Congratulations to Jason and to John Northey who have won the prizes in our Batter's Box Personal Stories Of Brushes With Third-Rate Celebrity Contest.
The grand prize went to Jason for his harrowing and hilarious re-creation of an alleyway encounter with Mickey Rooney. John's excellent story of his meeting with Rob Ducey, Canadian Hero, was the randomly selected story (selected by random.org at 4:02 this afternoon). Jason wins an Ichiro! Suzuki T-shirt, while John wins two 1-hour "Playcards" for Playdium, branded with that awesome Fighting Jay logo.
It was agony trying to decide between some of the truly excellent stories on offer. Jason's entry even gave me pause - as Mickey Rooney was once a mega-star - but since by the time of Jason's encounter Rooney had been reduced to appearing in a travellnig musical of The Wizard of Oz, I felt entitled to award him the Grand Prize.
There were some excellent stories in the thread. S.K.'s "I'm Bram" story might have triumphed but for the fact that it did not happen to him personally; Nolan's brilliant tale of heckling Diana Krall (and a fast escape from her hired goons) would also have been a strong contender, but Ms. Krall is (alas) a second-rate celebrity.
Honorable mentions, aside from S.K. and Nolan, must go to Ron for his tale of Dustin "Screech" Diamond; John Northey's detention of Rob Ducey at Mickey D's; Paul D's indelible image of a haggard and haggling Mike Bullard (this one almost, almost won... it got the most sudden laugh of the contest from me); his equally hilarious portrait of a child's encounter with Mr. Dressup; Coach's humanizing rehabilitation of Big Stein and justifiable suspicion of Ken Finkleman; Magpie's tale of greed, power, pinball, and Burton Cummings; Mrs. Gideon's overacting with Keanu Reeves; EastCoastAl and the maganimous Freddy Fender; and Mike D's recollection of The Passion of Luke Duke. Winners all. Not in any literal sense, of course; but in a metaphorical sense that does not carry with it any implication of any material award whatsoever.
And Repoz, as he so often does, wins the Most Exotic award.
Jason and John should contact me at craig@battersbox.ca, or respond to my e-mails already sent their way, to claim their awards.
Once again, thanks to all who entered, and congratulations to our winners!
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20041018042305999