Super Bowl: Upsetville!

Bad News Bruins (2687) vs Vultures (2118)
Incredible, the biggest upset in OSL fantasy football history finally arrived and much to Thomas' luck, it was in the championship. Early season favorite and our favorite IT guy, Tae, finally got his team on track the last few weeks and ran through the playoff gauntlet by taking out both the #1 and #2 seeds on the way to a championship. Obviously, they picked a great time to go on a roll and even though team MVP Brett Favre had a lowly 63 points, the rest of the team really stepped up. Led by RB Brandon Jacobs, who went crazy with 423 points, the Bad News Bruins completed their at times disappointing season to a fairy tale finish.

Steve Smith, the much maligned superstar receiver, broke out with 379 points. Kurt Warner, old fogey that he is, still stood up long enough to toss up 485 points. With Marion Barber (327) and LenDale White (206) grinding up the yards and a stiff Chargers defense (365), the Bruins locked up the game way before Thomas' LaDainian Tomlinson could get on the field Monday night.

How did the Vultures lose in their biggest game of the year? Well, it was mainly a failure of the passing game. While Big Ben Roethlisberger threw for 425 points, Tony Romo was only average with 275 points. Randy Moss, Chad Johnson, Hines Ward, and Owen Daniels combined for only 597 points total. In addition, the run game was solid but not spectacular as LDT (298), Jerious Norwood (196), and Kevin Jones (47) all came up with average performances.

In the end, it turns out that on any given Sunday, anybody can be the champ, even when facing a behemoth of an undefeated team like the Vultures. Congratulations Bad News Bruins!

Playoffs: Conference Champs

Here we go, it's Thomas' chance at history. With fifteen games won in a row, it'll only take one more victory to claim an undefeated season. After handily dispatching Jon by a score of 2104 - 1854, the Vultures aren't exactly peaking, but they should have enough to take care of business. Actually, the truthfulness of that last statement will depend a lot on Tony Romo's thumb. After having a disastrous week, can Romo bounce back? Still, with Ben Roethlisberger, Randy Moss, Chad Johnson, Hines Ward, and LaDainian Tomlinson lined up, Thomas should be ready to go.

As for who the Vultures will be facing, it's Tae's Bad News Bruins, who are definitely on a roll and capable of knocking off anybody right now. By upsetting the El Nino's 2274 - 1710, the Bruins have really turned in a brilliant season. With Brett Favre and Kurt Warner playing splendidly and Brandon Jacobs, Marion Barber, and Lendale White grinding up the yards, Tae has an outside chance of an upset. However, it's a VERY outside chance since Thomas looks like a team of destiny this year.

We'll see come Sunday won't we?

Regular Season Recap

Hey, at least we still got a league! Now that 90% of the league is not at Omnis anymore, we can only hope that the next few weeks will yield an exciting end to the season. Let's take a quick look at what our teams ended up doing for the season; our first and last?

PRETENDERS
StickIT2Em (2-12)
After roaring out of the gates to a 2-0 record, Ben's team went 0-12 the rest of the way. Bravo? It probably had something to do with never setting his lineup. Just maybe. MVP? Nobody.

Ask About Me (5-9)
Will started off with five straight losses before ripping of four wins to get back in contention. Sadly, the loss of Ronnie Brown (among other things) doomed them to a 1-4 finish and second to last place. They did finish with the fourth highest scoring in the league though, if that's any consolation.

Call Me Mr G (6-8)
Jermaine sure liked pairs this year. Two losses, one win, two losses, one win, two losses, two wins, one loss, two wins. Add it all up and it's a losing record despite the awesomeness that was Adrian Peterson. Terrell Owens, Greg Jennings, and Tony Gonzalez was nice (plus Marvin Harrison) but nothing could overcome the up and down quarterback play of Philip Rivers and Jeff Garcia.

Redskins (6-8)
Chris was looking pretty good at mid-season, with a 4-3 record, before the wheels came off and 2-5 followed. Peyton Manning wasn't good enough to carry dead weight -- Vince Young, Alex Smith, Anquan Boldin, Antwaan Randle-El, Julius Jones, the list goes on -- and the recent find of Ryan Grant was too little too late.

Team Rich (6-8)
The self proclaimed best team in the league right after our draft instead finished in the bottom half of the standings. Despite the presence of all world Tom Brady and the stellar Carson Palmer, Rich couldn't get his team on track all year. Would you believe Kellen Winslow was the third best player here? He's a tight end! RB Kenny Watson outscored Shaun Alexander this season (2181 to 1542).

Renegadez (7-7)
Rene had a chance to squeak into the playoffs but there were a few weeks there when his lineup was less than prepared (WK 8 and 9). He even had a chance to beat Thomas at one point. Alas, three straight wins to close out the season couldn't overcome the four losses before that. With a nice QB tandem at the end there, Drew Brees and Derek Anderson, and a good running game (Maurice Jones-Drew, Edgerrin James, Jamal Lewis), this team wasn't too bad.

CONTENDERS
Dog Whisperers (7-7)
The Dog Whisperers, now renamed to "23 Months," stumble into the playoffs closing the regular season with a 2-4 record. While still outfitted with the best receivers in the game -- Reggie Wayne, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Andre Johnson, Plaxico Burress -- the 23s will need RBs Frank Gore and Marshawn Lynch to step up, especially with Reggie Bush out. Can Matt Hasselbeck and David Garrard lead this team to a huge upset over Thomas?

Bad News Bruins (8-6)
Tae's team might have earned their original "Gutsy Little Bruins" name back. Finishing 5-2 and fired up for the playoffs, Tae has the red hot Marion Barber, the mummified Brett Favre and Kurt Warner, and not much else. Their top three draft picks, Larry Johnson, Laurence Maroney, and Steve Smith have been near useless all season so Tae's efforts have been qutie incredible indeed. Someone needs to step up to avenge the high scoring loss to Hong in WK12 and get to the next round, who will it be?

El Nino's (9-5)
The mojo that is Hong shows itself again with a great record. With four wins against just one loss (plus a season high 2967 points last week), they are churning coming into the playoffs. Looking over this roster, nobody has any idea how Hong's doing it. Actually, the Nino's seem to have quite a good stable of skill position players. Willie Parker, Brian Westbrook, and Fred Taylor run the ball well. Larry Fitzgerald, Wes Welker, Marques Colston, and Antonio Gates are all top tier receivers. And Seattle defense has been astounding (fantasy wise). The only problem is the horrific quarterback duo of Eli Manning and Kyle Boller. Still, Hong's got aces up his sleeve!

Vultures (14-0)
Thomas should retire. There, I said it. He should retire because he just did the unthinkable. A perfect (regular) season. Anybody else would have gotten a championship belt for himself already. But Thomas is humble. The last few weeks were fraught with peril as they won by just 134 versus Rene and 81 against Chris. They averaged 2369.93 points a game this season (over 200+ to their closest competitor). Led by Tony Romo and Ben Roethlisberger, Thomas has been unstoppable. Randy Moss, best receiver in the game. LaDainian Tomlinson, best running back in the game. Tack on Chad Johnson and Hines Ward and that's all she wrote. Two more wins for a real perfect season, unbelievable...

League MVP: Tony Romo
GM of the Year: Thomas

Week 12

With only four teams going into the playoffs (and Thomas and Hong already locking in their spots), it was a wild week as four games went to the wire. Who will be able to challenge Tae and Jon for the last two playoff spots? Can Thomas go undefeated in the regular season? Is Hong really this good? We'll find out with just two more weeks to go!

The Dog Whisperer (2210) vs Team Rich (2041)
Rich's team has scored more points than both Tae and Jon but sit two games behind them. If they can win both games and Jon or Tae lose one, then they should be in. It looks like the team is hitting its stride too, as Carson Palmer (391) and Tom Brady (422) finally have some help in the form of Chester Taylor (248) and Rudi Johnson (236). The question is, can any of the WRs step up? Aside from Kellen Winslow, the team isn't getting great receiving production. As for the Dogs, they're going to have QB issues from here on out as Marc Bulger (-2) suffers another concussion. Buoyed by Frank Gore's big week (603), Jon's team will need to fight their way into a playoff spot.

Call Me Mr G (1657) vs Ask About Me (1562)
The dream is over. After losing three straight games, Will is three games out and won't be playing for a playoff spot. With both DeShaun Foster (-13) and Titans D (-35) notching negative efforts, the game was close but not overly competitive. Jermaine won mainly behind the throwing arm of Philip Rivers (385), who managed to outduel Matt Schaub and Jon Kitna. In the end, well, it was a good run wasn't it Will? At least they have one more thing to play for. Will plays Thomas in two weeks, the last game of the regular season. Only they can toe the line between an undefeated season for Thomas (well, unless Rich gets a win this week).

El Nino's (2714) vs Bad News Bruins (2639)
Tae deserved to win this game. With this win, they would have easily slid into a playoff spot. Instead, Hong flexed his muscles in a high scoring affair. In what might have been the highest scoring matchup of the year, Hong had three players go over 300 points -- Wes Welker, Antonio Gates, Fred Taylor -- and got 477 points from Larry Fitzgerald. Tae had QBs Brett Favre (464) and Kurt Warner (451) go wild, proving that experience will beat Eli Manning and Sage Rosefels (combined 147 points) every time. Donald Driver had an outstanding game (344) but in the end, Tae fell just a bit short in a very exciting game between two top teams.

Vultures (2134) vs StickIT2Em (1506)
So much for a giant upset. Ben forgot to put in his lineup, again, and Thomas rolls to a win. That's all.

Renegadez (2188) vs Redskins (2099)
While neither team has a chance of making the playoffs, there's no quit in either Rene or Chris. In a battle for bragging rights, Rene cashed in on the resurgence of Drew Brees (432) and Jamal Lewis (364) to sneak by Chris. Chris finally had Peyton Manning throw for a good game (372) but it wasn't nearly enough, despite the good play of Green Bay surprise running star Ryan Grant (354) and the Cowboys D (360). Both of these teams are just playing the string out but there's no quit in them as they'll battle till the end.

Next Week: Vultures vs Team Rich, who can knock Thomas out? Only two more shots, let's go Rich!

Week 11: Thanksgiving Edition

Vultures (11-0)
Thomas is like the Neo in this fantasy football Matrix, dodging bullet after bullet. Each week it seems like another owner should have made a decision that topples the king, yet Thomas remains undefeated and headed toward eternal glory. We can only hope that Thomas' next few weeks will suck like The Matrix Reloaded. Thomas is thankful for the resurgence of Randy Moss, the emergence of Tony Romo and Ben Roethlisberger, and for his little horchata, LaDainian Tomlinson.

El Nino's (7-4)
Nobody can figure out how Hong has maintained his ranking in the standings. Name his best player. Um, Brian Westbrook (who's constantly injured)? The QB situation is horrendous with Eli Manning and Sage Rosenfels, or Gus Frerotte, or whomever is available on the wire. His other two RBs, Willie Parker and Fred Taylor are hardly the stuff of legend. Perhaps Hong is thankful for his receiving corps of Marques Colston, Larry Fitzgerald, Atonio Gates, Jerricho Cotchery, and Wes Welker. Pretty much, the El Nino's are kicking ass and nobody knows why.

Bad News Bruins (7-4)
Tae is thankful that his ship has righted, with four wins in a row, after falling to 3-4 in Week Seven. Despite underachievers dotting the roster -- Larry Johnson, Laurence Maroney, Steve Smith -- there been enough here to bring Tae to the top. Mainly, it's the inspired play of Brett Favre, who could be a leading MVP candidate. The Bruins, who have undergone many name changes this season, is happy that Larry Johnson sucked so bad that getting injured was probably a good thing.

The Dog Whisperer (6-5)
Jon had his biggest offensive output Week One (2463) and since then, has steadily remained around the 1900 point mark. That's good enough for a playoff spot -- so far. The Dogs wish they could take back Braylon Edwards -- exchanged for Andre Johnson, who's played one game -- like the Indians wish they had let the Pilgrims starve. Will, I'll trade you Gore for him. Gore's 2,000 yard declaration was bunk!

Team Rich (5-6)
Rich is happy to be the second highest scoring team in the league. Unfortunately, that means nothing as they've lost more games than they've won and will need a boost to make the playoffs. With some savvy waiver wire work and trades, Rich has turned his team into something impressive on paper. Then again, they're 2-3 in their last five weeks. Rich is mainly happy that Tom Brady and the Patriots are out to annihilate the competition, stopping just short of scalping opponents.

Redskins (5-6)
Thomas is thankful that Peyton Manning sucks and put up only 95 points in WK11 to prevent a Vultures' loss. Chris is thankful that his team is peaking and put up 2513 points in a narrow defeat. Actually, wait. Chris could have won by playing his main man, Chris Cooley too. Damn team loyalty. Always play your Redskins! Always! Fantasy football rule #1. Chris is thankful that Thomas Jones hasn't found the end zone yet.

Ask About Me (4-7)
Will is delighted to have a four game win streak after opening the season with five straight losses. He's also very happy to have traded away Drew Brees -- well, not really, since he's hot again while Donovan McNabb is floundering. At least they stole Braylon Edwards away from the Dogs! Will will need a huge next couple of weaks to slip into the playoffs. Huge.

Call Me Mr G (4-7)
Jermaine would like the thank Terrell Owens. And thank him again. And again. He would also like to thank Adrian Peterson. And then curse the day he got injured.

Renegadez (4-7)
Rene's team has tanked after starting the season off decently strong. They were in the mix at 4-3 until a series of poor lineup decisions helped them to four straight losses. It might be too late to recover now however. At least Rene has Jack and Coke to wallow in his sorrow.

StickIT2Em (2-9)
Every team in the league would like to thank Ben for never playing his guys and losing nine games in a row (after opening 2-0). They've put up three sub-1000 games, including a 447 point gem in Week Six. Matt Leinart would like to thank Ben for giving him a chance to start despite having been injured since, well, since forever.

Ben says "My goal is go out strong, to spoil someone's day before the season is over." In related news, Ben plays Thomas this week. This would be the greatest upset of all time. Of All Time.

Week 10

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears, it's a world of hopes, it's a world of fear. This might have been our most competitive week ever. Only one game was a true blow out (1442 vs 870) but the other four games went to the wire. Heck, one game was decided by just one yard! As Thomas streaks to a possible undefeated season, Hong, Tae, Jon, and Chris are fighting neck and neck for second place. How many teams make the playoffs Will? Are there byes? Anyway, on to the show!


Redskins (1872) vs The Dog Whisperers (1870)
Disgusted with the events of November 2nd, Chris came out guns blazing and mowed down his former boss. Well, mowed down isn't quite accurate. Beat by a yard is more like it. Somehow, Chris had the foresight to start Packers' RB Ryan Grant, who exploded for 363 points. Along with Vince Young's 317 points -- outpacing Peyton Manning's 249, the Skins eked out a dramatic win to put themselves into playoff position. The Cesar Milan's had Matt Hasselbeck and Reggie Wayne hook up for a combined 744 points but like the Titans in the 2000, they came up one yard short.

El Nino's (2328) vs Ask About Me (2230)
Despite an empty QB and WR slot, Hong's team put a quick end to Will's four game winning streak. By riding Brian Westbrook's 571 points and relying on Seahawks defense to make a big stand on Monday Night (a shutout of Will's beloved 49ers for 350 pts), Hong moves himself into second place yet again. Will's running back by committee -- Jesse Chatman and Selvin Young -- performed admirably with 656 points combined and when QB Donovan McNabb exploding for 464 points, a victory was just about in the bag. But alas, Hong shows Will who's boss by edging him out for a narrow victory.

Bad News Bruins (2039) vs Team Rich (1652)
The Bruins have won three in a row and maybe they've recovered some of that belly fire that they started the season with. Brett Favre is vying for league MVP and he shows again why he's ageless and a certain HoF with 477 points. Even Kurt Warner, fabled veteran and former grocery clerk, contributed 310 points. In order for Tae's team to keep winning, he's going to have to weather the loss of Larry Johnson -- who was being benched anyway -- and hope that Laurence Maroney can step it up. Rich has some running back problems of his own as Travis Henry took a seat and his replacement, Selvin Young, had a fine game. Rich's team had a mediocre week with Tom Brady on the bench and couldn't put up many points.

Call Me Mr G (1442) vs StickIT2Em (870)
I refuse to discuss Ben's team until he changes his lineup. R-E-F-U-S-E. Jermaine didn't really need Terrell Owens big 400 point game but it was nice to have. With Adrian Peterson now hobbled, it's the perfect time for first round pick and huge disappointment Steven Jackson to pick up the slack, something he did with 337 points this week. Ben, change your lineup! Pretty please?

Vultures (2310) vs Renegadez (2196)
You know the old Marvel Comics, "What If...?" Like "What if Wolverine wasn't Canadian?" Or "What if Bruce Banner wasn't such a wussy?" Our "What If" question goes like this: What if Rene had played Maurice Jones-Drew (instead of Jamal Lewis versus a tough Steelers' defense)? The answer to that would have been a loss for Thomas' Vultures. Instead, Jason Campbell's fine 330 point performance -- and Warrick Dunn's 355 -- were all for naught as the Vultures roll to yet another victory.

With the majority of their byes out of the way, the Vultures are locked and loaded for a historic reason. Damn Big Ben and Tony Romo, who combined for 930 points Sunday. How many more weeks can Thomas dodge the bullet? Just four more wins gets them an unprecendented undefeated (regular) season. Someone stop him! Let freedom ring!

Next week: Vultures vs Redskins. Let's go for a bigger margin of victory than 2 points Chris! Blow Thomas out! Or at least just beat him...

Week 9

I'm not sure how many teams get in the playoffs but when the second place team is at a mediocre 5-4, with six teams at 5-4 or 4-5, the last few weeks of the season could be crucial. Thomas has already secured a playoff spot by holding off yet another #2 ranked challenger. That's disgusting. But you know, in a good way.

Vultures (2445) vs The Dog Whisperer (1892)
Despite a lofty challenge set forth by taking on an undefeated team, The Dog Whisperers rose to the challenge behind WR Andre Johnson and RB Frank Gore. Both fantastic players scored over 500 points apiece as the Dogs bullied the Vultures to their first defeat. Tony Romo and Ben Roethlisberger tried to make it a game with 400+ points each but they were no match for the offensive force that is the Whisperers. Or maybe none of this happened and Thomas remained undefeated and the proud owner of a free meal at the fast food joint of his choice. You figure out what's fact or fiction.

Ask About Me (2152) vs Renegadez (1212)
After failing to play half their lineup again, the Renegadez conceded an easy victory to Will -- who is streaking and won his fourth in a row. Going against his number one draft pick, QB Drew Brees, Will must have been worried about his chances. However, the Titans defense (330), Earnest Graham (344), and Jon Kitna (332) pulled through and helped put enough points on the board to almost double up on Rene. Nay-Nay, put your players in!

Call Me Mr G (2444) vs Redskins (1933)
Chris got crushed by a freight train this week. Adrian Peterson’s 770 points might be an individual season high and his record setting day pushed Jermaine to a big win. Taking advantage of Peterson’s running and Terrell Owen’s pass catching (458), Jermaine is riding the two man game to sporatic victories. The Skins need to desperately right the ship after two losses in a row but Peyton Manning is clearly not a top three fantasy QB at this point. Can he pick it up a few notches to give Chris some superstar support?

Team Rich (2174) vs El Nino’s (1762)
Despite only showing up to work twice a week, Rich makes good use of his time to trash talk the opposition. This week, he found an unfamiliar hero, WR Lee Evans, who scored 435 points in a season high for him. With the continued foundation of super QBs Tom Brady and Carson Palmer (676 pts combined), Team Rich needs some help from his running game to continue his success. Rudi Johnson, Shaun Alexander, and Travis Henry combined for a touch over 200 points. Hong’s team on the other hand experienced a breakout game of his own as WR Marques Colston finally showed his rookie form and scored 368 points in a losing effort. Subbing out Eli Manning would have been nice. Would have been……

Bad News Bruins (2165) vs StickIT2Em (1084)
Maybe Rene and Ben should co-manage a team. Together, they’ve managed to put half squads in play each of the past couple of weeks. Ben has lost seven games in a row and Matt Leinart is still starting for him. As is Sammy Morris, who is out for the season. Ben, please do something! Anything! Even if it means trading me Joseph Addai. Hint hint. Tae’s high scorer was WR Bobby Engram. Who? Yeah, exactly. But hey, it was more than enough to double up on Ben’s score this week.