2004 Season - Week 18

Never before (in 8 attempts) had an 8-8 team won a play-off game but this weekend both Minnesota and St Louis achieved that feat in the NFC. The New York Jets also won away from home as they won in San Diego but the NFL has still never witnessed all the away teams winning in the Wildcard round as the home team Colts thumped Denver. There were some big upsets in the BUMS wildcard round with the 3, 4 and 5 seeds falling to the 14, 13 an 12 seeds respectively but none were bigger than the number 1 seed (Wayne) going out to the number 16 seed (Paul). The Divisional match-ups will be Mark (2) v Paul (16), in the CooperBowl Gareth (5) v Aaron (14), Marcus (7) v Phil (13) and Johnny (9) v Stampy (12). Teams to me by 10am Saturday please. First come first served etc. All-BUMS Voting Time to vote for your favourite players of 2004. Attached the top scoring players at each position. As per usual I need (in order) your top 3 Running Backs and top 3 Receivers plus your number 1 & 2 Quarterbacks, Kickers and Coaches. These should be with me by Tuesday February 1st so that the votes can be counted and the team can be announced at the BUMS Superbowl Party on Sunday February 6th at BUMS HQ from 10:30pm. Also 6 of you still need to let me know your Hall of Fame player votes - these are due this week. Franchise Players 2005-2006 At a recent BUMS gathering it was decided that we will defer selecting Franchise players until after the NFL Draft and majority of free agency. On this basis I shall be asking for your Franchise players for the next two years early in June. You’ll be giving up the players that you franchised two years ago though many have been cut as they failed to live up to their owners hopes. 2 big names coming onto the market are Peyton Manning & Michael Vick. Big Weeks late in the year Congratulations to everyone as we achieved the highest combined points total ever for a season with 7,213 points, and I know - I counted every last one of them. The previous high was 7,130 back in 2002. This was helped by a week 16 total of 502 points - the 4th highest weekly score in BUMS history. Wayne’s championship total of 574 equalled Johnny’s for the highest individual total ever - a record set back in 1995. Marks Premiership runner-up score of 535 is the 6th highest ever and Daz’s Conference winning 519 is the 8th best. BUMS on Seats It’s time for the Divisional games this weekend. On Saturday night from 8:30pm we are at Johnnys for Chinese followed by The Jets @ Pittsburgh. On Sunday at 2:30pm we’ll watch the recording of the St Louis @ Atlanta match-up which is played overnight, followed at 6pm on Sky with Vikings @ Eagles and finally Colts @ Patriots.