The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. Anyone my age remembers those famous words, part of the open for ABC's Wide World of Sports. That sports variety show was a staple of the 1960s and into the 1970s.

I relived those words watching this weekend's NFL action through the eyes of Pick 256 participants. From the Thursday night and Sunday (London) one-sided contests to the flow and outcome of the early games, we were on an unprecedented roll. Our consensus kept racking up wins, and got all the way to 8-0, with many maintaining the same pace.

The late games were kicking off, so most of us turned attention to the Cowboys, but others - by choice, or by what the local station(s) chose to show - watched the drama of the final two early games. Somehow, Tampa Bay came from behind and forced overtime in Atlanta. Then, they marched down the field and kicked a field goal. Most of us were surprised, because 96% of us had ATL, and expected Matty Ice to lead the Falcons right down the field, score a touchdown, and keep our record intact.

Others watched the seesaw passing exhibition between the Giants and Saints. It behooved the Cowboys for the Saints to win, because 1) Cowboys had already lost to the Saints, and 2) it would keep the Giants within striking distance. After leading most of the game, the Saints had fallen behind. But, a late touchdown from the Saints tied the game. Then, the Saints were the recipient of one of the stranger twists of fate, allowing them to receive a punt, return it to midfield, fumble, recover (different player) and advance the recovery (not permitted in the final two minutes), get a penalty for a facemask during the advancement, and have time to line up and kick a game-winning field goal.

That allowed our consensus to escape and continue perfection at 9-0. But, the Falcons failed us. So, we finished the early games 9-1, with several Pick 256 players matching that score.

Then came the agony - three losses, by our Cowboys and by two other teams that 72% or more of us had favored. What looked so great earlier in the day (our record plus the door open for the Cowboys to regain control of their destiny) turned into Cinderella at midnight.

We were that close to closing the weekend with four consecutive losses before CAR rallied to hold off IND in a rain-soaked overtime game.

But, through it all, we had some excel, and finish the weekend with 12-2 marks. Not me.

I picked some upsets. All made sense. Through the first half, two looked very good (CLE and PIT). Both faded in the end, and my only successful "upset" was DEN over GB. I was THAT close to pulling the trigger on TB and OAK (then, I would have looked more like a genius), but I didn't want too many underdogs in my picks, so I picked "safe" picks in those games.

Oh, well, on to the tables.

After a bump up last week, we were back to "normal" - reduced participation and a few new players.

Here is the Participation Table, tracking the first eight weeks:

I'm not sure if you noticed, but if you try to post picks after the Thursday game has kicked off and you find the contest closed, you may not be completely out of luck. Yes, I know that's the rule that One.Cool.Customer has made for this contest, but he is allowing greater flexibility this year. If you slam into that STOP sign, and have a great reason, email O.C.C (in his profile) and explain your circumstances. He might permit you to post picks for the other games (not the one that is in progress).

We had one do that this week, giving us 221. Now, being a veteran of our previous contest, he only submitted ten picks. So, you will notice that four of our games had 220 picks, and others had 221. That was not an error in tabulation, but that player's failure to make picks in all the games. I cannot criticize him, because he scored higher on his ten picks (8) than I did on my fourteen picks (7).

We broke away from our herd mentality a little this week. All but two of our games had 70% or more of us favoring one team. But, those two were statistical tossups, as we were 52-48% in those two games.

All our losses were big this week. Our "best" loss was SEA over DAL (72% had DAL). Our worst loss was TB over ATL (96% had ATL). Only eight people picked the Bucs.

Here are our consensus picks for week #8:

Through the first two weeks, our Pick 256 consensus has lined up with the Front Page Writers' consensus in every single game. In week #3, we finally had one discrepancy (we favored BUF and they favored MIA). We won that one, and established a lead of one game.

In week #4, our picks were again identical in all fifteen games, so we maintained that lead. In week #5, we actually had discrepancies in two games. One went our way (way to go, guys, picking NE over DAL), and the other went their way (PHI over NO). So, our one-game lead was maintained for the third consecutive week.

For the third week in a row, we reverted back to the same pattern of following the herd (at least, the FPWs). Once again, our consensus mirrored theirs in all fourteen games. So, by matching them - again - we maintain - for the sixth week - our one-game lead.

Here's the table tracking the weekly consensus scores of Pick 256 participants and the Front Page Writers:

For the fourth time in five weeks, our top weekly score was 12. And, we had four players achieve that score. To achieve that score, they had to get two right out of the three in a row that our consensus missed (both late games and Sunday night), plus score the 9-1 record earlier.

Well done, Canadian Cowboy_74, dallasdave1966, Nova84, and YumaCactus. You navigated this week's mine field better than anyone else and need to be commended. Actually, I recognize the first three and only commend YumaCactus. Why? He is the only one of the four who picked DAL, and was one of the eight to pick TB (his other miss was CHI). The other three all picked SEA, missed ATL, and one other different game each (NYJ, NYG, and GB).

Here are the week #8 scores of all 221 participants:

After jesting each week about the new leader having to wear the special shirt from Target with the bullseye on the back, revellyre responded and threw down some smack. He actually wanted one of those shirts and welcomed the challenge. He pledged to not be a one-week wonder.

He kept his word, and is still on top. He and oldboysfan maintained their positions at the top, but all the others at the top faded a bit, opening up a little bit of daylight at the top. Note the two-game gap between second and the third-place tie, and two more games before the fifth-place tie. Tenth place is six games behind after eight weeks with only nine weeks remaining.

Here are the scores from all 768 who have participated at least once this season:

Finally, and I always close with this, is the Pick Accuracy table. This is designed to recognize and reward players who play most weeks, but miss one or more throughout the season. It is not designed to recognize or reward "one-week wonders", who play once, post a great score, and disappear.

In my opinion, that means that participants need to play most weeks. So, I am generally only going to include scores here of those who have played at least 60-70% of the time. So, to make this week's list, you need to have played five of the eight weeks. That eliminates one of the two part-timers (missed at least one week) who have been outpicking the top of the overall scoreboard.

APerfectStar missed the first two weeks and has played all six since, tracking and pacing the overall leaders. Well done! Big_Country, on the other hand, played the first four weeks and hasn't been back. He would have had to have returned this week and posted a 10 or more to maintain his position. With only those four appearances in eight weeks, he is not included this week.

If you have missed a week or two, look to see your name and percentage. See which eight-week players' scores you fit between. That's where you would rank if you had played every week.

Because of ties and my enjoyment of round numbers (I have previously listed the top ninety and hundred scores), this week my usual cutoff spots had ties. So, I expanded to find a place to make a smooth break.

Here are the top one hundred twenty scores of those who have played at least five weeks:

Again, I invite you to come back to this page throughout the weekend for my updates (comments) as the other games progress.

Week #9 contest is already open. You do not have to wait for One.Cool.Customer's next contest page to post week #8 picks. Use (and bookmark) the same link you have been provided each week. Please post your picks before Thursday night kicks off.

Closing Word - I was asked by revellyre this week how we were doing compared to last year. I responded that I would have to look it up. The easiest way was to refer to my FanPost reporting on last year's week #8. My suspicion was that we were not doing as well, because our pick accuracy percentage is down (almost no one outside the top of the scoreboard is above 70%).

Here is my FanPost from last year, reporting on week #8 (the Cowboys' upset loss to WAS). We were on perfection watch, as one of our players was 14-0 with only a Cowboys win on Monday night standing in the way of our first-ever perfect score. Alas, DcfansinceIwasababy lost her quest for perfection, as she and the Cowboys fell short that night.

Observations from last season:

• participation is declining noticeably; we have more total participants this year after week #8 (768-707), but the weekly participation has fallen off. We have been below 300 the past four weeks, and only had 221 this week. Last year, none of the first eight weeks dropped below 300
• our pick scores are lower this year through eight weeks. Note, however, that because of byes, there were 121 games played through eight weeks last year, and only 119 this week this year. This year, our Pick 256 consensus is on top of the Front Page Writers (78-77). Last year, we trailed (83-81). That implies that the games were tougher to pick correctly this season. Last year's leader, Dcowboy, had a runaway lead (90-86) over second-place Jebediah Flibberbrush (who ended up winning the championship). This year's top scores are "only" 85-84 (again, in two fewer games)
• pick accuracy is also down this year. Last year, Dcowboy had the top pick accuracy score (just a whisker below APerfectStar this year), and much better than our current overall leader revellyre. Last year I included three and four-week players in the pick accuracy table; this year, only those who have played at least five weeks. Comparing apples to apples, last year, there were five players who had played at least five weeks and had pick accuracy of at least 70%. This year, there are only three. Last year, the bottom score (an eleven-way tie for 79th) had 78 right through the eight weeks, and a percentage of 0.6446. That score would make this week's first column (47th place).

If you ever want to know something like that (how we did back on ...), feel free to review my FanPosts. After the first year (2011), I include the year and the week in all the Pick 256 and 10-for-10 FanPosts. I'll be celebrating a milestone next month. This FanPost is my ninety-sixth. I look forward to sharing cake and ice cream on my hundredth.