Hello there, Junk Food Nation! I hope everyone’s holiday was good. Look at this – I didn’t blog for two days and it feels like I’ve been away forever. I missed you, JFNation.

TODAY’S TURKEY HILL FREE COUPON WINNERS:

Well, JFNation, here are my final winners from last Wednesday’s comment contest:

Indigo (Indigo_____@gmail.com)

JohnnyP (jplag___@gmail.com)

Jamie (dunn_______@gmail.com)

Cara James (cara_____@yahoo.com)

Congrats, you four! – email me your contact info to Junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com and I’ll get the free coupon in the mail to you! And thank you to everyone my Turkey Hill contests last week and for the days before that. Now I only have 25 or so free 1.5 qts of ice cream to consume this next year…..yeah, that’s a lot. Maybe I’ll have some more giveaways in 2015.

THE FINAL TALLY BETWEEN ME AND THE BACKUP QB:

Due to the weird schedule with my blogging, the holidays, and general football ridiculousness, I’m behind on my tallies with regard to the season long bet between me and the BackUp QB. Here’s how Week 16 ended up:

	Backup QB Picks	JFG Picks
WEEK 16	7-7-1 (11 pts: HIT LOCK)	7-7-1 (11 pts: HIT LOCK)
SEASON	99-117-9 (119 pts)	112-104-9 (140 pts)

 

Going into Week 17, as pointed out by the BQB himself, even if he took the opposite of every single one of my choices and hit his lock, he’d still only score 20 points – not enough to overcome the 21 point lead I had on him. So that was a wrap. Still, Week 17 was there, so why not bet on it anyways? I took to Twitter to give my picks:

https://twitter.com/junkfoodguy/status/549202029361786880

The BQB took the opposite side of every bet. Here’s how it ended up:

	Backup QB Picks	JFG Picks
WEEK 17	8-7-1 (8 pts: MISSED LOCK)	7-8-1 (7 pts: MISSED LOCK)
SEASON	107-124-10 (127 pts)	119-112-10 (147 pts)

 

And, so it’s over. The JFG takes the season with a 20 point victory. Which means the BQB now has to wear this at his Super Bowl viewing, wherever that is.

Some takeaways from the season? Out of a possible 241 games, the BQB picked correctly 44% of the time, while my total was only slightly higher with 49%. Out of 17 possible LOCKS, the BQB got 5 and I got 7 correct. Neither of us picked over 50% correct, which is pretty humbling for me, since I claim to know things about football. Then again, professional handicappers generally claim to be 55-56% accurate, which means they would’ve selected 134-135 picks correctly. That means if just ONE more pick each week had broken my way, I’d have a professional scorecard.

How did our season predictions work out, as well? In the NFC, the BQB got 1 divisional winner correct, and 2 NFC playoff teams correct overall. In the AFC, the BQB got 3 divisional winners correct, with 3 AFC playoff teams correct overall.  In the NFC, I got 2 divisional winners correct, with 2 NFC playoff teams correct overall. In the AFC, I got 3 divisional winners correct with a whopping 5 AFC playoff teams correct overall. HOOWAH. Early in the season, the BQB made the point that the median number of divisional repeat champions since 2003 was 3…with an aberration of 6 in 2012. This year, there were 6 repeat champions as well, with Carolina clumsily stumbling into the division champ slot. Panthers, WTF.

WHO WILL YOU ROOT FOR IN THE PLAYOFFS?

So, the NFL season is over, and 20 teams have been knocked out of the mix. So who will you root for now? Do you pull for your division, or root hard AGAINST a divisional rival?  I wrote a blog post about this last year…I root against against against. So, Patriots? BOOOOO.

But what about you, JFNation? Who will you be pulling for in the NFL playoffs? Who should *I* root for? Let me know in the comments below.

TODAY’S JUNK FOOD: Limited Edition Hostess Red Velvet Cup Cakes!!

Limited Edition Hostess Red Velvet Cup Cakes were found at my nearest Walmart. So is this what we’re doing now, retail stores? Valentine’s Day stuff just HITS the shelves the DAY AFTER Christmas? I mean, I understand the desire to sell product…but THE DAY AFTER?

I REALLY don’t understand it. If I’m being honest, ramping up with Fall and Holiday flavors early SORT of makes sense, because you’re trying to put people in the mood/spirit. But VALENTINE’S DAY?? I do NOT need to be “in the mood” for Valentine’s Day on DECEMBER 26.  Ridiculous.

Limited Edition Hostess Red Velvet Cup Cakes are different than regular Hostess cupcakes, which have chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, and a white squiggle. Plus, since when has the tag line been “the Original Squiggle”? Has this been around for a while?

Limited Edition Hostess Red Velvet Cup Cakes are 170 cal per cupcake, and loaded with an Encyclopedia of ingredients.  Just….ignore.

Limited Edition Hostess Red Velvet Cup Cakes, both wrapped and unwrapped. When I opened these cupcakes, I wanted that great cocoa / cream cheese icing smell. I didn’t QUITE get it – there was a faint FAINT smell of cream cheese icing, but certainly not as strong as, for example, the recent Red Velvet Peeps or the Red Velvet Keebler cookies I recently reviewed. Not a great sign of things to come.

As I suspected, these Limited Edition Hostess Red Velvet Cup Cakes were a disappointment. If you’re looking for general Hostess cupcake flavor/texture, this provides it. But, IMO, it does not improve over the traditional Hostess cupcake. The cake itself isn’t as chocolaty as the regular Hostess cupcake – the flavor seemed more muted – but it doesn’t quite go as “cocoa” as I want a red velvet cake to be.

The inner white creme is not cream cheese flavored – it’s the traditional Hostess filling. The icing on top is hardened, and doesn’t quite have a cream cheese flavor. So that was a let down. What I’m basically concluding is that all in all – these didn’t taste like red velvet cake.

I’ve had more than one reader tell me that they find the benefit of this blog to be knowing what NOT to buy – and so you’ll want to avoid these.  If you want a Hostess cupcake, go buy an original. These Limited Edition red velvet cakes will disappoint you.

PURCHASED AT: Walmart, Germantown, MD

COST: $2.98

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy