Usually, IBM BigBlue quarterback Kevin Craft is not the type of a guy who has emotional outbursts once a game is over.

But when his team beat the Lixil Deers 69-54 and punched a ticket to the Japan X Bowl late last month, he was a little different. Perhaps he couldn't conceal his excitement about finally getting a chance to compete in an X League championship game in his third year in Japan.

"The last three years since I got here, we've done a lot of hard work," said Craft, a former UCLA signal-caller, after the Lixil game in the playoff semifinals at Yokohama Stadium.