WEEK 16 / CHAMPIONSHIP

The Washington Federals are your 2009 USFL Champions. The last player active in the game was Philadelphia Eagles kicker David Akers, and when he kicked the winning field goal against the Broncos in the late afternoon game Sunday, he also made the winning kick in the Championship game, edging out the Panthers 35-33.

Next week is the final week.... the USFL All-Star game.

WEEK 15 / PLAYOFFS

This week's scoresheet for the conference championship games:

So there you have it folks..... the USFL Championship is coming up this next week pitting the Washington Federals and league MVP QB Aaron Rodgers versus MVP runner-up QB Peyton Manning and the Michigan Panthers. Should be a sweet game....

WEEK 14 / PLAYOFFS 1st Round Part 2

The first week of the 2009 USFL playoffs are in the book. Some teams didn't seem to care if they won or not, and others put up lots of points, seemingly trying to intimidate next week's opponents.....

So that means the Conference Championship games will pit the Stars against the Federals and the Gold against the Panthers. The top 2 seeds in the east lost and that allowed the historically terrible Feds in, and allowed the Stars to back their way into the eastern conference championship game again this year, with their eye on a 5th straight championship game appearance....wow. in the west, the panthers would love to return to the USFL championship game after having won it in 1983, and the Gold would love nothing more than to spoil their plans. Should be an interesting conference championship weekend.....

WEEK 14 / PLAYOFFS 1st ROUND

OK, here's the 2009 USFL playoff matchups. In the East we have:

The #4 seed Philadelphia Stars (7-6) vs. the #1 seed Memphis Showboats (10-3).
The Showboats bounced back from last years' 1-10-2 season and lead the Southern
Division most of the way though the season. The Stars are the defending USFL champs
and after another shaky regular season turned it on just in time to attempt to
defend their crown in the playoffs.

#3 seed Washington Federals (7-6) vs. the #2 seed Birmingham Stallions (9-4).
The Feds made their first appearance in my version of the USFL this year, and after
starting the season at 0-4, went 7-2 the rest of the way to lock up a spot in the
playoffs. The Stallions repeated last years record at 9-4, once again winning the
Atlantic Division, but this year they hope to make it farther than the first round
of the playoffs.

Western Division

#4 seed Pittsburgh Maulers (7-6) vs. #1 seed Michigan Panthers (9-4)
The Maulers also made their first appearance in my version of the USFL this year,
and after starting out as a middle of the pack team, turned it on when they needed to
down the stretch. Michigan repeated as Central Division champs this year, and hope
to fair better than last year by making it past the first round this year.

#3 seed Denver Gold (8-5) vs. #2 seed Arizona Wranglers (9-4).
The Gold are also  new to the league this year, and like Pittsburgh
and Washington, took advantage of great draft position to build
playoff teams. They'll need to get past an Arizona team that still
has the taste of last year's USFL championship game loss in their mouths.

My picks record for the regular season was 64-40, and my picks for the first
round of the playoffs are:

MEM over PHI
BIRM over WASH
MICH over PIT
DEN over ARIZ

WEEK13 / PART 2

Here's the final week's scoresheet....

And the final standings for the season.....

Next stop.... the playoffs.....

WEEK 13 / PART 1

Here's this week's matchups....

Final week of the regular season.... my picks are:
WASH over JAX
BIRM over MEM
PHI over NJ
TB over ORL
DEN over PIT
ARI over LA
MICH over OKL
OAK over PORT

WEEK 12 / PART 2

Here's this week's scoresheet....

and here's the standings....

This week i was 4-4 in my picks, bringing me to 58-38 on the season.

There's only 1 week left in the regular season, and the playoff matchups will be decided here in the final week. 3 division winners are known: Birmingham, Memphis, and Arizona, and 4 teams have been officially eliminated: Tampa Bay, Oklahoma, Oakland, and Portland. Everyone else is still alive and gunning for the 5 remaining playoff spots.....