Monday, October 17, 2005
Any Given Sunday
Well, after my somewhat failed regionals predictions, I'm going to put down some thoughts on the various finishes of teams that qualified or just missed qualifying.
NE:
This is one of the two regions I had just about right on. Most everyone who has an iota of experience knew that DoG would take the region. The word on Goat and Twisted was split. I felt that it was Time for Twisted to make it. Experience be damned. Though there was some doubt as a result of there being so many UMass fellas on that team... Goat's game doesn't translate as well against inclement weather or athletic opponents, from my experience. I thought that NY might push for that last spot, but by facing Goat in the backdoor instead of Tide or Chuck, they didn't make it as far as I expected. No real surprises here.
MA:
I was wrong about Pike. I figured they would pull it together and take down Ring for the first time in any meaningful game. In what, looking back, was an unsurprising case of "looking past a good but beatable opponent," they let Potomac tag them in the semis. Everything after this was expected. Ring took it to the Potomac boys, Pike took revenge on Potomac, and Potomac cleaned up third place by beating on some also-ran. I expected Truck Stop to be alive on the second day, but their young composition worked against them.
S:
Well, I was pretty much right on this one. Doublewide played Chain a little tighter than I expected. DW v Bulge was a pretty good one, and as expected Vicious v Bulge was intense.
SW:
I did not expect JB to beat the 'Dors, but not really a huge surprise-- both teams are elite level, so as the saying goes... PBR v Sack Lunch was a bit of a toss-up, as far as I'm concerned. Seems like even the other teams (Arson and monster) aren't that far off from qualifying. The interesting thing about this one is how it affects the seedings at Nationals, a topic about which both Tim Murray and The Atlanta Collective have started conversations.
NW:
As I wrote, I expected Sockeye to put the chips down and walk away, but Jam and Furious both had other ideas. Like JB over the 'Dors, nothing too surprising, but it messes with anticipated seedings. Kaos and Rhino proved again that they are very good, but just a step behind the other dominant teams in their region. Both would challenge for a spot to the Show in any region and would have a shot to knock off anyone. Rhino really seems to relish in a confrontational style, and Kaos very strong for a bunch of Santa Cruz area players.
CN:
No real surprises. Sub-Zero is a better team than BAT, and Machine seems to be on a downswing. I'm not sure about all of the RSD (Why do I continue to sadden myself by visiting that group?) talk about SZ smacking people up, but they are a strong team with some good additions to the roster.
Nothing really interesting in this entry, but I wanted to get my thoughts down.
NE:
This is one of the two regions I had just about right on. Most everyone who has an iota of experience knew that DoG would take the region. The word on Goat and Twisted was split. I felt that it was Time for Twisted to make it. Experience be damned. Though there was some doubt as a result of there being so many UMass fellas on that team... Goat's game doesn't translate as well against inclement weather or athletic opponents, from my experience. I thought that NY might push for that last spot, but by facing Goat in the backdoor instead of Tide or Chuck, they didn't make it as far as I expected. No real surprises here.
MA:
I was wrong about Pike. I figured they would pull it together and take down Ring for the first time in any meaningful game. In what, looking back, was an unsurprising case of "looking past a good but beatable opponent," they let Potomac tag them in the semis. Everything after this was expected. Ring took it to the Potomac boys, Pike took revenge on Potomac, and Potomac cleaned up third place by beating on some also-ran. I expected Truck Stop to be alive on the second day, but their young composition worked against them.
S:
Well, I was pretty much right on this one. Doublewide played Chain a little tighter than I expected. DW v Bulge was a pretty good one, and as expected Vicious v Bulge was intense.
SW:
I did not expect JB to beat the 'Dors, but not really a huge surprise-- both teams are elite level, so as the saying goes... PBR v Sack Lunch was a bit of a toss-up, as far as I'm concerned. Seems like even the other teams (Arson and monster) aren't that far off from qualifying. The interesting thing about this one is how it affects the seedings at Nationals, a topic about which both Tim Murray and The Atlanta Collective have started conversations.
NW:
As I wrote, I expected Sockeye to put the chips down and walk away, but Jam and Furious both had other ideas. Like JB over the 'Dors, nothing too surprising, but it messes with anticipated seedings. Kaos and Rhino proved again that they are very good, but just a step behind the other dominant teams in their region. Both would challenge for a spot to the Show in any region and would have a shot to knock off anyone. Rhino really seems to relish in a confrontational style, and Kaos very strong for a bunch of Santa Cruz area players.
CN:
No real surprises. Sub-Zero is a better team than BAT, and Machine seems to be on a downswing. I'm not sure about all of the RSD (Why do I continue to sadden myself by visiting that group?) talk about SZ smacking people up, but they are a strong team with some good additions to the roster.
Nothing really interesting in this entry, but I wanted to get my thoughts down.
