Happy New Year! Especially happy right now are the Springfield Bullhawks (#1 seed) who are the 2006 ESPN Fantasy Football Red Zone League Champions, after defeating the Houston Inferno (#3 seed) by an ever-so-close score of 192-191. LaDainian Tomlinson had only 7 points for the 'Hawks this week, but Steven Jackson made up the difference with a 43 point performance. However, the difference in the game was not points scored, but in missing points. Inferno RB Ron Dayne aggravated an ankle injury during pre-game warmups Sunday and did not play, resulting in a crushing 0 for the Inferno. Despite that, this was a terrific game between the two best teams in the league this year. Congratulations to Alan and Jeff for a great season!

Third place goes to my Spooky Boogeymen (#4 seed) with a 186-162 win over the P'burg PrairiePride (#2 seed). Despite a 5 point lead in this week's match-up, the 'Pride were unable to overcome the 29 point lead resulting from last week's game. Congratulations to Bob (and me!) on a great season.

The Kentucky Mad Max (#7 seed), last season's league champs, won fifth place this year with a 150-113 defeat of the Shelbyville Outkasts (#5 seed). Congratulations to Bret and Jack for a great season!

The Peoria OrangeCrush (#9 seed) crushed the Batavia Bulldogs (#6 seed) by a score of 210-116 for seventh place in the league. Congratulations to Charlie and Mike on a great season!

The Foreign Bodies (#10 seed) rallied this week to come back and beat the Petersburg PowerPuff Girls (#8 seed) by a total score of 169-136. So, the 'Puffs will (probably) receive the coveted first pick in next year's draft. Congratulations to Ben and Elizabeth on a great season!

So, here are the final winners for the Red Zone 2006...

WHAT?

WHY?

WHO?

We're Going to Disney World Award	1st Place	Springfield Bullhawks
The First Loser Award	2nd Place	Houston Inferno
There's Always Next Year Award	3rd Place	Spooky Boogeymen
The Break Even Award	4th Place	P'burg PrairiePride
Teamwork Award	Highest team game score	Springfield Bullhawks (157 points in Week 10)
Top Gun Award	Highest player game score	Foreign Bodies (51 points for RB Tiki Barber in Week 17)
Smackdown Award	Highest team win margin	Peoria OrangeCrush (81 point win in Week 16)

And finally now that it's all over with, I'll try to get back to a more regular blogging schedule about life, the universe, and everything (except for fantasy football ).