The Rebel Yell franchise finished the disappointing 2004 SFFL season with 7 wins and 7 loses. After what looked like a wonderful auction, the ownership started to dismantle the team beginning right after the auction. In the first, and possibly the worst, wrong decision of 2004, GM Saylor sent Curtis Martin to the Shipyard Sharks for Jerry Porter, Justin Fargas, and the St. Louis defense. Jerry Porter became a bust in 2004 while dealing with injuries that kept him off the field more than he was on. Fargas never really got a chance to run the ball with Wheatley having a great year. The St. Louis defense only lasted for one week before they were released. On the other side, Curtis Martin was the NFL rushing leader and had an incredible season. SFFL experts figured that the first trade of the season probably cost the Rebel Yell two additional wins over the course of the season. To make matters worse, the Shipyard Sharks wanted Kevin Jones, but couldn't afford the extra $1 under their salary cap.

But the mistakes don't stop there... In week 6, the GM Saylor sends RB Michael Pittman to the Shipyard Sharks for Artose Pinner and the Atlanta Falcons defense. The move became necessary to back up the oft-injured Kevin Jones. Little did either GM know that Pittman would start running like a man possessed.

Week 7 saw the Rebel Yell team over bid for the services of Steve Smith, who was currently hurt at the time and could possibly be lost for the season. GM Saylor thought there would be more interest on Smith as a carryover for the 2005 season and bid $4. As fate has it, he was the only bidder for Smith that week. This decision actually had a negative effect on the 2005 season because instead of being an obvious carryover at $6, he would have been $9. That difference was the deciding factor in not carrying over Smith for 2005, which was the biggest mistake of that year (and probably kept them out of the playoffs that year also.)

During week 10 came the last bad decision of the year. To try to make a push for the playoffs, GM Saylor traded carryover potential Anquan Boldin ($1) to the Hurricanes for Todd Heap. Well, the story goes that Heap didn't produce anything, the Rebel Yell missed the playoffs, and Boldin was a solid producer in 2005.

The 2004 Rebel Yell season (and the 2005 season as well) can be blamed on bad decisions by the upper management of the team. The blame lies directly on GM Mark Saylor.

Finally the Rebel Yell team looked more like the highly octane team that most football scholars predicted. The Rebel Yell posted a season high 71 points against the Red Zone Assassins' 43 points in Week 3. Brett Favre came out of his early season slumber with a 4 TD, 360 yard performance earning him his first Robert E. Lee Gameball of the season. Jamal Lewis had his first 100 yard rushing game when he bounced for 186 yards and 1 TD. Hines Ward again posts good numbers with 96 yards receiving and 1 TD during a hurricane in Florida. Josh Brown got on track with 4 XPs and 2 FG of 28 and 35 yards.

"The team played much better this week," commented HC Ashley Judd. "BUT, we still have tons of improvement needed." Once again, the TE and DEF positions were lackluster, scoring a total of 4 points. "Q" was bottled up for the second straight week, causing concerns from the skeptics. "We need to do something at the TE and DEF positions, which should be very obvious to everyone," stated GM Saylor. "We can't continue to score a point here and a point there at those positions. I will tell the press that Daniel Graham is now the starting TE for our team. Hopefully this will help us in Week 4."

The Rebel Yell won a close game against first year franchise Laces Out by a score of 47.5 - 38. The game was much closer than the final score appears. With Randy Moss and Daunte Culpepper playing on Monday night, the Laces Out team made a gallant comeback from a 47.5 - 20 Sunday night score. Culpepper was intercepted on the final drive of the game to seal the victory.

"Even though we won our first game of the season, we still didn't execute properly," the visibly frustrated owner Mark Saylor whined. "Once again our WRs played extremely well combining for 21 points. Jamal Lewis had a solid game with 62 yards rushing and 2 TDs. BUT, other than those performances, the team lacks excitement. I don't know what we are going to do, but we will look into making some kind of change soon."

Hines Ward was given the Robert E. Lee Gameball in Week 2 for his 151 receiving yards and 1 TD performance.

Boo Williams was held without a catch this week, causing great concern in the front office. "This was supposed to be one of our secret weapons this year," snapped GM Mark Saylor. Boo was a carryover that has accumulated 1 catch and 13 yards over 2 weeks. He has actually cost us 1 point this year so far." Rumors are flying that the Rebel Yell are looking to trade Boo at this time.

It was obvious that the Rebel Yell team was not prepared for battle on opening day of the 2004 SFFL Season as they lost 86.5 - 46 to an overpowering Water Boys team. Jamal Lewis, who ran for over 500 yards in two games last year against the Cleveland Browns, racked up only 57 yards and no touchdowns. Boo Williams, coming off a fantastic finish to the 2003 season, caught 1 pass for 13 yards and fumbled once for a -1 point total. Hines Ward and Eric Moulds both had good games. On the other hand, Josh Brown and the Rams defense scored a combined 4 points.

"The team just didn't fire on all cylinders today," commented HC Ashley Judd. "Maybe we weren't ready to play or maybe we were looking ahead. We need to start working better as a team. I will say this to my team... Don't look forward to practices this week!!!"

On a happier note, the first Robert E. Lee Gameball of the season went to the only player on the team that had a outstanding performance, Quentin Griffin. In his first highly anticipated start for the Rebel Yell franchise, "Q" rushed for 156 yards and 2 TDs, adding a third TD through the air. His 23 points accounted for half the team total.

Not wasting any time in solidifying the depth of the team, the Rebel Yell shipped Curtis Martin to the Shipyard Sharks for WR Jerry Porter, RB Justin Fargas, and the St. Louis Rams defense. The addition of Kevin Jones on auction day as the RB3 made Martin expendable, and with little depth at WR, the obvious choice was Jerry Porter.


Porter did not put up fantastic fantasy numbers in 2003 and was overlooked by owners who didn't understand that he was dealing with a hernia most of the season. Justin Fargas, a young back with much potential, is currently in a fight for the starting job.

The Rams, also overlooked by many, was pre-season ranked 4th in the league by various experts.

The Rebel Yell future is looking real good with another solid auction by owner/coach Mark Saylor. Saylor targeted the RB3, RB4, and the WR1, WR2 positions as keys to a successful auction. The Rebel Yell came away with Kevin Jones, Curtis Martin, Eric Moulds, and Hines Ward slotted to fill those positions. "This is one of the best overall solid auctions we have every had," comment HC Saylor. "We were able to build around our carryover nucleus of Jamal, Quentin, and Boo to form a solid team from top to bottom. Sure, we might not have the depth of others at WR or TE, and we don't have a defense yet, but all of those things should be taken care of before the Week 1."

For the second straight year, the Rebel Yell didn't pick up a defense during the auction. They instead look to trade some of their depth over the next week for better value picks to fill out the team. Rumors are flowing that Curtis Martin could be the trade bait.

Other interesting tidbits that should be noted... Ricky Williams (retired) was signed by the team for $2 in hopes that he will see the light and return to football in 2005. It might look like a huge gamble at this time, but no one will be laughing if it pans out. ... 2003 Rookie sensation, Anquan Boldin, was the last pick in the auction and will sit on the bench until healthy. Worse case scenario has Boldin a solid keeper in 2005 at $6. ... The steal of the auction for the Rebel Yell was Tommy Maddox for $1 late on auction day.

With the departure of the Strawmakers from the SFFL, the Rambling Gophs and the Rogue (formerly the Cereal Kilurz) are battling to become the main rival of the Rebel Yell. Unlike the Strawmakers, both of these teams reside in different divisions of the SFFL. But that has not stopped them from dominating the Rebel Yell in years past. Jeff Teschendorf, coach/owner of the Rambling Gophs, is one of the last four remaining coaches from the inaugural SFFL season in 1996. Since that season, the Gophs have compiled a 8-3 record against the Rebel Yell. The Rogue, who entered the league in 1998, have marched on to a 5-2 record. Rogue coach/owner, Mark Petrillo, often refers to the Rebel Yell as the Rebel Smell. This kind of abuse will not continue, as the Rebel Yell coaching staff has singled out these two teams to focus on in the upcoming years.

Sources out of the Strawmakers camp report that team owner, Bernie Martinelli, has sold the franchise to an un-named buyer. It is reported that Martinelli could not dedicate the necessary time to ensure the success of the franchise this upcoming year. This development came as a shock to owners and players league wide and the mood is somber.

Rebel Yell owner, Mark Saylor, had this to say about the situation... "I respect the decision made by Martinelli, but am personally disappointed with the outcome. Martinelli has been an outstanding coach in this league, as noted by his 67-48-3 record over his eight years of coaching and his two Lombardi Trophies. He was one of the original owners/coaches of the SFFL, and he will be greatly missed."

The Strawmakers have been the arch-rivals of the Rebel Yell for many years now. They hold an 11-5-1 record against the Rebel Yell. That doesn't look as dominating as it truly was because the Rebel Yell have won three of the last four meetings. "Those Strawmakers were extremely tough in the Kokomos Division and we always looked forward to playing them at least twice a year," stated Coach Saylor. "They have been our biggest nemesis, and I guess in that regards we are a little bit happy to see them leave. But don't take that wrong, there could never be a replacement for that team."

After winning the Kokomos Division Title the last two seasons, the fans expect nothing less than another great season in 2004. And the management has made every stride in the off-season to set the team up for another great run at the elusive SFFL Championship trophy. For hours on hours, the coaches and management staff have been slaving away in their headquarters studying the players for this year's auction. Owner Mark Saylor commented briefly about the upcoming season... "We have really made strides in our auction strategy over the last few years. Now that we know how to build a great team, we just have to stay to our strategy and not get impatient during the auction."

When asked about carryovers from last season's team, Coach Saylor responded, "We have a lot of talent that we could carry over from last year's team. As the pre-season comes, we will revisit our current team members and decide their potential value in our current auction strategy. At this time, I can see at least two, and maybe as high as five, players being kept from last year's team."

Early speculation has contract extensions being awarded to Jeff Wilkins and Boo Williams. Depending on legal ramifications, another contract extension could be given to Jamal Lewis, whose record season last year helped the Rebel Yell get to their second consecutive playoff appearance.