A pair of heartbreaking (well, to some) upsets this week on Monday Night Football precipitated by matchups in which the two Monday Defenses were live.

Game 1: The Genius versus The Steel Warriors

If you had to predict a winner for a one player versus one player fantasy match up, and your choices were Donovan McNabb plus five points versus the Atlanta Defense, what would you choose?

Well, you'd be wrong.

In the first intra-Taylor game of the year, elder brother is intercepted on the goal line and returned 100 yards for an unbelievable, last minute turn of fortune. Oh the frustration!

McNabb finished with 5 points, the Atlanta Defense with 12. Include the 5 point buffer, and Sandy loses by 2 points

Adding insult to injury, Steel Warriors later claims to have gone unmanaged.

Sandy, we almost feel sorry for you. Almost.

Game 2: The Hombres versus Stop Your Begging

Okay, next quiz. If you had to predict a winner for a two player versus two player fantasy matchup, and your choices were Terrell Owens and Warrick Dunn plus three points and Brian Westbrook and the Philadelphia Defense, what would you choose?

Tougher call. Westbrook and Dunn are both starters, but Dunn runs on a team with Michael Vick, who rushed for close to 1,000 yards last year as a quarterback. According to the near worthless Yahoo predictions, Westbrook and the Philly Defense outscore Owens and Dunn by four points, giving SYB the win. Based on that alone, I figure The Hombres are a shoe in.

Westbrook scored the only Eagles touchdown in a low scoring, defense dominated affair in which Owens was denied a touchdown. Score one for Stop Your Begging.

Second Story: Trump Overachieving!

What's a Sandy Taylor loss without a corresponding Trump victory?

...

Okay, good point. Usually their losses coincide, and a loss by the Genius is always a good time.

Oh! You make another good point! A win by CJ or Andrew is much better icing on the cake of a Sandy loss than a win by Trump. Yes, yes, I couldn't agree more. I was very happy about CJ's come from behind deflation of Sandy this week.

Yup. True. There is no love lost between Sandy and Curt or Sandy and Daniel. Those two winning when The Genius loses has also got to be a bit annoying. Good points all.

Nevertheless! Trump's annual win is DFL news. And there is no way that Sandy respects Trump for a DFL owner to be reckoned with long term. "How can that guy possibly compete with me?" thinks Sandy, "He knows nothing about football. His drafting is almost accidental!"

Still, Trump outscored The Genius. Posting the league's fourth highest point total, Trump would have won had they played heads up.

Once again, Trump's team is anchored by a power defense, capable, as in week 1, of leading his team in scoring. Following an unsuccessful year built around the Baltimore Ravens Defense and a view of the NFL a decade old, Trump now adds (this year to the Tampa Bay Defense) a year of DFL experience and a couple of home team heroes in Barber and Shockey. Add in Randy Moss, Trent Green, and the kicker for the high-scoring Kansas City offense, and Trump could very well win more than just the opener this year.

Some of this depends of course on whether the notorious, reactionary firings The Donald is known for come to pass. If Pro-Bowlers are going to be tossed to the waiver wire after one bad week (remember Jason Witten and the Detroit Defense last year?), Trump could find his winning record short lived.

In related news, former DFL owner John Mruz has been spotted in Miami.

Mruz sold his team last year to tycoon and reality TV star Donald Trump in an attempt to pay off the Miami Dolphins and keep living the high life with friend and fellow football enthusiast Ricky Williams. Terms of the deal included keeping Mruz as General Manager, but shortly after taking ownership, Trump fired Mruz for incompetence. (The team posted its first win in its first week without Mruz.)

Apparently Mruz is living in Williams home. He is rarely seen but was spotted late last week on the streets of Miami offering cash for clean urine.

Williams is back in the NFL, currently serving a four game suspension for marijauna use. He is also back in the DFL, drafted in the 13th round by Stop Your Begging.

The Devil And Daniel W.

Part I: Trader

The editorial staff at the Opus has warned DFL players for years: do not trade with Curt "Trader" Wu. He is the Devil. The man who brought us:

• the Bettis-for-Faulk trade proposal after Bettis's one yard, three touchdown performance in Week 1 last year*,
• who traded away Jeff Garcia the week before Garcia posted a 0.0 passer rating with three interceptions, and
• "Rosemary's Baby Part II: Diane's Baby" by promising to pull out in time

* The Opus will maintain this infamous trade proposal as righteous truth for as long as it remains in production.

Part II: Traitor

Editor-in-chief of the Opus and owner of the Thunderfleas, Daniel Wakabayashi, executed a trade with Trader this past week. It was a trade of big players: Julius Jones, a promising fantasy back for the questionable Dallas Cowboys, for Torry Holt, a top shelf wide receiver with the best yards per game average in the NFL over the past few years.

The Thunderfleas were in desperate need of a running back, having Kevin Jones as the only running back on the roster starting for his NFL team, and completely unaware of Stephen Davis's availabilty in free agency. The 'Pedes had a glut of decent running backs and were looking to round out a quality team with another good wide receiver.

The Dead Centipedes are left with starting running backs Shaun Alexander, Fred Taylor, and Kevan Barlow and backup running back Mewelde Moore, who was put in for the second half of the Vikings' loss in Week 2 and may well end up as the starter out of a mixed up, less-than-stellar Vikings' stable.

This could very well be one of those trades that is good for both teams, making competition that much tougher for the rest of the DFL.

Frankly, the editorial staff of the Opus is disgusted that anyone would break the implied embargo against Trader, especially when a perfectly good starting running back was still lingering in free agency. Idiot.

Curt once again shows his willingness to take advantage of an ignorant owner in perceived desperation. Disgusting.

And That's The Way It Wasn't

In an effort to fit in writing of the Opus whenever convenient, the editorial staff began drafting the Week 1 Opus on Monday afternoon, 9/12. Unfortunately, the expected gain in efficiency never materialized. The following Opus story was written Monday afternoon, 9/12/05, at 4:45pm:

The Genius Wins

DFL comissioner and public enemy number 2, Sandy Taylor, managed to do in week 1 what it took him nine weeks to do last year: win.

First blood was drawn in intra-Taylor play for the year, with elder brother back on top.

See complete story section D, page 6.

But it was not meant to be...

New Owner

The DFL put out the welcome mat this week for new owner Rich Hom, owner and head coach of The Hombres. Stop Your Begging owner Doug Feinberg promptly picked up the mat, rolled it tight, and used it to give The Hombres a warm, welcoming Week 1 beat down. Thanks, Doug!

The Hombres sit dejectedly at 0-1, with the third highest Week 1 score. Welcome to the DFL, rookie!

Note to league owners: "Rookie" Rich Hom has a small banner hanging in his cube, sent to him from the ESPN website for winning his ESPN fantasy league in 2000.

The Opus hired famous Loch Ness Monster photographer Phillip McCrevis and equipped him with a state-of-the-art camera phone from renowned cell phone manufacturer Audiovox to sneak into Rich's cube and snap the following picture of the banner.