A triumph of sorts: Nicole Sullivan accepts an award for finishing second in MTV's All Star League Tournament.

"Don't let the big boys scare you." - Nicole Sullivan on MTV's All Star League

In case you missed it, Nicole Sullivan recently participated in MTV's first annual All Stars League Tournament. The tournament was hosted by Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) and Daisy Fuentes; it was cablecast at least twice (on August 26 and 28). The other participants were Shawn Wayans, Team Man (Method Man and Red Man), Charlie O'Connell, and Jennifer Aspen. The tournament consisted of a series of events (each with varying point values) taking place over a four-day period in the Bahamas. The final round of each day consisted of an "Ode to Stallone" competition; each of these events were based on a Sylvester Stallone movie (e.g. as a tribute to Cliffhanger, the last round of the first day consisted of the top two competitors climbing a wall, and the last round of the third day consisted of an arm wrestling match as a tribute to Over the Top). Totals for each of the first three days were maintained separately to determine which players advanced to each day's final round (the "Ode to Stallone" round); however, points accumulated during the first three days were added to determine which players advanced to the final day of the competition (at the end of day three, all but the top three competitors were eliminated). On the final day, the point tally began anew, and the top two players for the final day advanced to the final round. The final round, consisting of two events with point totals of 25 and 50 points respectively, determined the tournament winner.

Nicole Sullivan did surprisingly well, staying near the top for much of the tournament. She made it to the final round of the competition on two of the three days (only the top two competitors for each day made it into the final round). She even achieved a first-place finish for the third day, and was ahead for most of the final day, faltering only when she failed to sink a single basket in the second basketball competition. Nevertheless, she did well enough to edge out Jennifer Aspen for second place and the right to challenge Charlie O'Connell (who finished first) in the final round. Unfortunately, she lost both events in the final round, finishing second overall.

The resulting two hours of footage are a must-see for all die-hard Nicole Sullivan fans, and contain many memorable moments. These include Nicole Sullivan's awful rendition of "Oh, Canada" (perhaps a nod to Mad TV co-executive producer Brian Hartt?), Nicole Sullivan and Jennifer Aspen rescuing a drowning victim (here, I was expecting her to throw rocks at the victim, Babewatch-style, but she didn't), Nicole Sullivan and Jennifer Aspen double-teaming to beat Charlie O'Connell in arm wrestling, and Ms. Sullivan's surprising performance in the bench press competition (I thought she did quite well, doing 22 reps of 55 pounds in 30 seconds, one-half her body weight of 110 pounds, even though she was apparently being helped by the spotter).

It was disheartening to see Ms. Sullivan lose in the final round, but it is a credit to her athletic ability that she did so well even though her opponent posessed a clear physical advantage (O'Connell is 6' 4" and 180 pounds, while Ms. Sullivan is 5' 6" and 110 pounds). Whether or not the male competitors' delicate psyches were damaged by Ms. Sullivan's (and for that matter Ms. Aspen's) surprising performance(s) is an interesting matter on which to speculate, and is a question which is incapable of resolution. In any case, this brief summary cannot do full justice to Ms. Sullivan's efforts - you have to watch the tournament footage to fully appreciate it.

Vidcaps (apologies for poor quality of images, although it's Cablevision's fault for the poor signal quality)

Video Clips (can be viewed with Quicktime 4.0) - these are quite large, so unless you have a broadband connection, they will take quite awhile to download:

• Nicole Sullivan and Jennifer Aspen rescue a drowning victim (1 minute 8 seconds; 2.1 MB)
• Nicole Sullivan on the bench press (14 seconds; 458 KB)
• Nicole Sullivan accepts a trophy for finishing second (24 seconds; 711 KB)
• Nicole Sullivan sings the Canadian national anthem, "Oh Canada" (1 minute 13 seconds; 4.0 MB)