McGugin's Biggest Loser Contest Breeds Real Competition

In McGugin, the Student-Athletes Aren't the Only Competitors

Now that things are tight in the McGugin's Biggest Loser contest, it has been interesting to sit back and reflect on just how competitive the Vanderbilt athletics staff has been over the past nine weeks.

The last weigh-in will be on Tuesday afternoon when everyone will have a chance to unwind from the notion that the women's basketball team is in the Final Four. Getting back to my original point though, competition is alive and well among the McGugin Athletics staff. Everything from the subterfuge of bringing in sweets for everyone on the opposite team to the constant questions about just how Brett Wulke continues life as the Incredible Shrinking Man. I have even seen long-term promises to algebra teachers broken ("I don't ever intend to use algebra again in my life!"), as several competitors utilize word problems to find out how much weight they need to drop by Monday to bring the team total up.

Jessica Siegel's divulging of her secret of consuming only chicken and lettuce to get into the individual prize (iPod Shuffle, thanks Coca Cola!) hunt, is another example. There has been an increase in the amount of recipes for cutting calories talked about in the hallways. I personally had an incident where I mapped out on a dry erase board my "Unintentional Workout" with Rebecca Kelley which involves parking in the far part of Opry Mills' parking lot, being dragged around one full circle of Opry Mills by my wife and then walking over to the Opryland Hotel for a leisurely walk around the entire gardens inside. It shaves off 480 calories, but stay away from the hallways where the rooms are, as it can remind you of those two creepy twin girls in The Shining.

Now for an update on the stats and the leaderboards.

Team Gold is holding it's smallest margin of a lead since Week 2. Overall they have lost 113 lbs which is 2.9259% of their original team weight of 3,862 lbs. Team Black has been steadily chipping away at the Gold lead and has now lost a total team amount of 117 lbs of their original team weight of 4,206 lbs. Team Black's percentage is 2.7817% going into the weekend.

On the individual side, here are the top 6 percentages in each category:

Male: Brett Wulke (13.4408%) - Gold (Operations)
Jason Silvers (10.7438%) - Black (Marketing)
Eric Jones (8.9005%) - Black (Ticket Office)
Greg Allen (7.2072%) - Gold (Women's Golf Coach)
George Midgett (5.0925%) - Black (Compliance)
Tim House (5.0541%) - Black (Marketing)

Female: Lindsay Rutledge (5.4054%) - Black (National Commodore Club)
Beth Turner (5.2910%) - Gold (Athletic Business Office)
Patricia Marett (4.4303%) - Black (Athletic Administration)
Shanika Douglass (4.1322%) - Gold (Athletics Business Office)
Candice Lee (3.6697%) - Gold (Compliance/Athletic Administration)
Jessica Siegel (3.6144%) - Gold (Ticket Office)

Team Gold: Brett Wulke (13.4408%)
Greg Allen (7.2072%) - Operations
Beth Turner (5.2910%) - Athletic Business Office
Brandon Barca (4.2918%) - Web Marketing and Communication-
Shanika Douglass (4.1322%) - Athletic Business Office
Candice Lee (3.6697%) - Compliance and Athletic Administration

Team Black: Jason Silvers (10.7438%) - Marketing
Eric Jones (8.9005%) - Ticket Office
Lindsay Rutledge (5.4054%) - National Commodore Club
George Midgett (5.0925%) - Compliance
Tim House (5.0541%) - Marketing
Patricia Marett (4.4303%) - Athletic Administration

Regardless of who wins, it has been fun to see everyone's competitive side. My thanks go out to Glaceau and Coca Cola who are donating prizes including Smartwater and Coke Zero. Black or Gold, whoever wins it's all Vanderbilt.