And the Winner Is ...

Finally got to catch up with Cooley Wednesday afternoon to settle the battle of the chants. Of course, I got all of my official Washington Post business out of the way first - his thoughts on the new offense, this preseason, yada yada yada - then moved in for the really important stuff. I explained the contest we had on the blog for the best chant - astonishingly enough, he's not a regular reader (probably couldn't find my tiny corner in cyber pace, yeah, that explains it) - and he gladly assumed his role of judge.

I handed him my printout of the three finalists (I'll post the winner again at the bottom of this entry) and he immediately started to crack up. I never mentioned which one I thought should be the winner, in the interest of fairness and all. Each chant elicited at least one chuckle from him, and he was clearly taking his duty seriously, reading each line carefully. When he stopped, I could tell right away he was going to choose the same one I did. He looked at me sheepishly, maybe even a little ashamed, but there was no going back now.

"I like the second one," he said, smiling. "That's pretty funny."

He had picked the chant set to Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," and I don't blame him one bit. Perfect bit of 80s nostalgia recast as an homage to Coach Joe, begging him to stick around. Someone suggested on the blog yesterday that the winner gets a copy of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" autographed by Cooley, and that sounds perfect to me. If anyone has seen it available on Amazon or something, let me know. Also, the winner, and you know who you are, shoot me an email at lacanforaj@washpost.com, and I'll figure out how to get the tape to you.

Okay, here's the winner, for anyone still interested in this madness:

Wake me up before you go - Joe
Don't leave us hanging like '92, yo
Wake me up before you go - Joe
I don't wanna miss it when you say good-bye
Wake me up before you go - Joe
'Cause I don't wanna cry again for you, bro
Wake me up before you go - Joe
Take the Skins dancin' tonight