While the OIL was born in Baghdad, the Hangovers/Arrogant Americans rivalry evolved slowly over multiple locations. The franchises were rivals long before the league permanently matched them up for Rivalry Week. And it came naturally. They prepare the entire season for their annual matchup. 

No one questions the sincerity of their rivalry. The franchises have grown into the fiercest rivalry in the OIL, if not the DBFA. But how did the managers become such rivals? The following is an oral history of the Hangovers/Arrogant Americans rivalry, as told by the men who live it.

The OIL members who were on the 2006 mission that started the OklahomIraqis League know that no fantasy football league is large enough to include every good guy on that mission. That problem was magnified in the wake of the death of one of our own. Before, during and after the funeral service, the commissioner was asked about the OIL. And a handful of guys had already asked about joining the league before that. 

After lots of consideration, the commissioner and co-commissioner have decided to start a second OklahomIraqis League. www.okiraqi.org will soon be home to the OklahomIraqis Leagues, as the new league will be incorporated into the existing site. 

The new league will mirror the original one. It will have the same league settings and will also consist of 14 teams and a 13-week schedule. It will share the same logo as the OIL as well. As of now, it will be referred to as the "OIL 2" or the "OIL 2.0." Which trophy it will award is to be determined. 

We also don't yet know if the OIL 2.0 will be a member of the DBFA, but the commissioner hopes that it is. For now, these are the confirmed members:

1. Stephen Brosh
2. Kyle Coleman
3. Lance Grant
4. Nick Green
5. Thomas Hillier
6. Walt Musselman
7. Charlie Neely
8. Bryan Nye
9. Nick Reed
10. Adam Schuster
11. Jimmy Venable

The remaining members are to be determined. Please help recruit potential members. The ideal candidate is one who was in the 158 and was in Iraq with the 158 during either the 2006 or 2008 mission. It would be helpful for each candidate to have a ready-made "rival" as week 13 in the OIL is Rivalry Week. 

In the meantime, please contact the commissioner with your candidates for membership.

Aaron Cobb is officially an OklahomIraqis champion, joining Kevin Pyle, Lyndal Morgan, Jack Bruesch, Josh Hastings, and Justin Cliburn in the elite club. It took him seven years to do it, but he succeeded in his first OIL Bowl appearance. Here is the final tally:

The Arrogant Americans have no excuses. No one on the bench would have made a difference. No waiver wire QB would have done better than Brady. Kudos to Cobb for winning the championship while starting Mendenhall, Reece, and Powell. 

And here is where Cobb places among the rest of the OIL champions:

The folks at SculptureAlley.net were so impressed with how well our league logo looked after their art department altered it for engraving that they have featured it on their site as an example of their best work. I'd like to give many, many thanks to Jim Horinek, Managing Editor of The Collegian as well as master of Photoshop, for his time and effort in designing the first draft of our logo. Thanks also go to SculptureAlley for doing such a fine job. To see the image of our trophy at SculptureAlley, click here and scroll about halfway down.


Cliburn.

The people at Sculpture Alley had to redesign our logo slightly to be able to engrave it into the plaque, so here is what it will look like on the actual trophy.