The Cowboy Fires Back!
Hassanali rides dozen-point to the front of the pack, again.
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We talk Emertons and Ellises continually, but the forgotten man on the fringe of the elite is "Cowboy" Hassanali, a straight-shooter who is the only man who has finished in the Top Ten the past two years without a last name starting with E.  Following his Final Four debut last season, Hassanali barely missed the money in Week 1, and then crushed Week 2 with an startling 12-point win.  As usual, Hassanali cheered for his Niners, inexplicably had dots on the Cowboys, and made an assortment of semi-quasi-mediocery-exciting picks (his 2nd most exciting pick was a 4 on Houston) which were all very solid and almost all very correct.
      Meanwhile, Bill Ellis continued his unrelenting assault on the FunkyPopulace by finishing in 2nd place.  Not only has Mr. Ellis already cashed for $25, he is punishing the old guard of the FunkyElite.  2-time Slate winner Chris Sabbe is already 56 points off the pace, 2-time Slate winner Money Retsek is 60 points out, and 4-time champion Eric Emerton is an appalling 81 points distant from his 5th Slate.  Eric Franzen has already been mathematically eliminated, according to the Washington Post.  
      Kathy Wyatt, thriving in the new regime, also finished in the Top 5 for the second straight week, and sits proudly in 2nd place overall.



Stats and Observations
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- It is The Cowboy's third weekly win in 5 years in the pool.

- Patrick Godsey, who lives and dies with the Chargers, finished in last place after Monday night's fiasco for the 7th time in his life.

- Three entire players finished below Franzen this week.

- Newbie Ron Salvatori took all of 2 weeks to figure this pool out.  He avoided the "trash talk" page, put a Patriot helmet on his bio page, and wore his Patriot onesie on Sunday night while taking down 3rd place.  

- It has been 13 weeks since Franzen has won any money.

- Since dominating the pool in the all-time "weekly win" category and claiming he "would never be caught," Mike Godsey hasn't won the week since Week 12 of 2004.  

- Kurt Schwartz hasn't won the week since the beginning of 2002.

- It's been 8 weeks since either KenDoggie or Franzen has won money.

- It's been 174 weeks since DOliver has been the only one to pick the winning team (otherwise known as a "solo shot")

- A 210-week streak was broken this weekend.  It's the longest streak that has ever been broken in this pool.  Details below.

- Sabbe's solo shot (a 6 on Washington) was the 7th of his career, and the 2nd in the past four weeks.  

- JLee's solo shot (a 4 on Tampa) was the 4th of his career, but the first since 2001.

- It is the 12th time that two different players have hit solo shots on the same weekend.  On four additional occasions, the same person has hit two solo shots.



If Only...
Seattle had won, Adam would've won the week.

In every other case, "The Cowboy" takes the silver buckle. 



In other news....

The Wyatts Return to SLO!
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After an inexplicable multi-year migration around the United States, Funky and Kathy Wyatt have finally returned to San Luis Obispo.  Kathy got a job doing something at a hospital that sounded really important, and Tully is going to get a job doing something (sometime, somewhere).  Their first football in SLO is this weekend, but Opening Day is tentatively scheduled for the next weekend, after Godsey gets back from Stockton (or at least that's what they tell him).  



PICK OF THE WEEK!
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After 14 years and 11 and a half "Clown of the Week" awards, Chris Sabbe has finally earned his first POW.    It's been roughly 210 weeks since the voting public has felt that The Whore deserved an award...or it's been 210 weeks since voter apathy has reached such abysmal level that we would or could allow this to happen...but in any case, the 1st true sign of the apocolypse has been shown to us.  Sabbe's face is on the website.  It will be there all week.  Because of you.  

Meanwhile, Zack received his second pair of floppy shoes in less than a year.  It is the 4th and 5th floppy shoe we've given him over the course of his career.


Next Week!
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Charger Nation at Bill's Packers!  
(At Lambeau Field, the 2-0 Pack defend themselves against a humbled Charger team flying in from a night game at New England.  We predict 3 separate full boats coming with them.  Will Bill defend?  We actually think so.  Meanwhile, Wego will be *at* the game wearing baby blue.)

Also, Adam's Browns at Raider Nation


Also showing
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Money's hated Cowboys against Money's Bears
Diane's Bills at Newbie's Patriots


See ya then....