Well, with driftin gone I figured I'd take a run at ranking the teams like I did for Alpha last season, with a caveat... Because I'm lazy, I'm not going to segregate them into Alpha Power Rankings & Zeta Power Rankings; instead, I'm going consolidate the rankings of both leagues, listing the top 10 from all of W Europe A1.
If anybody has any interest writing up the Zeta Power Poll from week to week, by all means please do so. I'll happily go back to just concentrating on Alpha.
Here goes nothing ... keep in mind I don't pay close enough attention to everybody's rosters to recognize significant additions/subtractions. However, any goombah knows that if your chemistry number's low, you've probably made some moves. More generally, this is based primarily on past performance & my assessment of overall talent.
1. West Yorkshire - have to be disappointed with how last season ended. Expected nothing less than a championship & didn't even reach the championship game. Appear to return most everybody, particularly the dynamite duo of Burgundy & Brent.
2. Icelandic Vikings - they're talking title in Vikingville, & the addition of L29 HB Wyatt Reich makes those dreams possible. League's best offensive line returns in tact from a year ago & talent abounds across the board.
3. Newcastle Raiders - may be the deepest team in all of W Europe. Awfully impressive team on paper.
4. Brussels Raiders - ended S4 by losing to eventual league runner-up Boston in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Have added some weapons on the outside & Ghost Post, possibly the league's best WR, returns; but defensively, a lack of depth at the CB spot may concern Brussels management a bit.
5. Glasgow Tigers - another team that looks really, really strong. Talent everywhere you look on offense & defense. Should challenge Icelandic for 'best team in Zeta' rights. Only question mark is couple of inactives.
6. Danzig Daemons - one of Alpha's most improved teams last year returns what appears to be everybody. Like Glasgow, they've got some inactives but when you've only got a handful of players under L20, your chances are pretty good.
7. Tilburg Power - looking so good I subconsciously ignored their existence.
In all seriousness, few (if any) departures plus a talented defense led by perhaps the best linebacking corps mean they'll be a force.
8. Rome Pride - another team that's busy, perhaps the busiest. Also may need some depth on that O-line but the pass D looks mean.
9. Schiffertown Griffin's - clearly they've been busy this offseason & they still need to add some depth to that O-line, but with their talent they should be one of the better teams in Zeta.
10. Irish Car Bombs - conversely from the preceding two, doesn't look like this team had to do much of anything this past offseason, other than lick their collective wounds from one of the most brutal end of season schedules I've seen. One of the league's best passers returns, to be protected by a very deep O-line.
By my count that's 6 from Alpha, 4 from Zeta. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the year that Alpha will finally 'matter'.
EDIT: now 5 from Alpha, 5 from Zeta ... I also now have the benefit of looking at the matchup screens to get that intuitive 'overall' ranking.
If anybody has any interest writing up the Zeta Power Poll from week to week, by all means please do so. I'll happily go back to just concentrating on Alpha.
Here goes nothing ... keep in mind I don't pay close enough attention to everybody's rosters to recognize significant additions/subtractions. However, any goombah knows that if your chemistry number's low, you've probably made some moves. More generally, this is based primarily on past performance & my assessment of overall talent.
1. West Yorkshire - have to be disappointed with how last season ended. Expected nothing less than a championship & didn't even reach the championship game. Appear to return most everybody, particularly the dynamite duo of Burgundy & Brent.
2. Icelandic Vikings - they're talking title in Vikingville, & the addition of L29 HB Wyatt Reich makes those dreams possible. League's best offensive line returns in tact from a year ago & talent abounds across the board.
3. Newcastle Raiders - may be the deepest team in all of W Europe. Awfully impressive team on paper.
4. Brussels Raiders - ended S4 by losing to eventual league runner-up Boston in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Have added some weapons on the outside & Ghost Post, possibly the league's best WR, returns; but defensively, a lack of depth at the CB spot may concern Brussels management a bit.
5. Glasgow Tigers - another team that looks really, really strong. Talent everywhere you look on offense & defense. Should challenge Icelandic for 'best team in Zeta' rights. Only question mark is couple of inactives.
6. Danzig Daemons - one of Alpha's most improved teams last year returns what appears to be everybody. Like Glasgow, they've got some inactives but when you've only got a handful of players under L20, your chances are pretty good.
7. Tilburg Power - looking so good I subconsciously ignored their existence.
In all seriousness, few (if any) departures plus a talented defense led by perhaps the best linebacking corps mean they'll be a force.8. Rome Pride - another team that's busy, perhaps the busiest. Also may need some depth on that O-line but the pass D looks mean.
9. Schiffertown Griffin's - clearly they've been busy this offseason & they still need to add some depth to that O-line, but with their talent they should be one of the better teams in Zeta.
10. Irish Car Bombs - conversely from the preceding two, doesn't look like this team had to do much of anything this past offseason, other than lick their collective wounds from one of the most brutal end of season schedules I've seen. One of the league's best passers returns, to be protected by a very deep O-line.
By my count that's 6 from Alpha, 4 from Zeta. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the year that Alpha will finally 'matter'.
EDIT: now 5 from Alpha, 5 from Zeta ... I also now have the benefit of looking at the matchup screens to get that intuitive 'overall' ranking.
Last edited Sep 16, 2008 15:25:37
