2004 was a simpler time. Many of us were in East Lansing, drinking our faces off. The Detroit Pistons has just won their first title (of several, presumably) since the Bad Boy Era, Spider-Man 2 was giving us hope for how amazing Spider-Man 3 was sure to be, and George W. Bush got re-elected President after the CIA admitted there was no imminent threat from Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. ‘Merica!
The Detroit Lions, led by Steve Mariucci and Joey BlueSkies – a pairing destined for playoff success – started 2-0 for the first time (of two) in the Matt Millen era, so Kronner went out and got himself a tattoo. Of course in Week 3, with Kronner in attendance at Ford Field, freshly inked, and following an 80 yard TD from McNabb to T.O. on the first play of the game, the Lions lost 30-13. They would finish the season 6-10. Alas, no playoffs.
BRITNEY WATCH – Was Britney still smoking hot in 2004?
Yes. The decline was beginning, but she was still near the top of her game. Good on you Brit.
SC League Quatro
I remember distinctly being in disbelief that Schwieger had suddenly woken from his Disc-Golf Hope College haze and dropped a 10-3 season following his combined 10-30 record through the first three years I was in the league. This was an odd year, as we dropped down to only 10 teams following the “Wide Receivers Only” championship team that Jones assembled the year before. We also still had 8 playoff teams, so the only teams NOT in the post-season were CTU (Zach Hicks) and Hicks is Gay as Hell – I’ll give you one guess who ran that team.
The first pick in the draft, belonging to Tan, was that of Priest Holmes, who would go on to get hurt and miss the second half of the season. Oof: Size Large. Eventual Champ Timbo would be the first team (of only two) to break ranks and not select a running back in the first round, instead taking, you guessed it Tickle Me Frank Stallone Peyton Manning.
Peyton Manning had a pretty good year in 2004, throwing for over 4500 yards, and setting the record (at the time) for most TDs in a season with 49. I remember Manning on Thanksgiving destroying the Lions. Six passing TD’s through 3 quarters before Manning got sat down, 3 to Stokley and Harrison each. To give you an idea of how scoring has changed, Manning, with 6 TDs only totaled out at 420 points that game.
How did Timmy put together this title run?
So aside from Peyton in the first round, he swept back and snagged Marvin Harrison in the second. Following Week 2 Timbo flipped Harrison to Jones to get his running back tandem set. He already has Bryan Westbrook, whom he drafted in the 10th round, and the trade with the Skippers brought in Thomas Jones, which made for a damn good one-two punch back in 2004. At wideout, with Harrison gone, he cycled in guys like Muhsin Muhammad, Eric Moulds, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Eddie Kennison and Michael Clayton. With defense meaning so little in those early days, and locking up legend kicker Jason Hanson for most of the year, The ImTIMidators cruised to a 10-3 record, matching the Dutchmen in regular season standing. This is especially impressive seeing as Tim’s 3rd and 4th picks – Kevin Jones and Charles Rogers – gave him very little.
Trigger’s team, which just edged out Timbo for most points that year featured LaDainian Tomlinson, Torry Holt and Daunte Culpepper. They went into the playoffs as the #1 seed, and with no byes in that era, the top two seeds tore through the competition before McLeod came out on top in the title match, winning by a score of 1676-1578.
Kronner, who finished third in the regular season at 8-5 would take out Matt’s Puerto Rico BBall for the Bronze Trophy, 1730-1601. Kronner’s squad featured Deuce McAllister, Corey Dillon, Donovan McNabb and Steve Smith Sr. Additionally, with their 5th round pick, Kronner (the Rat Pack) selected Ashley Lelie. A player I have absolutely no memory of, but had the best year of his short career that season – 54 grabs (on 101 targets, oof), 1085 yards, and 7 TD for the Broncos that season.
Here’s a look at how the season finished up;
- This year also featured the first time in league history (until 2021) where we had a previous manager sit out a season, and then come back later. Byrd, who joined in 2002 (with his cousin Freddie, Matt Molan and Bryan Pauly – all three of whom lasted only one season) didn’t play in 2004, but returned in 2005 where he won the title.
- This was the second year and final year in the league for Dr. Hicks, who left probably because of Dave.
- This is the only year we’ve ever gone with 10 teams.
Little known fact, Kaiser took his team name from this student film he participated in. They dubbed his voice in around the 5:20 mark.
MOST UNDERRATED TEAM
– Hicks is Gay as Hell
Dave, who finished 9th in ’04, and was one of only two teams not to make the playoffs, finished 3rd in points scored but had far and away the hardest schedule in the league.
- Despite losing 9 games, Dave averaged out as the 5th highest-scoring team in those nine weeks.
- Additionally,
NachoHicks is Gay as Hell’s opponents in the weeks he lost averaged 1769 points. That is way above the league scoring average for that season, which was only 1443. - FURTHERMORE – Only McLeod DIDN’T have one of their best scoring weeks of the year against Dave. For Matt and Jones, the week they played Dave they had their 3rd best score of the season. For Trigger, Kaiser and Kronner – their 2nd best outputs. And for both Toepel and Hicks (of course)- their highest scores of the year came at Dave’s expense.
So, this was my new feature idea. What do you think – yah or ney? If you want more of these, lemme know. And if so, you can vote for which one I do next below…
SC League Forever 