It was an unusual year in the NFL this past season. The year before it was safe to pick any team that played the Bengals or lowly Seahawks. That changed.

Many watched the Eagles' Terrell Owens drama unfold, and somebody named Donavan seemed to go& "Down Again." Yet despite the Eagles season twelve teams had worse records.

It was a year of anything could happen, and it did. The season started as it ended. Odd, just odd. At the start it looked to be a return Eagles and Patriots at the Super Bowl. At the end it was a sixth seed AFC team that exploded, and a Colts team that imploded.

Despite this Sports Lore's "Predictors of Pig Skin" all managed to remain above .500 in their calls and hopes.

With the total of season and post season 267 games were played. While each week, this year, really was a new week a round of applause goes to all four of our volunteers who put their thoughts, hopes, and "jeez I hope I'm right" selections out there.

Hal, like in our Movie Guy, knows next to nothing about any sports. So he won, of course. Hal's record was 140 right, 119 wrong, and eight ties. The ties come about because of the point spreads. Since we are not gambling we call ties a tie, not a loss.

Hal's method of picking was listening to the experts and a math formula he concocted. It worked, and congratulations to Hal. For this he wins the opportunity to pick next year again. The other three demand it.

Tom came in second with a 134-125-8 record. His method of picking was much like the other two contestants. View the odds for five minutes, then place your picks. As you can see for the most part it worked.

Chef Mike came in third with a record of 132-127-8. Like Tom, and Jerry, he had one bad week that he could never catch up on. Hal had none indicating maybe the pros and math formula do add up.

Sports Lore Webmaster Jerry hung in there early till one historic bad week. Out of all his picks only one team won. After that he changed strategies and for the most part stuck with whomever the odds favored. It worked and brought him over the .500 mark.

Now putting your self out there with picks is not an easy thing to do. In the past we have had people drop out for whatever reason. All I can say is that anyone is invited to join us next year. Just send a picture so readers can see who you are.

For this year I thank Jerry, Mike, Tom and Lucky Hal. You guys helped make it an interesting 2005 season.

Mike Toone

Editor - Sports Lore