Who can forget those fond memories of bbq, kegs and frisbee on the banks of the Charles - as those crew maniacs rowed their asses off for 3 miles starting from the BU Boathouse? And what of the quaintness of the crew ''logos'' on the paddle thingies?!? But the best part of the ''regatta''... recognizing certain coxswain ''party partners'' from the night before as their crews rowed by!

AT THE LATEST SPLIT

As we near the halfway point of the regular season, Wally's Mahatma's Minions continue to lead the pack at 6-0. Kevin's Uffdalators and Wang's BUBE are a game behind, but quite possibly aren't anywhere near being able to compete with Wally's fine squad. Richard, Clark and Ali should be relatively safe in gaining entry into the postseason - although Ali will need to snap his team out of their deep funk following the Week 5 GOTW loss to Wally. That leaves 2 playoff invitations for perhaps 7 others to duke it out for.

STROKE! PULL! OR WHATEVER THE COXSWAIN YELLED...

The BU Bridge (14 team wins) division split 4 matchups against the Charlestown Bridge (11) division, while the Longfellow Bridge (12) division SKUNKED the Hahvahd Bridge (11) crew! Yeehaw!

Highest scoring team: Mahatma's Minions - 50.3 ppg
Lowest scoring team: Blue Collar Workers - 21.8 ppg
Toughest defense: Mahatma's Minions - 25.0 ppg
Softest defense: Black Knights of the Charles - 53.7 ppg ... OUCH!
League scoring average: 35.5 ppg (last year 38.7)

3 teams with all 18 QB bonus pts: Cals (BIG SURPRISE HERE!), JoePa, Shivan
Who will be the ''last man standing''?!?

Getting to the bloody point... on to WIR #6!

****************************
**** GAME OF THE WEEK ****
****************************
Black Knights of the Charles 45
Invasive Species 54

GMs JoePa and Stan put on quite a show for us in this week's GOTW. Sir Billy couldn't go for the Pack, enabling the Black Knights to back in to 11 from the Missile. Not to be outdone... Terry Glenn decided to shut it down again for the Pats - allowing Invasive Species to fall ass backwards into 18 from Rod II! Sir Timmy stepped up for BKotC with 15. Stan countered with trip-9s from Doug, Derrick and Wade. The keys for JoePa in this contest were QB and TE. Once Invasive Species Flutie and Wiggins outproduced Brooks and Riemersma, JoePa didn't have a chance. By falling to 1-5, JoePa's BKotC probably need to win 7 of 8 to make the playoffs. After an 0-3 start, Stan has righted Invasive Species with 3 straight wins - including 2 straight 50+ pt performances. The WIR staff would compliment Stan on the picking of Wiggins out of the rough, but Stan's normal TE, Desmond Clark, scored 9 this week.
Scrub loss for JoePa (1-2)

brooks 6 biaka 15 kfaulk 0 muhsin 0 qadry 11 riemer 3 wilkins 10
flute 9 deuce 0 maurice 3 gardner 18 dalex'er 9 wiggy 6 richey 9
--------------------------------------------------------
Blue Collar Workers 24
Uffdalators 28

Brad and his Blue Collar Workers put up a good fight this week, but fell a little short once again. The death blow was the fact that BCW's former starting QB, Jim Miller, was the one who did in Brad. With the Uffdalators' dreary duo of Hasselbeck and Dilfer out on a bye, Kevin leaped on Miller once he hit the waiver wire. Sure enough... Miller was able to assist the Uffdalators' D - leading to 4 INTs of Weinke. Miller's 9 also meant the 28-24 win could easily have been a 24-19 loss for Uffdalators - had Kevin not been able to nab a pt producing QB for this week. Ricky Williams contributed a half-dozen to Kevin's cause. ABecht led Brad's club with a dozen. Weinke and Edinger combined for a 2nd dozen, but Brad got a big, fat 0 from the RBs and WRs. At 5-1, Kevin's invitation to the postseason is in the mail.
Scrub win for Kevin (1-0)

weinke 6 jallen 0 rand'son 0 pprice 0 b'ford 0 becht 12 edinger 6
jmiller 9 rw''ms 6 dillon 0 warrick 3 amani 0 sharpe 3 cahney 7
--------------------------------------------------------
Mahatma's Minions 40
Everyone Go Deep 32

Gary thought he had a primo chance to upend Wally's Minions - with MFaulk out for this contest. But Wally's GM-of-the-Year skills were on display once again - as TCanidate stepped right in with a double-dozen - outgunning 4 of 5 MFaulk performances so far this season. When asked about interim head coach Joebob's 4th consecutive poor performance calling pass plays, GM Wally took the high road. ''Interim coach Joebob is going through a tough stretch right now, but I have no problem sticking with him - for now,'' explained Wally. Everyone Go Deep entered the season with high expectations for his Stewart-Watters RB duo, but Watters' injury and Stewart's poor performances have GM Gary at a crossroads. At 3-3, Everyone Go Deep is still very much in the playoff hunt... but can Gary surround PManning with some real talent? Mahatma's Minions take their 6-0 record on the road to Israel next week.

brunell 3 trung 24 dayne 0 rod 3 isaac 0 walls 6 elam 4
peyton 10 jstew 0 tjones 6 keenan 0 freeman 3 hardy 0 nedney 13
--------------------------------------------------------
Having a Hard Time 33
Pimps de la Nast 16

Shiv tried to make some 11th hour RB moves to shore up his anemic running game, but the new additions (Jamel White and Troy Hambrick) were hardly up to the challenge. Damon Washington was also on Pimps de la Nast's wish list, but he was not officially dropped by Stan until late Saturday afternoon - and therefore had not cleared waivers before Sunday morning's kickoffs. With Tyrone joining Terrell on the DL (and newly signed THambrick out on a bye), Shiv was forced to start Jamel and Hape in the backfield. You're not going to win with those guys. Richard got subpar games from Edgerrin and Priest (although 6 for Priest is probably more on par than his 30 or 18 pt games in weeks 3 and 5). But with Favre and V-jagt combining for 15, Having a Hard Time didn't need to work too hard to beat Shiv's nasty convenience store workers.

favre 6 ejames 9 priest 6 ken'son 0 w'brook 0 pollard 3 v'jagt 9
warner 6 hape 0 jwhite 0 cris 9 chrebet 0 chad 0 l'well 1
--------------------------------------------------------
Boobies! 26
Jersey Juggernauts 49

I guess the investigations will continue in John's NJ HQs. After clearly shaving pts against BUBE last week, the Juggernauts went out and easily covered their +5 pts against Cals' Boobies! After suiting up Ram retread TZendejas at PK last week, John went with Pats Hall-of-Fame TE Russ Francis this week. Going without a TE hardly matters when the Bus and Marvin combine for 33. John even picked the wrong QB again - as TGreen outpointed vINTy 9-3. So... perhaps John is looking for another big payoff this coming weekend against Ali! Bookmakers beware! Cals continues to get All-RFL production from Culpepper (baker's dozen) and TE Booba. The Boobies! running game is starting to sag a little, though. TAllen getting dinged is never unexpected. People still alive in the ''When will GHearst go down again?'' pool are wiser (or luckier) than most.

c'pep 13 tallen 0 antowain 3 holt 0 pinky 0 bubba 6 akers 4
vINTy 3 wdunn 0 bus 18 thrash 9 mhar'son 15 rfrancis X hollis 4
--------------------------------------------------------
Dude 24
Cleveland Steamers 39

Clark was a little miffed about his 4-1 squad being made the underdog in this contest against 1-4 Vesh, but perhaps the bookmakers aren't as dumb as they look. Dude, why did you suit up Andre Tippett as your PK?!? Even with a real kicker, Dude clearly would have lost this game. Dude's got some (non-QB) skill position talent, but perhaps the crafty GM Clark is pacing them to peak come playoff-time. Vesh's Cleveland Steamers ...What's up with the clams and the MMM, etc.? That's nasty!... were led by Troy's 12. Brian, Ahman and James also combined for a blackjack. But after scoring 18 in Week 1, JSmits has posted a mere 9 pts in his last 4 games. Rumors of a rift between Wally's Brunell and Vesh's Smits have become hard to ignore. Since posting the League's highest pt total in Week 1 (68), Vesh hasn't cracked 40 in any game since. Is it a coincidence that Wally took over for Joebob in Week 2? Wally has always been better than Joebob when it comes to the ''big picture.''

kerry 0 eddie 3 smack 3 conway 3 booker 9 cam 6 atippett X
greasy 6 ahman 6 jjax 9 jsmith 0 trb'n 12 conwell 0 stover 6
--------------------------------------------------------
Short-Changed Bastards of Persia 8
Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids 29

The Short-Changed Bastards of Persia clearly took a confidence hit after falling to Wally in Week 5's GOTW. Granted... Ali's club was no scoring juggernaut - averaging a pedestrian 35.5 ppg during their 4-0 start. But scoring 23 pts COMBINED (15 last week and 8 this) for the last 2 games?!? Reigning GM-of-the-Year Ali has much work cut out for him. The talent is there - especially with Ali's MAnderson and CGarner being the direct beneficiaries of the injuries to Shiv's TDavis and TWheatley. I'd hate to be on the SCBoP schedule once RMoss gets going! Adam's Rappin' Rabbis had trouble with the Bastards' 2nd-ranked D (especially since Kordell was in for JGarcia), but EMoulds' 9 was actually enough to claim this victory for RRR. Newly signed PK Vinatieri sank the 8-ball. If Adam can finish strong, RRR could actually thieve a playoff spot... but the RRR roster doesn't look to be too raging on 'roids at the moment.
Scrub win for Adam (1-1)

mcnabb 3 ma'son 0 prentice 0 moss 3 coles 0 djones 0 hall 2
kordell 0 tiki 3 chpmn 3 mrob'son 3 moulds 9 fjones 3 v'tieri 8
--------------------------------------------------------
Fighting Poopy Diapers 33
Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant 46

Baby Brodz needed 8 FGs from Mort to pull this one out on Monday Night. And if Mort had hit that last FG before the end of the 1st half, he would have been right on pace with 4! Wang was sweating bullets, but once Mort came up short on #4... Wang could turn his attention back to the Yankees-Mariners game. Who would have thought that Fighting Poopy Diapers' RBs would outscore BUBE's 18-6 - and BUBE would still be able to win? Amazingly, Wang's passing game demolished Brodz' AA batteries 36-6! Once again, Wang benched his top-scoring RB - as A Train scored 15 this week. Baby Brodz' passing game has struggled much more than expected so far this season. Aside from JPathon's 15 in Week 2, no FPD QB, WR or TE has hit double digits in a game. TGonzalez and JHorn have been the primary underachievers so far. 18 pts in 6 starts for SDavis isn't helping either.
Scrub loss for Brodz (0-1)

elvis 0 sdavis 6 pittman 12 taylor 0 horn 3 tonyg 3 mort 9
batch 15 lt'son 3 cmartin 3 keyshawn 9 boston 12 byron 0 g'tica 4

IS ANYONE PAYING ATTENTION?

I wrote last week about canning 3 existing GMs (or expanding the League to 18 or splitting RFL into 2 leagues) next year. And I heard nothing from you guys.

Assuming we lose no one from this year, the most feasible plan might be to form two 10 team leagues - ''RFL Oldies'' and ''RFL Goodies.''

Here's what those 2 leagues might look like:

''RFL Oldies'':
Joebob, Cals, Clark, Ali, Brodz, Shiv,
Kevin, Adam, Vesh, Stan, Wally
+ 1 new recruit (or Lance) to make 12, or
- 1 guy to trim down to 10.

''RFL Goodies'':
Brad, Richard, JoePa, Gary, John, Wang
+ 4 new GMs (MikeS, Greg, Jason, Leanne) to make 10, or
+ 3 new GMs and 1 leftover ''Oldie'' to make 10.

How do you guys feel about this potential split? Is Ali ready to take over as Commish of the ''Oldies'' league?

***********************************************************
* RFL GM Profiles: Joe Pynadath, co-GM, Mahatma's Minions *
***********************************************************
Joebob has had a rough season this year - in spite of the Minions' perfect 6-0 start. After having the #1 pick in the Draft fall into his lap, Joebob had what was generally considered a relatively strong draft (#3 by Foge, #1 by Cals). However... after an uninspired victory over Brad's scrub team in Week 1, Wally ''Bear'' Grayeski stepped in as Co-GM of the Minions. Following the Minions' 63-27 drubbing of Clark's Dude in Week 2, Joebob was essentially kicked downstairs and given the title of ''interim head coach.''

RFL Week in Review Editing Staff: Joebob, point blank... how does it feel to be shoved into the role of interim head coach by GM Wally after the job you did drafting the Minions?

Joseph Pynadath: Oh, so you want to play games. Let me state this as clearly as possible:
- The Minions were funded by ME and only ME
- The Minions were drafted by ME and only ME
- The Minions are maintained/managed/GM'd by ME and only ME
- The Minions will always be all of the above BY ME
I refuse to correspond with Wally since he offers no value to me. I wish he would just go away and find his own team somewhere.
Does this crystalize the picture in your head??

RFL: Due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Wally's not being able to attend the Draft, you *did* draft in Wally's #1 position. If Wally had actually been drafting in his rightful #1 spot, what would his roster currently look like?

JP 1: Based on historical data from Wally's past teams, Wally's 2001 Team would have been the following:
Jim Miller
Edgerrin James
Chris Warren
Marcus Robinson
Bobby Engram
Mark Breuner
Gary Anderson
Lets face it - We're talking 2 opposite level GM talents. For Wally to be associated with the Minions at all is ludicrous. I refuse to talk to Wally until he leaves all us Minions alone. Its really quite annoying and is tainting my franchise.

RFL: Your vitriol these past few years have shown a clear dislike and distrust for/of Commish #2. What are the roots of this ill-will towards the new Commish?

JP 1: I believe it stems from a lack of respect for the JoeBob franchise. I've put a lot of sweat and tears into RFL over the years and produced some of the finest teams in RFL history - HAWAAW, Na Brown Boys, etc. The constant put downs and disrespect that Commish Wangs throws my way really does put a damper on my RFL experience. My fans used to look forward to the WIR every Tuesday. This year though, seeing other people getting credit for the squad that I am most proud of - The Mahatma Minions....Well, its ruining what should be a most enjoyable season. Its a direct slap in my face every single week. It hurts. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

RFL: With the addition of GM John Park this season, RFL now has THREE GMs with the initials JP (Joebob = JP1, JoePa = JP2, John = JP3). What diabolical scheme do you think the Commish has up his sleeve?

JP 1: Its clear that Commish Wang is trying to phase out the old guard. Anyone running a Fantasy League knows that you must have at least 1 GM with JP initials. As a result, most Commisioners keep a 2nd JP around just as a backup. I would hope that Commish Wang realizes that with this JP - he's guaranteed top caliber squads each year, some great traditional rivalries, and a constant source of color on the e-mail waves.

RFL: Although Shiv is still the President of IFEJ, the 0-6 start of Pimps de la Nast has clearly undermined the ''relevance'' of IFEJ. What can you do to bring IFEJ back to the forefront of RFL?

JP 1: (Heavy Sigh). Its quite clear that Shiv is not ready to single-handidly running IFEJ. I guess I shouldn't be suprised. I started IFEJ back when I was a mature college junior and I had the help from former IFEJ stalwart Snehal Desai. With Mahatma's Minions finding unparalleled success this year, I feel its the perfect platform to bring IFEJ back to its glory days. As a result, I will be taking over IFEJ as Interim President. Of course there will always be a place for Shiv in IFEJ. His throne will be there when the IFEJ elders feel he is ready to take over.

RFL: For those of us who do not get to play in or watch your weekly pickup football games, please describe a normal outing to us. Who's the best QB out there? Who's catching all the TDs? Who's the best cover corner out there? Who's got the best moves? What is getting settled out there on your field of dreams?

JP 1: Well, to be honest - the qualify of football out there is quite poor. There really isn't a standout QB. I would have to go with Clark by just a hair. As for all the other items - I'm going to stick with myself, the Brown Wonder. If the QB's throw me the ball, I'll make something happen. Bottom line though, the games are pretty boring. QB's can never get you the ball so you just end up wasting 2 hours of your life.

RFL: Rumor has it that you are some sort of mid-level manager (of real engineers) at Mercury Interactive. How did you swindle your way into this position of authority? What about all the poor shareholders?!?

JP 1: Yes it is true that I manage a team of Software Sales Engineers. How did I get to this point? Well, the key to a good sales engineer is this. Talk a good game. That's one thing that this cat can do. The shareholders should be so lucky!

RFL: Who are the best RFL players of all time for your franchise? What would be the All-Joebob RFL Team of the Decade?

JP 1: Steve Young - Barricudas, HAWAAW
Terry Allen - HAWAAW
Marshall Faulk - Mahatmas Minions
Rod Smith - Mahatmas Minions
Chris Carter - Na Brown Boys
Eric Green - Barricudas
Jason Elam - Na Brown Boys, Mahatmas Minions
Hell, this team would actually win some games today!

RFL: Any closing comments?

JP 1: Just that I hope that the Commish and I can resolve our differences. I have the utmost respect for his football acumen and for his squads. I believe that we could develop an incredible rivalry between the 2 franchises. For him to taint this with these statements linking the Minions to Wally - I just feel that its holding back the league and is an injustice to me and the job I've done.
As for Wally - Please get your own life. Join an on-line fantasy league. Build up your knowledge and understanding of the game so that a year or 2 from know you can rejoin our prestigious leage.

This has been an RFL interview. The rights to all proceeds made from this interview belong to the RFL WIR and exclusively to the RFL WIR.
********************************************************
SEASON POINTS LEADERS
*********************
QB
81 Daunte Culpepper (Boobies!)
67 Kurt Warner (Pimps de la Nast)
67 Peyton Manning (Everyone Go Deep)

RB
66 Marshall Faulk (Mahatma's Minions)
60 Priest Holmes (Having a Hard Time)
54 LaDainian Tomlinson (Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant)
54 Ahman Green (Cleveland Steamers)
54 Ricky Williams (Uffdalators)
54 Edgerrin James (Having a Hard Time)

WR
57 Terrell Owens (Invasive Species)
57 Rod Smith (Mahatma's Minions)
54 Marvin Harrison (Jersey Juggernauts)
39 Cris Carter (Pimps de la Nast)
30 James Thrash (Jersey Juggernauts)
27 Jimmy Smith (Cleveland Steamers)
27 Jerry Rice (Short-Changed Bastards of Persia)
27 Amani Toomer (Uffdalators)
27 Torry Holt (Boobies!)
27 David Boston (Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant)

TE
36 Bubba Franks (Boobies!)
33 Wesley Walls (Mahatma's Minions)
24 Cam Cleeland (Dude)

PK
48 Jeff Wilkins (Black Knights of the Charles)
45 Sebastian Janikowski (Dude)
44 Jose Cortez (Blue Collar Workers)

be sure to check:
The Season Points Leaders Page
...for a more complete listing of scoring leaders.

Ali	Advantage	John
DMcNabb		TGreen
MAnderson		JBettis
CGarner		WDunn
RMoss		MHarrison
JRice		JThrash
KBrady		EJohnson
JohnHall		MHollis

Ali and John could be battling for 1 playoff spot between them. Ali's SCBoP have averaged 11.5 ppg over the last 2 games. John's Juggernauts appear to be hitting their stride as we near the halfway point of the regular season.
On paper the 2 lineups displayed above appear to be quite playoff invitation-worthy. But on the field of battle, both of these teams have demonstrated 6 weeks of unfulfilled promise.
Ali should have ever-so-slight advantages at QB and TE. Juggernaut cast-off KBrady could come back to haunt GM John, as John quite callously cut him after asking him to block while HCross did all the Juggernaut pass-catching from the TE position.
The SCBoP and JJ RBs should be quite evenly matched - leaving WR as the deciding matchup. RMoss has *GOT* to bust out for Ali sometime soon. JRice has been pretty solid of late. For John, MHarrison seems to be approaching a level of consistent goodness - leaving JThrash as the wildcard. If Moss scores a dozen, John should not have a chance. But if Thrash can outscore Moss, Ali will be in trouble.

**** Who's sandbagging now?!?, Bastards by 2 ****

14-Cleveland Steamers (2-4, 37.5) by 9 over 1-Blue Collar Workers (1-5, 21.8)
Vesh is missing 2 RBs and Brad has improved WRs, so Brad should be able to keep this one close.

2-Mahatma's Minions (6-0, 50.3) by 16 over 13-Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids (2-4, 29.7)
Adam gets JGarcia back, but has 2 glaring holes in lineup. Faulk or Canidate? I guess it just doesn't matter.

3-Having a Hard Time (4-2, 41.8) by 4 over 16-Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant (5-1, 45.7)
Richard's 3 Colts should bust out against the Chiefs. Wang has some WR issues with KeyJohnson hurt and KevJohnson out on a bye.

4-Boobies! (3-3, 43.8) by 11 over 15-Invasive Species (3-3, 35.0)
2 of the ''Original 4''... Cals get GHearst back, Stan gets TOwens - advantage Stan. But Stan's RB situation is worse than Cals'.

10-Everyone Go Deep (3-3, 32.2) by 6 over 5-Black Knights of the Charles (1-5, 31.8)
JoePa should get FTaylor back, but Gary's lineup looks to be a little stronger across the board.

6-Dude (4-2, 41.5) by 7 over 9-Pimps de la Nast (0-6, 32.8)
Shiv has Kurt and Cris, but Clark has better players everywhere else.

11-Uffdalators (5-1, 39.2) by 5 over 8-Fighting Poopy Diapers (2-4, 28.5)
Brodz needs probably 18 from TonyG to win this one. Kevin just needs to hit his average.

©1999-2001 RFL Inc.
All rights reserved.

Revised: October 23, 2001