Final underdog season results

Kansas City won and San Francisco lost in yesterday's pro football action, which made a few ripples in our charity underdog game standings. Here is the final ranking for the season:

Pvs. rank	Final rank	Player	Point total
1	1	VegasBaby5	54.5
2	2	MadDog	44.5
3	3	Howler	42.5
4	4	Annie B.	39
5	4	Kosar19	39
6	6	Buster Douglas	31
8	7	Eric	30.5
7	8	Mojo	30
9	9	Meow	28.5
10	10	JC	28
11	11	PDXileinOmaha	24.5
13	12	Bad Picker	24
12	12	Gordon	24
14	14	Evil O	18.5
15	15	Atwater27	18
16	16	Not Gonna Happen	17
17	17	SteveO	16
18	18	Paul	15.5
19	19	DogDown	14
20	20	Linda	12.5
21	21	No Chance in Hell	10.5
22	22	CrimsonCrud	9.5
23	23	DB	5

The San Francisco loss ended a seven-week win streak for our winner, VegasBaby5, who stomped the competition in an impressive rookie season. MadDog was our first-place finisher last year. Howler rejoined us this time around after playing several years of the game under other nicknames on my old blog.

The biggest 'dogs to win points for our players this year were the Jets over Buffalo in Week 9 for 13 points (both VegasBaby5 and Annie B. caught that one) and Washington over Philadelphia in Week 10 for 11 points (Annie B. was the lone winner there). Having both of them was almost, but not quite, enough to get Annie B. on her way into the "money."

The first half of the season was when most of the scoring was done. For example, in Week 6, our players racked up a combined 69 points. In Week 11, no one scored anything, and in Weeks 11 through 19 the average weekly point total of all 23 players together was just over 11.

Congratulations to all, and especially to our top three finishers, who will now get to designate the following amounts to their respective eligible charities:

• First place - VegasBaby5 - $315
• Second place - MadDog - $100
• Third place - Howler - $75

Winners, please send the name of your eligible charity to the place where you send your weekly picks, so that I can get the checks in the mail right away.

It's been a fun year with the 'dogs, and I'll decide over the summer whether to do it again next season. My oddsmaker, the inventor of the game, is retiring from operating his version, and I'm in the process of rethinking my relationship to football in general. And so next year is up in the air at the moment.

But this year's game is now in the books. Thanks to everyone who played the 'dogs with us. It made Sundays a lot more interesting, and good causes will now benefit.