Baumgartner wins Bee Super Bowl Challenge
SANDPOINT — One of the fun things about running the annual Bee Super Bowl Challenge every year is finding out a little about the winner, why they picked how they picked, and this year was no exception.
Sandpoint’s Stephanie Baumgartner, a longtime participant in the contest, is $100 richer after submitting a perfect entry. Of the 81 people to enter the free contest, Baumgartner was the only one to correctly pick the Patriots 34-28 win over the Falcons, with Tom Brady as her choice for MVP.
There was a method to the madness for Baumgartner, a 53 year-old who works in the office at the Sandpoint Waldorf School, when she submitter her prediction for Super Bowl 51.
“I looked at the playoff stats,” described Baumgartner. “My decision was Tom Brady was cuter than the other guy. That was my scientific analysis.”
Baumgartner grew up a 49ers fan in California, and can still remember being in the town of Rocklin in the early 80s when the 49ers, led by the greatest quarterback of all time in Joe Montana (sorry Tom, deflategate, the Tuck rule and two recent Super Bowl gifts courtesy of the Seahawks and Falcons don’t quite cut it) would hold their training camp practices at Sierra College. She went to an occasional practice, and remembers seeing the players around town all the time.
Her love of the Niners is alive and well today, even through the current hard times.
“I am a Niner fan, born and raised,” said Baumgartner. “I haven’t had too much to cheer about lately, but I have faith.”
Like many who enter the Bee contest, she checked out the master list as the game was winding down, and once it went into overtime her prediction looked better and better. No matter which team you were pulling for, football fans were treated to a Super Bowl for the ages.
“That was a crazy game,” admitted Baumgartner, who plans to use her winnings to buy tickets to the upcoming Follies at the Panida. “I’ve been close before, I knew I’d win eventually.”
It felt like a Falcon win all game, with the sports editor at one point thinking his 39-19 prediction might end up winning the contest. Then momentum swung, and the Patriots erased a 25 point deficit, largely due to some atrocious late-game play calling by Falcons’ offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
When the dust had settled, Baumgartner was champ, edging Adam Hodges, who missed by one point, Bill Jones, who missed by three points, and Chris the Mailman, who missed by four points.
Alas, there is always next year, as longtime participant Bob Bash acknowledged in his always-colorful style in a post-event email.
“Close but no cigar,” he wrote in an email. “Thanks for letting me participate and I want you to know that next year I’m going to use a combination of a Ouija Board, random number tables, the writings of Solomon, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and whatever else I can pilfer from the experts to collect that 100 bucks!”
Thanks to everyone who took part, and better luck next year.