With only a few hours left before the big announcement, here are the judges' comments on HiPlainsDrifter and MooreSports' final assignments:

Assignment No. 1

HiPlainsDrifter
Peter: One of the first heavily personalized pieces you've written, and you pull it off with flying colors. It's the little things that make your writing such a delight to read. When you toss in a simple reference to the "tie-dyed Nets", hardcore NBA fans can't help but acknowledge you are one of us. We know those light, kinda-sorta columbia blue Nets uni's from the early '90s, envision Benoit Benjamin wearing one, and know the exact Jordan move from "Come Fly With Me" that you are referring to. Your choice of art worked pleasantly as well. It offers that 1990-1993 feel, puts you right in the place of Michael Jordan's career where Dwyane Wade is now, and is loaded with memories of a bygone era. All in all, this is a fabulously entertaining read, loaded with nostalgia, insight, and statistics. You pose an argument, back it up beautifully, and keep the reader entertained. This may be your best submission yet.

Dime: You took a topic that has been beaten to death in your first assignment (Flash = MJ) and put a solid spin on it that made it a much better read than most of the pieces penned around the country over the past few weeks. The Dime Crew worships at the altar of "Come Fly With Me" and to a man, pretty much all plan to have the eventual sit-down with our sons to introduce them to Mike and the greatest DVD ever created. For so many of us out there who have come up this era, there will never be another Jordan. But there is a Dwyane Wade. There is a LeBron James. And there will be more who will carve out their own unique legacy. The faster we get past looking for the next Mike and start to truly appreciate who we have today the better off we'll be. Nice work.

Tom: Writing heavily personal pieces is a very tough line to walk, and when I first started reading this I feared it was heading toward crossing the line. But you backed away from the personal stuff at the right time and offered good evidence and comparisons. I wasn't as enthralled by this piece as Peter and Dime, but still thought it was a very, very solid effort.

MooreSports
Peter: I like the angle. Not enough pieces were written on Riley after these Finals. But there's got to be more analysis on the Van Gundy stuff. You mention it briefly, but don't discuss why you think the move was made. Remember, from what we know, Van Gundy stepped down to spend more time with his family. In this piece, you just say Riley decided to replace him. There's something that went on there that is very intriguing. That might have put this well-written post over the edge. I liked the White Chocolate/Starbucks decaf latte line as well. However, this puppy drags. This piece could have ended here: "In making them believe, he convinced an eclectic group of players with varying backgrounds and ages in a cynical league of selfish athletes to come together for the ultimate goal -- a championship." Instead, it goes on for a few more paragraphs. Knowing when to wrap a piece up is key, especially in Internet writing. All in all, this is a good article, just not sure this jumps off the screen.

Dime: We think that Riley was the most challenging subject of the bunch, so to come up with a solid, well-written piece that thankfully never once mentions Riley's hair, scores points with us. We feel that his was one of the best pieces you have submitted during this entire contest. It would have been pretty close to perfect if not for the played out "one kidney" Alonzo reference. Overall though, it was very good.

Tom: Riley was an interesting angle to take, especially given the other choices might have been more dynamic options. I think you gloss over the fact that this was an All-Star team of sorts with about six guys that had at one point been No. 1 scoring options on various teams. But you did hint at this at points and talk about how Riley got players like Antoine Walker and Gary Payton to shift roles, but I think it would have been a better piece if it delved into this angle a little more. Overall a decent piece though.

Assignment No. 2

HiPlainsDrifter
Peter: Not sure I love this as your wild-card subject, but you still managed to entertain and inform. The intro is a tad on the repetitive side. In three separate paragraphs, you mentioned your summer was based on the U.S. Soccer team and the Cubs. This could have been done in one. Yet, the piece rapidly improves. Mets line is hilarious. The "AIG" commercial line was pretty good too. As opposed to forcing these quips, like so many of your competitors have done, you sneak them in craftily, adding to the overall comfort of the piece. The look for the future is a promising and humorous one. This entry is the perfect size too -- not too long, not too short. Well done.

Dime: Your second entry was also solid. Almost all of us know what it's like to suffer with our baseball team (one of us is tortured on a daily basis by the misery of living and dying with the Phillies) and there isn't a sports fan out there, soccer zealot or not, who wasn't disappointed by Team USA's showing in the World Cup. This entry, like your first, had a deeply personal touch, which is always cool. And we loved the prediction for 2026.

Tom: Again, was worried about the overly personal tone, but it didn't cross the line, and there were some great, great lines in here. The AIG line, the wonders of capitalism and farm-raised turkeys lines were all some of the best of the entire competition and they were all in one piece. This was definitely my favorite of all four of the pieces this week.

MooreSports
Peter: You could go with any topic and you did a "Why sports are great" piece? I feel like Simon Cowell, shocked at an "Idol" contestant's putrid choice of song. From the first paragraph, I read this, and think -- "Hmm ... a married Red Sox fan, talking about pop culture, and a bloody sock." Another writer on a pretty major site has made quite a career out of that, written a best-selling book on his personal connection with the Sox and sports, and is probably the most read guy in the world of Internet prose. So, why would I want to read this? How many die-hard Red Sox fan/I live and die with the Sox stuff have we read already? "Fever Pitch" was quite enough. I know your connection to the Sox isn't what this article is about -- but from the intro, one might think it is. As for the piece itself, it's a fine enough read -- safe, close to the cuff, even cute. But it's not exactly polished. It drags a bit too. You seem to recognize that, yourself, inserting the term "I digress" in a final-round assignment. Overall, this is a pleasant enough read. But I'm not rushing to read this on a Monday morning when I first get into work.

Dime: We cringed at the start of your second assignment. "More about the Red Sox???" "What sports means to us as a society???" Been there, done that about a million times by a million different writers. Thankfully, your entry wasn't all about the Sox. It was still a decent piece (the paragraph about teaching your 4-year-old to taunt Yankees fans instead of learning to read made us laugh out loud), but for the final assignment in the final round in this contest, you needed to come with a haymaker. Unfortunately, this just wasn't it.

Tom: I fear I totally agree with Peter and Dime on this one. This was by far my least favorite entry in the final round. Although the Red Sox stuff at the beginning didn't quite chafe me like it did the other judges, the intro read way too much like a "What I did on my summer vacation" essay. It was very preachy at points (the line about rising gas prices and alternative energy sources was so out of place in this piece that it made me shudder). And lines like "If you're reading this" and "But I digress" were painful. Addressing your audience like that is a very dangerous tactic. It tends to feel like we as readers are sitting in an audience watching you lecture us from a podium; not exactly enjoyable. And unfortunately, most of this piece felt like that.