Rivals redux

We've never met him, but Whiteside must be quite a guy. What else could motivate not only sister-in-law Booth but also co-worker McKillip to confess their dearest goal in life is to whup Whiteside's backside in this year's contest? Well, so far so good for McKillip who holds a small lead on Whiteside, 184 to 181. Alas for Booth, she trails her nemesis by five, 181 to 176.

Karlsruher has proclaimed that Millan will never beat him again, and so far his words have held up by the slimmest of margins, 199 to 198. K Sullivan has announced that B Peloso is going down hard, and she's backing that up with a margin that "slim" simply can't be used to describe, 190 to 173. B Peloso is also beneath his wife, 2007 champion M Peloso, 182 to 173, while K Sullivan has played her happy husband, D'Zuro, to a tie, 190 to 190.

Last year in our contest, children pretty much spanked their parents. But this year the parents seem to have made judicious use of the timeout. Coach Doc is trouncing S Adams, 199 to 182; R Schlegel is up on L Schlegel, 183 to 177; M Kleiman is ahead of B Kleiman, 189 to 182; D Josephs is unabashedly pummeling commissioner M Josephs, 201 to 177; J Donadio, Sr. (192) has a comfortable lead on all of his offspring (Jr Donadio (183), L Donadio (173), and N Donadio (168)), as well as his spouse (ME Donadio (172)); and they haven't yet invented a word to describe how far P Leach (197) is ahead of daughters M Leach (152) and S Leach (130). (Although it should be noted that P Leach has also put his own old man in his place, as Leach Gang patriarch E Leach (187) trails him by 10.)

As with all trends, there are a couple exceptions. McAtee-Gattone (playing in our contest for the first time) is absolutely crushing her dad, Joe Mc (playing in our contest for the 19th time), 181 to 158. K Ripley has flummoxed her father, R Wanger for three consecutive years, and she seems to be headed there again, leading him 186 to 182. She's also besting her husband, P Ripley, for the second time in their two-year marriage, 186 to 177.

Brenner (187 to 179) and Marshall (194 to 192) are both beating themselves. But we refuse to talk about it.