Congratulations again to Legendruthless for winning World Bowl XXXV. Even though they earned top seed, it wasn't an easy road as their first game was against division rival Birmingham, who gave the VooDoo their only loss of the season. Then their #1 defense had to overcome the #1 offense of Jacksonville just to get to the World Bowl. Once there, their opponent is the mighty Houston Gamblers and their 9 trophies.

In World Bowl XXXV, that #1 defense forced Dale Baber into several mistakes while World Bowl MVP Willie Graham had none after he had turnover issues in the previous 2 post season games.
The city of New Orleans partied like it was Mardi Gras as the beads and beer were flowing on Bourbon Street.

But now, all the solo cups, confetti, beads, and various human and non human liquids have been cleaned up and we're on to 2009. New Orleans seeks to become our next repeat champion, and first since 1997/98 while the rest of us look to knock the VooDoo down and take the trophy for ourselves.

I'm always nervous when it comes to the end of season spin, as I dread opening the league and having multiple openings. I was quite pleased to open the league this morning to find all 32 returned. Thank you everyone, you guys are awesome. I'm glad you enjoy the league enough to keep coming back. Best of luck to everyone for the upcoming season.

One thing I haven't talked about in recent seasons is the American Conference's domination of the World Bowl. The National Conference Florida Blazers won World Bowl I before the American Conference won the next 6 in a row (Oakland, Detroit, Detroit again, Los Angeles, Memphis, and Memphis again). New Jersey broke the string with their first of 4 World Bowl appearances in a row. The Generals lost to Houston, the Setherick version, in the next one before they won their second the next season.

At this point we've had ten World Bowls with the American Conference winning 7. New Jersey's 4th World Bowl in a row was World Bowl XI, where they lost to the first Cjfred Houston championship team. Not only did that start the dynasty, it started a string of 13 straight World Bowl championships for American Conference teams. Houston and Cjfred won it all again the following year, then it was Memphis, Memphis again, Houston, Portland, Memphis, Portland, Denver, and Portland.

If you're counting along at home, you noticed that's only ten in a row I listed. That's because the next 3 were all won by Houston, the first and only threepeat in league history. Through the first 23 World Bowls, the American Conference were 20-3 with a 6 game win streak and a 13 game win streak.

Things have been even steven the last 12 years and the American Conference is now 26-9 all time in World Bowls.

Getting back to the history, our last back to back champions were the New Jersey Generals of 1997 and 1998. Houston failed to make the World Bowl a 4th straight season, which was awesome news for the Generals, who took advantage and won back to back, breaking the 13 game American Conference streak in the process.

Houston had enough of that **** and took title #8, starting a 3 game streak for the American teams. San Jose and Oklahoma won the next 2, making that conference 23-5 now. Pittsburgh stopped the skid at 3, then it flip flopped as Portland won next followed by New Orleans.

The last 4 years have seen the American Conference win 2 in a row thanks to Houston and Oklahoma while Pittsburgh and New Orleans have won the last 2 for the National Conference.

Will 2009 see a National Conference team win again? If so, it would be the first time that conference won 3 consecutive World Bowls.

Free agency length poll is now up, please vote here https://usflwfl.myfootballnow.com/forums/1/2972.

The poll has been closed and the changes made for next season. 2 free agency periods before the draft and 1 late free agency after.

Training camp was awesome, everyone improved.

1:24 Bull Winkle DE +11/0
2:24 Rain Smeller OL +10/+5
3/24 Rocky Rackoon FS +2/-5
4/24 Sleepy Sandman WR +7/-2
5/24 Shorty Long RB +2/-3
6/24 Ben Dover WR +5/+2
7/24 Donnie McMahon TE - Cut

2009 Outlaw Camp

The Outlaws had all 7 of their own draft picks and aimed to win another title after recently resigning QB Raymond Settles to what is likely his last contract with a 6 year extension last season. To do this, Oklahoma planned to follow a typical draft strategy of fast skill players early and finishing the draft with high upside lineman to reinvigorate the offense. For those who don't want to read all of this, it was a good camp.

1.29 WR Donald Ramirez 69 vol, +3: First pick was not as fast or high vol as I would like, but will be a great player to help offset the loss of Arthur Reina and help keep Settles playing well as he ages and keep defenses guessing where the ball will go. There is hope around the building Ramirez's great ball carry skill will really help in getting chunk yardage.

2.29 DB Daniel West 50 vol, +2: Very fast player who has my favorite problem, only 50 vol. Better to boom than bust obviously, but I swear players do not boom as much as they bust. Anyways, West profiles to be an exceptional gunner with the hope that his speed is able to make up for a slightly lackluster M2M coverage ability.

3.29 DB James Babin 50 vol, -1: Directly contradicting what I said, a 50 vol player who has busted less than West boomed. Babin currently profiles as a depth piece or an underweight LB starter. While lacking the top end speed of recent draft picks, James should not be too much of a liability containing players in the open field but might be unlikely to get a 2nd contract.

4.29 OL Michael Strange 94 vol, +11: Strange came into camp with rumors being that he didn't have the intangibles to make it in the USFL and certainly looked to prove his doubters wrong. A huge camp will have him fighting for starting reps anywhere on the line even if it might take another season for his technique to get where it needs to be.

5.29 OL Patrick Harris 48 vol, -1: Harris often seemed to shy away from contact in the run game limiting his camp and potential starting options. Even with a poor camp though, Harris has a chance to make the roster as a swing player given his collection of good intangibles and passable technique pass blocking. Could be a preseason cut though depending on how the waiver wire looks.

6.29 DL Chad Gary 42 vol, 0: Even with such a cool name, ownership voided Chad's contract before camp given his extremely limited upside and fired the scout who suggested the pick.

7.29 OL Michael Edwards 100 vol, -19: Huge bust on a player that really only would have made the roster with a good boom, but instead routinely showed up to practices with poor coordination and reeking of Listerine mouthwash. Immediate cut.