Week 13-  And we only have 1 official Division Champion, The Maulers. Led by the "Honorable" Col. Piro, to celebrate their first divisional title in about 4 years, The Col. is planning a party 1pm Sunday at The Piro Memorial Multimedia Center. Don't bother calling to confirm, just show up and BYOB. 

Points of note:

- 3 divisions will be decided this final week of the season. That's never happened.

- WoWW plays The Sharks head-to-head for The South

- The lightning and Magic fight it out head-to-head for the North.

- If The Panthers lose and The OnSlugs win, The Slugs take The East. Otherwise The Panthers take their first Divisional Title.

 - The Crushers, Cougars, Knights and Nukers are This years Sauer memorial Contestants. Seeding will not be decided until after the games. (Remember for all tourney games it's "Worst plays First" seeding.

Onondaga Onslaught (8-4) at Conifer Cougars (6-6)

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Coach Lynn for such a well played game in week 12. See, even a blind squirrel CAN find a nut. Good work! The Onslugs are by far playing the best football in the league right now. The possible loss of McNair hurts, but this team is playing so balanced I don't think it matters that much. The Cougars Eddie George should have his second straight 100 yard game, but it won't be  enough.

Onslaught 75 Cougars 58.

Minoa Maulers (7-5) at The Nukers (2-10)

West Divisional Champs Maulers. By now THERE'S a phrase you don't hear very often. Sort of like the phrase "Hey Col. Lookin' trim." It's just rare. This game really means nothing for either team except pride and bragging rights. Clearly the Col. has no pride, but we all know he likes bragging rights. I'll go with The Maulers in this one.

Maulers 65 Nukers 45

Sheridan Storm (6-6) at Connelly's Crushers (4-8)

I'm not sure which collapse here is more surprising. Laurel and Hardy...err Tom and Kyle... going from 1st to worst in the South or The Storm going form league high scorer and divisional champ 2 years straight, to losing more games in 2003 than they have in 2 years combined. I think I'll go with the latter. I'll also take them in this weeks game.

Strom 65  Crushers 25 

-= Upset of the Week =- 

Naughton Knights (3-9) at Pennellville Panthers (9-3)

This game will be played in Pennellville, where interestingly enough the toothbrush was invented. Had it been invented anywhere else it would have been called a teethbrush, but I digress. After their total domination of The Magic in week 12 The Knights look to stomp another divisional leader to prove their early season malaise was more fluke than fate. That's not that far fetched of an idea either. The Knights have outscored The Panthers 157-142 over the last 3 weeks and would have won 2 out of 3 if they had played head-to-head. Not to mention their WR's have some pretty nifty match-ups which could provide some much needed explosion. All together, I smell and upset.  Either that or Coach Sauerkraut is up wind from me.

Knights 63 Panthers 55

-= Game of the Week  #1 =- 

South Valley Sharks (7-5) at WOWW (6-6)

The #1 vs. #2 point scoring teams in the league playing one last game for the Divisional crown. Now THAT'S drama. The Sharks have a Billy Fuccicillo style HUGE advantage in match ups this week. Particularly Ahman Green vs. Detroit and Rookie Davis vs. The Falcons. The Sharks go as Green goes losing 80% of their games when Ahman scores under 20 points. This week he should not have a problem reaching that plateau. Conversely WoWW's underachieving Ricky William faces The Leagues #1 Defense, Dallas, and Portis is banged up again. Quite frankly, all things considered, The Sharks should walk to their first Divisional Title in franchise history. However, history itself is not on The Sharks side, Historical choking is.  Also I have it on good authority that Owner Rich Steinbrenner has his eye on a hot new rookie that he can snatch up with the 5th over all draft pick next year.  Combine that with 2 words "Jay" and "Fiedler" and I see WoWW in a nail biter.

WoWW 80 Sharks 79.

-= Game of the Week #2 =- 

Liverpool Lightning (7-5) at Syracuse Magic (7-5)

Ya win, You're in. What would the Dauntless D's think of their franchise now? My guess is Mel Kiper Jr would say "See I told you so.", but I digress. You really have to give a ton of credit to the coach of Coach Nobrainerd; losing 3 keepers Vick/Gannon/Green and still competing with that evil bastard Quinn for the division.-- That takes good coaching.  Win or lose this week, The Lightning have to have a lot of pride in this season.  Coach Quinn for the first time is really feeling the pressure of competition and I know we all collectively feel really, really bad for him. The match up on this one across the board are a coin toss. I think it should come down to one game, Minnesota vs. St. Louis, or more specifically, Moss vs. Holt. Given the choice, I'll take Holt. (Big shock) 

Lightning 61 Magic 57.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Good luck to all.

Jim 

Joke of the Week:

How is The Jets defense and and Col. Piro alike?

Give either one a quarter and they'll let you score.