunately have a negative effect on your chances of winning this year)

Chris Macklin - 12% chance of winning (Chris is always a solid competitor and this year will be no different.  I don’t believe Chris will win this year, but I do look for him to give the actual winner a run for their money)

James Elias - 6% chance of winning (James, please do not look at this as me not thinking you could win the WSC.  The fact is this … history and personal experience tell me that James is not “in it to win it” - a more accurate statement would be this … “James is in it for someone else to win it”.  James has traditionally and unselfishly played his game in such a way as to try to aid someone else in winning.  I think this year will be no exception as I believe Jamie will attempt to be a “teammate”, if you will, to another participant.

Daren Dale - 39% chance of winning - (Yes, that’s right, I believe this year Daren has the greatest chance of winning.  Why, you might ask?  Crazy, unpredictable, energetic, scrappy, tenacious, cautionless and crafty.  These words desribe Daren’s game.  I feel like he has everything going for him and he has nothing to lose.  My inside sources tell me that James is going to (once again) try to help Daren win this year.  Regardless of everyone’s knowledge of this - I think it will be difficult to stop the force of Daren Dale, especially if he has guys on the inside working for him. 

THESE ARE MY PREDICTIONS FOR THE WINTER SOLSTICE CLASSIC VIII.

These percentages are based soley on those who I knew were going to be in attendance.  If anyone else shows up it may alter my percentages by a margin of 1-3%, but I do believe the winner will be found in the group of guys mentioned above with Daren having the greatest chance.

 As I looked at these pictures today I was reminded how quickly a year can go by… the first thought that always hits me when I see a picture from a year ago or so is this:

Just like “that” a year has gone by and if I am like the average man I will only have about 75 of those “thats” … maybe more … but maybe less.

It is then that I remind myself to make each day count for eternity!