Week 8 finds the teams at the top getting cozy. Only about 30 points separate first and third. There are now 4 teams more than 2 games out of the Elite, so all that have-not stuff from last week has gone awry. There are some teams off this week, so make sure you check. If you can live with the web version or if you want to try and receive these notes by e-mail, let me know. It is cheaper and also much quicker. The league's url is http://swffl.50megs.com .

Key Matchups to watch this Week

  The Jelly Beans take on the Quiet Storm this week in their only meeting of 2002. The Beans are hoping to kick-off the second half with a bang and get back in contention. The Storm is in the middle of a Championship race. The Goodfellas and Bull Dogs meet up in a battle of former partners. The Dogs are on a slide after a strong start. The Fellas just would like to see double-digit scoring from their QB. The Dream Team takes on the Body Shop this week. The Shop is right up in the Championship run and the Defending Champs are trying to keep the Elite Line in sight. The M. Takers take on the Black Revenge. The Revenge has to defend their hold on the final Elite spot one more time against a team that is aching to oust them from that spot. The Black & Blue Attack takes on the Sharks this week. The Black and Blue is on the top of a very tight trio vying for the championship. The Sharks are lurking right outside of the Elite Line waiting for an opening to become available.

  Spock was 4/5 this week, making him 24/35 (69%) on the season. He regains top billing. Norm was 2/5 on the week, making him 13/35 (37%) on the season. His lines (actually my estimates) appear below:

  There were 3 games that were technically over by Sunday. One game was all but over. Two others were only marginally up in the air.

  The M. Takers defeated the Bull Dogs on Sunday by a huge margin and still had the GIANTS coming on Monday. The Takers were led by a huge day out of their WRs, including a break-out day by TO. The Dogs have now lost 4 in a row and are sinking fast. They were hit hard by the BYE this week, but even with that 22 total roster points is not a good sign.

  The Quiet Storm handed the Good Fellas another sound beating also. The Storm was led by balanced scoring with every starter scoring and every start receiving double-digit scoring from every starter except their QB and their ST. In fact the Storm cleared 90 points and Gramatica was the only starter over 20. The Fellas continue to struggle. Their QB woes may have started spreading to the rest of the team as even the reliable Garner came up empty this week.

  The Sharks, Thrash and a 49 point lead were too much for the Jelly Beans, McNabb, Barber, Pinkston and Akers to overcome on Monday night. The Sharks were led by a break-out performance by Garcia. The Beans had an army going on Monday night, but even an army gets demoralized by 0 Sunday points. I personally like to have a little something going on Monday night, but I would prefer not seeing the old goose-egg posted in the preliminary results.

  The Black Revenge defeated the Dream Team and kept a hold on that last Elite spot as the Dream Team and Bryant could not overcome a 23 point lead, Toomer and the EAGLES. The Revenge were led by Portis and Moss. Who covered for a less than spectacular performance by Green. The Dream Team had nice days out of Manning and Henry, but they came up short elsewhere.

  The "Game of the Week" honors go to the contest between the Black & Blue Attack and the Body Shop. In a battle to keep the Attack from running away with the title early, the Shop came up big and made first place a possibility for a bunch of teams. The running tandem of McAllister and Zeroue led the Shop. Bledsoe made his contribution as well. The Attack got nice performances from Gannon, Alexander and Feely but they had goose-eggs everywhere else. This game was chosen as "GOW" because it's importance to the standings over-rode any of the Monday Night madness affected games. Generally it takes a real important game (or really lousy Monday night impact) for me to go this way on the "GOW".

CHATTERBOX:(Get Quotes in by Monday Night)
Dream Team (Norm): Suspiciously Absent.
Body Shop (Casey): "I have been known to make moves that help me win championships. The Zereoue one may turn out to be as great as trading Eddie Diehl to Austin for the infamous Chuckie Beener which helped the 1982 Mets win the Babe Ruth League Title."
Bull Dogs (John T.): "The last few weeks my lineup has produced more zeros than of Donovan McNabb's checkbook."

BEST & WORST OF WEEK 8

MVP: Jeff Garcia (33) Sharks       Best on Bench: Steve McNair (24) Black & Blue      Low Scorers: Bull Dogs (18)    Coaching Efficiency: High: JB,BD,QS (100%) Low: Black & Blue (69%)

Top Rostered Players By Position (Rostered Players Only)
QB - Gannon(155),Bledsoe(147),McNabb(139),Brooks(135)
RB - Holmes(137),McAllister(108),Tomlinson(101),Williams(86)
WR - Price(69),Owens(66),Moulds(60),Conway(54)
PK - Hollis(89),Andersen(87),Elam,Gramatica(80)
ST - BUCCANEERS(57),JETS(25),BRONCOS(19),BROWNS(18)