Boy, I was whoopin’ and hollerin’ about my excellent week in the old prognosticating game.

Yep, I burned my way to a 14-2 mark, and I was thinking this picking pastime isn’t so hard. Then I got brought back down to earth when I looked at how the contestants did. Dang, you people are good. There were 13, that’s right, 13 contestants who did me one better in going 15-1 for the week.

Might as well name the 13 before getting to the tiebreaker aspect of this here game: Dal Butler (way to go, Dal) of Robbins; Amanda Latham of Vass; Michael Weaver of Southern Pines; L. Johnson (more on her later) of Vass; Zane Grey (love that name) of Biscoe; Glenn “Gator” Boerner (that’s what he calls himself) of Foxfire; Randy McNeill of Cameron; Jonathan Luck (another good name for this game); Jody Britt of Biscoe; Brian Norris of Aberdeen; Marilyn Norris (don’t know if the Morrises are related) of Aberdeen; and Dorothy Brown of Robbins.

Now 13 is supposed to be an unlucky number, and for nine of the contestants it is going to be after we go to the tiebreaker game. That game was a real barnburner with Pittsburgh beating the Kansas City Chiefs 13-9 for a total of 22 points.

Nobody imagined the score being that low, but I can say that Zane Grey of Western fame (I’m kidding, I don’t really think Grey has written any books) had the lowest number of the bunch, with his total of 34 points earning Grey the $50 first-place check.

In the battle for second it came down to Britt and Marilyn Norris. The second-place money of $30 went to Britt, who had 37 points for his tiebreaker number. Of course, that means that Norris, who’s tiebreak number was 40, gets the $20 third-place check.

My sterling effort for the week left me with an overall mark of 124-68, which, quite frankly, is terrible (or as Charles Barkley would say, “turrable”). Now, let’s just talk about people who really know what they are doing when it comes to consistency. But first I have to do something that I promised to do last week — explain who the mysterious L. Johnson is.

A gentleman sent me an email — well, it was really Ted Johnson, who happens to be the husband of L. Johnson. In his email he said: “It's time to come clean regarding the identity of ‘the mysterious L. Johnson’ who is currently one of the leaders in your 2011 contest. The actual contestant is Barbara Johnson, who uses the pseudonym of ‘L. Johnson’, ‘L’ representing ‘Lily,’ who is a small puppy and only helps occasionally. For the record, Barbara participated in the 2010 contest under the name ‘Big Bogart,’ a golden retriever who passed on prior to the season. Please note this in your records as, should her success continue, it would be difficult for Lily to cash a reward check.”

Well, Mrs. Johnson, your success is continuing. You, along with Michael Brown and Brad Robbins, are leading the field. All three of the contestants have 137-55 records. Longtime leader Seth Norris fell one game back, and is sitting at 136-56. Look at the end of this contest for a list of the leading contenders. Oh, by the way, this week is the final one of the season, so next week someone is going to be $200 richer.

I’ve got to make my picks for this week, so here goes: Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Washington, New England, Oakland, Minnesota, Buffalo, N.Y. Giants, New Orleans, Chicago, Baltimore, Pittsburgh (college game), Oklahoma State, Baylor, Cincinnati.

And that’s the last week I have to do that.

Overall Standings

137-55 — L. Johnson, Michael Brown, Brad Robbins

136-56 — Seth Norris, Jonathan Luck, Amanda Latham, Glenn Boerner, Dorothy Brown

135-57 — Kayla Britt

134-58 — Lee Maurath, Holly Hill, Michael Weaver

133-59 — Craig Reaser, David Hale, Rich Wingfield