Congrats again to Santos for winning the picks. 4 weeks in a row, which would be incredibly boring if it wasn’t so impressive. He missed Eldridge > Das Boot but made up for it by picking Wildman > Blue Collar. Winner this week gets to pick someone to get run over by A-Train.
1’s
Love Garden v Pita Pit
After the full slate of exciting games at Hobbs, the 1’s look this way: The Pit, LL Cool J, Unicorns, Ghosts, Dirty Birds. This is the battle of the only remaining undefeated, and it seems appropriate that it is between the longest standing rivalry in the league. The first kickball game I ever watched was between these teams in a wildly emotional clash at South Park for the 2004 championship. It was like Thunderdome without the leather, motorcycles, Tina Turner, and pretty much everything else in the movie, but my point is that it was the most intense kickball game I’ve ever seen. I remember lots of yelling and obscenities, things were thrown, and spectators were actually swinging from trees. Needless to say, I wanted to play.
The intensity has certainly carried on over the years, though in much more civilized manner, and nearly every game of this rivalry I’ve played in has been a close contest (2006-LG bottom 9th; 2007–PP wins by wide margin; 2007 after season fundraising tournament-LG wins by 1 or 2; 2008-LG in extra innings; 2009-PP wins by 1 or 2). An interesting note about this rivalry is that this is the first time in all these years that these teams will play each other on dirt (with the exception of the after season fundraising tournament in 2007). I predict this rivalry will continue to excite, and perhaps someone will swing from the tree at Lyons.
2’s
Red Lyon v Screamers
Mad Greek pulled out a 9th inning win against Replay to ensure that there is no shake up this week in the 2’s: Ice cream, The Sub, Red Lyon, Greeks, Play it again, Beavers. RL v S will be a “boo the bunt” kick around. Screamers will face the best outfield (Nick and Jared) since their Week 1 contest with Los Luchadores. RL, meanwhile, will have to corral the Swaggarty fastball, and I doubt they can do so effectively against the S’s 4 man outfield spread. PREDICTION: S 8 RL 5
3’s
Liberty Hall v Eastsiders
No upsets in the 3 pool last week and I still have it ranked: Life, Foghat Classic, Siders, Liberty, Beer Bottlers, Gavon’s Big Beef. Both teams sit right on the fringe of the top 15, and this could be an incredibly tight affair. Looks like LH played a spirited game in Week 8 but were stopped short by Slowride for the second time this season. Haven’t seen the Eastsiders play in a while, but I hear Robert Coffman has been back with the team. Can he help bring them back into contention? PREDICTION: E 9 LH 8
4’s
West Coast Saloon v Brew Ballers
Wildman upset Blue Collar to shake up the bottom of the 4 pool: Jazzy Jeff, Bruised Balls, We Can’t Swim, Murda flavored Tang, Vintage, Workers. I’m guessing this will decide #2 in the pool. WCS kept last week’s contest against J closer than I thought, and if they can pull out a victory it will be their best win of the season. After starting the season with such high expectations, BB’s need this win to build momentum towards the playoffs. PREDICTION: BB 11 WCS 7
5’s
Ms. Fortunes v Girls w/ LSE
This will be the battle for “not the worst team in the league”. Double T’s, Tell hers, idhead, Kitty, Girls, and Fortune Teller. Put in a different way, someone’s going to get their first win of the season. PREDICTION: GIRLS 14 MS F 4