Kevin Keller dons his Packer duds to oppose Jason Levine.	Doug Galullo faces the defending champ Bert Schoose.

28 would-be Jim Tressell's showed up for the Wednesday night heat. The first round included a rematch of last year's beat down of Don Greenwood by Bruce Reiff. Don would fare no better this year dropping to 0-2 lifetime to Bruce (as reported by GM Reiff). [Now for a little truth in advertising editing by the vanquished who from the prior report one would assume would just slink off under a rock someplace and never show his face again. However, when one investigates the Reiff account one discovers that Bruce's mastery consisted of a difference of 3 points based on a pair of missed Greenwood field goals in both games and in fact the plaque master trailed in this rematch until the final minute when he finally scored a TD to tie the game at 10 - eschewing the chance to go for two for an outright win. Don then had to forfeit to take his impatient wife to dinner rather than go into overtime. Moral of the story; leave your wife at home! ]

Bruce then took out his scoring frustrations on newly minted board member Josh Githens in a close 36-29 score-a-thon. In other first heat action Ray Stakenas II slipped by Nicole Reiff 20-13 and two-time champ Bill Cleary suffered a stunning first round exit to Phil Rennert. Meanwhile, defending champ Bert Schoose was advanced with wins over Doug Galullo and former champ Ken Whitesell. He would await the winner of the other half of the bracket.

Reiff, having made the heat semi-final, checked in on the Erik Arneson/Marvin Birnbaum tussle to find Marvin clinging to a 3-0 lead very late in the fourth quarter. Erik was pinned in the shadow of his own goal line on 4th down. Bruce suggested a game in the bar (knowing Marvin would approve). So Bruce was sitting in the bar with Blue Moon in hand when Erik shows up! He had converted the 4 down and drove for the TD to win 7-3. Bruce then proceeded to win his bar game anyway, 41-27 over Erik.

Bert and Bruce had a scorefest Final for the Heat. Bruce drove the length of the field for a TD on his first possession. It took Bert all of three plays to tie the score. Bruce then responded with his usual four-leaf clover and ran the kickoff back 105 yards for a TD. Bert's luck, not to be outdone, returned the ensuing kick 100 yards. It was 14-14 before the fans found their seats. Bruce continued the fireworks by scoring on his third possession as well to end the quarter up 21-14. Bert returned serve and matched him with a TD on his next possession and then finally stopped the offensive juggernaut and ended the half with a 24-21 lead. The defenses found themselves in the second half with the only third quarter score a tying Reiff FG. But as Bruce is fond of saying, the fourth quarter belongs to him and he scored two late TD's to win the heat 37-24.

The Friday heat as usual was lightly attended with just eight players vying for the second shot at Bruce. Nicole Reiff beat Cary 21-19, Ray Stakenas II topped Sean McCulloch, Dave Rynkowski downed Erik Arneson and in a battle of longtime Baltimore league members, puntless Ken Whitesell beat Joe Powell. Ray then staged a 4th qtr comeback to beat Nicole for the second time by four points and Dave dispatched the puntless one. The heat Final went into overtime with Dave missing a FG to win which allowed Ray to drive the length of the field to reach the Final.

Despite a Sunday morning start with all the sleep deprivations that entailed, Bruce jumped out to a 14-7 lead after one quarter and stretched the lead to 31-21 at the end of the third. Yet Ray would not be denied. He scored a TD to start the 4th and was driving with five minutes to go when he fumbled on a 6D third and 8 in the red zone. However, Bruce was unable to move the ball and had to punt. Ray then kicked the tying field goal to force overtime. Ray requested the new playoff overtime rules be used - if the team that wins the toss only gets a field goal, the other team gets the ball for one possession. Bruce agreed and proceeded to win the toss and drove the ball to Ray's 12. With third and 10, Bruce wanted the TD, not the FG. He called 15F for 14 yards and the game.

Bruce thereby claimed his fourth championship of the week, his ninth Football Strategy title, and forever changed the lexicon of WBC by bettering a "Coussis". A "Coussis", for the benefit of the uninformed, is having the cheek to GM two events and win them both. John Coussis can now retire to anonymity because pulling a "Reiff" has replaced him in the GM Hall of Shame by having the unmitigated gall to GM three events and win them all as Bruce did just that by winning Battleline, Union Pacific, and Football Strategy - all directed by himself. And it all could have been avoided if I'd had the sense to leave my wife at home

Phil Rennert takes on two-time champ Bill Cleary on his home Jets field from football league days.	Grudge match II ended in a 10-10 tie when yours truly missed two more field goals. Damn dice.