New Pool Website

Lee's American Idol Pool has a new website. Same awesome stuff (including all the old posts), new address. Check out www.leesidolpool.com.

Is anyone out there?

Has anyone watched this season of American Idol yet? Well I haven't, and frankly, I don't care to watch until there's only like 20 people left. I would argue that the show doesn't get good until at least then, and maybe not even until the Top 10. Apparently there's a new juuuuddddgeee. Whatever. I'm not down on AI, I swear. I just wish it wasn't so long. The results show last year wasn't until the end of May! May!!! It's January now. There aren't many things that can hold my interest for 5+ months, and Idol certainly isn't one of them. I want to save all my witty commentary until it matters. Stay tuned.

2009 Pool Coming Soon!

Stay tuned for details. Tell your friends and family.

COOK

Yup, turns out it's David Cook. I normally sing the praises of TiVo, but this time the old girl let me down. Forget to extend a live recording once, shame on me. Forget to extend a live recording twice, shame on TiVo. Should have figured this one out on it's own. The blogosphere is going to be buzzing tonight. Oh well. On to the show.

Pretty good finale show. Lots of good performances. I thought this one was pretty funny:



Thought the best duet was Carly and Michael Johns. She should have finished much higher, and he's not too bad either. There were a few people I forgot about in the Top 12. David Hernandez, Amanda Ugly, and Ramielle. Could have done without ever seeing them again. David Hernandez reminds me of these dudes:


Want to make sure I touch on everyone here. George Michael, George Michael Bluth and Boy George. I always get them confused.



Brooke is really just a terrible dancer. She gives Elaine a run for her money.



Chikeze is still the man. Definitely didn't have the stuff to go the distance, and I'm not sure he would have made it this far in any other season, but I like him, and Elyssa likes him, so that's all that really matters. Kristy Lee Cook. What can be said? She's hot, not a great singer, and clearly got by on her middle America / hot chick thing. However! Compare her to Carrie Underwood, and really there isn't any comparison. Carrie is also the hot, middle America girl, except she's really hot, can really sing, and wears coats as shirts. Amen to that.



Syesha was pretty good. I still think she's more of a middle of the pack girl. She did bring her stuff at the end, but I would have swapped Carly for her. I think that would have been a better fit. But, I've shared what doomed Carly in an earlier post. And finally Jason Castro. Dude. I'd probably try to illegally download his album. I don't think I'd go out of my way to buy it, but if it happened to come across my desktop, well, who am I to turn it down.

Finally, on to David 1 and David 2. While watching the show tonight, prior to being told who won, I was thinking that David Cook CLEARLY was the better of the two. Every time they sang, Cook was just that much better. David A is good, real good, but I think he'll be a bigger hit with the teenie bopper girls and the Josh Groban crowd. Who know who you are (stegold)! Well, 12 million more people voted for David Cook than David A. Suck it David A's dad. It annoyed me that he wore a hat every night. You know you're going to be on TV in front of 50 million people. Lose the hat.

With that I leave you with the results and a pool recap.

Pool Top 10:
1. Koretz, Elyssa
2. Whitney, Jeff
3. Gelles, Jess
4. Gelles, Gelles
5. Whitney, Merrie
6. Lewitt, Mike
7. Greenstein, Barry
8. Koretz, Ellen
9. Kaufman, Lesley
10. Gold, Ste

Pool Bottom 10:

36. Bornstein, Ruth
37. Reiff, Emily
38. Hulbert, Katie
39. Grosser, Jeff
40. Canlas, Joel
40. Schneider, Marcia
42. Sandler, Elaine
43. Green, Lynn
44. Schneider, Amy
45. Gold, Judy

As an interesting side note, 40% of the Bottom 10 are my blood relatives. 0% of the Top 10. That's some good genetics. Also, nice job by Amy putting David Cook in 12th place. That worked out.

Thanks to everyone for participating in the pool this year. I had a lot of fun writing the blog. Stay tuned for the 2009 American Idol pool. Tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers, cell mates, whomever!

And I almost forgot! Congratulations to Elyssa and Jeff Whitney! Well done. Jeff, I'll have your winnings ready for you. Elyssa, I already spent yours. Sorry.

SON OF A BITCH!!!!!

AND THE WINNER IS DAVID.......

DELETE NOW
KEEP THIS RECORDING

CLEARLY GOD ISN'T AN AMERICAN IDOL FAN. THERE IS NO OTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATION AS TO HOW THE HELL TIVO MANAGED TO STOP RECORDING AT THE EXACT MOMENT AFTER SEACREST SAYS DAVID. IMPOSSIBLE. TIVO COULD RECORD A BILLION GILLION SHOWS AND NEVER MISS A SECOND. AMERICAN IDOL FINALE? BOOM!!! CUTS THAT SHIT OFF. FORTUNATELY STEGOLD HAD THE FORESIGHT TO EXTEND 5 MINUTES AND TELL ME WHO WON. AMAZING. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF HE TOLD ME THE TRUTH. FOR ALL I KNOW THEY BOTH DROPPED DEAD AND SYESHA ENDED UP WINNING. UNBELIEVABLE. I'LL HAVE MORE TO SAY WHEN I CALM DOWN.

Finale Recap and Prediction

So the Finale last night wasn't that great. It's really a toss up. Last week I was convinced that the producers were against Archuletta. This week, it seemed to be the exact oposite. The judges were basically giving the thing to Archulleta from the start. At one point, I think I saw Paula reach out and smack his ass.


My prediction:
David Archuletta wins
Total of 72.5 million votes

For a great recap of last night, check this out: Did David Cook Cost Me The Championship Last Night?

Couldn't agree more. Bad song choice for Cook. He did himself in. Who knows, maybe there's more value in coming in second place. (Justin Guarini, Clay Aiken, Diana DeGarmo, Bo Bice, Katharine McPhee, Blake Lewis

It's gonna be a humdinger!

I just watched the results. Didn't actually watch the show, pulled the old TiVo move. I don't really like the results show. They tend to be 59 minutes of filler, and 1 minute of drama. I don't think it's a surprise who got the boot this week. Everyone wanted a David showdown, even the producers, as evidenced by the songs they chose for the singers. For a minute I actually thought that the producers wanted to see a David Cook / Syesha final. Archuletta's song choice was so poor, when he goes to KFC, he has to lick other people's fingers! (or, if you wish, insert your own "so poor" joke). Anyway, I don't have much more to say. Elyssa can't lose, so it looks to be a fierce battle for second place.

Here are the two possible remaining scenarios:

Win: David Cook
Place: David Archuletta
Odds: 1 to 4 (coincidentally the same odds as Big Brown winning the Preakness)
Pool Winner: Elyssa
Pool Place: Jeff Whitney

Win: David Archuletta
Place: David Cook
Odds: 7 to 5 (was going to make a poor taste Eight Belles joke here)
Pool Winner: Elyssa
Pool Place: Jess Gelles

So get your Team Jess or Team Jeff shirts!

Get your results here!

Jason Shot Mr. Tamborine Man

Where to start. There's a lot to go through this week. Let's start at the top:


1) The performances last night were bigger hack jobs than Zaza Pachulia hacking KG. Oh, that was last week? Zaza is watching the rest of the playoffs in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR? Oh, sorry, didn't get that memo. At least that Jason's hack job worked better than Zaza's. What's that you say? It didn't? They both were sent packing and are at home watching their respective competitions on TV? Oh.

2) There were some large swings in the pool this week. Laura dropping 14 spots? Wow. Eric trying for a last lap pass, gaining 1o spots. Too little too late. Gelles and Barry both dropping out of the Top 5. Jack Bauer is still the man.

3) Allergy season is in full swing here in Boston. Not a big deal, as long as you can take Claritin or some other form of allergy drug. Apparently the chick at Walgreens thinks I'm going to take my much needed Claritin and turn it into Crystal Meth. She would only sell me a 15 pack, and told me that was all I could buy for the month. Last I checked, there were at least 30 days in May. 30 days - 15 Claritin = 15 days were I may actually have to take Crystal Meth to prevent myself from sneezing all day and scratching my eyes out. I believe that's the transitive property. If Claritin can be substituted for Crystal Meth, Crystal Meth can be substituted for Claritin. If you know any Meth dealers, please have them email me.

4) Most of you probably think I hang around Elyssa for her intelligence, humor, or smoking hot body. You are all wrong. It's for her American Idol skills. If only Jess Gelles had given Syesha more of a fighting chance. This is turning into a blowout. It's like Tiger Woods circa 1999-2001. Everyone was just playing for second place, and they all knew it and accepted it.

Results are here!

Redemption

After my blunder last week with predicting the results, I was determined to nail it this week. Well, as it turns out, if I apply myself, I can succeed. If only I applied myself like this in real life, I could be a billionaire running this lousy Idol pool from the comfort of my yacht. Unfortunately, I'm not, and I'm still running this lousy Idol pool, and the closest thing I have to a yacht is a 1 year subscription to Yachting Magazine. Sometimes they print the mailing label askew and it looks like my name is on the back of the yacht on the cover. Good times indeed.


See my post from yesterday for who got the boot.

Pool results here!
Since Elyssa is back in the US, she regains her numero uno spot.

Bleachers Do It Better

When you can find a better version of Sweet Caroline in the bleachers at Fenway, you might be in trouble. That being said, I think the bottom 2 are Brooke and Syesha. And I think FINALLY Brooke is gone.


This one is boring, and left me wanting more:



There's just so much more emotion here, and you didn't hear David A. give a sick "YOOOOUUUUUKKKKK" yell at the end of his performance:

Always suspect the husband first

In every great murder mystery, you ALWAYS suspect the husband had something to do with it. American Idol is no different. For the first 2 months of the show, whenever Carly's husband was on camera, it was from afar, with dim lighting, not for more than 1/1000 of a second. Carly sails through each week, and looks like a clear Top 3 contestant.

HOWEVER (!!!!), last night, they had a full on shot of the husband, well lit, for all of America to see. And do you know what happened next? The public blew my predictions out of the water, threw Syesha and Carly in the bottom 2, and sent Carly packing back to the land of Guinness and leprechauns. Oh well.


Since Elyssa is out of the country, we have a slight rules infraction.

The rules of the pool clearly state in section 72, line 14, paragraph A: "A pool participant must be in the US in order to be rightfully entitled to hold first place. Should a pool participant be out of the US when he/she attains first place status, the place will be awarded to the person next in the standings. Should that person be out of the US, the first place status will be awarded down the standings, until someone in the US holds the position."

As such, congratulations to Jeff Whitney, who currently holds First Place.

Get your results here!

Pre-Results Show Results Predictions

Bottom 3 in no particular order:
Brooke
Jason
Carly

Top 3 in no particular order:
David squared
Syesha





Brooke goes home. Her start-stop-start shit isn't going to fly here. Maybe in a third-world country, but not in the good old US of A. We want things done right the first time, like the war in Iraq. Zing!

Non-Live Idol Blog

9:59: 1st and 2nd, 1 down, top of the 6th. Tek at bat.

10:00: Pause the game

10:01: Menu button, Menu button, American Idol, Play

10:01: Tivo warp speed Fast Forward

10:02: Elliott Yamin performs. Not bad. He looks like Boris Said.

10:05: David A sits on the stage like he's at an elementary school assembly.

10:06: David A, David C, Carly, Jason are safe

10:06: Syesha is safe

10:07: Brooke is safe

10:07: Kristy Lee Cook finally goes home to her horse

10:08: 1st and 2nd, 1 down, top of the 6th. Tek at bat. Ah, the joys of TiVo.


Get your results here! Quick shout to Jess Gelles. No relation to Andrew Gelles.

Bracket Buster

Shit. If that's not an upset, I don't know what is. Kansas over Memphis, not even close to this. I personally had him finishing first. In retrospect, I might not have gone with that. However, how can Syesha and Kristy Lee still be in and Michael Johns is not? Was it the two first names that brought him down? And I was going to give to Idol Gives Back, but since I just wiped myself out of the pool, all the money I had counted on donating seems to be no longer available to me. Britney allegedly gave $25k last night. One dollar for each time her crotch has appeared on the Internet in the past year. Also, I think her and Paula are friends.

Results here!


Yes, I am aware that both Kansas and Memphis were #1 seeds. However, if you saw how Memphis blew the end of the game (and cost me a 4th place finish in my pool), you'd have to consider the Kansas win an upset.

Idol Accounting Scandal

I'm not going to name names, but it was brought to my attention by a family member that another family member had two #4 picks. My mistake. It's been corrected, and had no impact on the results. As soon as PriceWaterhouse is done auditing the Oscars, they'll make their way over to this pool. Stay tuned.

In other news, check out this blog --> http://greenmomday.blogspot.com/

Miley on Idol this week. Awesome. Perhaps her best friend Lesley will be with her.

Week 4, Manny being Manny, Gelles being Gelles

Gelles is still the best, yada yada yada. His day of reckoning will come. I'm sick of writing about Gelles. We need someone else to step up and dethrone him.

Finally, the pool got one right. We had Ramielle finishing 9th, she finished 9th. Well done.

Our Top 10 pool contestants:

Rank Name Points
1 Gelles, Gelles 4
2 Parad, Joy 8
3 Gelles, Jess 11
4 Whitney, Jeff 12
5 Greenstein, Barry 18
6 Koretz, Elyssa 20
7 Lewitt, Mike 21
8 Schneider, Paul 22
9 Schneider, Lee 23
10 Ciarelli, Eric 24

Results here!

Syesha <> Whitney

Every year it's the same thing. Every year! One contestant decides "Hey, I'm hot shit, I'm going to sing that Whitney song that everyone knows only as 'That Whitney Song'" And guess what? It never works. Ever. I was sitting on the couch with Elyssa watching the show tonight, and along comes Syesha, singing to Dolly, dreaming of being Whitney. I tell Elyssa that guaranteed, one, if not all, of the judges are going to tell her she shouldn't have tried to sing a Whitney song. Let's take a look at the responses...

Randy: "Alright yo, check it out yo. You took on the biggest tiger of the night...it's still hard for me to hear anybody else sing that song."

Paula: "That color looks great on you."

Simon: "This is one of the best pop songs ever written, and I almost wish you hadn't got it in a strange way. The first part was ok, the second part paled in comparison to the Whitney version."

I think I've made my point. Good day.

Week 3 Results

GELLES! GELLES! GELLES! The kid continues to dominate. The last time this guy was so dominant was in Co-Ed Jewish Softball. Only that ended with a broken hand, shattered pride, and permanent water boy duty. Oh well, hopefully this turns out better.

Chikezie Eze got the boot. No idea how Ramiele survived. Not even the bottom 3. I was dumbfounded. A quick Google for Chikezie returned this image. Not the Chikezie I was looking for.



UPDATE! Results spreadsheet in your email or here!

Weeks 1 & 2 Recap

Two weeks have passed, and I honestly can't even remember who the first two people voted off were. Obviously they sucked.

Upon further research, it turns out David Hernandez got the boot first. Followed by that freaky looking chick Amanda. Who knew?

Anyway, weeks 1 & 2 were totally owned by Gelles. Good for him. The little guy could use a victory.

This......is AMERICAN IDOL

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