Who's Coming To The 2007 NFFC And Where?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, it's time to officially welcome our 2007 NFFC members. It's a tradition here at the National Fantasy Football Championship to officially announce each and every signup and to give a little background on each of our participating members. You'll find that more than 80 percent of our competitors from the previous year come back each year and with a mix of new members the competition becomes a friendly free-for-all each year. We are shooting for 364 teams in the main event this year among our four cities and you can sign up now without us hitting your credit card until August 1st. Let's get the competition going with the introductions of our early signups.

Our first official signup for 2007 is none other than Rob Benetti of Mokena, Illinois. Rob is the defending champion of the NFFC as he won $100,000 last year with an incredible playoff run. He's a testament to perseverence as his Ted's Cracked Head team (named after Ted Williams) didn't even finish with a winning head-to-head record during the regular season, yet he won it all. Ted's Cracked Head finished with a 6-7 record in Chicago League 1, but finished second in overall points with 1,763.35 to win $2,500. Rob's team then had an incredible Week 16 thanks to some St. Louis Rams players to finish the Championship Round with 646.3 points, winning the title by more than 25 points and the $100,000 grand prize. Rob has competed in the NFFC each of the last two seasons and has finished 9th and 1st during that time. Great job Rob.

Rob is currently signed up for the Chicago main event in 2007, the $650 Auction League, the $1300 Draft Championships League and the Ultimate League, so it looks like he plans on "reinvesting" his money with the NFFC! I like it. It's possible Rob could switch to Las Vegas as he just joined us for our National Fantasy Baseball Championship during March Madness and liked the comraderie of his brethren out there. We'll give him some time to finalize his plans, but either spot is fine with me.

I will say that we have a GREAT champion in Rob Benetti and I'm glad to welcome him back in 2007. Best of luck in the hunt for this year's $100,000 grand prize, $5,000 league prize, $37,500 Ultimate League prize, $8,500 Draft Champions League prize and the $4,000+ in auction league prizes. Great job last year Rob and we'll be in touch this season as well.

[Greg Ambrosius]

We're glad to welcome back the tag team of Jan and Claire Gustafson of Denver, Colorado as our first official signups for the Las Vegas main event. Jan and Claire have been facilitators with the NFBC and NFFC since 2004 and they entered an NFFC mid-season league in 2004 and won a free entry into the 2005 main event. They reached the Championship Round that year and last year they led their Blind As A Bat team to a 10-3 record in Las Vegas League 2 and won $1,693.5 points by finishing second in total points. Jan and Claire then led Blind As A Bat to a 15th place overall finish in the Championship Round with 548.32 points. Two-for-two in the Championship Round and the highest female finish ever in the Championship Round is a pretty good start, ladies. Now let's get the $100K!!! Congrats on a great, great season and best of luck this year in the hunt for the $100,000 grand prize and the $5,000 league prize.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Let's give it up for our newest member of the growing NFFC family as Craig Williams of Sparks, Nevada will be joining us for the NFFC's main event at the Flamingo Las Vegas for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 1st. Craig is a long-time WCOFF member who has decided to cross over to the Dark Side and join the NFFC. We won't go into the details, but we're more than happy to have Craig competing in our main event as he looks forward to the 14-team format. Welcome aboard Craig and best of luck in the hunt for this year's $100,000 grand prize and the $5,000 league prize.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I really should have given John Barkow of Heartland, Wisconsin credit for being our first signup of the 2007 NFFC season. John told me midway through the 2006 season that he wanted to re-up for the main event in Las Vegas and I added him immediately. He had one of the more frustrating 2006 NFFC seasons as he was close to winning LOTS of money in every league, but fell a bit short. His Mass Destruction team finished 9-4 in Las Vegas League 7 of the main event, just missing out on a money finish as he wound up fourth with 1,690.5 points. That was good for 48th overall and in the Consolation Round Mass Destruction finished 54th with 626.39 points. Mass Destruction did finish third to win some money in the $650 Draft Champions 2 league with 2,493.4 points, and Mass Destruction finished third during the regular season of the $650 Las Vegas Auction League with 1,809.1 points, only to lose in the first round of the playoffs. This will be John's fourth straight season in the NFFC and we welcome him back with free drinks and free gifts!! Best of luck this year John in the hunt for the $100,000 grand prize and the $5,000 league prize.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Rick Hart of Homestead, Florida becomes our first official signup for Tampa's NFFC main event as he will be drafting in his third different city over the last four years. Rick started in Las Vegas in 2004, has drafted in Chicago the last two years and now is moving to Tampa this year for the main event and the $650 Auction League. Last year, Rick and Gerard Sambola led their Thunderstruck team to a third place money finish in Chicago League 2 with a 7-6 record and 1,743.05 points, earning a wild card spot in the Championship Round by finishing 27th overall. Thunderstruck then finished 39th in the Championship Round with 481.59 points. Rick and Gerard also led their Lost in the Fog team to a first place regular season finish in the $650 Chicago Auction League with a 9-4 mark and 1,706.2 points, but settled for third place money after losing in the second round of the playoffs and winning the consolation game. Great job guys and best of luck this year in the hunt for the $100,000 grand prize, $5,000 league prize and $4,000+ in auction league prizes.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Patrick Welsh of New Port Richey, Florida becomes our second official signup for Tampa as his signup came in minutes after Rick Hart's. Patrick has flown to Chicago the last two years for the NFFC, but will now take the drive over to Tampa for the main event and the $650 Draft Champions League. Last year, Patrick led his God Loves You team to a 6-7 record in Chicago League 6, placing 127th overall with 1,593.9 points. His TAMUGLY team also finished eighth in the $650 Chicago Draft Champions League with 2,437.05 points. Welcome back for another season Patrick and best of luck in the hunt for the $100,000 grand prize, $5,000 league prize and the $4,250 Draft Champions League prize.

[Ted's Cracked Head]

We are shooting for 364 teams in the main event this year among our four cities and you can sign up now without us hitting your credit card until August 1st. Let's get the competition going with the introductions of our early signups. I bet this fills up by August 7th this year.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I feel confident in saying that Alex and Steve Pletkin are NFBCers and NFFCers for life. I'm not sure anyone has more fun at the drafts than that father-son combo from Santa Rosa, California. Few owners are also as successful as this duo as they have won money in baseball and football thus far. Last year during their second season of football competition, Steve and Alex led their Wonder Boy and Ball Dude team to a third place finish in Las Vegas League 1 with a 9-4 record, earning a spot in the Championship Round by finishing 17th overall with 1,770 points. Wonder Boy and Ball Dude finished eighth overall in the Championship Round with 577.66 points. Great job guys. The duo also competed in the $650 Auction League, with Wonder Boy and Ball Dude finishing with a 4-9 record. They are back for the main event and the $650 Auction League at the Flamingo Las Vegas Aug. 31-Sept. 1 and we wish them best of luck in the hunt for the $100,000 grand prize, $5,000 league prize and $4,000+ in auction league prizes.

[Greg Ambrosius]

We're glad to welcome back another original tag team of the NFFC family as Chris Schinker of Chandler, Arizona and James Vassallo of West Allis, Wisconsin will be joining us at the Flamingo Las Vegas on Aug. 31-Sept. 2 for the fourth straight year. Chris and James will compete in the $1300 Draft Champions League, the $1300 Auction League, the main event and the Ultimate Draft League. Last year they led their gigglin marlin team to a 5-8 record in Las Vegas League 1 of the main event with 1,463.55 points, while their Ultimate League team just missed the playoffs with a 6-7 record and 1,596.85 points. Their gigglin marlin team did reach the playoffs in the Las Vegas $1,250 Auction League with a 6-7 record and 1,582.55 points, but it was defeated during the first round of the playoffs. Chris and James were just in Las Vegas for our NFBC drafts and I think I can speak for them and all the Corona's we drank that everyone had some fun last week!! Welcome back to the football event guys and best of luck in the hunt for the $100,000 grand prize, the $5,000 league prize, the $37,500 Ultimate League prize, the $8,500 Draft Champions League prize and the $8,000+ in Auction League prizes.

[Greg Ambrosius]

We're glad to welcome our newest members of the growing NFFC family to our event in 2008 as the tag team of Don Medlam and Tim Eaton of Las Vegas, Nevada are as excited as anyone to join our 14-team format. Don and Tim are members of the WCOFF who plan on playing in both high-stakes events as they like our format and the 3RR concept. Don and Tim will claim home field advantage in the NFFC's main event at the Flamingo Las Vegas on Saturday, Sept. 1st and they have also entered a pair of NFFC Satellite Leagues. I've had the pleasure to talk with Don several times and I LOVE his enthusiasm for fantasy football and the NFFC. Welcome aboard guys and best of luck in the hunt for the $100,000 grand prize and the $5,000 league prize.