After the pizza bracket...

When we started the pizza bracket we had one objective: to find out which of the local pizzerias had the best pizza in town. There was a list of criteria, the primary being hours of operation including lunch time. Putting all health concerns aside we stuck with what we intended to do and with that comes a certain amount of pride. I think people respect that and I appreciate the attention and acknowledgment we've gotten. I think it's fair to say that what we've done here is something special. It's not like we just picked up a select few small pizzas on a Friday night and wrote a column in the Telegram. My goal for the blog was to not only document the outcome of this event but to display the time and effort invested as well as the hardships endured during the process. I think this serves to ensure the outcome is credible. I am told people have referenced the blog on occasion when deciding where to order pizza from. This makes me feel as though our efforts have been worthwhile. I thank all those involved in the competition and those who followed along. Could this be the end of the pizza blog?

On that note I should mention that while people were relieved to have a well deserved break from pizza a couple times since the pizza bracket ended some interest in extending the pizza bracket has arose. One such occasion involved Sam showing off a flyer for Cheapie Cheapie Pizza. The discussion escalated to the point where we considered having mini brackets that would determine a competitor for a title bout against Venice. Unfortunately though Cheapie Cheapie Pizza's hours of operation did not include lunch time. This extinguished the idea at the time, but I think there as still a few hot spots that may ignite sometime in the future. While we have crowned a pizza champion of the world I don't think the Gimongous Avalon Pizza Bracket is truly over...

Week 13: Final Round (Peter's Pizza vs. Venice Pizza)

Today's final competition for the prestigious prize of being heralded as the pizza champion of the world met and even exceeded our expectations. We pulled out all the stops and ordered two jumbo pizzas since we had in attendance the most judges we've had for a pizza bracket competition and because we didn't feel having Peter's pizza as a finalist would be justified without having a pizza box with a cartoon Peter's head on it. I had become familiar with the return trip to Venice so I made that run while I ordered delivery from Peter's. My timing was impeccable as upon returning I passed the Peter's delivery drive in the parking lot. I knew then that this would be a glorious competition. When I returned there was quite a buzz surrounding predictions of the outcome. Upon initial comparison of the pizzas we found them both to be quite similar. There was a slight difference in shade of crust, but both had similar consistency and greasiness. Peter's seemed to have fresher veggie toppings, while Venice appeared to have canned mushrooms. The cheese on the Venice was a little more baked on with a slightly brown tinge to it. In the end though these did not contribute to the outcome. It all boiled down to the sauce...

Initially there were 12 judges: Heather, Nick, Mutema, Alex, Mark, Sam, Chuck, Josh, Howard, Heidi, Dale and myself. Sam counted the ballots in dramatic fashion only to find out that there was a 6-6 tie. We had considered the potential for a draw resulting from and even number of judges at the outset of the pizza bracket, but never in our wildest dreams did we thing that it would be the final competition where this came into effect. Fortunately though we had ordered jumbo pizzas and there was some left over. All we needed were additional judges. We rounded up three judges, Wally, Pappy, and Don. We cut the remaining pieces in to three pairs of pizza slivers. We decided a blind test would be the best method considering the importance of this outcome. The additional judges we confined to a separate room with their individual plates ho0lding the respective pizza slivers and told they were not allowed to leave until they had come to a conclusion. During their deliberation there was a combination of nervousness, impatience, and excitement felt amongst the other judges. We all wanted to know who would be crowned as the pizza champion of the world and what pizza we could be eating at the super bowl party. When the additional three votes we cast and count we were all surprised to find that all three votes were for Venice. And as we later found out it was all to do with the sauce. Pappy was heard to comment that he voted for what he thoughts was Peter's because it tasted like Peter's sauce which he liked. Obviously he was fooled. But considering both these finalists came from the same decedent it's understandable that one might mix them up in a blind taste. Some Peter's fans were in disgust of the outcome and would not accept the newly crowned Venice as the pizza champion of the world. Maybe it was an off day for Peter's or an on day for Venice, however the stars aligned for today's outcome I'm glad that a pizza has been crowned and we can take a break from weekly pizza.