In this inaugural year of Faber's Fantasy Football, Butler County was the only team to average over 100 points per game, and rode this power all the way to the 1st league championship. Key players such as Edgerrin James, Curtis Martin, Cris Carter, and Germane Crowell led the charge into the playoffs for the Tornado, as they came on very strong in the second half of the season, while the New England QB provided consistency through much of the season. The team's 132 and 141 points in the playoffs proved way too much for the opposition, and earned the Tornado the first league title.
MVP QB - St. Louis Team QB, St. Louis Rams (Fubars)
MVP RB - Edgerrin James, Indianapolis Colts (Butler County Tornado)
MVP WR - Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Colts (Chopsticks)
MVP K - Olindo Mare, Miami Dolphins (Chopsticks)
MVP D - Kansas City Chiefs (Babylon 15)
Year 2 of the league saw expansion from 8 to 10 teams, and a very heated playoff race. Blawnox and Happy Valley were clearly the top 2 teams at 11-3, but the rest were tight between 9-5 and 5-9, fighting for the last 2 playoff spots right to the last week. Once in the playoffs, Blawnox took the cue from the Tornado's 1999 run, and averaged 130 points over the 2 weeks to roll to the championship, mainly behind Daunte Culpepper and the always popular Marshall Faulk. Once again, Happy Valley fell one game short, taking 2nd for the second year in a row.
MVP QB - Jeff Garcia, San Francisco 49ers (Viva Mexico!)
MVP RB - Marshall Faulk, St. Louis Rams (Blawnox Bombers)
MVP WR - Randy Moss, Minnesota Vikings (Tiji Monster)
MVP K - Matt Stover, Baltimore Ravens (Viva Mexico!)
MVP D - Denver Broncos (Finneytown's Finest)
In 2001, Steve took over the league, and it expanded once again to 12 teams. At this point, the team owners were becoming scattered all over the country, and were from a variety of backgrounds (about half knowing Terry, and the other half Steve, with little cross-over outside the league). So, the league name was changed to the Ligue de Football Pastiche, which roughly translates to a unifed league composed of varied individual sources.
New year, new league, new championship game, same formula. This year it was the No Namers who dominated the playoffs, scoring over 150 points each week. Once again, Marshall Faulk was the key element. This time, however, regular season dominance was not the key, as the No Namers started 5-6, and won their last three to make the playoffs as an 8-6 wild card, while there were three 7-7 teams, and no teams worse than 5-9. The Cleveland Puppy and Mexico City Earthquakes won the divisions, but couldn't hold of the No Namers. This was probably the most balanced year from top-to-bottom in the first half-decade of league history.
MVP QB - Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams (Mexico City Earthquakes)
MVP RB - Marshall Faulk, St. Louis Rams (No Namers)
MVP WR - David Boston, Arizona Cardinals (Cleveland Puppy)
MVP K - Jason Elam, Denver Broncos (Finneytown's Finest)
MVP D - Chicago Bears (No Namers)
2002 was the year of the east. The eastern division claimed two 10-4 teams, including Finneytown's Finest and the Tiji Monster, who ended the season by winning 8 in a row. These teams would end up meeting in the final, and Finneytown would come out victorious in a "low scoring" matchup (the first under 100 final for the league). This time it was Rich Gannon and Randy Moss who provided most of the firepower, while Faulk was relegated to the second place team, as he fell to injury in the season's waning weeks.
MVP QB - Rich Gannon, Oakland Raiders (Finneytown's Finest)
MVP RB - Priest Holmes, Kansas City Chiefs (Saratoga Horsemen)
MVP WR - Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Colts (Blawnox Bombers)
MVP K - David Akers, Philadelphia Eagles (Atlanta Flyers)
MVP D - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Finneytown's Finest)
The first dramatic playoff berth occurred in 2003 as the Cleveland Puppy, needing a win to secure the wild card spot, came through with 6 points on the last play of the Monday Night game, as Marshall Faulk (he's always in the mix) had his last rush, and broke 100 yards for the bonus. This knocked the Riverside Twisters out (they would become the league's first "lucky loser", a spot reserved for the winner of a consolation bracket). The Tiji-Nichol Bees then scored 140 pts each week again in the playoffs to get the win, becoming the league's first team to win more than one championship. Brett Favre and Priest Holmes were the keys to victory for Tiji.
MVP QB - Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts (Dakota Blizzard)
MVP RB - Ladanian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers (Windy City Wolves)
MVP WR - Randy Moss, Minnesota Vikings (Cleveland Puppy)
MVP K - Jeff Wilkins, St. Louis Rams (Cleveland Puppy)
MVP D - New England Patriots (Riverside Twisters)
This year was a bit less competetive than most, with 5 teams vying for the 4 available playoff spots. Unlike last year, Cleveland was the team left out, thanks to a 40+ point performance by Drew Bennett for the Dakota Blizzard on the final Monday Night game of the season. Going into the playoffs, the big story was the worst-to-first performance by the Nuclear Bandit franchise (keyed by the name change), who clinched the number one seed overall. Round one of the playoffs, however, featured great scoring by all teams, with Tiji beating out the Blizzard, and Finneytown riding the late season surge of the Titan's Billy Volek to victory. The Bees went on to easily win their third championship, and second in a row, by taking a 77 to -1 lead before the first Sunday game was even played. Jake Delhomme, Donald Driver, and Tony Gonzales all had a big Championship weekend. Michael Pittman and Fred Taylor were the late-season key for Tiji though, as was the resurgence of the Steeler Defense.
MVP QB - Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts (Fumbling Feeley)
MVP RB - Tiki Barber, New York Giants (Windy City Wolves)
MVP WR - Mushin Muhammad, Carolina Panthers (Nuclear Bandits)
MVP TE - Tony Gonzalez, Kansas City Chiefs (Tiji-Nichol Bees)
MVP K - Adam Vinatieri, New England Patriots (Saratoga Horsemen)
MVP D - Buffalo Bills (Unowned!!)
2005 saw Cleveland and the Quakes walk away with the east, with Cleveland winning the head-to-head, and the Quakes moving in with the wild card. Meanwhile the west was an all-out battle, with almost every team alive to the end. Riverside, limped into the divisional title with a 9-7 record, thanks to seven "woulda-losts" against zero "coulda-wons". Green Machine, a runaway points winner, entered the playoffs via that route thanks to a final week loss to Riverside, and a final week loss by the Nuclear Bandits. This also kept the Rocky Mountain Rednecks out, who were next in line with points, despite a losing record. Round one of the playoffs saw the Quakes beat the Twisters while the Machine leashed the Puppy. The Machine continued piling on the points with 106 on Championship weekend to take the title. Mid-draft picks of Carson Palmer and the Chicago Defense were keys for Green Machine throughout the year, while early pick Ladanian Tomlinson's up and down year provided wide scoring swings, and the resulting high point totals with an average record.
MVP QB - Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals (Green Machine)
MVP RB - Shaun Alexander, Seattle Seahawks (Rocky Mountain Rednecks)
MVP WR - Steve Smith, Carolina Panthers (Mexico City Earthquakes)
MVP TE - Antonio Gates, San Diego Chargers (Nuclear Bandits)
MVP K - Neil Rackers, Arizona Cardinals (Mookie)
MVP D - Chicago Bears (Green Machine)
2006 was the season of divisional domination. Tiji went 12-1-1, winning the Eastern Division by 4 1/2 games. The Westside Prowlers went 12-2, winning the Western Division by 3 games. The wild card was more of a battle, but the Rocky Mountain Rednecks turned hot at the right time, finishing 9-5, while the Quakes piled up points, and took their 7-6-1 record to the playoffs via the points scored wild card. In round one, the Bees formula for success continued (60 points from LT and Willie Parker). The Rednecks just held off Westside on the road, winning by 5. On championship weekend, however, the tables turned. The Saturday night game gave Tiji 26 points from the KC defense, but LT then scored "only" 18, while Willie Parker was held scoreless. Meanwhile, the Rednecks had 34 from late-season standout rookie Maurice Jones-Drew, 28 from Marvin Harrison, and four other double-digit scorers. The result was a 122-71 upset. It could've been worse, as Marc Bulger's 43 points was also available to the Rednecks, who kept him on the bench in favor of the recently hot Tony Romo.
MVP QB - Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts (Nuclear Bandits)
MVP RB - Ladainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers (Tiji-Nathan Nichol-Bees)
MVP WR - Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Colts (Rocky Mountain Rednecks)
MVP TE - Antonio Gates, San Diego Chargers (Rocky Mountain Rednecks)
MVP K - Robbie Gould, Chicago Bears (Dakota Blizzard)
MVP D - Baltimore Ravens (Westside Prowlers)
In the NFL, this was the year of domination, punctuated by the Patriots perfect season in the AFC, and two-team dominance in the NFC (Dallas and Green Bay). In the Ligue de Football Pastiche, justice was served this year as the highest scoring team, Finneytown's Finest, also won the Championship. Finneytown certainly did not dominate in the playoffs, though, winning both playoff games by 2 points (90-88 and 81-79). Finneytown crushed the opposition in the regular season with the strong combination of Dallas Cowboys Tony Romo and Terrell Owens. In the playoffs, the Finest won on the backs on Free Agent pickup Aaron Stecker (wisely picked up after the regular season ended) and New England's Defense. The championship game was particularly exciting. The B's were behind heading into the late afternoon, but a good day by LT raised hopes. However, both LT and Earnest Graham were rested in the second half of their games, cementing the B's runner-up finish for the second year in a row. Ironically, the difference also came down to a Carson Palmer to Chad Johnson TD pass that was overturned in a game personally witnessed by Finneytown's owner in Cincinnati.
The Westside Prowlers finished up strong with a 4 game winning streak, but missed out on the playoffs on Yahoo's total points tiebreaker, even though they had beaten the TijiNathanNichol B's head-to-head. The B's only made the playoffs because of a trade near the deadline when they got rid of an injured Adrian Peterson and lackluster Steve McNair for Carson Palmer (The Blizzard got one good game from Peterson, but not enough boost to make the loser's bracket, which was their goal in making the trade). In the final game of the regular season, Palmer had 5 points to McNair's zero and Peterson's zero - allowing Tiji to tie Cleveland (the second tie of the year in the league!) and make the playoffs.
Bitburg Barons, the early favorite on the strength of un-real performances by Tom Brady and Randy Moss, flamed out late in the season, as winter weather began to take its toll on this passing juggernaut, culminating in a windy day at the Meadowlands for the playoff loss.
In the bottom half of the league, the Mexico City Quakes suffered terribly as Larry Johnson failed to produce, and Ronnie Brown went down early in the season due to an injury. Adding insult to injury, Marvin Harrison barely played during the second half of the season. Strangely enough, the Quakes' two victories came against the B's and the Lucky Loser victor, the Lakeside Twisters. Lakeside managed to spring an upset against the Prowlers in the Lucky Loser bracket's first round on the strength of Tampa Bay's 35 point defense, including Tampa's first EVER kickoff return TD.
MVP QB - Tom Brady, New England Patriots (Bitburg Barons)
MVP RB - Ladainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers (TijiNathanNichol B's)
MVP WR - Randy Moss, New England Patriots (Bitburg Barons)
MVP TE - Jason Witten, Dallas Cowboys (TijiNathanNichol B's)
MVP K - Mason Crosby, Green Bay Packers (Westside Prowlers)
MVP D - San Diego Chargers (Mexico City Quakes)