January 2, 2008  The "T" is for Tremendous in 2007! Congratulations to the T-Men on their first ACFFL Championship!! The Thick Man becomes the eighth different champ in the league's tenth season. Manning, Moss and Company took over the lead in Week Five and never looked back. There were three unusual parts to Jeff's run: First was that once he got and established the lead with a first and two seconds in weeks 5-7, his average weekly finish for the last ten weeks was only 5.5. He was the "Little Engine That Could", squashing one week wonders like D&Z Express or the Osprey as well as late arrivals to the party like JB Rex and Jake Dog under his newly established girth. Second, like a good commissioner, he spread the wealth around the league by only winning $40 in weekly prizes while probably spending more than that during the year. And third, even though he wasn't as outwardly dominant as last year's champion the Moon Dog, he only ended up ten points shy of the winner's total. A very impressive season.

The other three money spots were up for grabs in Week Seventeen with five teams vying to make the season worth while. There was much scoring early, enough to elevate the tension in a few Sunday living rooms. But in the end, no one could make the push to get over the hump and the spots remained where they were the prior week. JB Rex was ninth or lower from Week Three through Nine and only as high as seventh in Week 14 but managed to blow past almost everyone to secure second place. Similarly, Jake Dog came from tenth place in Week Seven to make the T-Men sweat a little until fading slightly to third. The final spot went to the Jetson behind MVP Tom Brady, who was the league's first 400+ point scorer and had 48% of the team's total. Kudos (but no cash) to Captain Orange and the Freeland Foo Fighters who were sitting pretty back in Week Thirteen but went down together as the Romo/T.O. connection disappeared down the stretch. Now we can only hope they stay dormant in January also.

The payouts for these winning teams for this year are:

First		$504
Second		$308
Third		$196
Fourth		$112

In a mirror image to the winner, Buddha's Bandits secured the basement in Week Five and consistently built up a deficit for the remainder of the year. I guess he's the "Little Engine That Couldn't". (I think that was also the rumor coming out of the Jersey Shore with some girl named Beth.) Somehow the Jetson survived the bad fantasy football vibes being emitted by Buddha at the draft table as all the big money winners were on the other side of the room. Next year Joe may be relegated to the deck with "his" barrel and have to pass envelopes with his picks along with pitchers of beer through the window. Like was said before, please try and spring for the big boy keg this Labor Day. You never know when Molosky might show-up.

As for Week 17, a couple of fellows who had been left for road kill weeks ago rose up to collect some final winnings. The Osprey got the big prize as the Palmer to Ocho Stinko duo woke up again. And D&Z Express gets a final 10 spot as they switch from the beloved Eagles to the Seattle birds who had the smallest winning player total of the year. I guess it's better than coal in your stocking.

I updated the ACFFL History and Individual Scoring tabs at the end of the spreadsheet. Interesting stuff as always and a good way to wrap up the year. Some thoughts heading into next season:

1) Tom Brady beat Peyton Manning's monster year by thirty-three points and had the highest differential back to the second QB ever.

2) LT was the #1 RB for the third straight year (4 out of 5) and Da Bears were the top DEF/K for the second consecutive year.

3) For the six years since 2002, the Jetson has had the top QB three times. The only repeater has been Manning (P. not E.) in 2004 and 2006. May bode well for '08.

4) In all categories, only a maximum of five players were repeaters in the Top 10 from last year. On the positive side, Manning and Tomlinson have been top 10 for all 6 years.

5) Since '02, Manning's owners have finished in the money with the exception of 2003 when somehow the Moon Dog came in tenth with Peyton.

As always, thanks for putting up with me for another year. Things got a lot hectic this year with the move and all, so hopefully write-ups will have a little more frivolity next year. Thanks to the Webmaster for her continued diligence to keep your web site the work of art it has become. If you know of anyone who pays for this kind of excellence, give us a lead. (If it's OK with you honey.) And finally, we hope to see a lot more of everyone now that we are back in Pennsylvania, so drop us a line during the coming year. Have a great 2008 and see you all soon.

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December 26, 2007  Happy New Year! Week 16 scores are updated.

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December 19, 2007  JB Rex is the best of the Drecks: Week 15 was by far the worst scoring week of 2007 and JB Rex capitalizes to take their second weekly prize in the last three weeks. The weather and Tony Romo's girlfriend combined to drive the scoring down (as well as guys falling down on purpose at the 1 yard line!). The only men unfazed were in snowy Pittsburgh where Big Ben and Garrard split the weekly High Scoring Player prize for JB Rex and the Snapper. Good that the Pilkerton's supplemental income kicked in right before the holidays (I guess I'll be getting something nice for Christmas).

The T-Men widen their lead again so it looks like his first championship will happen. The battle for 2nd on down is wide open and is possibly joined by last year's champ the Moon Dog. Jake Dog holds onto second while the Jetson and Foo Fighter swap 3rd and 4th but hold onto the money even though their bell cow QB's got skuhggzed. There is a great battle for 5th with JB Rex, Firecats and Captain Orange seperated by 7 points but for zero dollars, so who really cares. Good excitement where the large majority of the league can still have a chance at the cash if their team comes through.

The Patriots have finally done it! They tied the single season undefeated record of the 2007 LaPlata Blue Knights of Brett Pilkerton (and some other team from the early 70's) at 14 and 0.

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December 12, 2007  Jake Dog "Addai"ilates the competition (again)!: If Tom Brady is the LT of 2007, then Jake Dog is the Moon's Dogs of this year. JD won the weekly prize for the fifth time (although one was a tie) and all without the benefit of a weekly High Scoring Player. The Jetson tried to hang in there behind the Brady - Little Gonzo - Colston Trio but came up just short. Jimmy's score would have won $$$ the previous four weeks but this week an "Atta Boy" will have to do. The High Scorer money goes to the T-Men again (I guess he's not content with only the first place money) as Peyton Manning shreds the defense formerly known as the Ravens. I felt for Captain Orange - Buddy Ancho and the gang who had to endure that sad performance as well as the lousy weather. Hopefully the Patriots - Ravens game was good enough to make-up for Sunday's stinker.

The T-Men's overall lead grew again but now it is over the fast charging Jake Dog. Even if the Dog repeated his Week 14 numbers three more times, he would need a T-Men collapse to make up the ground. That's probably not going to happen since Moss will have about 5 TD's against the Jets this Sunday. The Freeland Foo Fighter gets knocked back to 3rd with the Jetson on his heels. The top four teams have 4 of the 5 top QB's (only Big Ben not on a money-making team) but hopefully for the rest of us they'll start to ride the pine as the play-off seedings are set. Also a note to the Jetson: Might be a good sign of support to bench Tom Brady this week against your Jets. I think it would show great team spirit if you eschewed his 6+ TD's to stand behind the J-E-T-S. Do I have a second?

For a while there (until Joe Addai went off) it looked like Buddha was going to collect 1/2 the money needed for the barrel. Hang in there Joe. You didn't win this week but a bunch of old friends seem interested in slipping down the standings for a visit. It could be a Penn State reunion with the Snapper visiting from WACC for the weekend.

The highest scoring position players were all from the Colts destruction of the Ravens.

Good scoring week with 1/2 the teams > 60 points, four 30+ point QB's and four 20+ point RB's. Buddha and Moon's Dogs had one of each.

Even Steven: Taking after my son, the Firecats are in the exact middle of the pack: 170 points behind the T-Men and 170 points ahead of Buddha.

Thankfully McNabb is a quick healer because there is no way the Giants would have scored enough points to win if Feeley was the QB. I'll say it again: The Birds are the Giants of the late 70's: Just good enough to lose all their games in the last minute.