Portland, OR — The team formerly-known-as-the-artists “L.A. RIOT!” are proud to announce their team’s new identity as the “NIKEtown Knights”. At a dramatic press conference, held in conjunction with mega marketing giant, NIKE, team owner, Samuel A. McClain unveiled the new name for the 1997 season.

 

On hand for the announcement was Phil Knight, co-founder and current CEO of NIKE. Knight has been largely responsible for NIKE’s phenomenal success over the past two decades. The team name was chosen by McClain in honor of Phil Knight. Also in attendance at the press conference and subsequent party, were many other NIKE endorsers including Michael Jordan, Michael Johnson, former LA Riot! wide-out Deion Sanders along with Andre Aggassi and his wife, Brooke Shields. While Jordan and Johnson are in the off-season of their respective sports, Sanders took time away from his busy two-sport schedule to attend the press conference.

Notably missing from the announcement were financial terms of the deal. A source for FFF who demanded anonymity insisted the deal was only a fraction less than Nike’s record-setting deal with Tiger Woods. Neither Knight nor McClain would independently confirm the source’s story.

The team also announced that they would play their “home” games this year in various stadiums throughout the world. Money from the NIKE sponsorship will help defer the travel costs of both teams. Additionally, each home game will be “presented by” additional sponsors. Names of individual game sponsorships will be announced prior to each home game. The teams first 4 games of the season are all “away” games.

Additionally, Pittsburgh based USAirways was announced as the official domestic air carrier and Virgin Airlines will be the official international airline. Gatorade has been signed on as the official team sports drink, while Mountain Dew is the official team soft drink. Energizer is the official team battery and Magnum, the official team condom. Negotiations are in process with other potential sponsors, McClain announced.

Phil Knight stated, “We are delighted to have a team with the successful track record of the LA Riot! join the NIKE family of endorsers. Just as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods have helped make NIKE a household name in their respective sports, we anticipate that our association with this championship team will do the same for NIKE in the growing sport of Fantasy Football.”

The LA RIOT! won the “highest point total” award in the FFL inaugural season and won the league championship the following year, 1993 season, and then again this past year.

NIKE, pronounced NI-KEY, is the winged goddess of victory according to Greek mythology. She sat at the side of Zeus, the ruler of the Olympic pantheon, in Olympus. A mystical presence, symbolizing victorious encounters, NIKE presided over history’s earliest battlefields.

A Greek would say, “When we go to battle and win, we say it is NIKE.”

Synonymous with honored conquest, NIKE is the 20th century footwear that lifts the world’s greatest athletes to new levels of mastery and achievement. The NIKE SWOOSH embodies the spirit of the winged goddess who inspired the most courageous and chivalrous warriors at the dawn of civilization.

 

Knights hit triple digits;
Former PG backs romp

The defending champion NK Knights picked up where they left off in 1996. The Riot! scored 107 points, falling just 10 points short of the all-time record for points in a week. Wisconsin scored 117 in Week 1 of 1995. Wisconsin scored 103 fewer points this year than they did 2 years ago.

Syracuse, another team that moved during the off-season, checked in with the second-highest total of the week. The Blizzard ran up 74 points on Dallas. And despite starting Kordell Stewart at QB, the Richmond Raptors chalked up 58 points on the week. Richmond wins the Lieberman bowl, as PG managed only 29 points. Having the 49 points that former Pachyderms Lawrence Philips and Robert Smith had this week would have helped.

On the other end of the scale, WAKE UP Cheeseheads and 2x4s. The season started Sunday, yet you wouldn’t know it from their scores (WN=14, ND=18).

Several players shot out of the gate with huge weeks. For quarterbacks, Drew Bledsoe having a huge game (24 pts) was not a surprise. What many do consider a surprise, however, was Neil O’Donnell’s 25 points. And for Mercer, it didn’t matter whether they started Jeff George or Vinny Testeverde. They were both good for 17 points.

Lawrence Phillips tied for the highest score of the day (29 pts) while Eddie George (28 pts), Terry Allen (23 pts) and Robert Smith (20 pts) all put up big numbers out of the backfield. Phillips and Smith were both cut by Pittsburgh prior to the season, and were both first-round gifts in the draft for NY and DS.

WR Tim Brown tied Phillips for the best day (29 pts) while Michael Irvin (23 pts) and Cris Carter and Herman Moore (20 ea.) all scored big. Kicker Jason Elam (15 pts) had the high score amongst booters.