Another year is in the books. Congratulations to the Black & Blue Attack and all the other Elite Teams. Sorry, I never got around to typing last week's notes. We still need a resolution on where and when to hold the settle-up party. I will probably be conducting a phone survey in the next week, so give it some thought. If you are decided, send me an e-mail and we can avoid playing telephone tag. The league's url is http://swffl.50megs.com .

  That little post-draft analysis I did at the beginning of the year did not manage to pick even one Elite team. In fact it picked 3 of the Elite Teams to be fighting for cellar positions. The analysis accuracy falls to 50% having picked 18 of 36 Elite teams in the last 9 years. OK, so maybe I should just flip coins at the beginning of the year.

  Because I have some space I will give out some fantasy awards. 2002 MVP: Priest Holmes. Bust of the year: Kurt Warner. Surprise of the Year: Clinton Portis. Most disappointing NFL Team (from a fantasy perspective): RAMS. Most dominate NFL Team: CHIEFS (BILLS AND RAIDERS made this a very tough call). The Man is an Island: Ricky Williams.

  Norm was 3/5 this week, making him 33/80 (41%) on the season. Spock was 1/5 on the week, making him 45/80 (56%) on the season. Spock retains the overall Oddsmakers title, despite the little tailspin he went into at the end of the year.

  There was 1 game that was technically over by Sunday. Two others were all but over. Two others were more or less up in the air on Monday.

  The already crowned Black & Blue Attack avenged one of their few losses by beating the Body Shop and placing the Shop's Elite hopes in serious jeopardy. A few weeks ago this looked like a possible title game, but the Shop hit that returning-retiree wall and was reduced to scoreboard watching to see if they could keep that last Elite spot. Neither team really showed up for this game as Jay Feely was the only one to break double digits.

  The Good Fellas avenged their early season loss to the Quiet Storm. The Storm needed the "W" to ensure a second place finish. But like many of the Elite Teams in must win situations, the Storm shrank from the challenge as only their PK, QB and ST bothered to put some points up. Fortunaltely for the Storm their competitors for the 2nd spot forgot to show up as well. The Fellas got scoring up and down the lineup with only Tim Brown failing to post a non-zero. At least the Fellas finished up a dismal season on a positive note. That is what you get for listening to Dad too much before the Draft.

  The Jelly Beans avenged their early season loss to the Sharks, in a game that was more about Cedar Lane bragging rights than anything else. In an interesting side note the Beans QB never hit the field and the Sharks QB was done after one series. This was pivotal as the Beans came from behind against the Sharks on Monday night due mainly to a nice performance by Tai Streets. Of course if it were Garcia throwing those passes, the Sharks would have won. The Beans also got a nice performance out of Tiki Barber.

  The Dream Team and Jeff Wilkins easily overcame a 2 point lead by the Black Revenge on Monday night (OK - not so easy as the RAMS were shutout in the first half). The Revenge needed the win to grab the number 2 spot from the Storm who looked like they were going to loose, but maintained a slight point superiority. Clinton Portis appeared to have sewed up the victory for the Revenge early on Sunday. The BUCCANEER shutout brought the Dream Team back into striking range.

  The "Game of the Week" honors go to the contest between the Bull Dogs and the M. Takers. The Takers had a serious shot at a Elite spot, especially the way the Body Shop had been slipping lately. The Dogs (like most of us out in the cold) could only go for that Final Week Helmet consolation prize. The Takers had put a pretty good whipping on the Dogs earlier in the season. The Dogs built up a big lead going into Monday night on the power of a 62 point explosion from the running duo of Williams and Green. Culpepper and Elam trued to keep the Takers close. Koren Robinson turned it into one of those "need a miracle endings" on Monday night games. Of course all hopes for a miracle ending, ended when Owens did not get on the plane to St. Louis with the rest of the Niners. The Dogs grabbed the "Golden Helmet". Believe it or not, the Takers got the Week 17 2nd place prize. If they could have managed to play anyone else this week, they would have managed to knock the Shop out of the Elite.

CHATTERBOX:(Get Quotes in by Monday Night)
Body Shop (Casey): "I made some great moves. I just had a run of bad luck."
Quiet Storm (Smitty - Week 16 Quote): "We're a Holmeless squad just trying to hold on. Casey, I haven't seen a team come up that small since '82. Congrats to B&B."

BEST & WORST OF WEEK 17

MVP: William Green (39) Bull Dogs       Best on Bench: C. Pennington (24) Quiet Storm      Low Scorers: Sharks (23)    Coaching Efficiency: High: GF, DT, S (100%) Low: Body Shop (31%)

Top Rostered Players By Position (Rostered Players Only)
QB - Gannon(267),Bledsoe(237),Brady(230),Green(220)
RB - Holmes(238),Williams(235),Portis(192),Tomlinson(174)
WR - Owens(153),Harrison(141),Ward(114),Price,Moss,Moulds,Toomer(99)
PK - Feely(160),Gramatica(157),Elam(149),Carney,Akers(144)
ST - BUCCANEERS(76),RAIDERS(56),SAINTS(50),PATRIOTS(48)