The fact that the Dolla Billz won the SLaM 2000 title might be called improbable had they not been predicted by some to win from the season's outset. That being said, no one could truly identify why the Dolla Billz were supposed to win. Nonetheless, sixteen weeks - a fourteen-week regular season followed by two weeks of playoffs - later, the Dolla Billz were crowned champions of SLaM Bowl III. Their defeat of the Dictators by a 194.45-179.25 score would have been closer had Terrell Owens not broken numerous receiving records, but one simple fact remains - the Dolla Billz are now the top dogs.
Who would have guessed that this would be the year in which QB Rich Gannon blossomed into a MVP candidate? Would anyone have guessed that, despite starting the season with a variety of ailments, RB Fred Taylor would rattle off more than half a dozen consecutive 100-yard rushing performances? Football fans everywhere knew that TE Tony Gonzalez was good, but did anyone think he would become only the third tight end in history to record ninety catches in a season? Would journeymen like WR Terry Glenn and RB Tyrone Wheatley produce solid fantasy numbers for the first time in a long time?
The Dolla Billz had lots of questions to answer coming into the season, but, unbeknownst to the rest of the league, they had lots of answers. Fred Taylor became one of the most dependable running backs in the league, even if his Jacksonville Jaguars fell from 14-2 to a mediocre 7-9. Rich Gannon guided the Oakland Raiders to the second-best record in the AFC, including a five-touchdown game in the season finale. Even QB Aaron Brooks, a midseason pickup from the New Orleans Saints, managed to put up some sterling numbers - through the air as well as on the ground - to lead his team to a division title. No one player personified the Billz' drive to success, yet succeed they did.
Some teams rely on star players - players such as Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, and Edgerrin James - for glory, but the Dolla Billz had very few steady performers. Week-to-week, a different player carried the team, right through Terrell Owens's amazing twenty-catch game in the championship. Matt and Julia Jenks, owners of the Dolla Billz, spent their first year as official co-owners dealing with scorn, ridicule, and outright laughter, yet their team managed to find itself in spite of these obstacles. The Dolla Billz became a team greater than the sum of its parts, a team destined for something extraordinary, a team bucking to be named SLaM 2000 Champions!