The Big Shot is over, but the anticipation of who will actually win between Ryan Amos and Mark McDonough has now begun.

When students entered Moody Coliseum they were greeted by McDonough’s and his Hill-top-oly gang. His table was well placed by the front entrance and was covered with professional posters depicting the Hill-top-oly game board. McDonough and his four friends created a strong interest in the table because they were all dressed up identical to the Monopoly man.

Each of them was wearing a black tux, a tie, a fake mustache, a top hat and a cane. The costumes were absolutely incredible and extremely eye catching.

Students approached the table constantly throughout the night. Some students had only one game piece, but others had more then 20. Each seemed to know exactly where to go and what was going on.

“Mark is a shoe in because his theme is stellar and attractive. He’s really tied everything together and should definitely win,” said the four men dressed identical to McDonough.

During the second half of the game at the 12 minute time out, McDonough gave away an Xbox and an Apple iPod. Two contestants acted as human monopoly pieces and had to try and get the closet to the Moody Coliseum space on the game board. The game was excellent and well connected with his theme but was hurt due to the lack of enthusiasm in the announcer’s voice.

“I think I should be the Big Shot because of my creativity, my shock factor, I created a ton of buzz, I worked my butt off, and I grasped the ideas of the task through the whole entire week leading up to the game,” said McDonough.

As students entered the student section they were greeted by an explosion of red. The Red team table supplied beads, pom poms, clappers, party hats, clown noses and, of course, red cups.

Red cups with numbers on them were distributed among students wearing red. The cups allowed students to win prizes all associated with the color red such as a Red Lobster gift certificate and Red Bull.

Red posters were posted around Moody to help encourage the red theme but were poorly constructed with little time and effort put into them.

Amos’ red cup costume and cane with a red cup attached helped grab the student’s attention and keep the crowd rowdy throughout the entire game. He did an excellent job of keeping the energy level high and emphasizing school spirit.

“I think the Red team will win because he really got people excited and incorporated school spirit and color into his theme,” sophomore Kate Murphy said.

During the second half of the game Amos gave away an iPod Shuffle and a free month tanning membership to Darque Tan. The two students participating in the competition were required to spin around a hobby horse ten and then shoot a basket blindfolded. The task was somewhat difficult and a little complex but managed to keep the audience interested.

“I think I should be the Big Shot because I put my heart and soul into the competition. The task was about basketball and seeing results and after being a little off the wall I saw those results,” said Amos.

Overall,both McDonough and Amos put a tremendous amount of work into their marketing themes and both deserve a great amount of credit whether they win or lose.

Amos did have more to show for his theme and had a slight advantage over McDonough since he was the red team and that is a school color. However, a large majority of the students,who were wearing red, stopped at the Hill-top-oly table first to fill an entry piece, too.

McDonough’s professional posters all over campus, the large banner outside Hughes Trigg, and ads in The Daily Campus really caught the eye and created a buzz among students campus-wide.

He stood out a little more in his overall effort. His creativity and his concept got students excited. Everything was tied together perfectly throughout his theme and he didn’t leave anyone questioning the main idea.

The Big Shot will be revealed during halftime this Saturday when the men’s basketball team takes on the Rice Owls.