Marvin Birnbaum (left) and Bert Schoose are a couple accomplished wargamers who dabble on occasion in sports games.	In a year when Bert won his first three WBC shields, his karma wasn't srong enough to deny Reiff his seventh Football Strategy crown.

News Flash: Bruce Reiff lost the Final this year. Unfortunately, he also won. Confused? Allow me to elaborate.

The first heat was, as usual, on Wednesday evening at 6:00 and drew 26 participants. Due to the high number of entrants, the early rounds took longer than usual and it wasn't until after midnight that it was narrowed to the usual four contenders. Bill Cleary faced off against Bruce Reiff, while Kevin Keller and Joe Powell battled for a spot in the semi-final.

Bruce dominated the first half, racking up 31 points to Bill's 14. It seemed all over by halftime but Bill came out of the locker room with a vengeance and scored 17 unanswered points. It came down to the final minutes and Bruce nneeded a field goal with 15 seconds left to advance, but due to the late hour, Kevin and Joe postponed their game till Friday. This posed a dilemma for Bruce, who would normally enter the second heat only if he lost the first. Not knowing what the outcome would be, he had no choice but to enter the second heat and risk being the winner of both. Poor Bruce!

The Thursday heat drew a much more efficiently manageable 16 players. At the end of the evening, Bert Schoose and Marvin Birnbaum were playing for the privilege of facing you-know-who in the semi-final game of that heat.

Bert dispatched Marvin 23-16 and advanced to play Bruce for a spot in the final game. In the second quarter Bert was able to call upon his kicker to put two through the uprights, giving him a 6 to 0 lead at the half. Bruce came out strong in the third, finally able to punch one into the endzone giving him the narrowest of leads. He followed it up with another in the fourth quarter putting him up 14 to 6. Bert wasn't ready to quit just yet, and marched down the field to set up a TD of his own. On the ensuing play he went for two and tied it at 14 with minutes to go. Bruce had one last shot before time expired but the wind was blowing a little too hard and his 45 yarder went wide. It was sudden death overtime and the exhaustion was beginning to set in. Bruce was able to find a wide open receiver, and a 44 yard pass ended the game. Bruce advanced to the final where he had the distinct possibility of facing himself.

On Friday, Kevin and Joe finally found time to play - a rematch played out many times in the past as these two longtime adversaries in the AHFSL went at it again. Kevin jumped out to an early lead with a touchdown on his first possession, but Joe chipped away at his lead with a pair of field goals. By the middle of the second quarter Kevin found himself leading 10 to 6, but back to back touchdowns by Joe, one off of an interception, gave him the lead 20 to 10, going into the half. During the third quarter, Kevin managed to tie the score with an early TD and a field goal off of an interception. Joe started the fourth quarter driving hard and with ten minutes left in the game he punched one into the endzone. For the rest of the game Kevin couldn't get his offense moving and as the last minutes ticked off of the clock, Joe's kicker scored a field goal to seal the game.

Joe advanced to play Bruce, knowing that if he defeated the Titan of the WBC Gridiron, he would have to play him again for the championship. The two managed to squeeze some time around their schedules on Saturday for the last game of the first heat. During the first quarter Joe's offense turned the ball over twice on 9G.He was unable to capitalize and the quarter ended 0-0. The momentum shifted during the second quarter when Joe pulled his offense together and managed to go up ten points, but Bruce tied it at the half. The third quarter was all Bruce. His defense denied Joe first downs while his offense ground in a touchdown and his kicker nailed a field goal. On his first possession of the fourth, Bruce slipped another one across the goal line, putting him up 27 to 10. Joe knew he had little time and a lot of ground to cover, so when Bruce's defense, for the fourth time in a row, held his offense to three and out, Joe thought it was over.Final Score 27-17.

Since he was the winner of both heats, Bruce technically faced himself in the championship game. While some may consider his behavior unsportsmanlike at worst or grandstanding at best, I am willing to cut him some slack. After all, due to the first heat not finishing till Saturday, he does have a valid excuse. So, if you must, feel free to give him grief, but I for one am happy for Bruce. I really am rooting for the guy. Heck, nobody else is.