Week 8 marks the halfway point of the regular season and serves as evaluation time for many teams. After this week most teams will be able to judge their performance thus far and start to make determinations about their likelihood to reach the postseason, and which games in the next half of the season will be most important to improving their chances. It won't be long before the mathematical eliminations and playoff berth clinches begin to happen.
Berlin Hounds from Hell vs South City Chiefs: Poor South City. After losing a tough battle to the Triforce, they now must face the dominating Hounds in Berlin. With a loss and 2-6 first half record assured, the Chiefs are going to have to make some tough choices about whether to try to compete through the rest of the season or take it as a rebuilding year. The remainder of their schedule has enough close matchups that they could still try to make an effort to reach the postseason, but a win over Maribor would have made a huge difference for their chances. In all probability, even if they made the playoffs, they would just have to face Berlin again in the first round and be out.
Macedonian Lions vs Mombasa Wombats: This is a very interesting matchup between two very good teams, but there are still a lot of questions of how good they really are. Both teams have been successful against strong opponents, and both have already lost to the Hounds, but neither have faced the rest of the cream of the crop. Neither team has yet taken on the Butchers, Bucks, or Mates, and while the Wombats defeated Kazakhstan, they lost to the Deloreans, another top notch team the Lions have yet to face. So, a lot is still up in the air about these two. In order to predict a winner in this game, I have to look to last season and the Lions' overall success in their former league, including the Wombats. Macedonian should take this one.
Bratislava Butchers vs Maribor Triforce: Maribor has come to some recent decisions regarding the future of their franchise which will effect the way they choose to play out the remainder of this season. The decision to remove many of their highest level players from the team makes good financial sense and long term sense, but it will be disappointing for some of their remaining opponents to know they aren't getting to face the same team that started the season. Still, they have plenty of excellent players on the roster that so far have withstood the chopping block, so the Triforce will still be somewhat competitive. The Butchers will prepare to face the same team, however, and whether any of the trades occur before the game or not, are determined to pick up this win before facing Berlin at home.
Czechoslavakia Mates vs Warsaw Wolfpack: Warsaw is in bad shape going into the halfway point, with only one win to their credit. The Mates have been inconsistent, having beaten a couple of good teams and holding their own against the Deloreans, but they haven't been able to produce enough offense to find success. They will be able to keep themselves above .500 with a win over the Wolfpack, and with the majority of their toughest opponents behind them, they should be able to win enough games to ensure a good playoff spot.
WhatsaMatta U Fighting Elk vs Secretville Offtopics: Two 2-5 teams each looking to pick up a third win and have a fighting chance at ending the season at .500, the Elk and Offtopics surely hoped to be in a better position than this midway through the season. Looking at the quality of their respective wins and losses, I find it difficult to determine which is the better team here. Both are teams I thought would have better records at the beginning, but they have been outmatched in most instances. Every division has to have its losers as well as its winners, I suppose. As far as this game goes, the Elk are the stronger team, scoring more in their losses and keeping those losses closer than the Offtopics.
Prague Beersteins vs Cypriot Freedom: Normally a game between an 0-7 team and a 1-6 team would be a tough game to call, but not this time. The disparity between these two teams goes far beyond a single win, with the Beersteins the sure winner.
Kazakhstan Dragons vs Maladorous Football Beavers: The Dragons pull themselves up to .500 this week with an easy win against the Beavers. The Dragons are probably the most likely of the "on the cusp" teams to squeeze into the playoffs. Their remaining schedule has a few likely wins and a few other possible wins, but much of their hopes will ride on the failures of other teams.
Zeta Conference Game of the Week - Jefferson City Bucks vs Hill Valley Deloreans: Another shake-up at the top of the standings will occur after this week's spotlight game. Since Hill Valley beat the team that beat the Bucks, does that automatically mean that the Deloreans are the better team? Of course it doesn't, but it is interesting to examine the teams' common opponents to gauge their overall strength. Their common opponents have been the Chiefs, the Mates, and the Butchers. Both teams beat the Chiefs, but the Bucks had a much larger margin of victory. Both also beat the Mates, but Jefferson City handled them convincingly while Hill Valley took a 12-12 tie into overtime and won with a field goal. But against the Butchers, the Bucks couldn't get the job done, and the Deloreans took a big first quarter lead and held it to the end. Both are teams that the rest of the conference take seriously and both will be in the playoffs. Hill Valley has handled the spotlight well so far, so I call the win for them. They always find a way to get it done.
The soul searching and second guessing will begin in earnest for some teams after this week, but the second half of the season will assuredly hold a few surprises. No team can truly be counted out yet. BigRagu could still surprise us all and sign a whole team of level 50's and win out the rest of the season. Oh wait, that's already been done.
Berlin Hounds from Hell vs South City Chiefs: Poor South City. After losing a tough battle to the Triforce, they now must face the dominating Hounds in Berlin. With a loss and 2-6 first half record assured, the Chiefs are going to have to make some tough choices about whether to try to compete through the rest of the season or take it as a rebuilding year. The remainder of their schedule has enough close matchups that they could still try to make an effort to reach the postseason, but a win over Maribor would have made a huge difference for their chances. In all probability, even if they made the playoffs, they would just have to face Berlin again in the first round and be out.
Macedonian Lions vs Mombasa Wombats: This is a very interesting matchup between two very good teams, but there are still a lot of questions of how good they really are. Both teams have been successful against strong opponents, and both have already lost to the Hounds, but neither have faced the rest of the cream of the crop. Neither team has yet taken on the Butchers, Bucks, or Mates, and while the Wombats defeated Kazakhstan, they lost to the Deloreans, another top notch team the Lions have yet to face. So, a lot is still up in the air about these two. In order to predict a winner in this game, I have to look to last season and the Lions' overall success in their former league, including the Wombats. Macedonian should take this one.
Bratislava Butchers vs Maribor Triforce: Maribor has come to some recent decisions regarding the future of their franchise which will effect the way they choose to play out the remainder of this season. The decision to remove many of their highest level players from the team makes good financial sense and long term sense, but it will be disappointing for some of their remaining opponents to know they aren't getting to face the same team that started the season. Still, they have plenty of excellent players on the roster that so far have withstood the chopping block, so the Triforce will still be somewhat competitive. The Butchers will prepare to face the same team, however, and whether any of the trades occur before the game or not, are determined to pick up this win before facing Berlin at home.
Czechoslavakia Mates vs Warsaw Wolfpack: Warsaw is in bad shape going into the halfway point, with only one win to their credit. The Mates have been inconsistent, having beaten a couple of good teams and holding their own against the Deloreans, but they haven't been able to produce enough offense to find success. They will be able to keep themselves above .500 with a win over the Wolfpack, and with the majority of their toughest opponents behind them, they should be able to win enough games to ensure a good playoff spot.
WhatsaMatta U Fighting Elk vs Secretville Offtopics: Two 2-5 teams each looking to pick up a third win and have a fighting chance at ending the season at .500, the Elk and Offtopics surely hoped to be in a better position than this midway through the season. Looking at the quality of their respective wins and losses, I find it difficult to determine which is the better team here. Both are teams I thought would have better records at the beginning, but they have been outmatched in most instances. Every division has to have its losers as well as its winners, I suppose. As far as this game goes, the Elk are the stronger team, scoring more in their losses and keeping those losses closer than the Offtopics.
Prague Beersteins vs Cypriot Freedom: Normally a game between an 0-7 team and a 1-6 team would be a tough game to call, but not this time. The disparity between these two teams goes far beyond a single win, with the Beersteins the sure winner.
Kazakhstan Dragons vs Maladorous Football Beavers: The Dragons pull themselves up to .500 this week with an easy win against the Beavers. The Dragons are probably the most likely of the "on the cusp" teams to squeeze into the playoffs. Their remaining schedule has a few likely wins and a few other possible wins, but much of their hopes will ride on the failures of other teams.
Zeta Conference Game of the Week - Jefferson City Bucks vs Hill Valley Deloreans: Another shake-up at the top of the standings will occur after this week's spotlight game. Since Hill Valley beat the team that beat the Bucks, does that automatically mean that the Deloreans are the better team? Of course it doesn't, but it is interesting to examine the teams' common opponents to gauge their overall strength. Their common opponents have been the Chiefs, the Mates, and the Butchers. Both teams beat the Chiefs, but the Bucks had a much larger margin of victory. Both also beat the Mates, but Jefferson City handled them convincingly while Hill Valley took a 12-12 tie into overtime and won with a field goal. But against the Butchers, the Bucks couldn't get the job done, and the Deloreans took a big first quarter lead and held it to the end. Both are teams that the rest of the conference take seriously and both will be in the playoffs. Hill Valley has handled the spotlight well so far, so I call the win for them. They always find a way to get it done.
The soul searching and second guessing will begin in earnest for some teams after this week, but the second half of the season will assuredly hold a few surprises. No team can truly be counted out yet. BigRagu could still surprise us all and sign a whole team of level 50's and win out the rest of the season. Oh wait, that's already been done.
Last edited Mar 10, 2009 23:22:26
