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The
Swammi's Diary From The Madden Games
Survuvor
Sunday !
After
setting up the brackets for Sunday, I anticipated some exciting
matchups.
I looked forward to a Trapjaw-Jay Kearney matchup in round 2.
I figured Jay would get by Ray Green. After all, he was not
that dominate in any of games Saturday, and no one had a clue
as to what we were about to witness later in the day. I was
curious to see how may boy Ryan Collins would fare against Aftershock
of the UMF. Winky White and Guru seemed like a good second round
matchup consdering I didn't think my fellow league member Dell
Barton would advance past him. But I guess that's why they play
the games. Dell not only shocked Winky White, but he also beat
Playmaker, who had just defeated Mad Guru. Oh, this was going
to be quite a day. But the best was yet to come.
Early
Drama
I talked to Candyman late Saturday and when
noticed Paul D was set to Pasadena Soldier in the first round,
it was like Santa came early and dropped the HMFL comp copies
of Madden 2002. The champ stated then he thought Paul would
defeat Soldier. The HMFL had a quiet confidence about them the
entire tourney. After all, Trap, Candy and Paul D were solid
in the round robins, plus Htown Bomber looked good as well.
The big dissaopintment for the HMFL was Che', who was playing
phenominal ball, but lost to Pasadena after getting ahead early.
His weekend was downhill from there. So the HMFL commish felt
good that either of his top three ballers would see the Soldier
and handle the business. The game went off at 9:30 and it was
a packed house. After all of the talking Pasadena had done over
the past few months leading into nationals, there was a large
contigency of ballers that wanted to see him take it on the
chin. Many felt he should have lost to Che' and The Director
in the round robins. But the Soldier resiliance pulled him through
both of the games. Question was, could he do it a third time.
As he did vs. Che' and The Director, Soldier fell behind early.
Put this time, Paul D put the hammer down, and gave it to the
Soldier hard on the chin. The room was filled with Soldier haters.
However, this was not unfamiliar territory for the Soldier,
as he faced the same rucous in D. C. at Nationals II. But, this
time, there were no last minute heroics for Pasadena. He went
down in defeat to Paul D!, and Durbin became the toast of the
room. And for the second year in the row, Pasadena Soldier would
have to accept that another HMFL baller knocked him out of the
tournament.
Who
Is Dell Barton.
An unlikely quiet favorite coming into the games was Winky White.
Now one may say, Winky White, a quiet favorite? You see, White
had not played competetively during the BFL 2001 season on the
PS2. Therefore, the skeptics felt his game would not be at level
where he would be able to compete as in the past two nationals.
White put all that nonsense to rest by winning the BFL pre nationals
tourney in convincing style. So White entered as one of the
BFL's favorite to advance far into the tourney along with fellow
BFL bretheren X and DC. Standing in his way, another PFL member,
as was in 1999. Dell Barton had gone 3-0 in his round robins,
but was not making much noise, and very few expected him to
upset the heavily favored White. As a matter of fact, when White
lost, the question around the room was who is Dell Barton?
Blow
Out City
HMFL champion TrapJaw had been a scoring tear the entire round
robin. After plastering Slayer Min and Wicked Wel, Trap lambasted
Scrubby P! of the BFL 81-0. The other shellacking came at the
expense of another BFL member as champion to be Lou Tillery
bust the clock on Ron
Wilborn 106-14. Unfortunately for Trap, he would end up experiencing
the humility of a blow out loss in the next day. Nevertheless,
this offensive explosiveness would earn these two ballers the
#1 and #2 seeds overall in the tourney.
Things
Begin To Take Shape
The creme began to rise to the top. All of the expected names
seem to be posting 3-0 records in their respective round robins.
No one figured Trapjaw would emerge with the type of dominance
he displayed, crushing his opponents by a average margin of
victory of 67 points. And then there were the other big names
of course, the defending champ Candyman, Mad Guru, Wink Dawg,
Pasadena, and Jay Kearney, all gaining high seeds. I was glad
to see my boy James Brooks get off the Nationals schnide! I
knew he was a strong baller and had a good chance to win it
all, but he never showed his true skills in previous nationals.
Maybe he was like me and felt the pressure. But he balled strong
and earned a #2 seed in Region II. Then of course Ryan Collins,
he had his afternoon tirade. A wild trash talking session with
Will Stitt of Denver. These two went back and forth through
out the afternoon as it showed that Collins had taken advantage
of the hotel's happy hour. Nevertheless, that was the only time
Collins had his outburst, very reminiscent of a PFL Sunday afternoon,
later he settled in and returned on Sunday focused and ready
to do battle.
The
BFL Continues To Show Their Depth
The Atlanta crew rolled in feeling confident that this was their
year. They hit the town 12 deep with their eyes on the prize.
Winky White had come close twice and he was playing as good
as he had ever played. DC was strong and so was defending champion
X. And then there was Fruitman, D. Rob, Dru, John B and so many
others with strong game as well. By the end of the day, 8 of
the 12 would find out they made it to Sunday. No other league
would place as many in the Single Elimination field. The Atlanta
crew loved their chances going into Sunday, but the tide turned
quick and by noon Sunday, some of the big names were surprisingly
out of the tourney.
Setting
The Brackets
Bulldog, P.C. and myself locked ourselves in Diamond A to set
up the field of 36. We wanted privacy to avoid influence from
other members in the field, and to be able to concentrate and
think. We had devised an excellent system using the regions
to set up the brackets. This gave us flexibility to move like
seeds from one region to another region to avoid like league
matchups early in the tourney. We set up the #1 seeds, TrapJaw,
Lou, Candyman, and Mad Guru. From there it was so easy we could
not believe it. P.C. and I were so proud that it worked out
like we hoped. After all, he drove down from Los Angeles after
working all night to meet me in San Diego while I was on vacation,
just to review our notes and make sure we had the bases covered.
We set up the tourney bracket system then and even walked through
potential scenarios. It was good to see our time had not been
wasted.
Closing
Out Saturday
I signed on the net to broadcast the Round Robin Wrap Up Show.
Mike Blaze and Afro Man joined me for about an hour of hilarious
comedy. And although I was disappointed on my performance in
the round robins, I was at home in control center. Comfortable
and relaxed and excited (not nervous) about Sunday. Had I made
it to Sunday, I probably would have been a nervous wreck. But
now I was cool, and I was looking forward to seeing who the
last man standing would be.
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