Bittersweet ending as Blaine wins 2005 Picks title but misses all-time record

It was like chewing a tasty Wonka cake and suddenly having it snatched from your mouth.  You got most of it, but you really wanted the whole thing.  It's the purple icing on the chocolate Wonka cake that would have been extra special.

Blaine locked up the 2005 Picks title on Sunday for the first time in six years, but his chance at the best record in league history was yanked away when several of his teams crumbled down the stretch.  An overtime loss and a missed 2-point conversion pretty much cost him the record, leaving Blaine at 150-67 (.691) and in third place on the all-time list.

"Everyone knows when I eat a Wonka cake I want the whole thing," Blaine said.  "No one even wants the Wonka cakes around here, so why it was rudely muscled from my grasp I don't understand.  It was so close to being entirely consumed."

The best Picks records in 26 years remain from the 1998 season, when Blaine was 150-65 and QT Pie was 149-66.  Nonetheless, this year's title is Blaine's 14th championship and fifth entry among the Top 10 seasons, ending the longest title drought of his life.  Everyone knows he gets his share of Hostess cupcakes, anyway.

Second-place Nickster had a huge season, posting a career-best record of 144-73 and capturing the No. 10 spot on the all-time list.  She began the 2005 campaign with the most dominant week in league history, going 12-2 and crushing her opponents by a combined 36 games!  Lil Girl also had a five-week stretch in which she went 53-16, second-best ever.

Although they tied for third place, Mark and QT's achievement of 143-74 would have won the Picks title in 17 of the 26 seasons, but unfortunately not in 2005.  It's the second time the siblings have deadlocked in the past four years.

D.J. finished with two big bangs as she won Week 17 with her top performance of the year (11-3) and delivered the most gigantic Amazing Pick known to mankind.  Her beloved Rams were 12½-point underdogs in Dallas, but St. Louis pulled out a 20-10 win in the season's final game Sunday night.  Girlie also registered the best sixth-place finish in Picks history at 130-87.

The Teenage Bird, who started the season as the Little Bird, grew stronger as the year progressed and finished with the best-ever seventh-place record of 122-95.  Perhaps her focus turned more toward boys than the Sunday Football Picks.

Rookie competitor Trevor, who took fifth place with a 137-80 record and already has the second-best lifetime winning percentage (.631), came out with fighting words in the season-ending Picks ceremony.  "My dad said that I couldn't taunt this year, but next year I'm getting cocky," Trevor announced at the microphone.  "You guys are going down next year!"