Like most readers, ESPN’s streak for the cash has been a major part of my attention for the past couple months. Essentially for those who have no idea what I’m talking about, you build a streak of correct picks from games/situations/team comparisons given to you by ESPN and build a streak of 25 consecutive wins to win one million dollars.
Well, it finally ended with Samuel Lewis-Charles of Bristol, Connecticut AKA bigsam1122 taking home the large prize but something seems odd to me. Here are six reasons why:
1) 26 picks out of nowhere: Before this only two people got their streaks up to 24 correct and lost. Sam comes out of nowhere with 26 correct picks in a row. It seems odd that he missed his first five picks before this but I’ve have seen other players who’ve had similar streaks.
2) Lack of ESPN coverage: When the other two players got up to 24 wins, they were hyped up on the main page of ESPN.com and appeared in a couple of interviews and videos for ESPN. Sam has only appeared on Mike and Mike in the Morning and was not mentioned before his win.
3) He lives in Bristol, Connecticut: Why does this matter? Well, ESPN is based in Bristol Connecticut which seems very convenient for the prize winner to win and be from the same area as the contest maker.
4) Disclaimer of when Sam reached 25 wins: When Sam was nearing 25 wins, there was an interesting disclaimed that was listed on the streak for the cash website.
“Bigsam1122 might be the first winner of ESPN’s streak for the cash, pending verification”
Doesn’t that seem odd that was listed at the end? None of the other winners had that tag at the end of their impending victories.
5) Why did he pick Pittsburgh Steelers for win 25?: This might be puzzling answer since Pittsburgh Steelers was a favorite against the Dallas Cowboys. However Sam waited for a week to make his pick and this was the game he chose? There were at least three obvious picks that would have given him the million easily.
->Pacquiano/De La Hoya Fight: 12 rounds or not
->Miami Dolphins Vs. Buffalo Bills
->Portland Trailblazers Vs. Toronto Raptors
6) The interview with Mike and Mike in the morning: I’ve listened to the interview and he was very relaxed for someone who won one million dollars. He stated that he was a UPS package handler and told this story of sister telling him he won the million after turning the game off.
Albeit, he seems genuine but his story seems created by ESPN. If you had one million dollars on the line with a game, wouldn’t you watch it?
There are just so many interesting sides to this story, maybe Chris Hansen needs to do a report on this.
ESPN’s Streak for the Cash…something fishy going on here
