The West's fifteen year veterans easily subdued their rookie upstarts, but the wins came at steep price.

Czupryna hung a 50 plus on the new combo team, Dahlin-Bethea, but the win was costly for the old man. Top reciever Joey Galloway tore his ACL toward the end of the game and is lost for the year. CZ is reciever-weak to begin with, so fielding two competant wideouts a week might be a challenge.

You can't spell CALVIN without A-C-L. Terrell Davis and Jamal Anderson, two '99 victims are making comebacks this year and are Jackson's two top backs. Anderson, thought to be the most tender of the two, actually played well. The news on Davis isn't as good. He injured an ankle Monday night and could be lost for several weeks. His back-up *was* Olandis Gary, whom Jackson shrewedly drafted, but Gary tore an ACL and is lost for the year.

For more details in these games and the battles of Cisco and Tivoli, see the week 1 write-up.

This year, these two had the first and second picks in the draft. Both picks performed to expectations. Bud's St Louis QBs scored 20 points on Monday Night and Wallace's Edgerrin James had 15. Bud had good games from B Stacey Mack, Qadry Ismail and Terrance Mathis. Plenty on the pine as well as Lamar Smith and Robert Chancey both scored.

Beyond James, Wallace's efforts were minimal. A six from Oak QBs, and a Baltimore D tallied a and a pure shutout. Derrick Alexander's 7 was left on the pine.

If the rest of Stroupe's roster could be "like Mike", perhaps he could have won this game: Mikes Alstott, Vander Jagt and Westbrook combined for "23" of the 34 points. Mike's lucky number by the way. For the uncommon names: Peyton chipped in only 6 and Peerless had 6 on the pine.

Despite the Boston Blunder, Ricker accomplished something very unusual in the BRFL. A QB did not throw a TD pass, but scored three times on run. Not only that, achieved a bonus point for rushing yardage - thanks to the 50 yard rule. Duante Culpepper is a certified "double threat" and is now Robert Smith's designated "vulture".

Despite having Robert Smith's scoring opportunities stolen, AB did manage scores from Jimmy Smith, Terrell Owens and two long distance scores from Az Hakim. QB Brad Johnson also scored - on a run.

The tie was the first for Best since 1991. JK last tied in 1995. The last time there was a tie on opening week was 1999 when Barry and Peil tied.

On Sunday, the Old Man had his way. Chicago QBs scored 19, Curtis Martin 15 and Duce Staley had 11. Staley's day was remarkable in that he had 5 bonus points on 261 total yards. The most since Barry Sanders recorded the league record 6 bonus points on Thanksgiving 1997. Ill-fated receiver Joey Galloway recorded a score before he was carted off.

The DBs debated on which QBs to start. There was New England and Drew Bledsoe, known around the league as "Mr September" for his quick starts. Had they know that CZ is a big New England fan, the might have started Bledsoe, but they wisely opted for young Griese and his 19 points.

Moses also scored a defensive TD Monday night on the Hakim punt return, but could only manage a score from Marcus Robinson on Sunday.

East Division
DEITRICH          1  0  0  54 40   1 0  0
STROUPE           0  1  0  34 43   0 1  0
WALLACE           0  1  0  40 54   0 1  0
OUTLAW            1  0  0  43 34   1 0  0

Central Division
BARRY           	1  0  0	 45 30	1 0 0
JONES/KLINGMAN  	0  0  1	 27 27	0 0 1
BEST            	0  0  1	 27 27	0 0 1
RICKER          	0  1  0	 30 45	0 1 0

West Division 
CZUPRYNA          1  0  1	 53 45	1 0 1
JACKSON           1  0  1	 36 19	1 0 1
DAHLIN-BETHEA     0  1  0	 45 53	0 1 0
MOSES             0  1  0	 19 36	0 1 0

Week One features the debut of two brand new teams to the BRFL and the return on one old team. Moses and Dahlin-Bethea the rookies make their debut against the oldest teams in the league: 15 year vets Jackson and Czupryna. Two time champion Ricker returns after a two year sabbatical.

Moses vs Jackson

Jackson also watched the rounds melt away before he faced a roster integrity call and was forced to draft a quarterback. He picked Cincinnati, the 21st QB chosen in the draft. The Bengals are off this week, so Jackson, should he pick a good one, might be the first to re-exercise the Special Reserve Right of Refusal rule. Calvin would be the first to remind you that three of the four QBs left standing in the BRFL final four: St Louis, Carolina and Baltimore were not drafted. He would also remind you that his eye for drafting QBs the last couple years has been horrible...

So in this battle of the draft bunglers, I'll give the nod to Calvin 22-18. This could be an ugly game, but Terrell Davis will score one Monday to remind Moses how valuable backs are.

Czupryna vs Dahlin-Bethea

Welcome to the BRFL, boys. Don't let the 50-25 pasting get you down...

Barry vs Ricker

Ricker stretches his winning streak to five: 45-40 over AB.

Jones-Klingman vs Best

Stroupe vs Outlaw

Rumor has it Stroupe had Phillip Fulmer as a draft coach with all the Tennessee players he drafted. And Outlaw, the "ex-pat", now living in Canada, didn't pick up any ex-Pats: CZ got Curtis Martin and Vincent Brisby went unclaimed. 30 years ago men escaped to Canada to avoid the draft, now through the magic of AOL, they can participate in it.

This should be tight game. Both starting QBs are on the road vs tough at home D's. Turning to the players, perhaps a slight edge to Stroupe. Westbrook should have a good game vs the Panthers and Alstott could bang it in twice against the Pats. Outlaw's Fred Taylor will be in the tub. Stroupe 31-22.

Deitrich vs Wallace

At the draft Bud brought us this draft board, and then showed us how good it was by picking two guys that weren't even on it.

Wallace has Corey Dillon on a bye, but that should not effect him too much unless other members of his backfield also decide to beat their wives.

Back to the game. So in the recent history in this series we've seen Wallace big, Wallace little, Bud little and now let's go BUD big. Bud shows us why he departed from tradition and went with a QB in round 1. St Louis lights it up Monday and Bud cruises 53-39.

Sunday, September 3

• Arizona at New York Giants, 1 p.m.
• Baltimore at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.
• Carolina at Washington, 1 p.m.
• Chicago at Minnesota, 1 p.m.
• Detroit at New Orleans, 1 p.m.
• Indianapolis at Kansas City, 1 p.m.
• Jacksonville at Cleveland, 1 p.m.
• New York Jets at Green Bay, 4:15 p.m.
• Philadelphia at Dallas, 4:05 p.m.
• San Diego at Oakland, 4:15 p.m.
• San Francisco at Atlanta, 1 p.m.
• Seattle at Miami, 4:15 p.m.
• Tampa Bay at New England, 1 p.m.
• Tennessee at Buffalo, 8:20 p.m.

Monday, September 4

• Denver at St. Louis, 9 p.m.

(Open date: Cincinnati)