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GFL Final Review
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Thursday, December 31st,
1998
Global Football League Final Review
by Carlos Curro
Regular Season
In Global Football League, it was an incredible season. The Sao
Paulo Travelers (owner Carlos Curro) started the season really well,
winning 6 of the 7 initial games, but then they slumped into a 5 game losing streak,
getting into the playoffs only in the last week of the fantasy regular season as the
fourth and last seed (7-6 record). The Okinawa Browns (owner Bill
Dawkins) finished as GFL East Division Champions (10-3) and got the #1 seed. The Sao
Paulo Big Passaros (owner Luis Curro) finished 9-4 and got the GFL West
title and the #2 seed. The Oklahoma City Tornados (owner Kevin
Kitchen) got the #3 seed, finishing second in the East with the same record as the
Browns, 10-3, but lost the first seed due to tiebrakers.
Playoffs
The ESPN GFL playoff system featured two rounds, both of them being taken in a two week
period: SemiFinals (NFL Weeks 14 and 15) and the Finals/GFL Bowl (NFL Weeks 16 and 17).
This way, teams have a chance to recover from one bad week.
The SemiFinals featured the #1 seed versus the #4
seed, and the #2 vs. #3. The first week of the semifinals pointed to a #1 vs. #2 seed in
the finals, as both the Browns and the Passaros opened good leads. But in the second week,
the Travelers amazingly came from behind, only officially done on Monday Night, to beat
the Browns and earn a berth in the finals against their city rivals, the Big Passaros.
Finals (GFL Bowl and 3rd Place Game)
Both the Passaros and the Travelers have been in the post
season in the past two seasons. In 1996, the Travelers lost in the semifinal game, while
the Passaros reached the Finals - but lost. In 1997, opposite happened, as the Passaros
were stopped in the semis, and the Travelers reached the GFL Bowl, but also finished as
the runner-up. This season, though, one of them would finally get the championship.
The Travelers opened an 18-point lead in the first week, thanks to
their consistency, scoring a healthy 64 points. The Big Passaros, on the other hand, was
depended on their "franchise players", specially WR Randy Moss. But Moss never
got a huge game like he was used to in other games, and often Travelers WR Cris Carter
managed to score as many points as him.
In the last week, Travelers' TE Shannon Sharpe led the way to
another consistent, 64-point week by the Travelers, while the Passaros only managed 53,
losing 128-99. The Travelers won their first championship in team history.
In the 3rd Place game, the Browns beat the Tornados, 109 to 93.
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