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It took Karina only 160 games to receive her Centurion club card. She did it amid her 11th season, and did it with KitKat, her third captaining gig. Karina is the fourth fastest to 100 (best is Steve Carpenter’s 148), but, interestingly, the fastest five centurions feature three other women in addition to Karina. Can you name them all?

Karina has an awesome record in this league because she is awesome. Though she’s won just two MUD titles, she’s been to the finals six out of ten times. And considering that she makes the finals 60% of the time and that she got to 100 this quick, she’ll need to make more room on that trophy shelf soon.

Johnny Broadcast returns, this time in plastic. At last, you can catch, hold, be seen with, and even dump Johnny B, just like he did to us after our 2012 romance. No hard feelings though. Throw him far and write him in on the ballot in November. See your captain for details.

Again this summer, Andy Eklund, the Scott Asher of summer league, abandoned his team, the league, and his co-captain. While Mark DQ has cultivated a lone wolf image and personality, Eklund made it markedly true this summer. The once first place Wolf probably won’t change its name, but they may suffer a lack of identity like what happened to Eklund’s last team. Andy’s in the movie business, and this summer, like last, his craft has taken him away. We can’t blame a man for seeking his living, but we might take issue with the timing. At least Andy left us a write-up of that one time The Wolf beat KitKat.

“The Wolf began the evening down a player. Lauren Arnesen was the only woman to arrive on time for The Wolf. At the start of the game, captain's agreed to a 6-1 or 5-2 offense dictates. Kit Kat received the first pull. The Wolf could not convert after a turnover, and KitKat scored the first point. The Wolf would hold their own until 3 to 3 when one Sara Toguchi arrived. It would be The Wolf's game from there. Half was 8 to 5, and The Wolf never looked back.

"Massive Huck's from Ethan Witkovsky rained down for Wolf receivers to pick up, while MUD newcomer Calvin Deng aptly commanded the field.

"You can't talk about The Wolf without speaking of Danny and Jan, who play their own game in service of The Wolf.

"Mark Andrew and Andrew Mark, the Romulus and Remus of this pack were most pleased with this win.

"The final score was 15 to 8. The Wolf feeds on victory and will sleep well tonight."

At least, greener than we have in a while. At the end of June we’re ditching the ditches and dust at Inwood for Van Cortlandt’s soft pastures. We’ve got ten games scheduled for East River’s fading, but still green turf. And though we still have to deal with Riverside’s bald façade, we’re welcoming 61 rookies this summer. That’s 43.6% of us. Not since MUD’s first summer, back in 2008 has there been such an influx, and we’re all better for it. But we are wary of Fred Merkel’s famous line: “In summer, you live and die by the rookie.” Mateo’s Tomatoes are the most green with 14 newbs, including seven (all) rookie women.

What’s the rest of the league look like? In addition to the 61 new kids, we’ve got 79 veterans, seven of whom have played 20 or more seasons. 65 of those veterans have been to the finals (82%) and 54 have won (68%)—Trapper Keeper has the most players who have won finals. There are nine players returning who just won finals in Sp16—The Wolf has the most of them. We’ve got 19 Centurions and 11 players with a chance to get 100 wins this season (early predictions are that seven will get there).

There's a day at the beginning of every week (or the end). It is called Sunday. This year there are 52 of them. And one of them, just one of them, is the start of MUD's singular Summer League. The next Sunday in the history of the world is that Sunday. All possibility commences on June 5th.

In anticipation of Memorial Day, Alex Becker and Mark DQ hosted a league wide BBQ and cooked and ate everyone. They started with The Chosen Ones, and keep in mind they lost this game. But seriously, where's the fun in winning your pool outright? Ask MTA how that worked out.

In the other pool, MTA was having their way with bottom-seeded JAWS. The subway had beaten the shark all season. And round one was no different. Travis kept his team elevated and ran over Josie and Werblin's fish out of water, 13 to 8.

BBQ next met the top-seeded Rejects. Undeferential, determined, and undeterred, BBQ came out smoking hot. Mateo's The Rejects lacked everywhere. Throws were off, cuts were shut down, and soon confidence waned. It wasn't until the second half that The Rejects scored two in a row. And then only once. BBQ sealed it, 13 to 7, putting themselves up by two points in the pool.

MTA now faced the second-seeded wooloohooshoo. Sakon and EGrad's team suffered a first-round bye fate similar to The Rejects. MTA was still accelerating from their first victory, and WLHS was loitering on the tracks like a bunch of high schoolers. Smash! MTA's Ryan Drost and Devin Erickson-Sheehy were unstoppable. Amy Jin and Sherry Li were unyielding, and MTA's 13-9 victory was inevitable. Bring the finals.

Meanwhile, all was unsettled elsewhere. BBQ tensely prowled the sideline as The Chosen Ones and The Rejects played the last consequential game. A Chosen victory would send Sean and Karina back to the finals (Petterson and Wiener were actually vying for a record 7th consecutive finals appearance). The Rejects had a shot at it too, but they had to win by 8. BBQ would advance with anything in-between. Chosen started with purpose and despite losing Bryant to club tryouts, they went up 4-1. BBQ started to sweat. Timeout. The Rejects knew if Chosen scored 6 points, it was over. In their huddle, Rejects announced it was universe purgatory: the score was really 12 to 1 in their minds, but they took the field believing they had a chance. The Rejects scored the next 8 in a row. BBQ started to panic. Chosen at last made it 9 to 5. And a few points later, BBQ sighed when Chosen made it 10 to 6. Sean admitted he was hoping The Rejects would just roll over after Chosen scored the 6th point, but it was not to be. The Rejects won it 13 to 8 and sent BBQ to meet MTA in the finals, the first finals to not feature Mateo and or Sean in two years.

The Finals was really a battle of the benches. The top players on each team neutralized each other. Jan Vanous described his experience being guarded by Ryan Drost as "in a box." Drost, after an AUDL game (the day before), two MUD pool games, and club tryouts, was a bit like the B train: reliable, but not so much on Sunday evening (also, running local). BBQ scored early and often, and never surrendered the lead. In a clever captaining move, BBQ asked Chris Giblin to cut instead of throw cross-field hammers. Giblin pulled down 8 scores. Aly Martori and Danny Siegel made their marks as well; both playing some of the best ultimate seen this season. The final was 15 to 10. And it was the first time a four seed won the whole thing.

Congrats to BBQ and to all. Including the 17-16 consolation game between WLHS and JAWS on Sunday, we officially played 1323 points in 75 games at 6 locations in 2 1/2 boroughs this spring. That's a job well done. And speaking of good work, Orion Burt just finished his first season as commissioner. We all owe him and Commissioner Suntaree a warm handshake. Surely they'll settle for a cold drink at the bar. After that, summer.

Three teams bagged the last weekend of the regular season, preferring the beach, a cracked bell, or perhaps a lover's embrace. WLHS gave up a chance at first place. BBQ gave up a shot at third. And JAWS sunk deeper into the trench that is last place. In the one Sunday game that was played, Chosen rocked a depleted MTA, 15 to 6.

The seeds weren't officially set until Tuesday night. All but the 4th and 5th seed had been determined. BBQ (the 4th seed) had defeated The Rejects (the 1st seed) at universe point on Monday. But when The Chosen Ones (the 5th seed) lost to wooloohooshoo (the 2nd seed) on Tuesday, 15 to 10, they also lost their chance at snatching 4th place. BBQ sealed the deal with a 15-11 defeat of MTA (the 3rd seed) on Thursday, and WLHS harpooned JAWS (the 6th seed), 15 to 11, in the season's last game.

That last game lacked consequence for both teams involved. However, WLHS's Kevin Hsu needed the win become the final member of the Spring 2016 Centurion class. Yes, Baywatch hit 100. Kevin reached the milestone after 219 games and all of 14 seasons. A frequent top draft pick, Kevin had to wait 12 seasons before winning a MUD championship. Kevin is also perhaps the league's most journeyed player. He's had 16 different captains over his MUD career. And rumor has it this new Centurion is setting a course to lead his own team in the Summer. The league should be so lucky.

Hey all, bring your mom to finals. It's this Sunday: May 22. You can introduce her to Baywatch!

After rain prevented all but two games in Week Six, a league's worth of mothers made havoc of attendance on Week Seven Sunday. Ironically, the league's only mother, Maggie Mead, led her team, The Rejects, to victory over MTA in the league's only Sunday game. Rejects never surrendered the lead in the holiday bout, though MTA, through Jacob Anderson's defense, got close in the second half. Despite having most of their first string, The Rejects barely pulled it out. This was the second game in a row in which The Rejects essentially gave away the momentum in the 2nd half. Are things getting shakey at the top?

WLHS seemed to think so. On Friday, WooShoo invited The Rejects to a tiny turf field on Amsterdam and 102nd that is impervious to rain. The Rejects, however, were not. According to Steve Estes, his Rejects started with "lots of slippery-disc drops." Estes noted "we'd regained our focus by the end, but had dug ourselves too deep a hole." WLHS won 15 to 10.

Chosen and MTA went 1-1 during the week. Chosen beat JAWS 15 to 11, and MTA beat Chosen when Chosen didn't show on Thursday. MTA's loss came by way of BBQ, who has now won four out of their last five. About the victory over MTA, BBQ co-captain Mark DQ said "Steve Carpenter played exceptionally well with some ridic pinpoint hucks. The commish emeritus had an enormous layout D in the endzone. Jan Vanous skied everyone. Laura Cella had a couple beautiful up-line flicks for scores, and a hobbled DQ finally returned to the field, playing solidly mediocre." BBQ won 15 to 11.

Let's hope our mothers will let us out to play next Sunday!

Please note: the schedule for the last two weeks has changed. For every team!

Week Six Sunday was rained out, though two fields had been set up at Inwood. Apparently teams were content with their rankings. That's surprising considering every standings-change except for a top to bottom swap is still possible. But let's do a quick break down.

The Rejects hold the top spot and have beaten every other team at least twice. Their past four games have been bell ringers, putting up 59 points to the 24 of their four different opponents. Granted, these giant wins have had a lot to do with attendance, but The Rejects seem to be the here out favorites. (Avg PPG 13.1, Avg Margin 4.1)

wooloohooshoo has settled into an uneasy second place. They've gone 1-3 over their last four, and are just one game ahead of MTA. They’ve beaten every team but their first place rivals, but they'll get two more chances. If they can fend off MTA and get a few more wins, 2nd is theirs. If some of those wins are against The Rejects, first isn’t out of the question. (Avg PPG 11.6, Avg Margin 1.8)

MTA has been a bit streaky. Their most recent two wins put a stop to three losses and gave them a winning record, third place, and a shot at the top. Three cancelations in a row may have smote their momentum, but they will certainly regain it with two wins this Sunday. They play the two teams aforementioned. (Avg PPG 11.6, Avg Margin 0.2)

The Chosen Ones, as discussed previously, are struggling. They’ve dropped six of the last seven. The good news is they’ve beaten every team but wooshoo. The bad news is their most recent losses were to BBQ and JAWS, and now those two teams are only one and two games respectively behind Chosen. (Avg PPG 10.6, Avg Margin -1.5)

BBQ has almost half their season remaining. They’re in fifth place, but they doubled their win count in W5 Sunday, and can blame most losses on lack of attendance. We might see a different BBQ over the next two and a half weeks. With a little help, they could easily get to the top half. (Avg PPG 10.9, Avg Margin -2.0)

JAWS enters the remainder of the season on a good note: their biggest win of the season. Opponents have been remarking confoundedly about JAWS all season: “That team should be good.” “They’ve got all the right pieces.” It’s a long shot, and a winning record is not possible, but building on their win is a must for the shark. Their schedule is favorable. Their next games go back and forth against the two teams they most recently beat, and it happens to be the two just above them. (Avg PPG 9.6, Avg Margin -2.9)

Sure, somebody’s got to be the loser, but this is Comp League. Everybody should assume they’ll be the winner. Go get it.