Round One Winner: cuppycup (3-2)
With no clear-cut winner according to the judges, cuppycup carried the day. If you missed the Round One entries, click here.
Decisions and rationale
LUKE ZIMMERMANN (@lukezim)
LSUFreek is a legend in his own time but he came out a bit too passive in the opening round. Cuppycup's breadth of canvas (plus some of the subtleties, like the 50 yard line) make his entry a slightly stronger one. While both are great (and it says a lot that we've raised the bar to the point where something with Freek's fingerprints all over it wasn't quite good enough in the opening round), Cuppycup comes out ever so slightly ahead in the early goings. I'm scoring this one 10-9, to the challenger.
ANDY HUTCHINS (@AndyHutchins)
Today's winner is Cupster McCupberson, because of the 50-yard-line. Freek, I love you, but you were up against it when picking that source material; you executed well (I love the beads on Sumlin's necklace), but the degree of difficulty for a Gladiator GIF was just a little higher, and that last touch had me rolling.
JASON KIRK (@JasonKirkSBN)
Both of these works start strong and build to fantastic punchlines, but it's the Les Miles cackle as brave Johnny Manziel (more loyal to his coach than the family dog is) flees that gives Freek the slighest of edges for me.
SAILOR RIPLEY (@BarkingCarnival)
It's very, very difficult to choose between two masters at the height of their creative powers but I have to go with cuppycup in Round 1 because his portrayal of Johnny Football is more nuanced. And really isn't this whole season all about Johnny Football? Rhetorical. Johnny is a man of action. A man who would throw an interception just so he could make a tackle and force a fumble. He wouldn't let his coach get pummeled. He'd leap on Hulk Les and employ a choke hold.
STEVEN GODFREY (@38Godfrey)
My round one vote goes to #teamFreek, if only for proving to us that gamma radiation is the only proper way to grow enough "chest" to play in Baton Rogue.