Headline for the Raiders

It seems our headline Sunday for the Raiders fourth-place finish at Hutch ("Final four Fizzle") didn't go over well with some fans.

Since the front page used "Raiders finish fourth" we couldn't use that and since "Raiders try their best" was too long, our beat writer Alex suggested the headline. Just to be safe, I looked up fizzle in the dictionary (as a noun it's "an abortive effort: failure" but as a "verb transitive" it means "to fail or end feebly esp. after a promising start").

"Fizzle in the final four" was too long for a large enough headline but "Final four fizzle" fit just right.  When I hear the word fizzle I think of the sound soda makes when you pour it  out, after awhile, it's stops.

That seemed to sum up the week, which started with two wins (promising start) and ended with two losses, plus it went with the mood of Alex's photo. (Seen above). In the semifinal, the Raiders scored 50 points (their second lowest of the season) by shooting 33.9 percent, then gave up 81 points in the third-place game.

Normally I toss and turn at night thinking of headlines, but this week was different (not really sure why). One never really came to me Saturday night even though I had an hour to think about it (which is an eternity in a newsroom). Thought about using "Final four flop" but that seemed too harsh and "Out of gas" was too short.

Of couse we have a follow-up story in today's DAR with another headline. 

So here's a game. Write a headline that goes with the photo and story that TRCC finished fourth. Bonus points if it fits a certain size using 2 points for every capital letter and one point for every other letter and space. Keep the headline within 15 to 24 points. (Example: "Final four fizzle" is 18 points. "Out of gas" is 11 points.)

Post your headline suggestions in the comments and I'll pick the best one.