A Contest--In Which I Combine The Passions Of My Life

STICKY--Scroll down for regular posts. Please read the contest rules carefully before posting comments. Thank you.

This month, one of my karate buddies got his braces off. In honor of this occasion, I have decided to hold a contest. I've posted here several photographs of smiles. Can you identify all 12?

UPDATE (11/28/07): My apologies to everyone. I was thinking that the 30th was Thursday. I realized this morning it isn't. So you have until midnight FRIDAY night to submit or revise your entries. Sorry about that.


HINT #1: They are all men. Even though one of them has a rather feminine smile, he is still a man.

HINT: #2: They are all different men. Some of the smiles may look alike, but there are 12 different men represented there.

HINT #3: Though they all appear on TV regularly, none of them are actors.

HINT #4: Though none of them are professional actors, at least 4 currently appear in commercials.

HINT #5: They are all athletes.

HINT #6: They all play the same sport.

HINT #7: They all play (or played) the same position.

HINT #8: Here it is, the biggest hint I will give you. Eleven of these twelve men have been mentioned by name--first and last--somewhere in my blog.

That's the most I can tell you without giving you all the answers outright. Have fun and happy guessing.

Official rules:

The contest will run until November 30th, giving you plenty of time to guess and research. These pictures were all gleaned from the internet--many from the same site--and all are relatively famous--some more so than others. There is a theme to them as well. I'm not going to tell what it is. That would give it away, but once you've guessed a couple, you should be able to figure it out. Send an e-mail to isshinryubearmom @ yahoo (dot) com with your answers. If I don't acknowledge your e-mail within a day or two, nag me about it until I do. Do not put your answers in the comments. We don't want to give our opponents hints, now, do we? Comments with answers in them will be deleted.

The winner will be the one who has guessed the most answers correctly. If there is a tie, those names will be put into a hat and the winner will be drawn randomly. All entries, regardless of the number of correct answers, will be entered into a random drawing for a prize just for playing. Also, if you link to me on your blog, leave me a comment letting me know that you did so, and you'll get your name into the hat an extra time.

First prize will be this:

.Two 50 gram balls of Knit Picks Essential in the Riverbed colorway, and not one, not two, but three, yes three, count them, three sets of double pointed needles. The two on the left are Clover bamboo in sizes 2.25 mm and 3.25 mm. The set on the left is Comfort Zone size US 2. It doesn't give the mm size. Neither of the bamboo sets has been used as far as I can remember. They aren't warped and look brand new. Nothing is wrong with them, I've just decided I prefer Knit Picks nickel plated needles. The Comfort Zone needles I tried to use, but just couldn't get used to how bendy they are.

Second prize--the one decided by the random drawing will be this:



Two undyed balls of Patons Classic Merino wool. This yarn is 100% wool, and great for dying or felting. Each ball is 100 grams and just over 200 yards of worsted weight wool. It should be enough to make a hat and matching gloves, or a decent sized scarf.

Answers, along with the winner, will be revealed the first couple of days of December.

So are you ready? Let the guessing begin!

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