FIFTH ANNUAL TABLOID COVER DERBY!

[Benjamin Grimm]

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It's almost here! The fifth annual Tabloid Cover Derby will begin on Monday, November 4, 2019! The kickoff ceremony occurred in the rotunda at Citi Field, attended by long-time Queens residents Mike and Gloria Stivic. (We'll overlook their ill-advised move to California and any other plot developments that may have occurred during or after Archie Bunker's Place.) Yes, Mike is still a Mets fan, and it's been a long time since anyone has called him "Meathead."



The first round will contain at least 24 voting threads, up by two over last year's count. (This may increase if there are enough Mets covers published over the next month or so.) If the count remains at 24, then the eight covers that receive the highest vote percentage in the first round will receive a second-round bye.



Will the Daily News continue its record-setting run of four consecutive championships? Is 2019 the kind of year that gets a good-news cover or a bad-news cover as the winner? Is it inevitable that Pete Alonso's image will be hanging over Maja's desk in Stockholm, or will some surprise cover emerge as the winner? The answers will begin to emerge in just a few short weeks! Be here! If you miss out, then you'll be missing out!

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[Johnny Lunchbucket]

It's gonna be a good year for covers I suspect

[Guest 41Forever]

Thank you for your hard work on this! I love the Tabloid Derby.



Gotta be a nice, positive cover this year!

[Lefty Specialist]

Second-half covers are going to be much more fun than first-half covers.

[MFS62]

We are trembling with anticipation.

Later

[Centerfield]

Are you taking suggestions? And I understand that this may make the tallying much harder so feel free to ignore. I think it would be great if we could vote in 2 or 3 covers from the first round. I feel like we lost a lot of great covers that might have advanced far simply because they were in a pool with a popular cover.



Or if it's easier, maybe we could do a Wild Card round, where we get the top second place covers and have a Wild Card slot in the second round.

[Edgy MD]

I have five large bet on El Diario this year.



I also have a side bet that says ceetar won't approve.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I may be able to work in the Wild Card suggestion. I'll think about it.

[G-Fafif]

Often in 2019 I thought I spied a sure winner. Gonna be competitive.

[bmfc1]

Finally, something good happens this October.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Slight change of plans:



Instead of starting on November 4, as initially announced, we'll start the day after the World Series ends. Two reasons: 1. I plan to be away for much of December and am not sure if I'll have daily access to keep the Derby going regularly, and 2. Why not?

[kcmets]

All the more reason to hope for a sweep!

[Edgy MD]

I knew it! Ben Grimm is Santa Claus!

[Benjamin Grimm]

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[whippoorwill]

Ben Grimm loves kitties!

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'm not even going to wait until the World Series has ended I want to get the first round ended and the winners seeded before I depart on my three-week vacation on Thanksgiving. So round one begins today. And there may be one or two days where more than one poll is posted.

[kcmets]

[bIGPURPLE]WOOHOO![/bIGPURPLE]

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c8/0c/4d/c80c4d8e4cce6b3c43f8013447729f7a.jpg>

That picture is so sweet that I think I'm gonna' fwow up.

Later

[bmfc1]

I'd be interested in some Nate Silver-level of analysis as to whether success in the 1st round of the Derby predicts success in later rounds. E.g., "Mane Man" is dominating its first-round matchup but does that mean it will continue to win or is it just facing weak competition at the moment?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Last year's top first-round vote-getter was GOOD WIL! of the Daily News, which fell one round short of the Final Four. The other covers that were ranked in the top four were MATT OUTTA HELL, which lost in the second round, SMILE HIGH, which advanced to the finals, and WHAT THE BLANK! which, like MATT OUTTA HELL, failed to advance beyond the second round.



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Things are still very fluid, as only two polls have closed so far and there are still over a dozen more to go, but at the moment our top-ranked cover is Newsday's JAKE OF ALL TRADES, with MANE MAN in the second position.



In the bracket graphic below, the numbers represent the ranking based on percentage of first-round votes received.



http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2018/brackets2018_005.png>

[Edgy MD]

Would anybody who is better at the Twitter than I am like to tweet about the Derby to the various tabloids' back page editors?

[G-Fafif]

Broad sheet entry petitions for inclusion.



https://twitter.com/joey_paints/status/1194226074357506048?s=21https://twitter.com/joey_paints/status/1194226074357506048?s=21

[Benjamin Grimm]

We're almost done with the first round. The 25th and final poll will be posted on Monday morning. The top seven ranked covers (based on first-round vote percentages) will receive a second-round bye, and the remaining 18 covers will compete for the final nine positions in the Sweet Sixteen. When each poll closes an update on the rankings (along with a graphic of lovely CPF spokesmodel Shelby holding the winning cover) is posted in the voting thread.



The nine second-round threads will begin some time around Thanksgiving. I'll be traveling abroad during much of the second round, and I'm not sure what my Internet access will be, so the second round may or may not be a little sporadic.

[bmfc1]

Will you be visiting Tabloid Cover HQ?

[whippoorwill]

Good question!

[Benjamin Grimm]

Sadly, I will not be anywhere near Stockholm. I will instead be in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.

[bmfc1]

Enjoy, but just know that a horse, if not horses, might be running through the lobby of HQ in Stockholm.

[Benjamin Grimm]

A lot of nutty shit happens in that lobby!

[Benjamin Grimm]

15 of the 25 first-round polls have closed, and as usual, the Daily News is strong coming out of the gate. The News has posted nine wins, compared to four for Newsday and two for the Post.

[Benjamin Grimm]

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