Ticket Winner and Explanation

Well, yesterday's vote really spun out of control.  Originally my plan was to just pick someone, based upon their FanPost, as the winner.  However, I thought the vote would be a fun idea.  Contestants could watch the totals change, talk trash in the comments and even try to bring some of their Charger-fan friends to the site to vote for this.  However, the one thing that I wasn't thinking about was how the system could be screwed with.  Since voting on the poll does not require you to be a member, some ballot-stuffing could happen.  You could go re-vote on every computer you can find, or you could simply reset your cookies and continue to vote for yourself.  I'm not saying this happened, but it may have and there was a good amount of people that suspected it.

Last night I received more e-mails from readers of BFTB than any night previous.  Readers and contestants alike were concerned about how this loophole in the voting process could be used to fradulently win the vote.  I tried everything I could to get information on the voters: who were they?  where were they coming from?  how were they getting to the site?  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to dig up much.  So....we're going to pretend that vote never happened and we're going to go back to the original system.  I will choose the winner.  After the jump, your winner.

The reason I went with the vote was mainly because I didn't want to upset the readers.  I wanted you guys to get the winner that you wanted, but obviously a vote was not a way to find out who you wanted.  Considering only one FanPost got more than 1 Rec and also was the FanPost with the most comments, your winner is....Clip Show.

Yes, the choice was someone based upon the fact that Clip Show has been here for a while.  It was also based upon how much the readers liked him, his well-put-together FanPost and his commenting skills.  The parka helped too.

There's some good news involved though.  As I hinted at earlier, this is not the last time a contest like this will happen.  Surely, this is about as disorganized as it will get, but there will be others....possibly even this year and possibly for a Chargers home game.  So if you're new now, by time these other contests come around you should have proven yourself as a long-tenured, valuable asset to the BFTB community.  This will help you defeat any new guys coming in just for tickets in the future.

Some more good news for you guys, Clip Show is no longer eligible to win any BFTB contests until after the 2009 season.

I was planning on ranking the other contestants, but in the last couple of days you guys have all matched each other.  Figboot, GABOLT, Buck Melanoma and even NY#1BOLTFAN....you guys are welcome parts of the community and I wish you luck in future contests.  You'll be difficult opponents for anyone to beat.

Once again I'm sorry for the confusion.  It was a simple lack of planning on my part.  To make it up to you guys, I'm offering up an X's and O's column on either Friday or Saturday.  An in-depth video analysis, including screen shots to back up my points, on any player you choose.  Right now I'm leaning towards Sproles, Phillips or Cooper, but it's no longer up to me.  No, we're not doing another poll.  You tell me in the comments who you want to see an X's and O's on.  The only people that are ineligible are ones that I've done already (Clary, Weddle, Hart) and rookies.  Have at it.

Do you have any thoughts about Bolts From The Blue?  Any tips you want to send our way?  Whenever you have something to say, don't hesitate to e-mail me directly.