Parts Unknown (DP--Disassociated Press): The Bookie Challenge kicked off its 14th annual competition in the most unorthodox manner ever. This off-season the Biased Nihilist had a major heart attack, and as consequence, he had to work more on his post-heart-attack recovery than the Bookie Challenge, of which left him with little time or energy to write his traditional preseason annual special. For years, the returning members of the past competitions have looked forward to the preseason annual specials, especially to see which handicappers won annual awards from the previous contests and also to see how each participant fared in the yearly preseason rankings. Additionally, the Nihilist did not have the time to update the record archives page, nor to update each of the participant's handicapping pages. However, regardless of the preseason omissions, the Nihilist promised to gradually work them in over the course of the earlier weekly reviews this season. Also adding to the unpredictable start to this year's Bookie Challenge was the fact that the competition was hard pressed to field a good number of participants, with the total number of members looking at a sickly membership count of nine or maybe ten returning veterans at the max. In fact, the Nihilist seriously considered cancelling the upcoming Bookie Challenge if the membership roll consisted of eight or less participants, that's how tenuous the start to this year's competition was shaping up to be.

But no! The Bookie Challenge competition was single-handedly saved by last year's Rookie-of-the-Year, Vikings17, and to a lesser degree DawgPound. In the case of Vikings17, he recruited four new rookies, with all four handicapping from various cities in Connecticut, to include his son, who is going by the username of "Gr@tos" and is handicapping from Trumbull, Connecticut. Viking17's other three recruits, who are close friends of his son Kr@tos, are going by the usernames of Jets69 (from Stafford, Connecticut), Nelbarada (Milford, Connecticut), and CAP_ATTACK (Seymour, Connecticut). And after DawgPound recruited his rookie, Realtalkrob (from parts unknown), the Bookie Challenge's roster climbed to 16 members. However, although the membership tally is not the highest in the history of the competition, for twice before the competition sported 23 members, this year's Latinum jackpot is the highest in the history of the Bookie Challenge, thanks in part to the increase of this year's membership fee, which rose $10 to make each member's fee $50 apiece. In all, this year's Latinum jackpot skyrocketed to a record high of $720. The total not only was a record-setting amount for the Bookie Challenge's jackpot but it also enabled the Bookie Challenge competition to offer another cash prize on the season.

For the longest, DawgPound had always hounded the Nihilist for the number-one top seed at week #8's divisional seeding to win a cash prize, and this season he finally got his wish. This year's number-one top seed at this year's divisional seeding will recoup his $50 membership fee. In other words, this year's top seed will be playing with the house's money for the rest of the year after the divisional seeding. As usual, the competition is going to dole out three other cash prizes: the top prize of $450 will be awarded to the participant who finishes in first place in the final playoff point standings, $120 will go to the participant who ends up being second to the overall Bookie Challenge champion, and $100 will be awarded to the participant who wins the regular-season championship. Taking everything into account, it's possible for one participant to win the top seed ($50), the regular-season championship ($100), and the overall Bookie Challenge championship ($450) for a grand total of $620!

But the Bookie Challenge competition would not have had its unorthodox face lift if not for Vikings17, who has become a highly engaged participant. For those who may have forgotten, Vikings17, aka the Purple People Eater, in last year's contest became the first rookie in the history of the competition to win a regular-season championship. He then pulled off an incredible feat before the start of this year's competition, when he single handedly saved the Bookie Challenge after he recruited four rookies to the competition, which is a record high for recruiting rookies in one off-season. What's more astonishing about Vikings17 to start off this year's competition, is that he landed his first-career 5-point exact-score hit after he correctly selected Kansas City to win this year's NFL opener by a final of 27-20. In addition, Vikings17 won both of his best bets on the weekend to end his opening outing wit seven total points. Blitzkrieg, however, missed both of his best bets to finish his opening weekend with six points, of which the 6-point tally had him situated just one point behind Vikings17 in the Bookie Challenge's first point standings of the season.

Interestingly, in just his sophomore year in the Bookie Challenge's competitions, Vikings17 is starting to build a reputation that Blitzkrieg has already established during his previous eight years handicapping the Bookie Challenge, which is that of always being in the thick of things, always vying for an overall Bookie Challenge championship. This past weekend wasn't the only time Blitzkrieg opened up a Challenge competition with a 6-point parlay winner. In Challenge year #10, the "Snowman and the Falcon" opened up that year's contest with a 6-point outing after also missing out on his two best bets. But if the truth be told, if one takes away those two seasons in which Blitzkrieg hit opening day 6-point parlays, his opening starts to the other seasons have been lackluster at best. Four times out of his last eight years he opened up his campaigns with goose-egg outings (Challenge yrs #7, #9, #11, and #12). In last year's competition, the Snowman started his opening day with just two points, and in year #8 and year #6 (his rookie season), he managed only one point in each of those openers. All in all, however, both Vikings17 and Blitzkrieg picked a great time to jump out to early leads, especially when seeing that a $50 cash prize will go to the overall top seed at this year's divisional seeding (week #8) for the first time ever.

Rounding out the top-four handicappers in the Bookie Challenge point standings are third-place DawgPound (3pts) and 4th-place 7mick7 (also 3 pts). Both handicappers put up a crooked number of three points after each hit a one-point exact-score hit to complement two best-bet winners apiece. So as the Bookie Challenge heads into its second weekend of the season, the occupiers of the top-four seeds in the point standings are as follows: in 1st place is Vikings 17 (#1 top seed with 7 pts accrued), in 2nd place is Blitzkrieg (#2 top seed with 6 pts accrued), in 3rd place is DawgPound (technically #3 top seed for owning tiebreaker of more parlay wins within his combined parlay combinations than the Mick has (DawgPound has one parlay win and 7mick7 has zero). Be as it may, last year's defending champion, the Irish Hustler (aka 7mick7) is already proving he's not going to be a push over, as he is going to try and become only the second repeat champion in the history of the competition besides the Biased Nihilist.

• THE NIHILIST MAKES HISTORY, GETS ANOTHER CHALLENGE MONIKER: Leave it to the Biased Nihilist to add another accomplishment to his Bookie Challenge history. This time around the "Corozal Kid" became the first handicapper in the history of the Bookie Challenge to have an LVAD pump attached to the left ventricle of his heart. In other words, the world's smallest pump is what's keeping the Nihilist alive and has him still as the main administrator of the Bookie Challenge competition. As already mentioned, the Nihilist was not anticipating a roster of 16 overall members, as he thought the roster was going to consist of it's lowest membership tally in the history of the competition. Instead the Biased Nihilist felt a rejuvenation like never before to start off a yearly Bookie Challenge competition, and it all became possible because of the off-season recruiting efforts by both Vikings17 (4 members recruited) and DawgPound (1 member recruited). As a result of the off-season recruiting, this year's membership total of 16 overall participants has led the Bookie Challenge to its largest jackpot in its history, which came out to a grand total of $720. additionally, the Biased Nihilist was also able to revel in another Challenge moniker, of which fittingly he was coined as "El Vadass". So ready or not, the Bookie Challenge's most decorated handicapper is ready to pick winners with the best of them.


• WEEKLY TICKER ...............The Bookie Challenge was dealt a blow after it lost its most eccentric member before the start of the 14th annual competition. Opting out of this year's contest was Theopholis, who was a 10-year veteran of the competition and who will be sorely missed. The Nihilist was taken aback when talking on his cell phone to Theo just before the start of the season. Theopholis said he was not going to be able to join the Bookie Challenge this season because of a medical condition. Although Theo failed to tell the Nihilist what medical condition he was dealing with, he left the Nihilist shocked after he said he wasn't even sure if he would make it till the end of this year. The Nihilist was afraid to ask for fear of hearing the worst.................Vikings17's recruitment of four new members has earned the four newcomers to be labled with a joint moniker, something that is extremely rare in the Bookie Challenge competition. The four newbies are being coined as the "Four Rookies from the Connecticut Apocalypse".................