Posted on: Wednesday, December 8, 2004
Winner racks up frequent-flier miles
Advertiser Staff
Honolulu's Candice Sakuda returned home from New Orleans this week, and soon she'll be off to Las Vegas for winning the Pigskin Picks contest.
Sakuda, 27, received the good news upon landing at Honolulu International Airport. It was a great welcome home for the first-time winner.
"I was actually at the Saints game," Sakuda said. "I went to the NFL game, and I watched the (Hawai'i-Michigan State football) game on TV. It was cool. I never thought for a second that I would win."
Sakuda correctly picked 14 out of 15 college and NFL games last week. Her only miss was picking Miami (Fla.) over Virginia Tech. Her ballot was randomly selected from several ballots with 14 correct.
Sakuda — who works at the University of Hawai'i in service learning, a job that helps faculty foster community-service activities with students — said she has played the Pigskin Picks contest for two years. She normally enters at least 10 ballots given to her by family and friends.
"Usually it's like 10, 15 or 20 (ballots)," she said. "Yeah, we work hard."
Sakuda said she came close to winning the contest last year, saying, "I think I had a perfect one," but she wasn't one of the randomly chosen winners that week.
On her picking strategy, Sakuda said she selects heavily favored teams, and "if there's a team that I really like, I go for them, too."
As for the so-called toss-up games, "I just make them random," she said.
As the Pigskin Picks winner, Sakuda wins a trip for two to Las Vegas from Worry-Free Vacations, Non-Stop Travel and the Golden Nugget Hotel, and $500 from The Advertiser.
She also is entered to win a year-end prize of free use of a Hyundai Tucson for a year, courtesy of Tony Hyundai.
Sakuda said she's thinking about taking her sister, Merissa, to Las Vegas with her, and using the $500 as play money.
"I might take my sister because we got back from learning how to play craps at Harrah's (Casino)," Sakuda said. "I'm not really a gambler by heart. So having $500 would be good to feel not guilty about gambling."
