Tie Showdown: Week 18

From left to right, top to bottom:
Scott : Cat : Megan F : Maria : Jim : Alisa : Jeff : Elizabeth : Byron : Adam : Brooke : Ben : Alby : Steve

Week 17: And the winner is...

Congratulations to Teresa for winning week 17 of the Tie Showdown. Teresa, know also known as The Mysterious One, came storming out of the gates last week and took a commanding lead from the beginning. While Loony Toons ties generally don't draw such strong adoration, The Mysterious One made it work by going completely Kriss Kross on us en route to capturing a totally krossed out 62% of the vote in just her first entry to the Tie Showdown.

Fellow newcomer Nicci made a respectable 2nd place showing with her Mr. Mom tie, sharing this spot with perennial favorite Ben's patternless tie. But they and the rest of the field looked wiggity-wiggity-wiggity whack compared to Teresa's showing.

Congratulations again to The Mysterious One for entering the Tie Showdown Hall of Champions, making it two straight weeks with rookie champions. You make us wanna... jump jump.

Tie Showdown: Week 17

From top to bottom, left to right:
Emily : Scott : Nicci : Megan F : Kay : Dave : Colin : Ben : Alisa : Adam : Jim : Teresa : Alison : Wynde

Please see the Sate of the Showdown for additional promotions and upcoming events.

NEXT WEEK: Holiday Ties!

Week 16: And the winner is...

Congratulations to Brooke for winning Week 16 of the Tie Showdown! After weeks of hype and build-up, Brooke showed up with one of the most wondrous presentations we've seen in a while (you should've seen the shoes). Clearly inspired by Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" video, Brooke, P.I. won this week with 49% of the vote.

It wasn't easy, however. Let me just say, on the topic of wondrous presentations, Amber wore a freaking cummerbund and coat with tails to go with her bow tie. Never before have we seen a full conductor's tux in the Tie Showdown, and these two titans battled it out all week. In fact, Amber led for most of the week, only falling behind in the last day. If ever there deserved to be a tie (haha, get it???!) in the Tie Showdown, this was the week. Amber falls this week, but not without an incredible showing with 42% of the vote. Great week, Amber.

But it was Brooke's week, and the M.C. Escher / Smooth Criminal-inspired number was just too much to overcome. Brooke, in her first week as a competitor, has entered the Tie Showdown Hall of Champions.

State of the Tie Showdown

Many changes are afoot here at the Tie Showdown, and we have grown much more than we had originally anticipated. With this in mind, we aim to share regular reports on the developments in our organization. Here is the very first State of the Tie Showdown report.

New Office Space:
The editors at the Tie Showdown have secured (un)official office space, hereafter known as the Tie Showdown Intergalactic Headquarters. This will streamline our operations and save us tens of dollars in revenue costs.

The Retieclery:
As Walt Whitman said, “No tie should live in a closet forever,” honoring this sentiment we are introducing The Retieclery. The Retieclery is located in the Tie Showdown Intergalactic Headquarters and serves two purposes; to find loving homes for lightly used ties and to promote community participation by making ties readily available to interested parties via tie trades and free tie rentals.

Expanding Staff:
We have officially promoted former champion Colin to the role of Vice President of Operations. His primary responsibilities will include overseeing official Tie Showdown operations at our 1800 branch, and coordinating the development of our intramural soccer/badminton league to begin next year.

We have also unwittingly promoted a number of individuals to the staff: Margaret is our Community Outreach Organizer (she actually has work to do…), Chris is our Director of Security, Megan F is our Participant Wellness Coordinator, and Brooke is our Chief of Staff (because it sounds fancy.) Of course none of these jobs have any real responsibilities, but they make us look more official, and are going to do wonders for us during tax season.

Holiday Season Tie Showdown Events:
We all hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season! From December 24 – January 6 there will be two special Tie Showdown events: One will be a tournament of champions in which you may vote on your favorite of all of our past winners. The other event will be a showcase of the editors’ favorite ties from all of the non-winners. These will replace our regular competition for this two week period since nobody’s going to be around (except us, of course, working hard…)

Opportunities for Advancement:
We are actively seeking a director of operations for our newly opened WTC branch and a motivated individual in San Francisco to coordinate our efforts there. Interested parties should submit their resume along with several tie-related glamor shots to Ben and Adam (or just let us know you’re interested… But Ben still wants glamor shots, so do it anyway. ).

Tie Showdown: Week 16

From top to bottom, left to right:
Amber : Wynde : Theresa : Lane : Maria : Kate : Jim : Colin : Hillary : Brooke : Ben : Adam : Jeff

My personal and heartfelt apologies go to Amanda whose photo was eaten when my camera batteries died... No excuses, we'll make it up with a free necktie since the error is on our end. -Ben

It's been a week of exciting developments for the Tie Showdown, stay tuned for a State of the Showdown post next week.

Week 15: And the winner is...

Congratulations to Maria for winning the fifteenth week of the Tie Showdown! And what a comeback it was! Down all week to Ben, Maria made a serious comeback. Maria is Cal, and Ben is the Stanford Band this week!

Maria has consistently shown up with a great selection of ties, even destroying one once! How has she not won yet? Well, the voters seem to have finally seen the errors of their ways, and Maria has officially entered the Tie Showdown Hall of Champions with 34% of the vote.

Once again, Ben made a strong second place showing, even coming in on his vacation to participate (hence the tourist get-up), but sorry Mr. Ben, the voters do not appreciate such gloating while they're working (at least send a postcard, or bring us a fridge magnet or something from the airport gift shop!) 31% is good, but not quite good enough!

Congratulations again to Maria for making her long-overdue entrance in to the Tie Showdown Hall of Champions.

Tie Showdown: Week 15

Left to Right, Top to Bottom
Maria : Kate : Emily : Adam : Theresa : Lauren : Ben : Erin : Kristian : Steve : Wynde