Rapezes submit perfect ballot for Week 1

• This week's Pigskin Picks panel

Advertiser Staff

Thanks to his wife, Victor Rapez of Moanalua came away with "the biggest thing I ever won in my life."

Without her, Rapez would have mailed his Pigskin Picks entry in an envelope, which would have disqualified it.

Without her, he would have sent in an incomplete ballot.

"I forgot to check (off) the Penn State game, so she (Denise) marked it down," Rapez, 41, said.

And thanks to her alertness, Rapez won Week 1 of the Pigskin Picks contest, earning a trip for two to Las Vegas and $500.

Rapez, who submitted just one ballot, correctly picked all 15 games, including upsets by Duke over East Carolina and Houston over Rice. His was one of five among 6,841 ballots with all correct picks.

"I was just guessing. I didn't know Houston and Duke had losing streaks," Rapez said.

He also didn't know of the contest's rule changes instituted following the Sept. 11 attacks that restrict mailed-in entries to postcards, not envelopes.

"I was going to mail it in an envelope, but she told me I gotta read the instructions," Rapez said.

"Oh, you mean he actually gave me credit?" joked Denise. "I'm the one who cuts it out and measures (the postcard for mailing). This is the first week and I'm telling (the office workers) I'm tired of it, so I kissed it, put a stamp on it and mailed it off."

Despite his good fortune, Rapez wasn't about to give all the winnings to his wife.

"Maybe half," he said.

"He did the hard part," Denise said. "Half of his picks I would have gone the opposite way. I would have taken Washington (over Michigan)."