It was a journey that took nearly 3 months. Tired, bruised, battered, Steele Sidebottom was still able to put in one last effort in the 2010 Name of the Year Grand Final. He made a Banana Yaya smoothie in the championship match with 82% of the vote.
He was a polarising figure in the NOTY right from the beginning. It went in stages.
- Confused: After winning his first round match with commenter Whit Perkins saying, "WHO IS VOTING FOR STEELE SIDEBOTTOM?!?!"
- Dismissive: "Steele Sidebottom is a fucking stupid name." said 'Anonymous'. Although, to be honest, in this competition is that a complement?
- Wary: After AFL supporters started flooding the site with (some unintelligable, some witty) comments the Spontaneous Gordon supporters realised they had a big challenge on their hands. With just 112 facebook group members I'm not surprised. Anonymous said..."The regionally-biased voting plaguing this year's NOTY evidences the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in designing the Electoral College."
- Annoyed: the tall poppy syndrome kicked in and the abuse came thick and fast: Jon Beckham said..."Australians ruin everything." This led to a response from the Aussies somehow tying in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to their inability to handle Steele.
- Delusional: Apparently also it was somehow Australia's fault that the entire bracket didn't turn out the way another Anonymous commenter thought it should: "So, let's see if I got this straight. Lolita Respectnothing and Napoleon Einstein are out in the first round, and Steele Sidebottom is in the final? Nice job breaking it, Australia"
Also, as maharius notes:
The backlash from Steele Sidebottom winning begins. RT @ Barack Obama cancels trip to Australia
The NOTY tournament is hilarious. The top 64 names are all good. It is all subjective and that's the point. If you want experts to decide, then look to the NOTY High Committee for their pick. Who wins the people's choice? Well, like politics, it is a popularity contest. We here at UpShake were the best at promoting the Steeley cause above all others. We built a facebook army that now counts in the THOUSANDS. We got the tweets flowing. We got radio stations interviewing name of the year contestants in different hemispheres. If you think your favourite NOTY contestant deserved it so much then where's the love? Where's the promotion? If 1,025 facebook members were enough to get Steele the title with 82% of the vote, then you didn't try hard enough.
And on the Australia vs America idea, I think 'Cobbly' said it best.
cobbly said... Population of America: 312 million Population of Australia: 21 million
Pretty sure you could have out-voted us if you really wanted to.
So suck it up. Steele wins.
It was a great tournament. The one regret I have is that Banana Yaya was the grand finalist. I think it was a side effect of Steele's meteoric rise that the lowest common denominator of AFL (let's be honest, Collingwood) supporters didn't quite grasp the alliteration gold that is Nohjay Nimpson. Yes, Banana has a fruit for a first name. Yes, he has a mono-vowel full name. Was he entirely worthy of 2nd place? Perhaps not, but that's the fault of the Nohjay supporters. That's the NOTY tournament for you.
Let's look back at his epic 2010 tournament.
Round 1: Pizza Ashby, Dinero Fudge, Shevelle Six all defeated with Steele gaining 51% of the vote.
Round 2, Sweet 16: Spontaneous Gordon put up a worthy fight, but Steele proved a stayer (52% - 48%).
Round 3, Elite 8: Starzanne Stipes defeated the jingoistic soccer player 64% - 36%
Round 4, Final Four: Charity Beaver was beaten hard, 82% - 18% but interviewed by Collingwood president Eddie Maguire and may have won a long-term prize of being MMM radio's US correspondent in future. She has also won in love, being recently engaged (to a SMITH! How devastating for all the Beaverites out there.)
Round 5, Grand Final: Banana Yaya again 82% - 18%
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 7:14PM 
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