And The Winner Is . . .

Congratulations to all who entered the Mutt Madness contest! We had a lot of interest in the contest this year but, for some reason, not as much actual photo submissions. That is OK, I’m sure the contest winners don’t care exactly how much the the competition was, just that they won.

We did not have any entries in the Rookies division and only one entry each in the Faux-Paws and Groupies Divisions.

However, we did have some random weekly winners of the Michael Vick Chew Toy!

Congratulations to Zoey

Grace

and Kristins Sheppard!

Chow down to your hearts content on poor poor Michael.

All Divisional Winners (see below) will get a fabulous doggie bowl and chew toy from the Martha Stewart Petsmart Collection.

And now for the Divisional Winners and Grand Champion!

Just in Time

I’m getting tired of all the none football stories

about the CBA

and money and greed

and having nothing really football related to write about.

But just in time to bring all of us out of our painful waiting is:
March madness and selection Sunday literally right around the corner.
The NHL is heating up for the Playoffs and the Stanley Cup.
MLB spring training and the boys of summer are getting back into game shape.
It’s Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday.

And the Fumbled Returns Mutt Madness Photo Contest  starts on this sunday March 13th and ends April 5th.

This year things are really gearing up in full swing with prizes donated by PetSmart!

So get your favorite pet decked out in your favorite team or player gear and send in a photo. Tell, your friends, and get a whole bunch of people to vote for your photo!
Who, knows, you could end up winning some really great prizes!

So, who cares if the football goes missing?
(I didn’t really mean that last one, really . . .)

We have a Winner

Yes folks, after an exciting month of competition (we had only one entry) and a last minute round of fast and furious voting, we have a winner of the first (and probably last) Fumbled Returns Mutt Madness Competition.

The voting was extremely close (no votes were cast, not even by the owner of the loan entry!) and the judges had a really hard time deciding on the winner (after all, is there really a winner if nobody voted?)

But after much deliberation, checking and re-checking of the rules, counting and recounting of votes, a winner of both the Veterans Group and the overall competition has been chosen…

Congratulations to Sam and Grace !

Mutt Madness

In the spirit of March madness and in an effort to honor all sport fans, both human and non human, I introduce the first annual Fumbled Returns Mutt Madness Contest.

Actually, it is a really boring time for football and fantasy football fans everywhere and I was looking for a way to spice things up a bit.

So, without further delay, I introduce Fumbled Returns Mutt Madness!!!

The Rules:
1) Open to any sport or team or athlete of your choice.
2) Open to any type of Dog of your choice. Sorry, we are dog people no other pets allowed in contest.
3) Decorate your dog(s) in your favorite team or sport hero’s colors, logos, uniforms, or what ever you can think of. The end result should be to show both yours and your pets loyalty and passion and humor for the sport and the game.

These next ones should be obvious but I am going to include them anyway…
4) No permanent damage and or do not physically harm your pet in any way.
5) Tasteful entries only please, though I will be the judge as to what is tasteful or not, and I have been known to have my moments (slip ups in judgment). So if you have a risqué risky idea (but not too much) go ahead and submit it.

Contest starts March 1st and ends March 29th.
Category winners will be announced March 30th.
Top Dog (Grand Prize Winner) will be announced March 31st.

The Categories:

Rookies: This is for puppies up till the age of 1 year. Because we all know that puppies have mega cute factor when young and may pose an unfair advantage to the older entries.

Veterans: Adult dogs over 1 year of age. Despite the fact that nearly all sports and contests are split between men and women, I am keeping this as one category. After all, we all know that both are equal… right? 😉

Groupies: For entries of two or more pets.

Faux-Paws: (for photochop experts)Because, we all know that there always some athletes and contestants who are… “enhanced”.

Entries and Winner Determination:

Send all entries to fumbledreturns@gmail.com

Please include your pet(s) name and the category you wish to be entered in.

All approved entries will be posted on the Fumbled Returns Facebook Fan Page for everyone to view, comment and most importantly VOTE ON.

Each category will be a separate photo album on the fan page.

You can cast your vote by pressing the “like” button on the entries you like most.

You can vote for more than one entry but not multiple times for the same entry.

The Prizes:

The winner of each category will receive a yet to be determined prize (probably some sort of sports chew toy). If there is a tie (as in two or more category entries have the same number of “like” votes) the tie breaker will be who has the most favorable comments. If there is still a tie, I get to pick.

A grand prize, Top Dog, winner will be chosen, by my wife and I, and receive a complimentary hand painted painting of the winner as interpreted by my lovely and talented wife.

You can see excellent examples of her work on Etsy.

She also runs a blog called Hope and Greyz.

So everyone get your thinking caps on, and get as creative as you can be, and dress up those wonderful pets of yours.

Spread the word to all your friends to try and get the most votes and may the best contestant win!

Check back as often as you wish to view new and updated entries!