All Hail the Mighty, Mighty Hippos!

Man, who would have thought that a fantasy team named for hippos would ever be successful?  But successful they were.  Despite losing their final two regular season games and backing into the playoffs at 8-6, they dominated both playoff weeks and won the title in convincing fashion.

Probably the best part about the Orion River Horses' title is that it came, at least in part, along with Drew Brees' successful assault on on Dan Marino's 27-year-old record for passing yards in a season.  Down to Strike Team by 28 going into the final game of the fantasy season, a divisional matchup between the Saints and Falcons, the River Horses had Brees, Colston and Turner left to play.  Turner was winding down, as he usually does late in the season, and scored a measly two fantasy points.  But Brees had one of his typical great nights, throwing 3 TDs for 275 yards in the first 55 minutes of the game --- including one to Marques Colston, which was key for the Hippos.

Later in the evening, Brees iced the game for the River Horses when he threw his fourth TD of the game, breaking Marino's record in the process.

For their part, Strike Team put up a respectable 70 points, but that wasn't enough to get them the win.  The real difference in the game came among the waiver-wire pickups.  Kevin Smith had a good game for Strike Team, as did C.J. Spiller for the River Horses.  But Donald Brown, who had been strong and scored 8 or more points in three of the previous four games, only managed a single point during championship week.

And so the Orion River Horses take the 2011 TTFFL crown.