LIHUE — In her second year of playing The Garden Island’s Football Fever, you could say Ashley Kanehe did well for herself.
There are others, however, who might say she did great, even fantastic.
The Kapaa resident won the grand prize when her name was drawn from thousands of entries submitted over the 20-week season.
That grand prize is a Vacations Hawaii trip for two to Las Vegas and $500.
“I got excited,” she said of her reaction when she received a phone call Monday telling her she was the big winner. “I had it on my speaker phone in my car and my husband was driving.”
Her husband, Lopaka, is a veteran Football Fever participant but hasn’t yet landed the grand prize. In fact, Ashley said he was even a little bit annoyed she won when she only recently began submitting her online guesses at thegardenisland.com of who would win in NFL and college contests.
Still, she said she’ll probably being taking him with her to Vegas later this year.
“Supposedly,” she said, laughing.
Ashley, who has been to Las Vegas, said she and Lopaka sometimes helped each other with their predictions. When asked who had the better year as a prognosticator, she smiled.
“I think I did, to be honest,” she said.
Neither won the weekly $250 cash prize that went to the person whose ballot had as many or more correct picks than the winning panelist (which included TGI’s Richard Stein, Jason Blasco and Bill Buley) and then had their name selected in a random drawing of all weekly qualifiers.
Ashley Kanehe, by the way, is a big Green Bay Packers fan and will be rooting for them Sunday when they take on the Seattle Seahawks.
She and her husband also had a side contest in Football Fever, going up against another couple to see who would predict the most wins for the entire season.
The loser has to buy the winner dinner at the Bull Shed restaurant — famous for its steaks, views and service — in Kapaa.
So, did she win that, too?
“We lost by two, she said with a laugh.
