And The Winner Is.... (Part II)

Below is the acceptance speech that I received from Jim Clark as the winner of this year's Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse. Enjoy! :)

I had a dream!
By Jim Clark (NCAA GURU)
April 4, 2012

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration of NCAA basketball prognostication in the history of our nation and the Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse.

Several weeks ago, a great American named Dave Parsons, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, sent out an email with an invitation to join the Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to many who had been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to avoid the flames of withering injustice and to correctly pick the 2012 NCAA Tournament Champion. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long nights of our captivity.

But many years later, there are many who still have not won the big prize. Many years later, the life of many in our group is still sadly crippled by the manacles of improper selections and the chains of poor decision-making. Many years later, there are Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse members living on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity which includes ownership of the Outback Steakhouse Gift Card. Many years later, Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse members are still languishing in the corners of American society and finding themselves an exile in their own land of misfortune. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to cash a check (or claim an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card). When the architects of our Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest wrote the magnificent words - “please join my group”, they were signing a promissory note to which every one of us was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men and a few women, yes, men as well as women, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card.

But there is something that I must say to you my friends who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining your rightful place you must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have never, ever come close to winning the Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for greatness left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of ridicule.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I had a dream. It was a dream deeply rooted in the quest for greatness as well as humility.

I had a dream that one day I would rise up again and live out the true meaning of the creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men (and women) are not created equal when it comes to predicting basketball games."

I had a dream that my three little granddaughters will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by whether their Grandpa won the Six Degrees of MVNUSID Bracket Contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to my office with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of the Six Degrees of MVNUSID into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and sisterhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that one day maybe each and every one of us would be privileged to redeem an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

Let freedom ring from the rolling hills of the village of Cedarville!

Let freedom ring from Mount Vernon Nazarene to Cedarville University!

Let freedom ring from every Outback Steakhouse in the USA!

Let freedom ring from everyone eating a delicious Bloomin’ Onion.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of us as God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "I have won an Outback Steakhouse Gif Card, I have won an Outback Steakhouse Gift Card! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I am free at last!"

And The Winner Is...

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of this year's Six Degrees of MVNUSID bracket contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse is Jim Clark.

Jim, who is the assistant sports information director at Cedarville University, made his move after the Elite Eight round. George Hartz maintained his lead heading into the Final Four as he was one of 12 of the 69 entrants in my contest to pick three of the final four teams in the field correctly. He held a 950-920 lead over both Troy Current and Chris Bean at that point with Troy joining him in picking Ohio State to win it all and Chris having had his predicted champion, Duke, eliminated back in the first round. For his performance, George earned the coveted Bloomin' Onion card for that round.

In the Final Four, Jim joined eight other participants in correctly picking Kentucky and Kansas to advance to the national championship game as he claimed the Bloomin' Onion card for the round. At that point, it came down to who would win the championship game to see who would take home the grand prize.

In the title contest, Kentucky prevailed to give Jim the title, bragging rights, and the $45 voucher that Outback Steakhouse so generously donated. (Yes, originally, it was supposed to be $25, but they are so cool that they upped the ante.) I'm also throwing in a Bloomin' Onion card for runner-up, Jay Stancil, who only entered because Outback was involved, and I drew one more name from among the people who correctly picked Kentucky as the champion and that Bloomin' Onion card goes to Amanda Rykoff.

And for those wondering how bad my wife, Carla, beat me this year...she finished 12th out of 69 people with 1290 points, while I was a distant 22nd with 1200 points.

A big thank you to Outback for sponsoring the prizes for this year's contest. It would be great if you each took the time to follow them on Twitter and dropped them a note. Also, thanks to everyone who played along as this was the biggest field of participants yet. Here's hoping that even more people will join in on the March Madness next year.

Anything is Possible...Just Ask Debbie Gibson

OK, by now, those of you who follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or this blog are hopefully figuring out how much fun you can have connecting with just about anyone these days thanks to social media. From my first days on Twitter when I had a close encounter with Conan O'Brien to the amazing birthday surprise that Outback Steakhouse threw me virtually for my 40th birthday, I have experienced firsthand that anything really is possible.

Two weeks ago while traveling to Florida with the Mount Vernon Nazarene University baseball team to cover their annual spring trip, I had the opportunity one night to meet up with Dan Holm and Becky Maree, the two people who manage the Twitter and Facebook accounts for Outback. We met up fittingly at the Outback by the hotel I was staying at in Lakeland and spent the next couple hours chatting about all things Outback. It was fun to finally meet them in person, to hear what all is involved in their jobs, to find out what went on behind the scenes when they did my birthday surprise, and to even get to visit the kitchen of the Outback we were at and watch Bloomin' Onions be made. They are great people and they have been so kind to me.

As part of our conversation that night, I told them that the only thing missing from the whole 40th birthday surprise celebration was the fact that I had not been able to connect with Debbie Gibson, the 80's pop singer and then Broadway star who is now on this season's Celebrity Apprentice, to get her involved. I really felt like if she read the story that she would jump on board, but with over 56,000 followers on Twitter and a busy schedule I knew that she could easily miss my tweet about it. I did say that if Outback sent a tweet that maybe that would help her notice it.

Well, little did I know that Becky took that comment and ran with it as she tweeted Debbie from the Outback account. By the time I got back to my hotel room less than half an hour later, I started seeing messages that got me excited as I realized that Debbie was now paying attention. In fact, before I knew it, she was following me on Twitter and now I knew that I had a chance to pull this off!

Debbie and I exchanged a few direct messages as I worked out the details of getting a mailing address to send her Outback Surprise to her. She had me mail it to her PR firm in Beverly Hills, so that she could pick it up the day that she filmed the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I decided to make a brief video for her to give her instructions just as Outback had done for me when this started. I also included five extra Bloomin' Onion gift cards with the package so she could enjoy giving things away just like I had. I mailed the package off and waited to see what would happen.

Well, fast forward one week. I'm checking my e-mail this morning and a message pops up from her PR person. Inside is the link to this video:


OK, needless to say, I was speechless! I mean...I've been a fan of Debbie's for over 20 years and to have her collaborate with me on a project like this is just beyond cool. To top it all off, it probably comes during one of her busiest weeks as she's on a whirlwind PR tour that has included the Tonight Show, the Today Show, and various other shows.

Thanks Debbie and Outback for making all of this possible! You guys sure know how to help a guy celebrate his birthday!

Bloomin' Winners in the Bracket Contest

Well, NCAA March Madness is heating up as the Elite Eight games started today with half of the Final Four field determined. I've been on the road with our baseball team for most of the past two weeks and it's time to catch everyone up on what's been happening in the Six Degress of MVNUSID bracket contest sponsored by Outback Steakhouse.

The first day of action a week ago Thursday in the round of 64 saw a lot of people do extremely well as there were 11 of the 69 entrants tied after the day ended with 14 correct out of 16 games for 140 total points. I selected Adam Jackman as the Bloomin' Onion card winner out of the group that was tied since he went the longest without missing a game as he correctly picked the first 11 games before missing one. Ironically, Adam informed me that this was the first time he has ever entered a March Madness contest.

The second day of action saw the upsets begin to happen and that also led to a new leader atop the contest standings. Eric Smith claimed the second day Bloomin' Onion card after not only picking 13 of the 16 games correctly, but also taking over the contest lead in the process with 260 points total to edge Adam for the top spot as the round came to a close.

As the action moved to the round of 32, two entries rose to the top - Jace Wolford and George Hartz, who both correctly picked 13 of the 16 games for 260 points. George vaulted to the top of the contest leaderboard with 500 total points, while Jace made up for a sluggish first round (190 points) to jump into fourth place with 450 total points. I selected Jace as the Bloomin' Onion card winner based on the fact that he bounced back so well from his slow start. As a runner, he knows well that it's not how fast you start but how strong you finish.

The Sweet Sixteen saw 11 of the 69 contest entrants correctly pick six of the eight teams to advance as they each scored 240 points in the round. George stayed atop the leaderboard with 610 points followed closely by Chris Bean as they were two of the 11 people to correctly pick six of the eight winners. I selected Chris as the Bloomin' Onion card winner in exchange for the fact that he was the only one out of the 11 who has already lost his pick to win the entire tournament - Duke. Hopefully, the solace of a Bloomin' Onion will mask the pain of losing your champion, Chris. :)

That sets the stage for the Elite Eight which got under way on Saturday with Louisville and Ohio State both advancing. 15 of the entrants have now lost their predicted champion, and Kentucky reigns as the team picked the most to win it all - 30 times or by nearly half of the entrants. We'll see how the rest of this plays out and whether or not George can hang on to win the coveted Outback Steakhouse grand prize - a free dinner and bragging rights! (George's bracket is below.)


On a side note...it's now official. After a rare victory over my wife in last year's contest, she has already locked up the title in our house in this year's contest as we both have all the same picks remaining and she's got a huge lead on me. That mean's that she has prevailed in 11 of the last 20 years since we started competing against each other. Congratulations, Carla!

March Madness is Back!!!

It's that time of year once again for the annual Six Degrees of MVNUSID men's college basketball March Madness bracket contest. Two years ago, my wife, Carla Parsons, won the inaugural event, and last year Steve Wilging beat out 67 other entrants to claim his championship.

March Madness is a great time of year for college hoops junkies and even the casual fan. One of the best ways to follow the action is to fill out a bracket and then root for your picks to advance. Go the safe route and pick all the higher seeds or be the one person to take an underdog Cinderella team to the big dance. Either way, it's lots of fun to participate and bragging rights as well as some good food in this case are up for grabs.

That's where my contest comes in. For the third straight year, my contest is free to enter so there is no excuse not to get on board. The overall winner will receive a $25 gift certificate courtesy of my friends at Outback Steakhouse. And, they have been gracious enough to throw in free Bloomin' Onion cards for the winner of each round, too. So, the steaks (er...stakes) are high and you need to sign up today!!!

To enter, just follow this link to the private group that I have set up for my friends on ESPN's site. The group name is 6 Degrees of MVNUSID if you need to search for it and the password is Bonzer - well, 'cause that's what Outback is. (If you need the back story on my history with Outback, you can read it here. I would also encourage you to follow them on Twitter at @Outback.)

I'll look forward to having you join in on the fun. Your entry (only one per person) must be submitted before the first game tips off on Thursday around noon ET. The First Four games (played in Dayton on Tuesday and Wednesday) are not picked in this contest.

Outback Surprise Comes Full Circle

Those of you who know me very well know that eating good food is one of my passions and that Outback Steakhouse ranks at the top of my list of places to eat. Most of you who are familiar with this blog probably also remember how Outback shocked me with a package full of "Outback Surprises" for me and 40 of my friends on my 40th birthday back in November. As you can see in that recap, I had fun distributing the prizes to various people and even making some new friends like Mount Vernon mayor Richard Mavis and Jack Hanna of the Columbus Zoo along the way.

Well, it took a little bit of detective work and then some patience, but I was able to get the Outback Surprise concept to go full circle much to the surprise and delight of the social media folks at Outback. When they sent me the box, the only directions they provided were to watch the video on the flash drive that was enclosed. It was highlights from Lucas Jatoba's 30th birthday in Australia when he wrapped up 30 presents and gave them to random people. It's basically what inspired Outback's birthday idea for me. Outback didn't ask me to do anything else...they left it up to me as to what I would do with all the wrapped presents.

That's where I feel like Outback made a great choice in choosing me. I saw this as an opportunity to once again prove the power of social media and especially Twitter to others. I tracked down Lucas and got him to follow me on Twitter. He was kind enough to give me his mailing address after reading my initial blog, and I shipped him one of the surprises with the only requirement that he film himself opening it so I could include him among my videos. The biggest catch was that once the package got to Australia he was out of the country until the beginning of February. However, once he returned home, he was quick to hold up his end of the bargain and you can see the video below:


Once again, I have to say a huge thanks to the folks at Outback who have made me feel like part of their immediate family. If you aren't following them on Twitter (@Outback), you need to because they interact with everyone in a very personable way. Just tell them that @MVNUSID sent you and they'll take good care of you.

Oh, and one final note...If you have been counting the Outback Surprise giveaways (and I know that some of you were), you'll probably point out to me that I only gave out 39 of them. That is correct. While the hope was that Lucas was going to get the 40th one, I still have one that has yet to be delivered. And, with my wife rolling her eyes as I type this, it's got Debbie Gibson's name on it. :) Yes, being a fan of 80's music, I'm a big Debbie Gibson fan and I thought she would be a fun person to try to get involved with this 40th birthday fun.

So, Debbie, help me finish off this project and take a quick break from your Celebrity Apprentice duties to be a part of what has been a pretty entertaining adventure for me. Everyone around me tells me that I won't get you to do it AND I've also had to explain to a lot of people 25 and younger who you are. However, I have a feeling that you'll come through for one of your fans 'cause that's just the kind of person you are. I know this request is "Out of the Blue", but help me show people that "Anything is Possible". Thanks in advance, Debbie! :)

Groundhog Day - A Chance for a Do-Over

One of my favorite movies from the early 90's is Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray. If you have never seen it, here's a link to the trailer. A brief synopsis is that it's about a weatherman who keeps re-living Groundhog Day over and over and over again. Once he figures out that he's stuck in what seems like a never-ending time loop, he starts to work towards having a perfect day. He gets to use trial and error to keep finding combinations that work in his favor in the encounters that he continues to have over and over once the day resets for him.

When it comes to New Year's resolutions, everyone has the best of intentions to keep them going throughout the entire year. However, plenty of studies have shown that life happens, excuses start to be made, and pretty soon a majority of those positive changes have been discarded along the wayside and given up for lost well before they even become habits and party of our daily routine.

There are several ways to successfully keep your New Year's resolutions. First, they should be challenging but also attainable. If there is no way that you can succeed or even get through the first couple of days, it will be a lot easier to give up on them. However, if you set goals that you can reach and that can be measured or monitored daily or at least weekly, you have a big sense of satisfaction that you have accomplished it as you do it. For example, my goal/resolution for 2012 is to do 100 pushups and situps each day. For some, this might be easy and for others it might seem impossible. It's been a challenge for me as I wasn't doing any prior to attempting this, but it has gotten easier as my body has gotten used to it. It's already becoming part of my morning routine and that's where being able to daily check it off my mental to-do list is helping me strive towards my goal.

Another way to successfully reach your goal or keep your resolution is to be accountable to someone about doing this. Every day, I post on Daily Mile after I've done my workout and the people who follow me on the site help encourage and hold me accountable to keep doing it. This adds powerful positive reinforcement to what I am trying to do.

Finally, don't beat yourself up if you have an occasional slip up along the way. For me, I know that there will come a day when my schedule makes it tough to find the 15-20 minutes I need to get my workout done. My body also might not feel like doing this some day, especially since I have a couple of marathons on the docket and you tend to be pretty sore and stiff after running one. However, I know that this daily choice has already benefited me and I want to keep it going.

So, in honor of February 2nd being Groundhog Day, let's give those New Year's resolutions a do-over if you have slipped up or if you forgot to come up with any. And, if you are doing great, give yourself a big pat on the back and keep doing what you are doing. I would love to hear what your resolution or goal is for this year and by posting a comment you are taking the first step to being held accountable to reaching your goal. Whether the groundhog sees its shadow or not, this is one prognostication we can all help each other do! Hopefully, we'll all be celebrating all the great progress we've made when February 29th rolls around and we celebrate Leap Day by jumping for joy. :)