By Mark David Blum, Esq.

I am married to one of those folks that everybody tends to hate at one time or another. You know the type; the person who never plays the lottery but one day on a whim buys a ticket and wins the jackpot. My Missus is the type of person who can walk through a casino oblivious to how to play any game there, place a $5 chip on a random number on a roulette wheel and hit. She is the woman who only fills out one entry form at the State Fair and wins the Jet Blue free plane tickets. The lady I married won us a trip to Ottawa our first week in Syracuse and most recently, while being invited to a charitable auction, won 2 tickets to see Mama Mia. Yep, my bride of nearly twenty years has amazing luck when it comes to winning things. Me, I couldn’t win a contest if I was the only contestant.

So, at one of the recent Syracuse University home football games which we attended (also thanks to a winning pick), we were walking by the Sheraton University and saw out front a large party hosted by TK 99; “our favorite radio station”. Out front were two brand new snowmobiles on a trailer and a contest / drawing was being held. Knowing we did not have a chance in hell but also knowing my bride, I shooed her off to register and get her name into the pool of persons trying to win the snowmobiles.

Less than a week later, we got the letter. ‘Congratulations’, it started. Of all the persons who entered the contest, my Missus was one of fifty selected as finalists to win the snowmobiles. One condition: “You Must Be Present to Win.”

Nine thirty Saturday morning, we left the house en route to the SU / UConn game. For three weeks I made no bones about telling everybody we were going to win the snowmobiles; obviously having absolutely no confidence in our doing so. But hey, I know my wife and with her you never know.

It reminds me of the time I was in Atlantic City meandering around a casino bored and looking for something to do. I came upon a woman sitting down and playing a slot machine. Wanting to make idle chat and in an effort to be a total asshole, I told her that she was playing the wrong machine. I put a quarter into the slot I was sitting in front of and won a $300.00 jackpot. The look of shock on her face was priceless. You don’t get moments like that very often in life. By telling everybody about my Missus and the snowmobiles; should she win, it would be another of life’s “gotchas” about which I could tell stories to my grandchildren.

So, in the 40 degree cold, driving rain, and freezing wind, we along with the other 50 finalists and mass of partiers that had joined the fracas at the Sheraton, we stood around and waited for the drawing. The rules were simple. Dave and Gomez were going to pull names one at a time from a box and the last name called was going to be named the winner of the his and hers snowmobiles. The drawings, I believe, were being done live on the air.

Shortly after 11:00 and when my fingers and toes had no feeling left in them whatsoever, they started the contest. One at a time, 20 names were called and the Missus was not among them. My heart is now pounding and I am laughing to myself because I knew she was about to win two snowmobiles.

They came back from commercial break and drew another 20 names and again, the Missus was not among them. At this juncture, she is frozen in shock and I am dancing around like a clown because I know what is about to happen.

Eight more names are drawn and again no Mrs. B. Dave is holding one name and Gomez is holding the other. Announced are that the first name will be the runner up and the last name will be the winner. Mrs. B was called out as the runner up and all I could do was laugh because of how close she got on something she wouldn’t of otherwise had any interest in. The last name is called and it’s a woman. A man steps out of the crowd and introduces himself as the winner and they walk off to a corner.

Behind me, somebody says out loud, “hay, don’t the rules say you have to be present to win?”

Before I realized it, I too said, “Hay, don’t the rules say you have to be present to win?” The winner was obviously not the female named as the winner. Not wanting to sound like a sore loser, I kind of just hung back and watched while suddenly the entire situation had turned into chaos. Everybody now is watching the radio management and everybody is asking, “hay, don’t the rules say you have to be present to win?”

We were present. I started making some noises about wanting my snowmobiles. Though I hate winning by default, nevertheless, money is money and a win is a win no matter how ugly. Ask the Syracuse Orangemen football team. Apparently the woman whose name was called was out of town and had sent her brother as her proxy.

That is when the lawyer in me came out. Station officials went off to huddle and try and resolve the situation. Did they have two winners? It was a comedy to see small gaggles of people moving and talking. The station people were in one group. Us prize winners were in another. Everybody else was kind of following us around and waiting to see what the station was going to do. The drama on site was greater than anything that was going to happen later at the Dome.

After a while, we were approached and told what we had expected to hear; that we did not win the contest. The woman whose name was called out as winner had called the station and they had changed her name to her brother’s everywhere but on the entry slip inside the box. The station was going to declare him the winner of the snowmobiles.

My three years of law school taught me that I should ask to see where in the rules it said you can win by proxy. Instead, I suggested she may have to make her case to a Post Standard reporter. When she got defensive, I did what my training taught me and left the scene.

My Missus had won the prize and my attitude was that so long as the station made her happy, I was going to be happy. Meanwhile, I had a little chat with the ultimate winner and we made a side deal in case things did not go well with the station.

In the end, the station made my wife an offer she couldn’t refuse. She was happy and elated and I felt like a proud parent. I knew she would win the day I made her enter the contest and I felt it in my bones during the drawing. Nothing that happened in the Dome was more exciting than the drama of those few moments at the Sheraton. It was a great day with a great ending and heck, even Syracuse shined … for a change.

Of course my Missus is the luckiest woman in the world. She married me, didn’t she?