Final 15 in Vegas

Twas the night after Christmas and all through the casino. The drinks were flowing and the final 15 hoped their players would hit home runs like the Great Bambino. They all had their eyes on the million dollar first prize. But the entire weekend everyone remained nice guys.

OK..enough with the cheese..time for the facts. Heading into the final weekend, the top 3 were Don, Detsinh and William. With the FFOC format of a cumulative score and week 16 counting for 1/3 of your score, it was anyone's game to win the million, but the teams at the top definitely had an advantage. I don't know how any of them got much sleep that week.

Saturday night after our Bellagio Bracket draft, all the finalists met at the Sportsbook bar for a champagne toast and some socializing. I met Ron and his son Ryan (below), who were the only owners with 2 teams in the finals. They had their whole family along to enjoy the experience and we had a great time talking about strategies and reflecting on the season that was. Like Ron, I felt his Chateu I team had a good chance to be the darkhorse winner because of his unique roster with good match ups. He was the only one with Grant and Ricky Williams who both had some of the best match ups for rb's. He was also the only team with Fitzgerald and his qb's (Favre and Big Ben) were only on one or two other teams. He definitely had the team to make up 16 points and vault from 9th to 1st. His family is full of great people and I wish them all the best in the future!

With Sunday came game day. Everyone found themselves a comfortable seat to watch their hopes for a million dollars either become reality or go up in flames. GoongGoongh29 and Willboski3 had an early jump on the competition thanks to good games by Chris Johnson and Ladanian Tomlinson on Friday night.

To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to the top 15 standings as I was more concerned in my Bellagio bracket. I couldn't really tell who was doing well because the room was awfully quiet during the games on Sunday. Either everyone was too nervous to cheer or hung over from the night before. For this reason, I don't really have any good stories from Sunday.

However, I did get a chance too meet Dutsinh and his 3 brothers (below). They drove 20 hours from Western Nebraska and got into town early Sunday morning. They encountered a lot of snow which made driving difficult and added 4 hours to their already long trip. Thankfully they made it there and were able to see their Jets win and get in the drivers seat for a playoff run. I also noticed they built a comfortable lead thanks to Donovan McNabb, and sat ahead of everyone with two games to go and they still had Romo, Austin and Peterson to go. I jinxed them by telling them I didn't see anyone who could catch them. That was assuming Romo and Austin put up at least 26 pts as I expected them to. All 4 of the brothers appeared in awe on how close they were to winning a million dollars, yet also very humble and sociable.

Going into Monday night's game, the GoonGoongh29's pretty much had first place wrapped up. The only hopes to catch them were Don with his NYTCXpress team which was 40 back with Peterson and Minnesota's DST and Chris aka Juggernaut (right) and his Beasts II team who needed a super monster, 4 TD type game out of Adrian Peterson. Neither was likely, but there's always a chance. Everyone else was battling to move up a few positions as other teams had Favre and Sidney Rice.

The first half was dominated by the Bears which made Dutsinh and crew much more relaxed. Peterson had only gained 30+ yards and the defense was not going to put up major points. The free alcohol started flowing more freely as it appeared that they had the top prize all wrapped up. They even had time to take a picture with one of the lovely waitresses, Rhonda (below). You can't tell from this picture, but her small referee's shirt was hiding her voluptuous FF's. Stan knows how to pick em! You can also see Jason and Matthew to the right enjoying the view.

The second half was a different story. Adrian Peterson was finally getting some touches and taking advantage of it. As he got his first touchdown, the crowd started getting into it. Chris (Beasts II), Don (NYTC), Scottie (skyt 2 hotty), Greg (Liquidhippos) and Matthew (shot caller10) all had ADP and were finally reaping the benefits.

At this stage, every little play can mean thousands of dollars difference for most of the teams. As the Vikings crept to within 7 at 30-23 and 5 minutes left, many owners started wishing for overtime so they could accumulate more stats. One team that didn't want overtime was Goongoongh29 who was only 11 or 12 points ahead of Beasts II after Peterson ran in his second score of the half. Now one long TD run of 40+ yds and we had a new leader! Because the Bears had racked up 30 points, NYTCxpress had fallen back because they owned the Minnesota TDS. Only a special teams TD could vault them back ahead of Beasts II into 2nd place.

As you know from my previous blog, Sidney Rice got a last second touchdown on a drive which should have ended many plays earlier when Zack Bowman dropped an easy interception. This was heartbreak for Dutsinh and crew as they were one catch from wrapping up the million dollar grand prize. Now they had to sweat out overtime. The Sidney Rice TD also gave Jeff (party @ rapiddraft.com team) and Jerry (pigskin mcchickenz) 7 extra points to move each up one spot and both were within a few yards of moving up another spot in OT. Jerry gained an extra $5000 with this TD and Jeff gained $250. The TD also allowed Joel (boom goes my dynamite) to move up one spot and get an extra $250. He was pretty vocal earlier in the game when Favre was struggling, but a big second half helped move him up.

In OT, Chicago got the ball first and had a chance to win it with a 44 yard FG. Instead, Robbie was fools Gould and the Peterson, Favre, and Rice owners had more hope. On the first play from the 30, Peterson caught a pass and was out in the open. I'm sure Dutsinh's heart sunk. He was corralled 16 yards later and fumbled! Chris's misery was Dutsinh's jubilation. When Cutler hit Aromashoduh for a TD on the next play, the game was over and the celebration began for the champions (above)! Unnoticed by most, is the fact that Don's NYTCxpress team lost 3 points on that play so the Gould missed FG also cost him $20,000 as Greg leapfrogged him in the standings. Had Gould made the FG, the Minnesota DST would have stayed at 0 points rather than drop to -3 by giving up over 34 points. As many bitter pills as I've had to swallow, nothing compares to Don's loss on this play. I feel your pain brotha!

This blog has run long enough, so I will use a separate blog to break down the final 15 and the big roster decisions they had to make and how it impacted them. Below are some more pictures from the final event to help you put some faces with the names in the contest.


Detsinh's brother cry out..."My brother's a F'n millionaire!"


The 2009 champ accepts his trophy and money.

Aaron and Stan chat in the doorway. I don't know what the conversation's about, but I'm sure it's full of humor. Aaron always looks to lighten the mood with his dry humor.

Scottie and his wife keep a close eye on the standings.


Korey (left) and Jim (right) watch the game in their usual calm and relaxed way. Both guys are very intelligent, super nice guys. Both understand this is a game and don't take it too seriously. Like everyone else in the contest, it was a pleasure talking with these guys and gaining some information as well.