Congrats to Paul and Shaun to both tied for the most correct picks last week with 14 out of 15. As promised, you both get to pick your very own Santos’ booger, so I suggest you each take a nostril and dig in. I’m going to jazz up the picks contest a bit. I have ranked each of the rank play pools below (my own completely subjective rankings). Each correct pick is worth 1 point, and correctly picked upsets are additionally worth the difference in the rankings. For example, if you correctly picked a #4 over a #2, the game is worth a total of 3 points. Or for the math geeks 1 + (x – y) x=winning team rank y=losing team rank. I will not rank my own team, so all games involving LG are worth only one. Winner this week gets to hang out with Mick Cottin at the Liberty Hall video rental store to watch your favorite Wes Anderson film.
1’s
Los Luchadores v Sacred Sword
Last week’s impressive showing against Das Boot seems to indicate that the KVKL Frankenstein has outgrown its potential awkward beginnings. They lead the league in scoring defense and have an impressive offensive balance and range. Sacred Sword lost to Pita Pit by a wide margin, but I don’t know that that means anything other than Pita Pit has always been a bad match up for them. I guess it also means we all have to pay full price for our swords, axes, tapestries, crystals, and herbal remedies. Good news for SS, their CF and offensive weapon rejoins the squad this week. I rank the 1’s this way: Pita Pit, Los Luchadores, Sacred Sword, Das Boot, Eldridge. For followers on this blog, you know there is no shortage of friendly trash talk leading up to this game, and we’ll see if the bulletin board material leads to any inspired performances. PREDICTION: LL 7 SS 6
2’s
Yello Sub v Screamers
I think this pool is a 3 team race, and rank it as follows: Yello Sub, Screamers, Red Lyon, Mad Greek, Replay, Weavers. I expect this game will decide the winner of the pool, but I wouldn’t count Red Lyon out. The Screamers looked dominate in the GOTW but they shouldn’t expect their captain and pitcher, Swaggerty, to have the same success against Yello Sub’s team speed. PREDICTION: YS 10 S 6
3’s
Slowride v Rangelife
Looks like Slowride dominated the Eastsiders last week to distinguish themselves as the top contender to Rangelife in the 3’s race. Rangelife beat up on Channel 6, which I expect them to do most weeks through rank play. I rank it Rangelife, Slowride, Eastsiders, Liberty Hall, Free State, Channel 6. Interestingly, Geoff ranked Screamers ahead of Yello Sub and Slowride ahead of Rangelife, so I look forward to seeing how things play out. PREDICTION R 9 S 7
4’s
I don’t think this pool features a marquee game this week, so I will let everyone speculate on which game has the greatest possibility of an upset: Blue Collar avenges its GOTW loss to 2pac; Wildman treats Brew Ballers like secondhand clothes; or Jazzhaus singing the blues after a heartbreaking loss to Murda Tang. I realize I’m setting the bar awfully low on these potential headlines. I rank this pool as Jazzhaus, West Coast, Brew Ballers, Murda Tang, Blue Collar, Wildman.
5’s
Astroidhead v Astrokitty
This game comes with high stakes for both teams as the captains have put a friendly wager on the game for the rights to use the prefix “Astro” in the team’s name for the remainder of the season. Astroidhead could become idhead, which would make for a Freudian field day. Astrokitty would simply become a cute, adorable kitty far removed from it’s superhero beginnings. I rank the race this way: Todd Tractor, Tellers, Astrokitty, Astroidhead, Girls w/ Low S-E, Ms. F. PREDICTIONS: ASTROKITTY 8 IDHEAD 6