Part 2
Inspired by this post by Rankle back in March of this year, I wanted continue the analysis and see who the current champion would be. But once I started, I realized I didn't quite like exactly how everything was previously done, so I started over from the beginning of the FHM era, and re-tracked the championship based on the following:
- The initial champion would be the last Challenge Cup winner from the STHS era, the Manhattan Rage
- Playoff games would be included in the analysis, as they are official games
- Days held would include playoff games if the current champion was in the playoffs, but would not if the champion missed the playoffs
- Off-season days are not included in days held. Days go from the last game of the champion's season until October 4th (day 1) of the next regular season

The idea behind this style of championship comes from boxing, where, due to a variety of potential factors, a champion can lose their belt without ever having lost a match. The lineal championship will continue to follow them, regardless if they have any other championship. If they manage to win back their original belt, than that title and the lineal title are unified once more.
I'll be breaking this up into two medias, to help keep the post size down.

With the explanations out of the way, let's do a season by season recap!

-----------S53-----------


The inaugural season of the FHM Lineal Championship sees a few decently long reigns, with Buffalo and New England (twice) have two-week reigns. New England had the longest reign in terms of both defenses and days held, with 6 defenses over 15 days near the end of the season. Hamilton and Calgary tied for the most title wins this season, with 3 each. Winnipeg managed to secure the title during their final game of the season, and with the Aurora missing the playoffs, the FHM Lineal Championship remains separated from the (FHM) Challenge Cup.

-----------S54-----------


Hot potato was the name of the game this season with the Lineal title, as the most defenses in any one reign was 5, which still stands today as the fewest in a season. The title changed hands 33 times, which was the most until this most recent S66 season. Despite this, Hamilton did managed to have a three-week reign of 23 days, longest by any team this season. Both the LA Panthers and the NOLA Specters managed to win the title 5 times, tying for most wins this season. With Hamilton securing the title and a playoff berth, the Lineal title and the Challenge Cup were guaranteed to become unified. With NOLA winning it all, they became the first team to hold both the FHM Lineal Championship and the Challenge Cup simultaneously.

-----------S55-----------


That hot potato seems to have frozen, as the title only changed hands 19 teams, tied with the inaugural season for least amount of times. Although, spoilers, it makes sense, when these were the only two seasons in which the regular season winner missed the playoffs. Manhattan held the title for the longest amount of time and defenses, at 28 days in their reign of 8 title defenses, the most of either thus far in the title's history. The Steelhawks, Panthers, and Pride tied for most title wins with 3 a piece. Exactly half of the league, 9 teams at this point, never touched the title this season, the most ever in the title's history. With the Pride taking the title off the Specter at season's end, the FHM Lineal Title and the Challenge Cup yet again become separated.

-----------S56-----------


This season was mixed bag, as there were 26 title exchanges, but also some long reigns mixed in as well. Chicago lead the way, with 9 successful defenses in 35 days, the most in both categories thus far. For the first time in the titles history, a single team had the most titles wins, with the Syndicate winning the belt on 4 different occasions this season. With Winnipeg securing the title at regular season's end and a playoff berth, the Lineal title and the Challenge Cup were yet again destined to be unified once more. Important to note, Buffalo managed to take the title off the Syndicate after going down 3 games to 0 and then pulling off the reverse sweep.

-----------S57-----------



S57 gives us the most unbelievable title reign in the Lineal Championship's history, and I would be shocked to see any team even come close to the records set by Hamilton this season. Hamilton, after securing the title and a single defense to win the unified title at the end of S56, managed to go on a 25-0 run to start S57, good enough for a 53 day reign. The 26 total defenses are by far the most in the FLC's history, and unlikely to ever be matched. Although, the nearly 8 week reign was almost too efficient, as the days record will go on to be broken with much fewer defenses in S59. Chicago managed to secure the title on 8 separate occasions, most in the league and most in a season at this point in time.

-----------S58-----------



S58 saw Hamilton repeat as the top team in terms of title defenses and days held, albeit not nearly as dominantly as in the season prior. Hamilton managed a very efficient 13 title defenses over 28 days, while also securing the title on 6 different occasions, good enough for top marks. The title changed hands 28 times this season, coincidentally the same amount of exchanges as the previous season. Hamilton becomes the first team to secure the unified FLC/Challenge Cup title twice.

-----------S59-----------



The final season of the pre-expansion era sees an interesting first, with the Steelhawks beginning and ending the regular season as unified champions. The Steelhawks, for the 3rd season in a row, had the longest title reign at 66 days, which is actually the all time record currently. With 10 less defenses than their historic S57 run, the Steelhawks managed to hold the title for an extra 13 days. Another first occurred this season, with both the Steelhawks (also for the 3rd straight season) and the Syndicate tying in the most defenses in one reign category, at 16. Texas, the season's final and unified champion, had the most title wins, at 6. With expansion coming S60, every team has managed to hold the FLC title at least once...except for the Seattle Argonauts. Despite 7 seasons of attempts, the Argos have yet to managed to hold the title.

Stay tuned for part 2, as the Forge and Patriotes join the festivities!