Finals are Adorable After All
6 June | MUD Headquarters
Becker, JCal and The Adorables took it down in obvious, if not easy, fashion.
The tournament resulted with The Adorables defeating Sean Petterson‘s Quarter Inch at a Time, 13 to 6. It was a quick affair with Adorables major players all available. Inch was missing some key starters, but managed to defeat Tricking In in the Quarters, 15 to 12, and surprise semi-finalists Third Wheel, 15 to 6. The Adorables, with the bye into the semis, needed only to defeat Furious 7 to reach the finals. Furious had blasted a roster-challenged Sh** Huck in the quarters, winning 15 to 4. They met Adorables and quickly ran out of steam and anger. Adorables rode the 15 to 9 win into the next round. Third Wheel, though losing to the eventual runner-up Inch, upset the four seed, The Weekend in the quarters. Captain Orion had his foot on the gas throughout the game, getting poach Ds and skying Weekend Captain Mateo for a clutch score. Third Wheel won that game 14 to 12, but seemed to use all their energy in the upset.
What Wheel did not exhaust, and neither did the vast majority of the league, was spirit and competitive excellence. It was yet another grand season had by all. While a trend of captain baggage seems to be a formula toward success in the regular and post-seasons, a trend toward super fun continues under the watch of Commissioner Winston Suntaree. We owe him this league and all the spoils that come with it. That means thanks. See you in the summer.
Week Seven: Season ends in Lightening and Forfeits
6 June | MUD Headquarters
Trickling In just gave it up to Furious on Sunday Riverside, handing them the forfeit win and the sixth seed (basically). In general, besides a degree of shame, there’s no real difference between last place and second to last. However, rumors surrounding rosters at finals make second to last something to strive for this season. This gets a bit tricky, but odds are that by the week’s end the top three seeds will stay where they are: Adorables (1), 1/4 Inch (2), then **** Huck (3). And alledgedly Huck will barely be able to field a line on Playoff Sunday. Most bets for the three vs. six game are on the upset. So the fact that Trickle didn’t even show up is not just puzzling, it’s an opportunity missed; it’s un-American; it’s sabotage.
Sure enough **** Huck won two games this week, massively (15-5 vs. The Weekend, and 15-3 vs. Furious). But they forfeited their last game of the regular season, perhaps as the bulk of them left for that rumored instead-of-finals wedding. 1/4 Inch lost to The Adorables, 15 to 11, on Sunday in what may have been a finals preview. Adorables locked up the top seed in their next Inwood match vs. Third Wheel, winning 15 to 9. When Inch returned to face Third Wheel, the game was called due to electric weather. On Wednesday, Inch went on to destroy Trickle for good measure, 15 to 4. With that they locked up the second seed, and Huck was given the third seed.
The Weekend, after losing miserably to **** Huck on Sunday made up their April 21st game against Furious 7, and won 15 to 11. On Thursday, in a game that mattered only for regular season records, and perhaps confidence boosting purposes, The Weekend took down a captain-less Adorable squad 15 to 9. Before the game, but after it still The Weekend had the fourth seed.
Third Wheel maintained the fifth seed throughout the week and will meet The Weekend in the first game of the playoffs. Without much challenge from Furious or Trickle, Wheel held strong through a loss, a cancelation, and a forfeit win. Not much momentum going into a quarterfinal against a captain who hasn’t lost in the spring in three years. That’s Mateo, but the last time his team won (Sm14) was largely with the help of Josie and Orion.
Bring on the playoffs!
Week Six: The Emotional Roller Coaster
30 May | MUD Headquarters
Redacted. Keywords: JCal, JGill, Spirit.
Week Five: The Sheer Cliff Face of Fourth Place
23 May | MUD Headquarters
Week Five Inwood: members of The Weekend (in white) high five players from Third Wheel. Won Chun (far left) caught a callahan to make it a WW Club Sunday for The Weekend.
By the time Week Five is done, three teams will be vying for the first-round bye, one team will have a wide, outside shot at it (or total failure), and three teams probably won’t even sniff the fourth seed. Here’s how we get there.
Quarter Inch shredded it in Week Five, just filleted it. So they only won two games, but they only played two, and they beat their bottom-bracket nightmare, Third Wheel, and then they tore apart The Adorables, statement-style. The victory over Third Wheel was at Riverside Sunday, no problem, 15 to 9. The game against The Adorables was a must win for Sean‘s team, considering their previous losses to Wheel, which largely constitute Inch’s shadowy hovering around third place. At Riverside Tuesday, Inch just missed the differential of the season, shattering The Adorables, 15 to 6. The win was Inch’s fourth in a row, and with five more games—two of them against the top teams and another against Wheel—Inch can certainly prove to be the best in league.
Both Sh** and The Adorables went 2-1 in Week Five, with Sh**’s loss coming by way of The Weekend at Inwood Sunday. The Weekend actually extended their win-streak to four with the 12-10 Sh** win and then a 15-11 defeat of Furious. The Weekend couldn’t sustain the streak throughout the week, however. The Adorables got back on track by squeezing past The Weekend on Friday, going on a late-game, mini run, and winning 15 to 12. Weekend captain Mateo credits Adorables’s zone, specifically “when they switched JCal from deep deep to short, we just kept throwing it to him.” Sh** Huck salvaged the week by also beating Furious on Sunday (11 to 7), and then spoiling Third Wheel’s chance at glory, grabbing an 11-9 win at East River Wednesday. Sh** Huck and The Adorables remain tied for first place, with a big match up coming this holiday weekend. Stay tuned.
Seizing the momentum from Furious’s, and especially Wheel’s losses in Week Five, Trickling In nearly stole the Riverside Sunday game from The Adorables. With only six players, Trickle was up 13 to 12. The Adorables won it 15 to 13, but they were clearly shaken. On Thursday, Trickle encountered Furious 7 and beat them handedly, 15 to 9. The loss is Furious’s eighth in a row, and so they are league licked. Actually they were licked when Sh** Huck beat them at Inwood. The worst streak in MUD history is eleven losses: Vintage Winos. Furious could capture the infamy by losing out. No one is rooting for that, especially not the two seed.
Week Four: A Little Bit Wider Now
16 May | MUD Headquarters
Furious Capt. Gabe observes opposing Trickle Capt. Jeannine as she coquettishly sets up the Riverside field.
As might have been expected, Sh** Huck left a massive stain on the league when they forfeited their Sunday Riverside game to The Adorables. The competitive spirit in all of us was let down as the battle of the top teams was not to be. Perhaps most surprising is the idea that the hucking bullheads on Sh** Huck preferred the company of their mothers on her day. Alas! The rest of the league forgot the old lady and had at it.
Trickling In made it two in a row on Riverside Sunday, working over Furious 7, 14 to 10. Up at Inwood, news of Trickle’s win seemed to spread, and Third Wheel, matching their lowly rival, took advantage of the Wienerless Quarter Inch and humbled Petterson‘s team for the second time this season. The game was 14 to 11. The Weekend was at Inwood as well and didn’t fair as well against the Inch. The Weekend had more numbers, but Petterson’s alternating defenses and poignant timeout calls carried the Inch over The Weekend, 14 to 12. Next, The Weekend made like it was pool play and had its way with the worn-out Third Wheel, winning 15 to 9. Everyone went home and ate lasagna.
During the week, the good got better and the bad got worse. Sh** Huck cobbled a team together and ruined Tricking In, winning 14 to 8 on Tuesday. The Adorables got an actual win on Wednesday against Third Wheel. It was 14 to 10. Quarter Inch gave Furious 7 their fifth loss in a row on Thursday, winning 15 to 10, and putting Furious one loss from a league licking. And The Weekend finally managed to stitch two wins together, making Trickle’s double week a Lub Lub send off, winning on Friday 15 to 13.
Seven wins is the league standard in Week Four. Three teams are there. The Weekend is still teetering between with five wins. And three wins gives you (and two others) a real shot at last place. C’mon Week Five.
Week Three: It’s Spreading
9 May | MUD Headquarters
Quarter Inch turned things around and won all three of their Week-Three games. After defeating Trickling In on Sunday, Inch had the double week—meaning they had two games during the week—and they spent that time taking down The Adorables (on Tuesday) and handing Sh** Huck their first loss of the season (on Friday). Now that all the teams have played each other, it seems Inch, Adorables and Sh** will be the ones vying for the top spot, which likely comes with a bye directly into the semi-finals.
Before suffering the loss, Sh** Huck smeared The Weekend at Riverside, 15 to 8, and accomplished the prized league trick. The feat is a first for John Sakon in only his third captaining role. Frazer, who has captained ten teams, has now tricked the league twice, the last time was with Jeff Ng and The Panthers in Fall 2012.
The Adorables hit the WW Club on Sunday, beating Third Wheel, 15 to 12, and then trouncing Furious 7, 15 to 5. That ten-point differential is the score to beat this season. The 10-15 loss to Quarter Inch chopped down Adorables’s four-game win streak and smote their first chance at a league trick.
The Weekend, for the third time in a row this season, followed their loss with a win. The bounce-back was a defeat of Furious 7 at East River on Wednesday. The game seemed a forgone conclusion for the taller, larger-rostered Weekend, but Furious stormed back in the second half, savage and predominantly 4/3. Gabe‘s team got it to 12-12 before The Weekend pulled away and scored the last three. With the win, The Weekend maintain their slippery spot between the top and bottom teams; they’re 3 and 3. And Furious is barely holding on to their five seed after losing thrice in week three.
Third Wheel was the third team to beat Furious this week. The welcome win was Wheel’s second of the season. For the moment, after the Sunday win over Furious, Wheel was a win ahead of Trickle, who sat sulkingly at the bottom of the standings with one, tiny win. But Trickle brought the house down on Wheel at Riverside Thursday, and won 15 to 11. So now two teams sit at the bottom with identical records, even to the -13 differential. Somebody’s gotta make a move.
…In with the New in Week Two.
2 May | MUD Headquarters
Evan Schulman of Trickling In hits his captain Travis around Sh** Huck’s John Gill. Snodgrass on the mark.
Sh** Huck and their eight MUD rookies remains undefeated after two weeks, and needs only one more win (against The Weekend this weekend) to complete the rare, spring-season, league trick. The scatologists began their triumphant second week at Inwood, blowing out Furious 7, 15 to 7, and wiping the field with Trickling In, 11 to 5. Furious Andy Eklund put the Huckers domination up to poor opponent attendance and the fact that Sh** is a “capable team.” For their third win of the week, that coprological team made a mess of Third Wheel on Tuesday, this time winning 14 to 6.
The Adorables and their eight rookies didn’t lose all week either. Smoothly confident captains Becker and JCal took on The Weekend on Sunday and exploited mismatches among The Weekend’s near-full attendance. Adorable rookie Steve Atwell tried to make a name for himself by calling a pick after a huck by The Weekend was caught. Atwell “didn’t want to be a dick cuz [he] thought it would get D’d.” Apparently, he thinks his reputation is in tact despite the late call. All this while wearing cleats at Riverside as well. Regardless, The Weekend was a bit too relaxed in the game and couldn’t hang with The Adorables’ go cuts. The game was 15 to 7.
The Wednesday night game was riveting. Adorables got their next win deploying a masterful zone, which eventually ended Third Wheel’s assaults at East River. The universe point game ended after 21 points and secured The Adorables into an early second place. So far this season, it seems that drafting at least a line of solid rookies is the secret to success. The top two teams certainly hope it lasts.
Third Wheel started the week well with a massive win over Quarter Inch, 15 to 7. They finished with a loss to The Weekend, who thanked goodness it was Friday. All The Weekend’s hucks seemed to land, and, though savage Tiffany Clarkson and captain Josie played heroically, Third Wheel’s poaching didn’t do the trick. That game was 15 to 10.
Furious 7 did all right for themselves after the aforementioned Inwood loss. They got indirect revenge with a 15-13 victory over Trickling In, also at Inwood. Then on Thursday, Furious squeezed past Quarter Inch 15 to 13. Those two furious opponents couldn’t get their acts together all week. Both teams lost all their games. As fate would have it, they play each other at 2pm Riverside, Week Three Sunday. It’s not quite a battle for last, as Third Wheel and The Weekend are in the mix, but both Quarter Inch and Trickle have streaks in need of snapping.
Week One: Teams Struggle, Teams Rise
25 April | MUD Headquarters
Trickling In’s Jacob Hurley times his jump just right over Third Wheel’s Josh Kent and Ben Raudabaugh
Sean Petterson was all smiles on MUD’s first splendid Sunday of 2015. He breached the Inwood field with his new team Quarter Inch at a Time, and he surely informed them he had 99 wins. On the opposing line was Mateo and The Weekend, Sean’s automatic rivals this season. The game was a rematch of last Fall’s finals where Sean had captured his first championship as a captain. Another win, this time played out with different rosters, came Sunday (15 to 11), and Quarter Inch made their captain a Centurion. In their next game, Inch faced Jeannine and Travis‘s Trickling In and took it to them, winning 15 to 9.
Frazer and Sakon‘s ignominiously-named Sh** Huck, however, had the better week. At Riverside72 on Sunday, Sh** stormed Alex Becker and JCal‘s The Adorables, 15 to 10. Then the sh**ty team ruined Quarter Inch’s chance at a perfect season, winning at East River on Wednesday, 15 to 10. Their own chance at perfection is still alive, although they might all be getting married on June 7th (Finals).
The Weekend and The Adorables actually went 1-1 in the first week, getting respective wins against Trickling In (13 to 11) on Sunday and Gabe Finkelstein‘s Furious 7 (10 to 7) on Friday. Furious 7 also finished week one 1-1; they honored Paul Walker with a comeback, universe-point win in their season opener against Josie and Orion‘s Third Wheel. About the game, Furious Andy Eklund warned “It’s never over” on Twitter.
Trickling In got a mark in the win column on Thursday with a 13-9 beat down of Third Wheel. Wind played games with both offenses, but MUD rookie Jacob Hurley had a few key leaps, which helped bring home the win and keep Wheel without one.
Heavens re-align as MUD Returns
18 April | MUD Headquarters
MUD’s newly-minted spring season begins tomorrow. The twenty-second incarnation. We will participate. We will bear witness. We will enjoy every moment. This is our pledge. Profound? Maybe. Competitive? Certainly. Spirited? Definitely. Fun? Absolutely. Tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of our lives. Tomorrow is MUD League.
Summer 2017, Spring 2017
Fall 2016, Summer 2016, Spring 2016
Fall 2015, Summer 2015, Spring 2015
Fall 2014, Summer 2014, Spring 2014
Fall 2013, Summer 2013, Spring 2013
Fall 2012