It costs $143.70 for an up close center-court ticket to see the Washington Wizards, D.C.'s purported professional basketball team that has yet to win a game after 11 starts.
It costs nothing to play ScuttleButton, America's favorite button puzzle game.
So which is the better deal?
ScuttleButton, of course, is that once-a-week waste of time exercise in which each Monday or Tuesday I put up a vertical display of buttons on this site. Your job is to simply take one word (or concept) per button, add 'em up, and, hopefully, you will arrive at a famous name or a familiar expression. (And seriously, by familiar, I mean it's something that more than one person on Earth would recognize.)
For years, a correct answer chosen at random would get his or her name posted in this column, an incredible honor in itself. Now the stakes are even higher. Thanks to the efforts of the folks at Talk of the Nation, that person also hears their name mentioned on the Wednesday show (by me) and receives a Political Junkie t-shirt in the bargain. Is this a great country or what?
You can't use the comments box at the bottom of the page for your answer. Send submission (plus your name and city/state — you won't win without that) to politicaljunkie@npr.org.
(Why do people keep forgetting to include their name and city/state?)
And, by adding your name to the Political Junkie mailing list, you will be among the first on your block to receive notice about the column and the puzzle. Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org. Or you can make sure to get an automatic RSS feed whenever a new Junkie post goes up by clicking here.
Good luck!
By the way, I always announce the winner on Wednesday's Junkie segment on TOTN — eight days after the puzzle goes up. So you should try and get your answer in as soon as possible. But logistically, you have about a week to submit your guess.
Here are the buttons used and the answer to last week's puzzle:
I Paid More Income Tax Than Bill Brock — Tennessee Sen. Brock, a Republican, faced questions about his taxes during his unsuccessful re-election bid in 1976.
Coe for Governor — Earl Coe finished second in the 1956 Democratic primary in Washington.
Beat Bama — An LSU button regarding its hated college football rival, the University of Alabama.
So, when you combine Brock + Coe + Bama, you may just very well end up with ...
Barack Obama. He's that former Democratic senator from Illinois, elected in 2004.
The winner, chosen completely at random, is ... Chuck Lehneis of San Diego, Calif. Chuck gets not only the coveted Political Junkie t-shirt — but the Official No Prize Button as well!
And don't forget to check out this week's Political Junkie column, which focuses on the resignation of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) and the outlook for the battle to succeed him. Click here to read the column.
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