After a short absence from the throne, Team Knight returned in 2001 to reclaim their unprecedented fourth Hemcher Cup.
For a while, Team Lampazzi looked determined to hold onto the Cup for one more year. Lampazzi’s club stormed out of the gates and took a lead that they would not relinquish for almost two weeks. Then as the tournament unfolded and players started to fall, it became
readily apparent that Team Knight would not be stopped, not that year.
Team Lampazzi finally surrendered as Team Knight went on to victory while smashing many records. While many records fell, Team Knight did fall short in their efforts to break the All-Time Team Scoring record, held by Team Tonsmeire.
In October, 2001, an obviously still exhausted owner Anthony Lampazzi presented the Hemcher Cup to Team Knight owner Chris
Knight at a Homecoming celebration in Villanova, PA. Attended by hundreds, if not thousands, of people, Homecoming served as its
usual perfect place for the trophy handover, even if only about ten of those thousands of people actually got to lay eyes on the actual
Hemcher Cup, which was under heavy security most of the afternoon.
When asked how he felt about last year’s competition, Lampazzi was not so enthusiastic.
“Listen, we’ve accomplished a lot the past two years. We won it all, leveraged that into a new stadium deal in Danbury, Connecticut. While upbeat about the future, Lampazzi is also a realist, acknowledging that if his club sees the same drought that they just got through, Team Lampazzi won’t be holding the Cup again until 2009, as most owners are approaching 40 years old.”
“I can’t believe that fu*king Duke team! And when did Lute Olsen learn how to coach?! Sonnofatbitch!” – AJ
Team Knight on the other hand, took a different approach to reclaiming the Cup. The entire front office was recently rewarded to an expenses paid trip in Jamaica for a week. Ironically, it was here during the celebration that owner and CEO Chris Knight almost ended
his career with a faulty cliff jumping incident that left him badly bruised and barely able to do much for several weeks.
However, overcoming the odds, Team Knight was rewarded for its perseverance with the first overall pick in the 2002 Draft, to be held on Wednesday, March 13th at 9pm on ESPN2.
Can they repeat for the second time? Can they claim their fifth Cup? The first overall pick will certainly help, but it will be an uphill battle for Team Knight as once again, everyone will be gunning for America’s East Coast Team.