The Weekly RootZoo Awards: October 14th, 2008

Four teams now remain in the MLB playoffs, and all of them seem to be trading blows. Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead in the series with a big win at Boston, while Los Angeles let their lead slip away late to give Philadelphia three chances to make it to their first World Series since 1993. Another exciting weekend of football unfolded in front of our eyes as well. We saw #1 Oklahoma, #3 Missouri and #4 LSU all lose in the college game to shake the rankings up. The pro game saw its fair share of upsets as well, such as the Rams over the Redskins, Cardinals over Cowboys and Browns over Giants. The 2008-2009 NHL season official began on this side of the pond Thursday night, while the NBA play an experimental exhibition game outdoors in California for the first time in over 30 years. Jeff Burton won the Bank of America 500, moving into 2nd place in the Chase for the Nextel Cup and nipping at the heels of leader Jimmie Johnson. All in all, another busy sports week is in the book, with many more to look forward to in the near future. Here are this week's awards.

RootZoo Athlete of the Week: Drew Brees

The New Orleans Saints have struggled a bit to start off the season, but Drew Brees has not been much of a problem. In this week's matchup against the Oakland Raiders, Brees connected on 87% of his passes (26-30) for 320 yards. His 3 touchdown passes guided his team to a convincing 34-3 win over the Oakland Raiders. His overall play so far this season has put him in the early discussion for possible MVP votes at the end of the year. Congratulations to Brees on winning Athlete of the Week.



RootZoo Team of the Week: Texas Longhorns Football

In the heavily-anticipated matchup between the Longhorns and the former #1 Oklahoma Sooners, Texas walked away as the new #1 in the country with a 45-35 win at the Cotton Bowl. The Red River Rivalry has seen many great games, but some are labeling this one of if not the best in recent memory. The bad news for Texas is they now have the #1 ranking, something that has been hard to keep so far this season. However, as far as this week goes, the Texas Longhorns are your RootZoo Team of the Week winner.



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WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS

RootOff of the Week

Gold Medal (+500 points): zballinmadison and taekneek | 2006 NFL Draft  |

Silver Medal (+250 points): bballer2295 and basebal2217 | Nick Markakis is >>>>>>> Jay Bruce, Ichiro, Aaron Rowand, BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Vlad Guerro, or D |

Bronze Medal (+100 points): I Suck and Chew and iluvnokas | Ben Roethlisberger is a Top 5 Quarterbac |

Honorable mention to other top nominees: fanphils (twice) and maspive (twice)
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Poll of the Week

Gold Medal (+500 points): wpm5587 | If you could change one event in sports what would it be? |

Silver Medal (+250 points): Owner | The WR position can make or break any game, what type would you like to have your QB throwing too? |

Bronze Medal (+100 points): Tie
boondog | What is the Best Hail Mary ever? |
senorboo | How will the ongoing economic crisis effect sports? |

Honorable mention to other top nominees: Owner, jprdbulldog, EC4EVER and wpm4487
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Thread of the Week

Gold Medal (+500 points): AGENTZER00 | Boston Red Sox: The Greatest Postseason Team EVER |

Silver Medal (+250 points): lil_au912 | 50 Greatest Charles Barkley Quotes |

Bronze Medal (+100 points): The Hill 14 | Robinson Cano: Looking back on 2008 and looking ahead to 2009 |

Honorable mention to other top nominees: jbrandt3, twac00, The Hill 14, jovenitti and hail2daredskinz
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Article of the Week

Gold Medal (+500 points): sixrulers2 | The New Orleans Experience |

Silver Medal (+250 points): boogss03 | Nascar Points System---The How It Works Guide. |

Bronze Medal (+100 points): GEM9 | Pre And Post Race Inspection |

Honorable mention to other top nominees: reliv1908, halftimesportscards (twice), Nikjo3, cpanther89 and Private Lee Insayne[McD]
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RootZoo News Update

1.  New Survivor Contests this week.  A new NFL contest (with an interesting twist) will debut, as well as an NHL Survivor Contest.  The NFL contest will hit RootZoo late Tuesday, so make sure to check the section and join.

2.  RecruitZoo very soon.  Just trying to figure out how to keep the contest as fair as possible, without the presence of opportunities for point abuse.  Anyone who's witnessed any contests in the past knows that things can get out of control at times, and I'd like to make sure that all members brought to the site are well behaved, quality additions to RootZoo.

3.  By now, I'd imagine you've seen that you're able to customize your profiles, and tell RootZoo a little more about yourself through extended profiles.  We'll continue to make some more small improvements throughout the site over the coming days and weeks.  However, our in house designer will be leaving for a well deserved two-week vacation later this week so there may be a little silent period in between.  We'll most definitely be making some things happen behind the scenes every day though.

4.  If you're reading this and your account was suspended, you were suspended with good reason.  Who started what doesn't matter anymore.  It's beyond that.  Grow up and be men.  Most of the members half your age make far less noise than you've all recently made once again.  The complaints to me that I constantly read from both sides of your issues are costing hours per week that could be spent developing our fantasy leagues, and every RootZoo member is suffering as a result of your bickering.  I like you all as people, but if you have a problem with this stance, maybe you're best off finding another place to talk sports.  It's enough already.  Sorry to the rest of you for the 30 seconds you just wasted having read that - but I think you all have a right to know that it's gotten to a point where the actions of others have directly affected my ability to build a better RootZoo for you.

And that's that.  Congratulations to all medalists and nominees, and let's see what another exciting week in sports will bring!