Chris D Rakoczy All Alone Wk 4
For the 3rd straight week the Pick’em winner was decided before the Monday Night contest began, as Chris D Rakoczy 17, held off Persons Unknown & Hen Solo both with 16, to win Week 4. Chris D Rakoczy is the 3rd Rakoczy to win this season and I don’t mind saying that out loud. I just hope the streak continues. 
I’ll send out ALL the 1st 4 Weeks winners checks today.
Honorable Mention in Week 4 with 15 – Dale Schmitz, Nick DeBenedictis, and Lil Rak.
Chris is my brother, 1 of 2, the middle one, Peter Brady if you will, me Bobby. Chris was that typical middle child, a little different than my other 4 siblings at the table. He wouldn’t eat certain things the rest of us enjoyed and I’m sure it drove MomRak a bit crazy. I have one of them now too, he’s called a Vegetarian. The only difference is Chris has been true to his colors since he could talk, mine didn’t realize he was a vegetarian until he left home. Chris liked margarine, not butter, he doesn’t like cheese unless it melts and tastes like it does on a pizza, he’s the only one who liked Pork Roll, and he could live off blueberries & watermelon. Oh, and if you ask Chris if he likes a certain food, he always answers, “Does it cast a shadow?” So as long as you don’t serve him Fish, he’ll be the first at the table and last to leave. I’m sure there are other examples, but this old guy can’t remember.
You would think some of these food choices, except for the fish, would steer him toward a life-style of fitness. Unfortunately, like most of us (men) when we hit the 50’s & 60’s our metabolism slows and we start looking more like and right side up pear instead of an upside down one. At the end of April 2025, that lifestyle snuck up on Chris and put a scare into him, his wife & daughter, and of course, the entire Rak Family. He needed bypass surgery and fast… so Chris feeling nostalgic, schedules his surgery in the same hospital he was born 63yrs prior. Chris ‘simple’ triple bypass surgery was supposed to be an ‘in & out’ procedure. “No problem” the dr says, “I’ve done 50 of these, you’ll be home watching reruns of Leave it to Beaver by Thursday”. Released from the hospital after the initial surgery with a cough, then 4 days at home, Chris returned to the hospital on the 5th day. This time for a 2nd surgery to repair torn wires that snapped and punctured a hole in his heart. The Dr even had the cojones to ask Chris, “What did you do to my sutures?”. So due to ‘complications’ with the surgery, (shhh I call it ‘botched’), Chris was released from the hospital 68 days later, Yes… 68 days. It had to be awful, but if you ask Chris, he doesn’t remember half of them.
Phew, it was over… Chris was back home with his family, a slow rehab then back to work at the NJ Gaming Commission where he’s been working for the state for 33yrs, the last 13 as an Inspector. Chris hopes to stay on until he retires in a couple years. Interesting tidbit about Chris and his job at the NJ Gaming Commission in Atlantic City, where he walked the floors of the casinos. Ask yourself, what is the most CASH you’ve ever seen at one time in your life? I’m willing to bet it won’t match what Chris has seen in the casino’s money room… 13 million CASH. How did he know it was $13Mil, because he had to watch them count it.
I love my brother and look forward to my visits up north which will always involve getting a bite to eat. And you can bet, no matter where we go, we’ll be sure to go to a place where all the menu items Cast a Shadow.
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There is a new Games page, where users can look at all the games for the week. Live games will be at the top and will update a few times a minute, so you can track multiple games here if desired.
You all know you can get ‘real time Rak Madness Scoring updates’ but did you know you can get real scoring while a game is in progress?
To access ‘real time scoring’ you need to open the ‘Cullenator’s pick sheet’ located in the upper right-hand corner, hamburger with check mark icon.
Once open, if the game is in progress a Red Dot will appear on the column header, next to Game label, ex. C4, for college game #4. If you want to see the current score of the game and the time remaining, click on it. Game details will appear similar to the sample pic shown from Saturday night’s game between Texas & OSU.
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This pool is a combination of College and NFL football games. A handful of Saturday College games will be included along with the entire NFL schedule. All the college games will involve a spread, while the NFL games are a straight pick, unless they have a spread of 5.5 pts or HIGHER. Entry fee for a season of entertainment - $82.00.
$25 gets you in the Survivor Pool and all you need to do is pick one winner each week until we have one Survivor. You get 2 strikes in this pool. So the first time you pick a team that loses you have one strike, however if you pick a loser a second time, well you're Outta Da Pool.
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Rak MaDneSs Pool Summaries
FAMILY MATTERS POOL – $20 per Family will get you entry to this Pool – 2 Man Combined Score of the Weekly Pick’em Pool, although we encourage family participation its not required. As a matter of fact, 2 friends since the 5th grade won in 2019.
SURVIVOR POOL – $25 gets you in the Survivor Pool and all you need to do is pick one winner each week until we have one Survivor. You even get 2 strikes in this pool. So the first time you pick a team that loses you have one strike, but you remain in the pool. However, if you pick a loser a second time, well you’re Outta Da Pool.
WEEKLY PICK’EM POOL – This pool is a combination of College and NFL football games. A handful of Saturday College games will be included along with the entire Sunday & Monday NFL schedule. All the college games will involve a spread, while the NFL games are a straight pick, unless they have a spread of 5.5 pts or HIGHER. Entry fee for a season of entertainment remains at $78.00.
NFL POINTS POOL – $20.00 will get you entry into the NFL Points Pool, a Chris D Rakoczy creation from 12 yrs ago. The Points Pool is a simple game. All you need to do is pick the NFL team you think will score the most points for that week. Pick wisely because you can only pick a team once. Looks easy and is easy so why don’t you play?
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eRak’s (Erik Rakoczy) and lovely bride Diana wed on Friday Oct 11th in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. The venue was charming, the weather gorgeous and the party that followed… a Rockin! Just a great time in NC. Although it was like herding cats, I managed to pull together the largest gathering of Rak Madness members since the pool began in the late 90s for a picture… see below. Great seeing Everyone! and for those of you who thought ‘MomRak’ was my second entry… well she’s real and pictured below. MomRak was in Madness heaven when she got to meet the crew Rubin, Zaversnik, Molino and the famous Will-I-Am Fergie-Son, yes the Will-I-Am that she’s been quietly cursing the past several years for winning too much. 
