Five thousand votes separate the the competitors. Voting closes at the end of the AFC game. Can you do any less?

As of this typing, the Bissinger-Mangino SHOTY Title Game is tied.

We have reached the SHOTY Final. It's probably the one we should have expected all along.

Welcome back, everybody. It's 2009. Crazy. Time to make your voice heard, while you can.

The second Final Four matchup is here; there is no third-place game, because third place games are for losers.

Welcome back, everybody. Some of you worked last Friday, some of you still aren't back at work today. But whatever, it's SHOTY time, time to wake up, people.

Congratulations to our four finalists in the 2008 Sportshuman of the Year tournament. They've all earned it, in their own way.

It's the battle of people who have yelled at me in public. Woo-hoo! It's just like hanging out with my dad when I was a teenager. Why wasn't my dad nominated?

To be honest, I'm a little surprised by this matchup: Caitlin Davis seemed to have solid upset potential, and Erin Andrews ... well, I guess you can't underestimate the power of the sideboob.

Welcome, everybody, to Elite Eight Week! If we had a cool corporate sponsor who flashed repetitive commercials in between every one of these posts, you'd be hearing that phrase a TON this week. Maybe we could have a late coach give an inspired speech between halves. Alas.

All right, all the votes have been tallied, and we have our final eight.

OK, the Elite Eight of the 2008 Sportshuman Of The Year tournament begins tomorrow, so I figured it'd probably be wise to give everyone one last opportunity to vote before the polls close.

It's the final first round matchup, and it's a fun one, methinks. Ah, if only these two pictures could somehow be combined. Anyway, this is the last time with a new matchup. So everybody vote. Yes, please, Facebook people too.

Just two more first-round matchups until we reach the Elite Eight. We haven't had any truly close matchups yet, though it's early. Today, it's Hot Pants/ Naked Playbook Guy Vs. Hot Pants / Goofy Facebook Lady.

Fridays are always good days for mismatches. Most of you have probably skipped out to do holiday shopping anyway — do they still sell the Tickle Me Elmo? — so it makes voting anomalies less likely.

It might seem odd to some of you that Chris Berman would have such a high seed this year. Wasn't his heyday around 2006, YWML time? Well, I would retort that you've had too much of the deux deux deux.

All righty, kids, holidays are over, you have the next month of craziness to streak through — I never notice December has started until it's over — and it all begins now. Time to get serious, people. And nothing's more serious than SHOTY voting.

It's the day after Thanksgiving! If you have any good sense, you're lying on the floor right now, surrounded by pieces of bird skin, dealing with a nog-throbbing brain and complete with a homicide-scene outline traced with pie crust. Congratulations on getting to this point. You've earned it. Now, how about some…