Sources within the Boobies! organization have revealed that BUBE came in with 2 most generous trade offers this past week. First, Wang offered Todd ''Lou Gehrig'' Bouman for Bubba Franks - straight up. Second, Wang offered Bouman, Keyshawn and Byron Chamberlain for Bubba, Torry Holt and a ''throwaway'' (Scotty Anderson or Franky Sanders).

With Daunte ''Wally Pipp'' Culpepper limping around the Boobies! training facility (and Cals gearing up for a monumental GOTW clash against Joebob), Wang figured Cals would be willing to trade a mere TE for the starting QB of the NFL's most prolific passing attack.

Wang figured incorrectly. Cals sent back Wang's messenger with an atomic wedgie and the message ''Bah! Do you take me for a fool?!?'' scrawled on the waistband of his undies.

Had Cals accepted the straight-up Bouman-Booba trade... Cals would have beaten Joebob 48-44 (+ potential free agent TE pts).

Had Cals accepted the 3-for-3 trade... Cals would have beaten Joebob 66-44 (assuming Cals would have started Keyshawn over Pinky; 54-44 if Cals had stuck with Pinky).

Instead... Cals lost 44-30, dropped to 7-6, and now must beat the spoiler BCW squad to secure a playoff spot. A loss to BCW plus some really freaky convergence events in Week 14 just might knock Cals out of the playoffs.

The further muddled playoff picture is analyzed below in Wang's Weekly Waggle.

Oh, yeah... the Cowboys beat the Giants 20-13! Wow, that was some performance by the G-men - coming off their bye week and all!

THE ROAD TO THE SILVERDOME

Projected IN: Wang 13-1, Joebob 11-3, Richard 9-5, Kevin 9-5,
Clark 9-5, John 8-6, Cals 8-6, Vesh 7-7

Projected OUT: Stan 7-7, Ali 6-8, Gary 6-8, Brodz 6-8,
JoePa 5-9, Brad 3-11, Adam 3-11, Shiv 2-12

Tiebreaker notes:
3-way tie at 9-5:
Richard beat Kevin and Clark.
Kevin and Clark do not face each other in regular season. Tie broken by total pts scored. Kevin currently leading by 33 pts.
John beat Cals.
Vesh projected to beat Stan this week.
3-way tie at 6-8:
Ali and Gary both beat Brodz.
Ali and Gary do not face each other in regular season. Tie broken by total pts scored. Ali currently leading by 12 pts.

Highest scoring team: BUBE - 47.9 ppg
Lowest scoring team: Blue Collar Workers - 27.8 ppg
Toughest defense: Mahatma's Minions - 30.6 ppg
Softest defense: Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids - 45.4 ppg
League scoring average: 37.6 ppg (last year 38.7)

Getting to the bloody point... on to WIR #13!

****************************
**** GAME OF THE WEEK ****
****************************
Mahatma's Minions 44
Boobies! 30

As expected, Joebob defeated Cals in this season's gathering of gurus - leaving the door ever so slightly open for Boobies! to exit the playoffs before they even begin. As noted above... had Cals accepted either trade offer from Wang, Cals would have won this game. Pinkston is now down to 1 ppg. If Antowain Smith had been a ''somebody'' in the past, he would be the prime candidate for RFL Comeback Player of the Year this year. Antowain is now tied for 10th (with the Bus) among RFL RBs - ahead of ''studs'' like LSmith, SDavis and EGeorge! When RHuntley scores TDs, you know that GM Wally has resurfaced behind the scenes in the Minion camp. Joebob clearly recognized the fact that his team was on the verge of collapse and made amends with his former co-GM. Mahatma's Minions can hang onto their #2 seed (and its corresponding 100 RFL bucks) by beating or tying Richard this coming weekend.

brady 3 mfaulk 18 huntley 9 rod 3 isaac 3 walls 0 elam 8
c'pep 0 hearst 6 antowain 15 tholt 3 pinky 0 bubba 0 akers 6
---------------------------------------------------------------
Other games:

Blue Collar Workers 40
Having a Hard Time 60

Ouch! You trade Priest back from whence he came, and he hangs an Eddie George on you! But unless you have DirecTV, at least you didn't have to watch the carnage. Brad's Blue Collar Workers were down 48-22 heading into MNF action, but Lamar and Marvcus let the team down. Chambers was the only efforting BCW on Monday night - hauling in 2 TD passes. BCW's 40 was tied for the 2nd highest output of the season for Brad. Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala also hit paydirt for Brad, and Brad was most recently seen scouring the free agent pool for 5 more guys named Chris. In addition to Priest, Richard was able to get pts from all 6 other HaHT starters. Frank and Oronde backed up Priest with a TD each - as Richard managed to defeat his cubicle-neighbor in the 1st matchup of what could be RFL's newest heated rivalry. Having a Hard Time will now take on Joebob in a showdown for 2nd place in the regular season.
Scrub loss for Brad (2-1)

tbanks 6 fu-ma'la 6 lamar 6 kevj'son 3 chambers 12 pollard 0 mort 7
favre 6 priest 27 tom'son 3 oronde 6 w'brook 3 wycheck 9 v'jagt 6
---------------------------------------------------------------
Black Knights of the Charles 42
Short-Changed Bastards of Persia 37

Few experts saw this one coming. Ali had his Short-Changed Bastards of Persia playing solid ball - scoring no fewer than 34 over the past 7 weeks (including this week). Hell, Randy Moss has even stopped taking weeks off (for the most part). And even though Ali was forced to hand over his Steamroller title belt to BUBE last week, a spot in this season's playoffs (with a chance to defend his Aglione Bowl title) was well within grasp - coming off last week's big win over Invasive Species. But JoePa taught the Bastards not to take his Black Knights of the Charles for granted - even with Sir Fred and Sir Qadry out nursing their jousting wounds. MBennett, after having his coming out party last week, followed last week's dozen with 18 this week - justifying his selection in the 2nd round (although rather belatedly). MAnderson had one shot at delivering the game-winning 6 Sunday night, but came up a few yards short.

brooks 6 bennett 18 kfaulk 0 sch'der 0 muhsin 6 riemer 3 wilkins 9
mcnabb 9 mand'son 0 garner 3 rmoss 15 rice 9 kbrady 0 hall 1
---------------------------------------------------------------
Dude 28
Fighting Poopy Diapers 58

Baby Brodz completed the daily double in the Barry Sanders Division - as both 4-8 teams (Fighting Poopy Diapers and BKotC) defeated their postseason-planning divisional rivals. Although Clark's Dude has clinched a playoff spot, this game revealed a couple of Dude's ugly trends. First, Dude has now lost 3 games in a row - averaging a mere 30 ppg in the process. Second, RWatters' return will apparently put a complete stop on SAlexander's run at All-RFL honors - not to mention beating out MFaulk for top-RB honors. Dude is now limping towards a #5 seed, and the RB strength they once envisioned is now shriveling (SMack is also struggling). Clark must now take on Ali - in a game that SCBoP desperately needs. FPD hit their season-high this week, and Brodz has cranked it up each of the last 4 games (28, 34, 43, 58). If you're in the scrub bowl, you won't want to see Brodz in your neck of the draw!

kerry 3 shaun 0 eddie 9 booker 0 djax 12 becht 0 seabass 4
couch 3 sdavis 12 pittman 3 graham 18 horn 12 tonyg 9 edinger 1
---------------------------------------------------------------
Pimps de la Nast 41
Uffdalators 37

In this week's 3rd huge upset, Shiv's Pimps de la Nast doubled their win total from 1 to 2 by knocking off Kevin's Uffdalators. With Van Pelt keeping within 6 of Warner, most would have expected Uffdalators to run away with this game. But RWilliams, CDillon and TiBrown all came up a little short in the yardage area - giving Kevin a mere 2-pt lead heading into Sunday Nitro action. Thanks to Tyrone, Willie and Chad all bumbling into the endzone, all Shiv needed was 50 yds from TDavis to pull off the come-from-behind victory. And late in the 3rd quarter, TD hit for the game-winning 57 yard dash! Although Shiv has locked up last place in the regular season, you've got to give him credit for still trying to avoid setting the record for worst record in a season. Kevin gets SSharpe back and hopes to lock-up the #4 seed (behind Wang, Joebob and Richard) this week against Gary.

warner 12 tyrone 6 tdavis 6 wjax 6 cris 0 chad 6 l'well 5
vanpelt 6 rw''ms 9 dillon 9 tibrown 6 amani 3 moore 0 cahney 4
---------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone Go Deep 18
Jersey Juggernauts 20

John: ''I don't want to win this game. You win it.''
Gary: ''I don't want to win it either. I enjoy losing heartbreakers.''
John: ''The thought of facing Mahatma's Minions in the quarterfinals makes me pee myself.''
Gary: ''I've never made the playoffs. Why start now?''
Harrison: ''Stop throwing the ball to me, Peyton. I can only drop so many!''
Manning: ''Well if you're not going to catch them, I'll just throw them to the guys in the aqua jerseys!''
Rhodes: ''I need 3 yds on the last play of the game for 100? I'll fall down after 1 yd.''
Jersey Juggernauts' 2-pt lead over Everyone Go Deep heading into MNF action held up - as Marvin and Dominic matched treys. Peyton got nothing.
Scrub win for John (3-0)... enough!

peyton 0 jstew 3 dominic 3 ike 0 freeman 6 alge 0 nedney 6
green 9 wdunn 3 amos 0 thrash 3 mhar'son 3 ej'son 0 hollis 2
---------------------------------------------------------------
Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids 29
Invasive Species 32

Stan must have been sweating this one out for most of Monday night. With a 32-24 lead and OMare kicking for Adam, Stan must have enjoyed watching the Colts' ''D'' cave repeatedly for Dolphin TDs - never allowing Mare a whiff of a FGA. Unfortunately for Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids, Mare's 3rd XP got blocked - and a potential game-winning FG attempt never came to pass. When Flutie outscored Garcia 12-6 (and when Maurice hit paydirt), you could tell that Invasive Species were giving it their all in this game. But when DChapman scores a TD for RRR, that's usually a sign indicating a dubya for Adam is destined. At the final whistle, the difference in this game was Desmond beating Freddie 6-3. With Slash and Vinatieri pts on Adam's bench, a tie score would have gone Adam's way. Stan will now have a showdown with Vesh for a playoff berth. Adam will try to hang ''L'' #2 on Wang.
Scrub win for Stan (3-1)

jgarcia 6 tiki 6 chapman 6 hakim 0 moulds 3 freddie 3 mare 5
flute 12 centers 0 maurice 6 to 3 dalex'er 3 dclark 6 chrissy 2
---------------------------------------------------------------
Cleveland Steamers 48
Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant 58

Wang wanted to rest some of his starters in this game, but found himself in a quandry. Clearly, BUBE does *not* want to face Cleveland Steamers in the quarterfinals. Beating Vesh this week could go towards knocking CS completely out of the playoff picture - but a CS win over Stan in Week 14 could land Vesh right on the #8 spot. Losing to Vesh this week might have guaranteed that Vesh got into the playoffs - also not an optimal result. In the end, Wang decided to just send in his clowns and see what happened. Just as expected, Vesh's stars shined brightly - as Ahman, Emmitt, Jimmy and Troy combined for 45. Wang's RB and WR counterparts could only score 39. But the BUBE TE evened up the score, and Gannon posted up Greasy relentlessly to put this contest away. Luckily (?) for Wang, Vesh's PK Stover was out on a bye this week. With Stover back (and a potential change at the helm to Plummer) Vesh should be able to knock off Stan this week.
Scrub loss for Vesh (0-2)... unlucky.

griese 3 emmitt 9 ahman 15 jsmith 12 trb'n 9 conwell 0 richey 0
gannon 12 cmartin 9 duce 12 "kevin" 12 boston 6 byron 6 mgram 1

TINY BUBBLES...

1) Wang 12-1 (adam)
clinched #1 seed in playoffs.

2) Joebob 10-3 (richard)
#2 seed with win or tie against richard. will fall no lower than #3 with loss.

3) Richard 9-4 (joebob)
can claim #2 seed with win over joebob. has wins over kevin and clark, so cannot fall below #3.

4) Kevin 8-5 (gary)
cannot finish higher than #4. 33 pt lead on clark for #4 seed.
if tie others at 8-6: 33 pt lead on clark, lost to cals, beat stan, beat john.
so, kevin could potentially fall as low as #6.

5) Clark 8-5 (ali)
9-5: lost to richard, 33 pts behind kevin.
8-6: 33 pts behind kevin, beat cals, beat stan, beat john.
could finish #4. shouldn't finish lower than #5.

6) Stan 7-6 (vesh)
8-6: lost to kevin, lost to clark, beat john, beat cals.
7-7: beat cals, beat john, lost to ali, lost to gary, projected to lose to vesh.
win over vesh should secure #6 seed. loss to vesh could easily drop stan out of the playoffs.

7) John 7-6 (shiv)
8-6: lost to kevin, lost to clark, lost to stan, beat cals.
7-7: beat cals, lost to stan, beat ali, beat gary, lost to vesh.
#7 is about as high as john can finish. needs to avoid finishing in a 3-way tie at 7-7 with stan and vesh.

8) Cals 7-6 (brad)
8-6: beat kevin, lost to clark, lost to stan, lost to john.
7-7: lost to stan, lost to john, beat ali, beat gary, beat vesh.
could move up to #5. should not be able to finish any lower than #8.

Ali 6-7 (clark)
7-7: lost to cals, beat stan, lost to john, 12 pt lead on gary, beat vesh.
a win over clark coupled with vesh beating stan could get ali in (and knock stan out) - provided that gary doesn't also win and outscore ali by 13.

Gary 6-7 (kevin)
7-7: lost to cals, beat stan, lost to john, 12 pts behind ali, beat vesh.
a win over kevin and a vesh win over stan (and potentially the need to outscore ali by 13) could be enough to get gary into the playoffs.

Vesh 6-7 (stan)
7-7: lost to cals, projected to beat stan, beat john, lost to ali, lost to gary.
a win over stan, losses by ali and gary, and a cals win might be required for vesh to get into the playoffs.

Brodz, JoePa, Brad, Adam and Shiv have been mathematically eliminated.

CUTTING DRAFT TO 11 ROUNDS

Some thoughts from the Commish's Office:

In summary:
Cutting rosters from 12 to 11 could help 2 kinds of GMs:
1) unlucky GMs who need to replace hurt starters
2) lazy, not-so-clever GMs who've had bad drafts and/or who've been behind the curve in picking up emerging free agents

Cutting rosters from 12 to 11 could hurt 1 kind of GM:
active and/or clever GMs who use that 12th spot wisely to store potential diamonds in the rough or subs for hurt starters

A long-winded diatribe follows...

Clark: I would like to propose that we decrease the rosters from 12 players to 11 players.

Wang: RFL history seems to prove that the Draft's last round *rarely* produces any players that stick with the team that drafted them. So, I have no problem cutting a round out of the Draft. But *IF* this rule passes, I would insist that the 11th round go in reverse order (team 16 through team 1).

Clark: Decreasing the rosters from 12 players to 11 players will free up the free agent pool and will allow for possible pick-ups for when a team needs a low-end producer.

Wang: Here's a projected list of the players that would be going back into the free agent pool from our current rosters:
QB: Mike McMahon
RB: Edgerrin James, Ki-Jana Carter, Damon Washington, Rodney Thomas
WR: Scott Anderson, Chris Cole, David Terrell, Marvin Minnis
TE: Dwayne Carswell, Dave Moore, Erron Kinney
PK: Kris Brown, Jason Hanson, Wade Richey, Jose Cortez
''Low-end'' sounds about right.
''Producer'' is highly questionable.
Yes, adding more bodies to the free agent pool will help the ''have-nots.'' But the list above seems to suggest that this ''help'' is quite minimal.

Clark: I think it puts more fun into the game if we all have starters.

Wang: In general... I feel there are 4 aspects to RFL:
1) Draft preparation - Making quality lists of available (non-out-for-the-season) players based upon projected performance.
2) Draft performance - The ''boiler room'' burns a few guys each year. Guys with ''grace under fire'' will emerge with a well-earned edge going into the season.
3) In-season roster manipulation - Adjusting your starting lineups when matchups dictate, nabbing up-trending free agents, recovering from injuries to your starters, managing your 5 ''bench'' roster spots, etc.
4) Luck - Settling for a scrub win when your team struggles, not having your opponent hang a 71-70 scrub loss on you, escaping injuries, getting free agent dibs in 1 second before your rival (during a non-queue period), etc.

If we make certain rules changes - like reducing rosters from 12 to 11, we need to be careful about shifting too much balance from certain aspects to others.
One of the key differentiators in RFL is the use of the 5 bench slots. Tucking away a potential diamond-in-the-rough (like Shaun Alexander or A Train coming out of the draft), picking up the backup for your injured starter (Neil O'Donnell for Steve McNair is an annual ritual), or hanging onto an extra PK in case a game goes to bench pts.
For the most part, GMs who don't manage their roster well are at a severe disadvantage.

Clark: The way it is now, some of us have starters plus starters on the bench vs. teams that don't even have starters.

Wang: It's clear we're talking about RBs here. Allowing starting lineups with 3 WRs and 1 RB is one fix. Setting a limit on the number of RBs you can have on your roster (4, or maybe even 3) is another potential fix.

Enforcing position quotas on rosters (e.g., no more than 3 QBs [from no more than 2 teams], 4 RBs, 4 WRs, 2 TEs, 2 PKs) is an alternative worth considering. A primary problem is when teams keep 3 QBs (from 3 different teams) or 5 RBs on their roster. This behavior severely drains the available talent pool.

BEING ABLE TO REPLACE YOUR INJURED STARTER

Stan: If a player is put on the IR (e.g., Jamal Anderson), first dibs on that player's backup (e.g., Maurice Smith) goes to the GM who lost the injured player.

Wang: Yes, the overall concept is good... but enforcement might be sketchy-at-best.

Stan: Backup is defined by a team's depth chart as posted on [commish defined site].com.

Wang: Very tough call here. I am not currently aware of any site that truly updates these depth charts reliably. Another thing to be mindful of... the more we begin to rely on ''outside references,'' the more RFL becomes susceptible to ''bad data.'' We currently rely on NFL.com for their gamebooks and player positions. I have never had one iota of doubt about the accuracy of the gamebook data until the DCulpepper situation this week.

Cals: Too many rules spoil the kitchen!!! (or something like that) Injuries are a part of the game, deal with it!

Wang: I agree. We have enough rules as it is.

Cals: I like Clark's proposal, since it will reward active and clever GMs and create chaos in roster management.

Wang: I'm all for rewarding active and clever GMs. I'm all for penalizing lazy and/or not-as-clever GMs. However, I feel that reducing the number of roster spots makes it easier for the lazy and/or not-so-clever GMs to recover from mistakes. The only good point I see about dropping to 11 roster spots... it might help the unlucky GMs to recover.

Cals: None of this dibs on backups crap

Wang: I see nothing wrong with dibs sweepstakes on Eddie ''Big Pussy'' Kennison and Ben Gay and Ty Detmer.

In general... I would agree that a few tweaks to the rules can make RFL better. But please be careful not to ''knee-jerk'' RFL into a position where we all say, ''This sucks! What were we thinking? This whole season is shot!''
********************************************************
SEASON POINTS LEADERS
*********************
QB
136 Jeff Garcia (Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids)
133 Kurt Warner (Pimps de la Nast)
128 Peyton Manning (Everyone Go Deep)

RB
152 Marshall Faulk (Mahatma's Minions)
135 Shaun Alexander (Dude)
129 Ahman Green (Cleveland Steamers)
126 Priest Holmes (Having a Hard Time)
117 Ricky Williams (Uffdalators)
105 Corey Dillon (Uffdalators)

WR
129 Terrell Owens (Invasive Species)
117 Marvin Harrison (Jersey Juggernauts)
104 Rod Smith (Mahatma's Minions)
99 Tim Brown (Uffdalators)
96 David Boston (Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant)
87 Randy Moss (Short-Changed Bastards of Persia)

TE
53 Tony Gonzalez (Fighting Poopy Diapers)
42 Marcus Pollard (Blue Collar Workers)
42 Bubba Franks (Boobies!)

PK
98 Jason Elam (Mahatma's Minions)
96 John Carney (Uffdalators)
96 Jeff Wilkins (Black Knights of the Charles)

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

Vesh	Advantage	Stan
JPlummer		DFlutie
AGreen		MSmith
ESmith		LCenters
JSmith		TOwens
TrBrown		DAlexander
EConwell		DClark
MStover		PDawson

Who knew that Stan could potentially finish 6th with his decimated RB corps?!? Who knew that Vesh would be in such a precarious position after setting tone with his resounding 68-19 win in Week 1?!? You never know.
Even with the concussed Greasy vs. hot-and-cold Plummer QB situation, Cleveland Steamers has a most lethal amount of talent at RB and WR. If Vesh can get any pts from QB or Conwell, Stan might not have a chance.
Some have said that Invasive Species has become ''Terrell Owens and his 6 jock-strap holders.'' Doug and Desmond will normally combine for 6-12 pts. Maurice averages about 3 ppg. The #2 RB spot has been more zeroes than non-zeroes of late. And the #2 WR spot is averaging about 3 ppg lately.
If Vesh gets his expected production from his starters, he should win this game relatively easily. Stan clearly needs a big game from TO, some extra help from Flutie/Maurice/Desmond, and possibly some surprise pts from RB #2 or DAlexander.

**** How about a 6-way tie at 7-7 for 3 playoff spots?!?, Steamers by 9 ****

4-Boobies! (7-6, 42.3) by 12 over 1-Blue Collar Workers (3-10, 27.8)
Cals needs Daunte out there lobbing the ball to Moss and Co. Brad will be looking to hit Culpepper in the knees.

2-Mahatma's Minions (10-3, 47.3) by 5 over 3-Having a Hard Time (9-4, 41.5)
Joebob needs someone to help take the load off MFaulk. Richard needs LaDainian (and his WRs) to break through that wall.

8-Fighting Poopy Diapers (5-8, 35.1) by 2 over 5-Black Knights of the Charles (5-8, 34.2)
No playoff implications here. Brodz and JoePa battling to stay out of Barry Sanders Division cellar.

7-Short-Changed Bastards of Persia (6-7, 34.5) by 1 over 6-Dude (8-5, 41.0)
Ali needs passing game to carry him into playoff hunt at 7-7. Clark is reeling; needs to shape up RBs to avoid 4-game bender.

9-Pimps de la Nast (2-11, 33.2) by 6 over 12-Jersey Juggernauts (7-6, 33.5)
Shiv's team is getting healthy - about 5 losses too late. John needs Bettis back - and big pts from Harrison and Thrash.

11-Uffdalators (8-5, 43.5) by 3 over 10-Everyone Go Deep (6-7, 33.5)
Kevin is in danger if his RBs and WRs don't hit their marks. Gary needs Peyton to find himself - and a legitimate TE.

16-Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant (12-1, 47.9) by 4 over 13-Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids (3-10, 31.6)
Wang is due for a crash - 43+ pts for 6 straight weeks. Adam has Garcia, Tiki, Moulds and Freddie primed to bust out.

©1999-2001 RFL Inc.
All rights reserved.

Revised: December 11, 2001