XL Center Contest Winner

The following post is the winner of the XL Center essay contest written by Steve Jones, who also has a blog the Centrist Student. Steve has won himself a pair of center ice CT Whale tickets and we hope he enjoys the game! We would like to thank all entrants and congratulate Steve on his victory. His winning essay follows.

The Sad City Ballot

It's election time across the U.S. on Sad City, and in Harford as the Advocate Best Of voting is underway. Last year, our first in existence, we didn't win, place or show in the Best Local Blog category that was won by a cooking blog. Colin McEnroe's To Wit was the only Hartford blog represented finishing third after winning two years in a row. Sad City did finish second to CT News Junkie (of whose network we are now a member of, if you can't beat em....) in the Best Hyper Local News Site, a pretty good achievement for a six-month old blog that doesn't even try and bill itself as a news site. We thank you very much.

Sad City Contest: Win Premium CT Whale Tickets!

There's been a lot of excitement about downtown development both at Sad City and across all of Hartford this week. Tuesday saw another presentation of iQuilt, the comprehensive plan to reinvigorate downtown by making it more pedestrian friendly increasing the connectivity of the downtown area. A very cool idea and the exact type of big thinking that we feel Hartford needs. Some people still find time to put the plan down, but there are always some people that are going to react negatively to anything that isn't exactly on their personal agenda, so really, what can you do?

Hartford Pay Phone #36 - Marathon Edition!

Pay Phone #36 in our Hartford Pay Phone Search comes to us from attorney/blogger/marathoner (Sad City will never be one of these. You guess.) Ryan McKeen who somehow in addition to blogging, lawyering, having a family, and taking pics of pay phones, found time to run the ING Hartford Marathon last weekend.

It's hard for us to decide whether running 26.2 miles at a clip is insanely admirable or just pure insane. The furthest we've ever gone is about 4 miles and it is just miserable. That said there is no lack of contestants in the Hartford Marathon so people seem to endure enjoy  it.

Hartford Pay Phone #33

Sad City reader Bruce B. sent us Hartford Pay Phone #33 in our great pay phone search. This pay phone is located at the corner of Main and Talcott, most people familiar with Hartford would recognize at being near the G.Fox building and of course the now demolished and much maligned Butt-Ugly building.

And The Connecticon 2011 Winners Are....

The Girl With the Whip, aka Cat Woman takes home the top prize in the Sad City Connecticon 2011 Costume Poll. The results of the poll seem to reenforce the ages old maxim that advertisers have known  for decades. A browse through our top three finishers should make that what that maxim is pretty obvious. Thanks to all Connection attendees and poll voters!

Sad City Classic: Hartford Pay Phone #29

 

It's been a long time since we visited our Hartford Pay Phone Contest, charting the remaining pay phones, but this one was too good to leave out.  We found this phone at the Wal-Mart on Flatbush Ave.  Since this Wal-Mart was built only about a decade ago, we are guessing this might be the most recent, and possibly last, pay phone that will be installed in Hartford.

Sad City Fantasy Baseball Update

One month into the baseball season and Hakaan has the early lead on the Sad City Championship.  Sad City readers occupy the second through fourth spots and WNPR's Chion Wolfe currently holds fifth place. The Hartford Courant's Steve Goode, co-manager with his daughter Isabelle have their team in 7th. Ryan from a CT Law Blogger is right behind them in 8th place.  Councilor Cotto is in 11th, while the Hartford Party Starter's Union team finds itself in last place.

Jumper, with his motley collection of flotsam and jetsam, holds the 10th spot.

Hot In Hartford Finale: McEnroe v. Cotto

It all comes down to this. Sixteen of Hartford's cultural elite were pitted in against each other and while all competitors battled valiantly only Colin McEnroe and Luis Cotto remaining standing. Now it's time for these two battle tested warriors to meet in one final clash to determine who will be crowned "Hot In Hartford."

Hot In Hartford Semi-Finals: Luis Cotto v. Howard Baldwin

It's time for the second semi-finals match as the "Hot In Hartford" contest comes close to it's conclusion. The winner of this match up will face off against Colin McEnroe for the ultimate prize. Hartford Councilman Luis Cotto has been perhaps the biggest surprise of the contest so far as he has racked up impressive vote totals in the first two rounds. Cotto has defied the experts predictions by defeating popular weatherman Scott Haney in the first round and then handily defeating newsman Gerry Brooks, who was coming off a wildly popular Sad City interview. Can Luis keep the momentum and reach the finals?

Hot In Hartford Semi-Finals: Colin McEnroe v. Jenna Carlesso

The "Hot In Hartford" contest reaches the semi-final round with a clash between two Sad City friends; WNPR's Colin McEnroe and the Hartford Courant's Jenna Carlesso. Jenna has advanced in the tournament by defeating local Twitter'er Cocaine Janie and WCCC's Craig The Porn Star. The only female to advance to the second round, Jenna has had an impressive showing so far but now faces a daunting task in challenging Colin McEnroe.

Hot In Hartford: Mayor Segarra v. Howard Baldwin

The final battle of the Hot In Hartford quarterfinals is a clash between two of the early round favorites as Howard Baldwin and the Mayor Pedro Segarra square off to see who will advance to the semi-finals. 

The Mayor defeated Al Terzi in the first round, but did not receive as many votes as some of the other favorites. He finds himself squaring off against hockey legend Howard Baldwin, who narrowly won a hard fought first round battle with Hartford Courant columnist Helen Ubinas. 

Hot In Hartford: Luis Cotto v. Gerry Brooks

The quarterfinals of Hot In Hartford continues with a battle between two friends of Sad City, Councilman Luis Cotto pitted against newsman Gerry Brooks.

Councilman Cotto had an impressive showing in the first round handily defeating weatherman Scott Haney  and piling up the second most votes of all contenders. The Councilman first came to Sad City's attention when he noticed our stories on lactose powder being sold in local gas stations and took action to ban the practice.  Cotto is also an active Twitter user and can be followed @CouncilorCotto on Twitter.

Hot In Hartford: Colin McEnroe v. Reverend Brown

The "Hot In Hartford" quarterfinals continue with a match that many experts are predicting will end in a landslide. The match pits Colin McEnroe, Sad City friend, champion blogger, and WNPR host against Reverend Brown; reverend and anti-violence rally organizer known for his sweaty t-shirts, megaphone, and fiery rhetoric.  

Hot In Hartford: Craig The Porn Star vs. Jenna Carlesso

The second round of Hot In Hartford kicks off with two Sad City friends clashing for the chance to advance to the final four. Hartford Courant and Cityline writer Jenna Carlesso advanced to the second round by defeating Twitter'er Cocaine Janie in a Valentine's Day clash. Jenna holds the distinction of being the last female in Hot In Hartford, and, being pretty hot, she could carry the female and young male vote to victory.

Hot In Hartford Quarterfinals

The Hot In Hartford contest moves onto the second round after a first round that saw strong contenders Helen Ubinas, Scott Haney and Chuckles go down in defeat. For the quarterfinals the contestants have been seeded one through eight based on the number of votes they received in the first round. Second round voting starts later this week.

Preview the matches after the jump.

Hot in Hartford: Gerry Brooks vs. Ed Sawyer

For our final first round Hot in Hartford challenge, we have a very special match up. We pit longtime news celebrity and Schlitz-drinking Sad City Hartford reader, Gerry Brooks, against Ed Sawyer, the most fascinating man on Facebook.

Hot In Hartford Valentine's Day Edition: Jenna Carlesso v. COCAiNE JANiE

For our Valentine's Day edition of Hot In Hartford we bring you a battle of two of the contests femme fatales; Hartford Courant and Cityline writer Jenna Carlesso and prolific Twitter'er COCAiNE JANiE.

COCAiNE JANiE can be found on Twitter @COCAiNE JANiE. She Tweets often and her subject matter is wide and varied. Her favorite topics are music and her boyfriend Mr. Sneaker King.

Hot In Hartford: Cotto v. Haney

We move onto the next round of Hot In Hartford with a match of City Councilman Luis Cotto taking on Channel 3 News anchor Scott Haney.

Cotto, the Council Minority Leader, is one of the most visible council members. Councilman Cotto is very active Council members and a very visible member of Hartford's Puerto Rican community.

Hot In Hartford: Chuckles v. Reverend Brown

The Hot In Hartford contest moves to the second half of the first round. So far advancing to the quarterfinals are; Mayor Pedro Segarra, Colin McEnroe, Craig The Porn Star, and Howard Baldwin. Today's match pits two local combatants that were amongst the earliest to appear on Sad City's YouTube channel.