• There are only eight nominees, rather than the 16 of years past.
• These eight nominees are unseeded.
• We will be announcing a nominee a day through next Friday, in alphabetical order.
• Voting will begin the morning of Monday, December 14, and a winner will be announced on Wednesday, December 16.
• Then everyone can move on with their lives.

Yes, this might be a little jarring to some of you, (CHANGE! BAD! YOU'RE RUINING IT! ETC.) but I've found that SHOTY seems to drag on and on, and by the time you get back from the holiday break, everyone's forgotten who or what or why they're supposed to be voting. So Leitch and I picked 8 people we felt exemplified the true spirit of SHOTY-ness (whatever that is) and we'll just have one big vote at the end so chubby-baby-loving rubes from Kansas can't stuff the ballot and piss everyone off.

Tomorrow, Emeritus will reveal the first nominee.

Raymond Brown, a wide receiver who was a senior last season, said Mangino would "say personal, hurtful, embarrassing things in front of people," which kind of makes Jayhawk football players sound like sensitive little daisies. Until you learn that when Mangino wants to say something hurtful, the man cuts like a surgeon.

"One day, [Mangino] said in front of the entire team, 'Are you going to be a lawyer or do you want to become an alcoholic like your Dad?'"

Ouch. In another instance, when confronting a KU player who had received a "minor in possession" ticket, Mangino told him "You'll be drinking out of a brown paper bag the rest of (your) life." Brown, who had a brother that was once shot in the arm, says that Mangino once said to him, "If you don't shut up, I'm going to send you back to St. Louis so you can get shot with your homies." So basically, if Mangino ever learned about a painful incident from a player's background, he stored that little nugget away so he could break it out at the precise moment when it would do the most damage to the player's psyche. That's talent.

Several others also confess that Mangino occasionally gets physical with players, although it never seemed to rise above the level of poking or grabbing jerseys. And as at least one former player pointed out, it is curious that all these stories are flooding in now that Kansas football is having its worst season in years.

"I'm not going to deny that some of those things didn't happen," [former defensive lineman Russell] Brorsen said. "But I think part of the problem here is you have four or five years worth of stuff hitting the fan within a period of three or four days. I think [Mangino] could get pretty intense. And I think there was swearing. But my personal opinion is it's not much worse than what you would get at another university."

It is curious that no one seemed to have any complaints about Mangino's vicious temper when the Jayhawks were 12-1. But despite the program's "turnaround," they have only had 3 winning seasons since Mangino took over in 2002—and this year isn't one of them. His days are likely numbered.

Ex-Kansas players: Coach Mark Mangino said 'hurtful' things [ESPN]
Mangino confident probe will clear him [Fox Sports]
Not-so-gentle reign [KU Sports]

Mark Mangino seems very jolly, but according to KU's parking and transit authority, he used to have anger issues. And parking issues. In his first few years as the Jayhawks coach—before he was a national coach of the year with the pull to get his own private parking space—Mangino had a habit of parking in school loading zones (I know, I know) and then either not paying or getting the tickets voided. In 2007, he was issued eight tickets in a span of six months and when he received his last one, he blew up at the student who issued them.

In his written report, Walters said that Mangino had told him that he'd been unloading notebooks and had asked how he could unload without getting a ticket. [Ed note: Yes, yes. "Unload."] Walters responded that he should get a loading permit from one of the parking booths on campus or to contact the office.

"He got out of the car, slammed the door and came within about a half-foot of my face and started yelling at me, saying that I couldn't answer any of his questions and that he works 16-hour days and has no time to get a pass," Walters wrote, in his report ....

"This job gives you power, does it?" Mangino said, according to Walters. "You feel real f—-ing powerful walking around like a big shot, huh? … Why in the hell else would you be bothering me with this?"

No, Walters said, the office had told him to issue tickets for cars parked in the loading zone.

"So offices tell you what to do?" Mangino said, according to Walters. "F—-ing offices walk around telling you what to do all day?"

Mangino eventually got back into his car, Walters said, before continuing: "You just don't like talking to me because I'm ethnic, just because I talk with my hands."

This is just shocking. Mark Mangino is "ethinic"?

Also, this whole saga of Mangino's investigation is apparently happening because senior linebacker Arist Wright complained that Mangino—a noted disciplinarian and occasional hothead—"poked him in the chest." Seriously? He could lose his job for poking someone in the chest? Isn't that why football players wear pads? Even the freakin' baby thinks that's weak.

Probe aims to determine if Mangino went too far [Lawrence Journal-World]
Documents show what it looks like when Mangino loses his temper [KU Sports]
Kansas Jayhawks football coach thinks he's above, of all things, parking tickets [True/Slant]

On Monday, KU Athletic Director Lew Perkins held a team meeting—without Mangino present—to discuss "concerns" about their coach. The meeting reportedly stems from an incident earlier this season that involved Mangino "yelling at and making contact with a player." Several players and parents are now involved and Perkins allegedly promised that an "unbiased person, who will have no opinions either way, will conduct the investigation." This is ... how you say? ... not good.

No one is very big on the details here, but at a press conference today, Mangino said, "I haven't lost the team one bit. I may have lost some people around here, but it's not players. Take that for what it's worth, you decipher it." I presume that the "some people" includes the AD and since he cuts the checks, I would say that losing him is much worse for Mark than losing players. Speaking of losing, Kansas has done a lot of that this year so if the school was looking for an bigger excuse to dump their formerly beloved head coach, this could be it. (Bastion of truth Wikipedia already has him listed as fired.)

Of course, the real tragedy here is that if Mark Mangino is no longer allowed to coach, then will we be allowed to continue using this picture to illustrate stories about Kansas, college football, and/or fat guys? Aren't Bode Lubber and his legions of fans the real victims here?

On the plus side, this story does give me an excuse to post this video from the Nebraska-Kansas game on Saturday. I mean, Baby Mangino has heart, but this video has a football in the groin.

Mangino: I may have lost some people around here, but it's not the players [Lawrence Journal-World]
Kansas Jayhawks program faces internal investigation [ESPN]
What Do Kansas Jayhawks Make of Secretive Meeting? [Bleacher Report]

There are two keys to any great Halloween costume—originality and recognition factor. It's a very delicate and tricky balance, especially when it comes to something large swaths of the population don't give a crap about, like famous athletes. So consider your potential audience. You could go with something that everyone will get—like say, Brett Favre—but risk being the 16th person to show up at the party wearing a No. 4 jersey. Real clever. Or you could go obscure—like say, Howie Schwab—and risk having people think you're a confused Hartford Whalers fan who just wandered into the wrong bar. Even Howie himself would be stumped by that costume.

So how do you find the perfect outfit that will blow everyone way simply because no one else ever thought they could pull it off? Don't ask me. For the 29th year in a row, I will be going as Tweety-Bird. It won me the $3 first-prize at the Fire Department Cake Walk/Children's Halloween Parade in 1980 and I will continue to dance with the one the brung me. However, I would like to offer a couple suggestions.

For the ladies:

Bad Costume Idea: "Naked Erin Andrews." Seriously, New York Post. That's just ... wow.
Better Costume Idea: Lingerie Football Player. No one will get what you're actually going for, but it won't matter because "Hey, it's a girl in lingerie." You and every other sexy witch/maid/cop/cheerleader/nurse/insect/etc.....
Best Costume Idea: Zola Budd. Get a South African running singlet, a bad 80's wig and then walk around tripping people all night. Just try to avoid any parties with guests under 30 years old.

For the mens:

Bad Costume Idea: "George Brett Crapping His Pants." I'm sorry, did you not want to get laid on the sluttiest holiday of the year?

(Slightly) Better Costume Idea: "Kenny Powers." When done right (as it is here) it could be effective, but KMF'nP is a little played out. Try something more obscure like "Roy Hobbs" or "Arli$$." (Everyone loves Robert Wuhl!) [Photo by Kevin R.]
(Much) Better Costume Idea: "Adrian Peterson, In Nike Battle Armor." Degree of difficulty extremely high, but if you can simulate the hexagonal scaly skin thing—without devolving into an offensive blackface minstrel show—you will not only creep everyone out, you will have your finger on the pulse of American advertising. Excellent product placement opportunities.
Best Costume Idea: "Alex Rodriguez's Mirror." Invite ladies to stare longingly at your purple lips and bulging pectorals. Little do they know, your costume is actually a secret kissing booth.

Aww, yeah.

Whatever you choose, send us the pics of yourself, your friends, or anyone you run into who goes above and beyond this weekend and we'll run a big gallery on Monday. Please keep the submissions to sports-related costumes. I don't want to spend my entire morning deleting 500 Zombie Balloon Boy emails next week. (Seriously, if you're going as him or any dead celebrity from 2009 then you have zero imagination. Just stay home and read the encyclopedia or something.)

Right about then, Bode, who was in the process of consuming the head of a toy penguin, emitted an extended burst of flatulence that sounded a little like a machine gun. His older sisters, recently home from school, giggled from across the room, and Angie looked down at her smiling baby, made a funny face and said, cooingly, "You're gassy!"

And that's how journalism died.

Go read the whole thing at your own peril, and if you're looking for further analysis Rick will be back tomorrow.

KU Sports

Like many of you, I was a bit concerned about Baby Mangino's initial dominance in the bracket. Was this a rash, spur-of-the-moment choice that we'd all regret down the line, like Driving Miss Daisy winning Best Picture or the Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl? But, like some of you, I eventually came around, and the reason was the last week of voting.

I found myself charmed by, of all things, the local news report about the Lubbers family's obvious pride in young Bode's accomplishments. I've always considered Deadspin, more than anything else, a site about fun, about how so much of sports has lost it, how we can all regain it again. It's about how sports is silly, how it's a diversion, how it's a way to step away from the world for a few hours and enter a place of simplicity, purity and goofiness. (Even if sports is often the furthest thing from simple, pure or goofy.)

I've come to appreciate Baby Mangino, and the fact that some caustic but ultimately good-hearted commenters took a funny baby picture and turned it into something larger, something that inspires piffly local news broadcasts with "human interest" stories, and inspires Buzz Bissinger to joke about the baby being "full of shit." I like that it's a sports story that's as harmless as it is to continuously laugh at. And yeah: I like that Baby Mangino is so cute. That's OK. This is not meant to be a site that makes you feel like you need to take a shower after reading it. There are nastier sites out there, worthy, commendable sites, but nastier nevertheless. I think Baby Mangino is a vote for the silliness of it all. I like that.

And, if your candidate didn't win, you can always watch the above video again. The ball is tipped ...

VIDEO: The brilliant Mike Byhoff

He's now won the support of Countdown's Keith Olbermann, who seems to have an obvious anti-Buzz bias. So, to sum up: The Baby with the eyeliner mustache still leads the angry Pulitzer Prize winning journalist by a couple thousand votes right now.This seems inevitable, unless the pro-Bissinger contingent makes a healthy push tonight and tomorrow. [MSNBC]

After that local news hit yesterday and Bissinger's legitimately hilarious response — I, too, think that baby is likely full of shit — I suspect many of you are torn about whom to vote for. I feel your pain. Think it over. Big decision. Could change the molecular structure of the universe. So take your time.

Voting will be closed directly after the Steelers-Chargers game Sunday afternoon, so you have until then. You can also vote in this post. But it's a doozy: This is clearly the most fun SHOTY Final we've ever had.

What's most fascinating about the video to me is that Mrs. Lubbers has seemingly been following her son's Godzilla-like trouncing of all SHOTY comers up to this point. She seems genuinely excited about his potential victory, even though she or — let's face it — anybody else has any idea what this all means. I guess to her it simply means that she's the proud owner of a cute baby — a possible CHAMPIONSHIP baby — and that many other anonymous strangers on the internet tend to agree. Mrs. Lubbers also hopes that one day Coach Mangino will take the time to be photographed with young Bode. How hasn't that happened yet? If anything, maybe the publicity from this well-intentioned but utterly ridiculous tournament will make that dream a reality. And what does this mean to young Bode Lubbers? I think the image of him eating a plastic toy and drooling pretty much sums up SHOTY quite nicely.

Of course it wouldn't be fair to give Baby Mangino more time to win your votes, so I asked our other finalist, one H.G. Bissinger, if he had any thoughts on the Lubber's politicking. His response:

"Anybody who actually tries to drum up support for this is a bigger loser than the way Will Leitch looks in his Sporting News pic. Jimmy Olson on Percoset..."

Oh and...

"I'm just gonna say it right now. I think the Mangino baby is full of shit."

So, there you have it: Buzz has just dissed the baby, the baby's mom, and Will Leitch (again) in one fell swoop. For some reason, I feel this can only help him in this competition.

Your vote still counts and only you will be able to decide who takes home the SHOTY. Vote now.

It has been a winding road, but it's down to two: No. 1 seed Buzz Bissinger vs. No. 11 seed Baby Mangino. Voting will be open until next Sunday evening. Let's take a look at the competitors, one last time. We'll also check in on the voting as the week goes along as well.

No. 1 Buzz Bissinger
Opined.
Loudly.
Discussed.
Made up.
Entered the Hall of Fame.

No. 11 Baby Mangino

Existed.

So, make your voice heard. Who will join 2006 SHOTY Barbaro and 2007 SHOTY Isiah Thomas? It's on.

We have entered the final weekend of SHOTY voting, so we all thought we'd take a moment to remind you to vote, if you haven't, and update you on how voting is going. Polls will close at 12:01 ET Monday morning. Here's where the count stands:

Baby Mangino 75 percent, Isiah Thomas 25 percent.

And: Erin Andrews 55 percent, Buzz Bissinger 45 percent.

It's worth noting that at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Bissinger was up on Andrews by a Franken-esque two votes. At 7 p.m.? Andrews was up by 1,300 votes. Take from that what you will. But there is still time.

So vote. That's how we're all spending our weekend.

As mentioned yesterday, voting for both Final Four matchups will be open until Sunday. So fire up.

It's No. 7 seed Isiah Thomas vs. No. 11 seed Baby Mangino. A look at the nominees' 2008 resumes:

No. 7 Isiah Thomas

Won 2007 SHOTY.
Presided over the greatest possession in NBA history.
Got fired, somehow.
Earned $18 million for staying away from his team.
Entered Deadspin Hall of Fame.
Tried to kill himself with sleeping pills.
Blamed it on his daughter.

No. 11 Baby Mangino

Existed.

So, who wins?

So, we have No. 1 seed Buzz Bissinger vs. No. 12 seed Erin Andrews, and No. 7 seed Isiah Thomas vs. No. 11 seed Baby Mangino. It's gonna be a spirited battle for the title.

We're gonna hold off until next week for the voting, because it's Christmas, and though I might not have anything better to do, I suspect you do. So take a few days with the family, mull over your decision making process and be ready to vote on the last four next Monday.

OK, let's not pussyfoot around. Voting for Elite Eight round matchups is open until Sunday night.

First, a look at the bracket to this point. (Thanks, Happy Pants Jim Cooke.)

Voting will remain open through next week ... so let's go. It's No. 3 seed Chris Berman vs. No. 11 seed Baby Mangino. A look at the nominees' 2008 resumes:

No. 3 Chris Berman
Perturbed, slightly, with behind-camera movement.
Forced ESPN to take video brilliance off YouTube.
Watched Deadspin hang onto them anyway.

No. 11 Baby Mangino

Existed.

So, who wins?

The tyke's name is Will Greiner, and this photo, while just sent to us this morning, was actually taken a year ago. And that means that Will is probably the same size as Baby Mangino today. Not shown: Tiny JoePa hairpiece.

Of course I'm going to have to apply for special dispensation from the Deadspin SHOTY Organizing Committee to get Baby JoePa on this year's ballot; but seeing that the kid's name is Will, I don't see that being a problem. In the meantime, please cast your write-in votes for Baby JoePa.

And a few SHOTY campaign videos wouldn't hurt, either. Get to work, you guys!

Lion In Training [Big Ten Network]

A reader writes:

Last night, some friends and I decorated a dorm room Christmas tree/Hannukah bush/secular winter holiday shrubbery with homemade ornaments dedicated to some of our heroes. Because this is a University of Wisconsin dorm, we naturally included the likes of Barry Alvarez, UW hockey's goalie (and total boss-tycoon) Shane Connelly, and the finest mascot in sports, Buckingham Badger.

However I wanted to add my own touch to the tree by honoring one of my heroes of 2008: Bode "Baby Mangino" Lubber. After putting the image of future SHOTY 2008, and realizing none of my friends got the joke or read Deadspin, I decided to share some photos of our tree with people who would actually understand it [no viruses, I pinky promise].

Hope you guys enjoy them.

Nico Savidge

It'll be our merriest Christmas ever!

******

Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin, SKEETS, etc.