In Week 13, the battle for the Championship tightened up as both the Dream Team and Bulldogs faltered. The last Elite spot is still up in the air, with 9 teams still having a decent shot at the Elite. The last place Revenge will probably require a miracle to leapfrog into the Elite. This week the TITANS & RAIDERS play Thursday night, so make sure you get your starters in before kickoff. This week the BEARS are off so don't start any of them.

    In other league news, I have installed a modified version of the main page so that people with older browsers can still get the news even though it will not scroll. Also, the interactive Chatterbox index became corrupted and I had to re-initialize the board. Unfortunately this happened during a lively debate about Thanksgiving day starters. Point your favorite browser to http://www.50megs.com/users2/ksmalley. Getting your notes by E-Mail is cheaper and quicker. Ask those that do get them.

    This week we repeat the schedule for week 5. The M. Takers will try to repeat their week 5 drubbing of the Bulldogs and maintain their still tenuous hold on the last Elite Spot. The Bulldogs with a win and a Mac Attack win can take sole possession of first place. The Black Revenge will try to avenge their week 5 loss to the Quiet Storm in a battle of former partners. The Storm tops the list of teams just waiting for a taker misstep. The Dream Team must repeat their week 5 victory over the Mac Attack, a loss could drop them form first to third. The Mac Attack almost has to win to keep their Championship hopes alive. The Jelly Beans will try to avenge their loss to the Sharks in the first "Cedar Lane" bowl. The Beans are perilously close to a "must win" situation. The Sharks are another 6-7 team just itching to get back in the Elite. The "Defending Champion" Black & Blue Attack will try to avenge their early season loss to the Hammer Heads and keep their late season run alive. The Heads are in the thick of the battle for that last Elite spot, but they are severely handicapped by their weak point total.

    Spock was 3-5 this week making him 32-55 (58%) on the season and he regained top billing. Norm was 1-5 this week making him 30-55 (55%) on the season and his lines appear below:

   MT  -4 BD (91)     JB   -1  S (88)
   BR  -3 QS (90)     HH   -1 BB (94)
   DT  -3 MA (102)

    Only 1 game was final after Sunday. In two games, the only players on Monday were in the winning team's lineup. In one other game the winning team had built up a fairly decent lead, but the losing team still had something

left. In the final game, both teams had something going, and the score was tight.

    The Dream Team lost their 2^nd in a row with their loss this week to the Sharks. The Dream Team, after breaking the 50 pt. barrier in all but 1 of the first 8 weeks, has failed to break the 50 pt. barrier in 4 of their last 5 and the vice grip they seemed to have had on 1^st place is now all but gone. The Sharks, kept pace with the rest of the teams just outside of the Elite. The Sharks were led by Stewart and Wilkins with a lot of chipping in from others. The Sharks won despite only a 6 out from Favre.

    The Mac Attack took a step closer to the Championship with a resounding defeat of the Black Revenge. The Mac Attack was led by a great performance by Blake and another ho-hum 20+ day by James. The Mac almost dealt James for Bledsoe a few weeks back. That deal would been up there with the Galloway release and the Allen for Dilfer deal in the biggest mistakes of the year category.

    In a game with fireworks galore, the Quiet Storm left the battlefield with Randy Moss still fresh and at least a 6 pt. victory over the Jelly Beans. This was one of those games where you hate to have a loser as both teams topped the 60 pt. mark. The Storm was led by Free-agent of the Year winner, Kurt Wanner.

    The Black & Blue Attack a 41 pt. lead and Cris Carter was just way too much for the Bulldogs and Gramatica. The Black & Blue kept their Elite hopes alive with a strong performance by Hanson. The Bulldogs had their 4 game winning streak snapped and missed a shot at sole possession of 1^st place, despite their last place Point total.

    The "Game of the Week" goes to the contest between the M. Takers and Hammer Heads. The M. Takers, Jeff George, Robert Smith and Jake Reed barely overcame a 2 pt. deficit to the Hammer Heads and Gary Anderson, as they had to depend on the Marshall Faulk rule to win. The Takers have won 2 in a row and are holding on to that last Elite spot as if their life depended upon it. The Heads missed a shot to jump up in to the Elite for the first time since the ill-fated "6 and 0, here we go" remark from a couple of years ago.

CHATTERBOX:(Get Quotes in by Monday Night)
Dream Team (Norm): "Rams Win, Dream Team Loses. Suck it up Dream Team. Game of the year is coming up. Macs get ready for the attack of your life."

Top Rostered Players By Position (All points included)
QB-Warner(266),Manning(197),Johnson(170),Buerlein(167)
RB-James(142),S.Davis(136),Faulk(116),E.Smith(114)
WR-Harrison(132),Bruce,Carter(96),Moss(93)
PK-Mare(144),Vanderjagt(133),Hollis(123),Hanson(117)
ST-RAMS(65),CHIEFS(59),JAGUARS(58),COWBOYS(57)