2008 Season - Week 18

Chief & Cheryl played each other for a record 6th time in the postseason in CooperBowl 1. Cheryl had won the last 2 but Chief won this to take a 4-2 series lead. Meantime the first two winners of the BUMSBowl played each other for a 5th time and John’s win was his first over Daz since the 2nd final. There were no major upsets as Wayne defeated Ron and Johnny beat George and the top 4 seeds all progressed. Andy H won his first wildcard game since 1999 as he beat defending champion David S and Marcus beat his brother in CooperBowl 2. Mark B and AP both got byes after Dave G and Mark H didn’t send in their teams. And so the line-up for the Divisional Round is:- Number 1 seed Wayne taking on Mark (12), Chief (2) playing AP (11), John (3) faces Marcus (9) and Johnny (4) entertains Andy H (7) . Teams to me by 10am Saturday please. First come first served etc. NFL Wildcard Weekend For the first time ever all 4 away teams in the Wildcard Round were favourites. The home teams bucked the trend on Saturday as Arizona beat Atlanta in their first playoff home game since 1947 and the San Diego came from behind to beat Indianapolis in overtime. On Sunday however the road warriors beat their hosts as Baltimore shutdown Miami and Philadelphia beat Minnesota. That sets up 4 Divisional games which are all re-matches of games from earlier in the season. In the AFC Tennessee host Baltimore (The Titans won 13-10) and Pittsburgh host San Diego (Steelers 11-10), and in the NFC Carolina host Arizona (Panthers won 27-23) and NY Giants host Philadelphia who split their 2 games this year. Franchise Players 2008-2009 As is the norm you’ll select your Franchise player after the NFL Draft and majority of free agency as I shall be asking for your Franchise players for the next two years early in June. You’ll be giving up the player that you franchised two years ago though some have been cut due to injury or as they failed to live up to their owners hopes. To whet your appetite here are some of the big names coming onto the market:- QBs Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer, RBs LaDainian Tomlinson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Reggie Bush, Marion Barber, Joseph Addai, Willie Parker and Frank Gore. BUMS on Seats It’s time for the Divisional games this weekend. On Saturday night we are meeting at Johnnys from 9:30pm to see Baltimore (12-5) @ Tennessee (13-3). We will be at BUMS HQ on Sunday from 5pm to play catch up and watch the recording of Arizona (9-7) @ Carolina (12-4) which is played overnight, followed by Philadelphia (10-6-1) @ New York Giants (12-4) and San Diego (9-8) @ Pittsburgh (12-4). As always all are welcome.