Week 2 has come and gone, and there were some great games in the NFL, including a Monday nighter that went right down to the wire, and a team going for two, when one would have forced overtime. Mind you, they should never have had the chance, as the buffest ref in the NFL blew it big time, allowing Denver to steal a win against the Chargers. I have a funny feeling Big Ed wont be reffing the Super Bowl come February.

Fifteen seems to be the magic number in the early going as there were that many winners again this week. Cleveland looks like they'll be a loser pool favourite this season, again leading the way with 12 teams choosing them. They rewarded everyones doubts with another 22 points at the hands of the Steelers. Quite a few poolies jumped on the anti-Patriots bandwagon, hoping to pick up a quick 31 points, but were foiled by some lousy play-calling by the Jets. You have possibly the best quarterback of all time (even if he is past his prime), but you run straight into the line 3 times from the one yard line...nice work.

Melissa Conrod still holds the lead, heading into week 3, followed closely by a quintet of teams who have picked the Browns both weeks to start the season. Only five teams remain scoreless, including perrenial top finisher Nick Salaris. Fortunately it's a long season and it's far from over. Do they go for an easy loss to get on the board, or do they shoot for big points to try and get back in it quick?

As Conrod pointed out on the message board, there are some big games on tap for this week. Dallas vs GB, Jacksonville vs Indy, and the all Pennsylvania matchup offer a decent number of points on both sides. San Diego, with a hobbled Tomlinson (killing my fantasy team), gets the Jets on Monday night, so we'll get to see if anyone has the same faith in the Jets as they did this past week. Good luck on your week 3 picks. They're due SUNDAY prior to game time (1pm).

The Loser Football Pool is now underway, with a full slate of games in Week 1. It was a tough week in Fantasy Football circles as the Patriots lost Tom Brady for what could be the season. Fortunately for us in the Loser Pool, the Pats are worth alot of points, and with their MVP QB done for the year, it makes them an attractive pick on some weeks.

15 of the 30 (I'm not counting the one team as I don't know who it is...and haven't heard from them since they registered) teams currently involved picked up points this week. Week 1 is always tough, when you don't really know what teams are going to look like coming out of the gate. Melissa Conrod's 'Rex Grossman' team holds the early lead with a 4 point margin, thanks to a Jacksonville loss at Tennessee. Several teams jumped on the Browns this week, and were rewarded with 22 points thanks to a thumping at the hand of the NFC favourite Cowboys.

The longest losing streak in pool history was 8 weeks, with the record being held by Mo Loosemore. I don't know if we'll see that eclipsed this year...it's alot tougher than it seems, especially when you have some ground to make up. Check out the records page to see what kinda numbers you should be shooting for to go down in Loser Pool history.

Week 2 is set to go with the 20 point teams spread out pretty evenly. Only the Browns/Steelers game having both teams worth that much. I'm definitely interested to see how the loser poolies treat the Patriots, with Matt Cassel as their QB. Good luck on your week 2 picks. They're due SUNDAY prior to game time (1pm).

We're working our way into the dog days of August, NFL training camps are underway, Brett Farve is planning his next retirement and the Loser Football Pool is back!

This season's Loser Football Pool is now open for registrations, and the deadline to register a team is 8:00 pm (eastern) on September 4/07, when the defending champion Giants open their season at home against their division rival from DC. This years pool is again $10 per team, and the payout will be all entry fees minus $10 for the SublimeWeb Cup prize, and $20 for site expenses. The champion will take home between 40% and 50% of the remaining prize pool, and there will be at least 1 prize paid out for each 10 teams in the pool.

If you've never participated in a loser pool, check out the 'rules' page in the 'pools' section for a more detailed explanation, or ask myself or any of the participants from previous years how it works. The season starts with week 1 of the NFL regular season, and runs through the SuperBowl, when the NFL and Loser Pool champions are crowned.

It should be another interesting season, in what is becoming the most popular pool on the site. The ability to jump several spots in the standings over one weekend, sometimes hinging on one kick of the football or one dropped TD pass. Nothing is more fun that picking a big point upset win, and seeing it happen, while at the same time, the suspected slam dunk loser, pulls a victory out of nowhere, and over half the teams go empty handed for the week.

Good luck to all this season, and, as always, if you have any questions or comments, fire me an email. (pools@sublimeweb.net)

Wow...who saw that coming? Back to back Lombardi trophies and Superbowl MVP's for the Manning family. I'm sure alot of people were stunned by both the score and the outcome of the game. I guess this kinda takes you back to the Pats first Superbowl this millenium, except with a bit of a roll reversal. Heralded offense gets shutdown by solid team defense and a late game, low scoring win for the huge underdog. Oh well, at least Tom has Giselle to wipe away his tears.

I don't know how many teams picked up points on the Pats, cuz frankly at this point it doesn't matter. I'm sure the happiest was the ORD Hoss team who overcame a pretty rough early season stretch, to jump up to 2nd place on the final week of the season. After six straight wins, Mark's team was near the bottom of the pack, and rattled off 12 of 13 losses down the stretch to climb into contention and eventually land in the top 2. An impressive run no doubt.

This season, a couple records were broken, and a couple more were matched. Mo rebounded from an attrocious 2006 season where he finished dead last to manage 3rd place this time around. Along the way he broke Joe Cannon's longest losing streak record by one week with 8. Mike Bradshaw, who seems to be destined to finish last in every pool he enters this year, broke Mo's record for fewest points with 106, and tied Lea Crawford's record of fewest losses with 5. There was also a tie for the most losses in a season, as this season's champion 'SundaysSuck' matched last year's winner Nick Caric with 16 losses in 21 weeks.

I've updated the SublimeWeb Cup standings, as well as the records and payouts. I'll be in contact with all of the winners this week to arrange payment. Thanks to everyone who participated this year, it's been quite a competitive season, with nothing clinched until the final picks were locked in, and in some cases until the final whistle blew. I hope you all enjoyed it and will be back next year.

Next up on the site is the Nascar pool, which closes at noon (EST) on February 17th, and the playoff hockey pool, which should open sometime in late March

It all comes down to this. Twenty weeks of NFL football and we're left with the New York Giants and the New England Patriots in Arizona for the Championship. The Giants knocked off the Pack in OT to earn a rematch of their week 17 tilt against the Pats. I'm thinking it should be another quality game, and who knows, maybe we'll see another Manning hoisting the Lombardi trophy in February? Then again...giving Belichek two weeks to prepare against anyone is a recipe for a tough game.

Nineteen teams picked up the 30 points for taking a banged up San Diego team to lose. That basically leaves 9 teams with a mathematical shot at making the money (one of the top 4 positions). Two teams have assured themselves of a payout with their losses this week. It should be interesting trying to figure out what those above/below you will do. I'll leave it to you to figure out the possibilities.

It's pretty simple for the final week...one game. The deadline is noon on the day of the game (Feb 3, 2008), since most people wont be hanging around a computer come game time. This means you'll have ample opportunity to see who picked who and come up with the scenarios that could take place. Good luck to everyone on their Superbowl picks.