Recall if you will, last season (I know it’s hard, pretend late April didn’t happen, that’s what I do).  Go all the way back to the second weekend of December.  It was a glorious time to be a Devils fan.  The Devils were in the midst of one of the wildest games of the year and possibly the most fun game I have ever had the pleasure of attending – a total 80s-style scorefest against the Rangers that the Red n’ Black took by a final score of 8-5.  During that game, one Mr. Dainius Zubrus notched his 21st goal as a Devil.

That evening, rather than waiting to get home and make a new ZubbieCounter update, I wrote it on a piece of paper, snapped a picture with my cell phone, and sent it along to Steve, who posted it on this very blog.  This started a discussion between Steve, Joe, and myself.  We decided to hold a contest, in which you, the 2MA reader, would submit (or Zubmit) your own ZubbieCounter updates.  We’d pick one for each goal, and in the end, you the reader would get to vote on which one you liked best, with the winner getting undetermined prizes.

The contest was a huge success for us – I didn’t realize how many entries we actually got until I went through the ZubbieCounter e-mail address again a few days ago.  There were some absolutely brilliant entries for each of his goals for the remainder of the season.

And then the playoffs happened.  We spiraled into an uncontrollable funk that we’re only just now finally breaking out of.  I’ve promised you the Zubbie awards for months now, and the time has finally come.

Below you will find each of the winners from last season.  On the main page, you’ll see our nifty new poll feature.  Simply go over there and vote for which one you like the best.  Vote only once please (I’m using an honor system here, but if I suspect monkey business, I’ll suspend voting a choose my own winner.  It’s my contest, I can do that, y’know).  Also, two nominees are nominated twice.  Because quite frankly, the two winners for the last goal of the season were both too funny.  Again, my contest, I can do what I want.  Booyah grandma.

Winner gets still-to-be-determined STUFF.  Said stuff will probably not even be determined until I have a box that I have to fill with something.  You will definitely get the Chico Resch autographed 2MA sticker, though, and probably a bunch of other awesome things.

So, without further ado, I present to you, your 2008-2009 ZUBBIE AWARD NOMINEES:

Steven O’s Zubmission

Wilson L’s Zubmission

Jon C’s Zubmission (24th goal)

Chris S (Rico)’s Zubmission

Kevin B’s Zubmission (26th goal)

Kristyn’s Zubmission

Jon C’s Zubmission (28th goal)

Kevin B’s Zubmission (28th goal)

So there you have it.  Get to voting!  Since this is a ZubbieCounter contest, I say we let Zubbie decide when voting ends.  We’ll take votes until the end of the game in which Zubbie scores his 33rd goal as a Devil, or until 4 PM on November 15th.  Whichever happens first.  Probably the latter.  Either way, get your votes in now!

That’s what my therapist tells me, at least.

Alas, the boys and I have decided to give 2MA a little makeover. We’ve one again enlisted the wonderful and talented Dustin to give good ol’ 2MA a fresh look. Be on the lookout for a new site design in the coming months, but for now we need YOUR help!

See, Dustin came up with a wonderful logo and banner for us. For this, we owe him babies, ponies, and lots of Skittles. It was a hard bargain, but I think it’s a good deal. Regardless, the boys and I had a little trouble coming up with a new slogan for the website.

This is where you come in.

We need a catchy tag line for our new 2MA banner. Help us out! Email your ideas and suggestions to us right HERE. Keep it simple, keep it short, but keep it awesome! Remember, this needs to fit on our header. The winning slogan will appear on the new 2MA banner. Oh, and ya never know — we may have some other goodies up or sleeves for the winner!

We’ll keep this contest running throughout the playoffs, but act now! We need HELP!!

Oh, it might help to see the new banner, huh? Well then, here ya go:

Dandy, huh?

Correct.

Tonight is all do-or-die, a position all too familiar to Devils fans over the past few years. Why do our boys play with our hearts so freely?

It may be poetic, but I sure don’t want to see any tragedies tonight. I WANT EPIC BATTLES AND EPIC WINS MOTHERFU….oh..sorry. I got a little carried away there.

Anywhoooz, I’ve decided to be nice today. Do you want to be nice too? I think you do. Here’s what ya do. Send us an e-mail HERE. All ya gotta do is, well, tell us that we’re pretty.

Oh, jokes.

No, seriously. Just e-mail us. One fan at random will win their very own 2MA t-shirt. Entries will be accepted until midway through tonight’s contest, so, uh, ya got a couple hours to get this shizz done. The winner will be announced at the conclusion of tonight’s game.

Please bring Black ‘n Red good luck…they surely need it after that embarrassment of a Game Six.

You saw the first of it Friday night.  The first twenty were on us, but now, ladies and gentlemen – the ZubbieCounter is in YOUR hands.

I gave you a starting point the other night, but now it’s on you.  Every time Zubbie scores a goal, we’ll be taking reader submissions.  For each goal, we’ll pick one submission to be the official ZubbieCounter image for that goal. This can work many ways.  Here’s a couple of suggestions:

• Make a sign, hold it up for us, and snap a picture.  You, your children, your friends, the guy at the bar, your grandma – be creative and have fun with it.

• Take a picture of the number (say, 22) occurring on a traffic sign, in a store, in a book, on the side of a building, on the back of a jersey – again, the more creative the better – then edit in the rest of the Counter information (__th Goal As A Devil!) using Photoshop, or MS Paint, or whathaveyou.

So what’s in it for you?  Free stuff.  At the end of the season, we’ll re-post each ZubbieCounter image from the season and let everyone vote on their favorite.  Winner gets to-be-announced free swag.  And who doesn’t love undetermined free swag?

All ZubbieCounter submissions should be sent to zubbiecounter@gmail.com.

Here’s to hoping we can start taking some submissions tonight, yes?

Congratulations to reader bostondevil!

Yes, I have a hidden motive here. I totally believe that if I play the “nice guy” card, the Hockey Gods will grace Black ‘n Red with a win on Friday.

Stranger things have happened…

Yours forever,
Patricia
XOXO

PS~ If you guys win tonight, I will personally give one lucky reader a 2MA t-shirt.

READERS: LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST BETWEEN NOW AND 9:00 PM ET CHEERING YOUR DEVILS ON. IF THE BOYS PULL THROUGH TONIGHT, ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL RECEIVE A 2MA SHIRT. WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN RANDOMLY. DO IT UP!

Out of 224 entries, the boys and I have randomly selected one winner. Aand that winner is…

…wait for it…

…wait for it!

THE WINNER IS:

Mr. Lepore will receive two tickets to an upcoming New Jersey Devils home game. How exciting!

Thanks to everyone who entered, and congrats to Steve! Keep with 2 Man Advantage for more awesomeness, we surely have more amazing tricks up our sleeves. Oh yeah.

While this site has been around since October of 2006, we really feel like last December was when we truly hit our stride. The boys and I just wanted to say thanks to all the readers of this site, whether you laughed at one of our silly jokes, posted a comment yelling at something we wrote, or simply logged on the site to see what the heck this place even is about over the past year.

In short, we love the 2MA Crew, and we wanted to show our appreciation!

HERE’S WHAT YOU GOTTA DO:

Send us an e-mail. Simple as that. You don’t need to tell us how much you love us (though, it’s always nice to inflate our egos), you don’t need to write why you deserve the tickets more than anyone else (though, it might help our decision…just kidding.) E-mail us, and we’ll randomly pick one reader who will receive two center ice tickets to an upcoming New Jersey Devils home game.

We will announce the winner on December 30th, so get e-mailin’ now!

Congratulations to John B., who wiped out the competition with his more-than-awesome choice of location to proudly display his 2 Man Advantage pride.

Check it out for yourself:

Where better than in the heart of the enemy? It’s purely brilliant!

Thanks to everyone who took part in the contest — we had such a blast! Look for more 2MA contests in the future…hey…there might even be one around the corner. You never know!

Why, you ask?

We’re still getting lots of sticker requests! It’s quite flattering, really. Remember though, ladies and gents, you need to e-mail those submissions to us in order to win the grand prize. There have been some awesome entries so far, but we want to get as many as possible! By doing this, you’re not only giving yourself a great chance at winning some clearly amazing prizes, but you’re also getting the word out about this clearly amazing site to those poor souls who don’t yet know of our existence! We must spread the word!

2 MAN ADVANTAGE NEEDS YOUR HELP IN RULING THE WORLD!!!

Okay…so…world domination aside, let’s get back to the nitty gritty here.

THE NEW 2MA CONTEST DEADLINE IS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2ND AT MIDNIGHT. CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR ENTRIES!!!

What can I win, you ask?

How about all this amazing stuff?

Winner receives a 2MA shirt (choose between three styles: t-shirt, golf shirt, baseball shirt) 2MA hoodie, and 10 2MA stickers.
SECOND PLACE: 2MA T-SHIRT or 2MA HAT!!!

Show your 2MA love with a lovely 2MA t-shirt or 2MA baseball hat. Choose between regular t-shirt or baseball shirt. They both kick serious butt. The hat rocks, too. You also get 5 2MA stickers.

Hurry, get those entries in before it’s too late!!!