"Seven More Yards"

The league's initial season kicked off with ten owners just looking to sample the phenomenon they'd been hearing about. The buy-in was $5 with the winner receiving the entire $50 pot at year's end. At first the league was not competitive and no one took it very seriously. By the end of the season, however, many of them had discovered a new hobby they genuinely enjoyed and were anxious to play again. Patrick Langevin started off the season strong with five straight wins. This coming despite being sent a warning by Sandbox that his team would be declared inactive because he hadn't logged in for a month. His team was strong, with Kurt Warner at quarterback and Curtis Martin running the football, and Patrick was the team to beat in the first half of the season. In the second half Patrick slowed down a bit, and a pair of owners stepped up to challenge him, Marc Takenaga and Julius Jaboro. Marc sported an all-start lineup including Peyton Manning and LaDanian Tomlinson. He traded for Shaun Alexander just in time to get 240 yards and three touchdowns out of him, and he picked up emerging stars Anthony Thomas and Priest Holmes out of the free agent pool. Julius was led by an exceptional corps of wide receivers, including Marvin Harrison, Rod Smith, and Kevin Johnson with Corey Dillon running the ball. As the second half of the season unfolded, they were all three neck-and-neck. In the end, Julius and Patrick ended up finishing the year tied for the best record at 11-6. The title was awarded to Julius because he had a higher overall point total than did Patrick. It was a stinging defeat for Patrick, who had lost the next-to-last game of the year by one point needing only seven additional passing yards from Kurt Warner on Monday Night Football to tie and clich the title. But Julius was left to celebrate the inagural championship following the closet finish in league history.

FINAL STANDINGS: 1. Julius Jaboro (11-6) 2. Patrick Langevin (11-6) 3. Marc Takenaga (10-7) 4. Jason Kirkpatrick (10-7) 5. Mike Weistling (10-7) 6. Paul Shindelus (7-10) 7. Joe Shindelus (8-9) 8. Nick Stolpman (7-10) 9. Mike Heap (6-11) 10. Tom Bobzin (4-13)