Knockout Pool Winner: 'Took A Lot Of Courage To Take The Lions'
Bryan Altman, CBS Local Sports
Out of 11,418 who entered the CBS Local Knockout Pool for the 2015-16 NFL season, only one man remains. Mike Romanowski, 53 who lives in Sterling Heights, Michigan, became the last man standing by selecting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 13 of the NFL season.
Romanowski, a father of two who works in finance for a local school district, outlasted the rest of the field to win the $5,000 grand prize.
Here's the rundown of Romanowski's picks this season.
Week 1 - Patriots 28, Steelers 21
Week 2 - Cardinals 48, Bears 23
Week 3 - Seahawks 26, Bears 0
Week 4 - Falcons 48, Texans 21
Week 5 - Broncos 16, Raiders 10
Week 6 - Bengals 34, Bills 21
Week 7 - Panthers 27, Eagles 16
Week 8 - Vikings 23, Bears 20
Week 9 - Jets 28, Jaguars 23
Week 10 - Steelers 30, Browns 9
Week 11 - Chiefs 33, Chargers, 3
Week 12 - Lions 45, Eagles, 14
Week 13 - Tampa Bay 23, Falcons, 19
CBS Local Sports spoke with Romanowski about winning the contest, what his strategy was to stay alive all this time, and what he plans to do with his prize money.
CBS Local Sports: When did you first realize you had a real shot at winning this thing?
Mike Romanowski: Probably about two or three weeks before the end when it started saying the numbers were getting smaller. Once it got to less than 100 people who were left in the pool I was thinking, 'well, there's a possibility' but I still thought at that point the chances were remote.
The time I thought it was more realistic was when there were seven people left besides me.
Did your strategy change when you saw there were so few people left in the pool?
Mike Romanowski: Well, I had to start analyzing a little bit more than I had in the past because I had fewer and fewer teams with winning records left to pick from, and some of the matchups just seemed really tight and hard to choose.
The last week of the season, your winning pick was Tampa Bay over Atlanta. Tampa Bay scored in that game with 1:39 left in the fourth quarter. Were you watching the game at all?
Mike Romanowski: To be honest with you I didn't even watch that game.
Are you a big Lions fan? Obviously they've had ups and downs this season so was it a tough decision for you to take them in Week 12 against the Eagles?
Mike Romanowski: Most definitely. If you're a Lions fan for a long time you realize that a lot of times when they start out the season really bad, most of the time, with the exception of the 0-16 season, they'll come back and win just enough games to mess up the draft choice.
So that and the fact that they won two weeks prior to that at Lambeau Field for the first time since 1991, plus, they tend to play a little better when they're on national TV so I figured that would be a good day to take them.
CBS Local Sports: Would it have been harder to swallow if you lost taking your favorite team?
Mike Romanowski: Probably not because, I mean, in the last couple of years when I was in the pool I got knocked out pretty early the last few years.
CBS Local Sports: What was your strategy early in the year? Were you taking good teams early or saving them for later?
Mike Romanowski: In the beginning of the year I tried picking teams that historically were good teams based on matchups. Then as it got a little bit further in the season I started looking a little bit more at records and trying to remember what I've heard on pregame shows and on the news, which, you know, sometimes it's helpful and sometimes it's not. There's a lot of times it's a little bit more relieving when a lot of the people on TV were picking against your team (laughs).
CBS Local Sports: So what do you plan on doing with the $5,000 prize?
Mike Romanowski: There's a lot of things that I've been putting off to get done around the house so probably a fair amount of home improvements. I might buy something small just to be indulgent but I've got so many things I need to take care of, it's more important to take care of those things first.
Bryan Altman is, for some reason, an unabashed fan of the Rangers, Jets and Mets. If he absolutely had to pick a basketball team it would be the Knicks, but he'd gladly trade them for just one championship for any of his other three teams.
Questions or comments? Feel free to follow Bryan on Twitter or send him an email.
