Blake Thompson won $1 million yesterday in ESPN.com’s Streak For The Cash presented by Progressive game.* The 31-year-old civil rights lawyer — originally from St. Louis and currently residing in San Francisco — correctly picked the Queens Park Rangers to win or draw in Monday’s Coca-Cola Football League Championship against the favorite West Bromwich Albion. WBA’s Jonas Olsson scored an own goal followed by a goal from QPR’s Kaspars Gorkss within 5 minutes of each other, giving QPR a 0-2 lead. WBA answered back with a pair of goals from Jerome Thomas and Simon Cox, but time ran down to a 2-2 draw, securing Blake his 9th pick for the longest streak in the Pick-Off event. He is only the second player to have won the top prize in ESPN’s Streak For The Cash.*
Streak For The Cash is a free daily game launched August 25, 2008 and challenges players to select the outcome of various daily sports-related questions. This latest iteration of the game featured a grand prize of $1 million to the finalist with the longest winning streak during a four-day Pick-Off event amongst the “Streak 7.” The six runners-up in the Pick-Off were each awarded $10,000 for reaching the finale event.
“We want to congratulate Blake on becoming only the second million dollar winner in Streak For The Cash,” said John Kosner, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN Digital Media. “The Pick-Off event certainly put the pressure on the seven finalists and was a true test of sports knowledge, skill and guts to build the longest winning streak against the best of the best in this latest iteration.”
“I felt like I had to pick an underdog because I was behind,” said Blake. “There were only a couple of choices left and I felt this was the most likely to win. If I waited until [Monday night], four people would’ve been left. I had to take a risk.”
Since it first launched, Streak For The Cash presented by Progressive has logged nearly 2.6 million entries and over 173 million picks on ESPN.com.
About Streak For The Cash
ESPN.com’s Streak For The Cash is a free pick’em game that each day presents fans with a series of sports-related questions tied to the day’s sports events, and asks them to choose from among them. Strategy and sports smarts play a role. Questions can range from simply picking a winner in a sports contest, to more complex or specific questions, such as:
- College Football (Hawaii vs. Notre Dame): Which team will have the longest touchdown play?
- Basketball (San Antonio Spurs vs. Phoenix Suns): Which team will reach 10 points first?
- Soccer (West Ham United vs. Portsmouth FC): What will be the match result?
- Hockey (Philadelphia Flyers vs. Vancouver Canucks): Who will win the game?
* Pending review of his entry for eligibility and authentication.
About Progressive
Progressive, in business since 1937, is one of the country’s largest auto insurance groups, the largest seller of motorcycle and personal watercraft policies, and a market leader in commercial auto insurance based on premiums written. To find an agent or to get a quote, go to http://www.progressive.com.
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