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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Maui's Pico off to Las Vegas after his on-target tiebreaker


Advertiser Staff

Lorne Pico's belated Christmas present was delivered when he went to work Monday morning.

Pico, a refuse truck driver for Maui County, got a call from Hawaiian 105 KINE radio's Bruddah Wade, who announced Pico was the winner of this week's Pigskin Picks.

"When I saw the number (on his cell phone), I thought, 'Who is this? Who could be calling me this early?' " Pico said.

Pico, of Pukalani, Maui, picked 13 of the 15 NFL games correctly on his online ballot and won a tiebreaker by guessing —on the nose — the total offensive yards in the San Diego-Tennessee game.

Pico, who operates the refuse truck's "one-armed bandit," gets a trip for two to Las Vegas and $100 worth of Papa John's Pizza.

Pico, 39, starting playing Pigskin Picks online in the middle of this season. Previously, he either mailed or dropped off his ballot.

He said he submitted last week's ballot and never revised it. (Players can revise their picks as many times as they want until the deadline.)

One of his picks was the New York Jets' upset over the previously unbeaten Indianapolis Colts.

"Colts already clinched, so they probably wanted to sit down some (starters)," Pico said of his reason to pick the Jets.

"I study little bit and like to watch football," Pico said. "I know who's playing good, so I can pick some upsets here and there."

As for his accurate guess of 695 yards of offense for the Chargers-Titans game, he said:

"I usually go higher — about 50 yards higher," he said, "but this time I went lower. I was amazed I was right on the nose."

Pico said he last went to Las Vegas three years ago.

"It's a really good Christmas present," he said.

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