Cleveland Browns fans are quite used to finishing in last place.
Fittingly, Cleveland restaurateur John Teel, alias “The Brown Clown,” placed last in a record field of 5,817 entries in the Circa Million NFL Handicap Contest.
“‘The Brown Clown’ is being a lifelong Browns fan, and if you’re a fan, you’re kind of a clown,” said Teel, 62. “It seems like the fan comes last.”
After years of suffering as a Browns fan, Teel was finally rewarded for losing in the million, where contestants pay $1,000 per entry and make five NFL picks each week against the spread. He earned $100,000 for winning the final booby award after going 27-61-2 ATS (30.7 percent).
Circa Sports paid out a record $20.3 million to winners of the Million and Survivor contests, many of whom received oversized checks Friday night during an awards ceremony at the D Las Vegas.
In keeping with booby-award tradition, Teel first received a small personal check on stage before receiving his own oversized check.
“This was my first time in the competition. It was so much fun and the money helps,” he said. “What I really like is that it’s a lot of juice for not a huge amount of money.”
Lose to win
Teel teamed up with a friend in three Survivor entries.
They were knocked out of the $14.3 million race in Week 3 by — you guessed it — the Browns, who lost 21-15 to the Giants as 6½-point home favorites.
“Somehow they found a way to lose and knock me out,” Teel said.
Cleveland helped clinch a final spot in the Million for Teel, who made the Browns +18 one of his picks in Week 18. They failed to cover the biggest point spread of the season in a 35-10 loss to the Ravens.
Teel went 1-4 in Week 18 to win the booby award by a half point (one point for a win, half a point for a push) over entry Talley’s III (28-61-1), who won $50,000 for second to – last place.
His other losses were to the Chiefs (+10½, lost 38-0 to the Broncos), 49ers (+4½, lost 47-24 to the Cardinals) and Vikings (+2½, lost 31-9 to the Lions). His only win was at the Saints, covering a 13½-point deficit in a 27-19 loss to the Buccaneers.
“I didn’t know I won until they called me and said I won by half a point,” Teel said.
He went into the million on his own and got off to a terrible 6-23-1 start.
“I came out and tried to pick (winners). I just started this year for some unknown reason,” Teel said. “I’m usually a pretty good handicapper, around 60 percent.”
After learning there was a $100,000 prize for last place, Teel said he started trying to pick losers.
“I started actively trying to lose, because I knew I couldn’t win,” he said. “I went the opposite way. I picked the winner, then I bet the loser.
“It’s probably just as hard to pick every loser.”
Teel went 4-10-1 the next three weeks with the opposite approach. He dipped to 10-33-2, which was good for fourth among the final spot leaders midway through the season.
“All of a sudden I got hot again,” Teel said. “I’ve always been super streaky.”
Teel was 1½ points out of last place entering Week 18, as his Browns helped him earn the worst record in the competition.
Had he gone the exact opposite of all his picks, he would have finished 61-27-2 (62 points) and tied race winner Team BP (60-26-4). They would have won $750,000 each after splitting the $1 million first-place and $500,000 second-place prize.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@ theplayerlounge.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.
