Western Conference Round 1
#1 North By Gawd Texas Tornado Humpers vs. #8 D.C. Sonics
The Humpers took care of business against San Jose and by looking at the score, you'd never know that the Humpers had issues with their passing game against a San Jose team they should have overwhelmed. San Jose managed two INTs and 4 hurries, despite losing the battle in the trench, and had a valiant defensive performance by CB Super Glue (who appears to have been picked on all day). Despite the win, the Humpers may have laid their cards on the table for the playoffs. They went undefeated, but several teams exposed hairline cracks in their scheme and now it's up to the Sonics to take another try at exploiting them.
That second chance was granted when the Humpers defeated San Jose to keep the Sonics in the playoffs, which are the real wild card for the Humpers since the Sonics are truly a hit and miss team. D.C. has got to harness their wildness since they've won some games they shouldn't have and lost some they shouldn't have. In their previous meeting with the Humpers, they racked up 35 points, more than any other team in the conference, so if anyone has a formula to take out the Humpers, the Sonics might be on to something. Time will only tell if they able to improve on their previous formula.
Pick: North By Gawd Texas Tornado Humpers
#4 Jacktown Smackdown vs. #5 Fresno Fire
This is a very interesting matchup since these two just faced each other to close out the season with Jacktown winning, causing a flip in the standings and forcing a change in venue. Fresno came out passing and passed all day in an effort to play catch up since they trailed from the get go, but they never gave up. What hurt the Fire was that their passing game was virtually held in check and the running game was a totally lost effort. This is will be an interesting game to watch in round one since both teams will have had 4 straight days to game plan against each other: see the initial results, make adjustments and try again. It's almost as if they're playing a game and get to make half time adjustments on each other.
Pick: If for no other reason other than defeating Freedom in the S6 BBB1 title game, I'm going with Jacktown.
#2 Pontiac War Kittens vs. #7 Reno Marauders
Pontiac had some issues with the Sonics but countered well with their obvious strength to win the day and cruise into the playoffs with a solid win while Reno rides in on three straight wins. In their previous matchup, Reno got a serious shellacking from the carnivorous kittens, then improved against the Fire, survived the Sonics and laid down an ass whipping on the CPU teams (Yeah, I can say that against a CPU team. What are they going to do, argue back in the forum?). In order for Reno to have any chance of winning this game, they have to figure out how to stop Rueben Mayes and Dahk Hollywood's running games.
Pick: Pontiac War Kittens
#3 Omaha Mavericks vs. #6 Los Angeles Majors
The Mavericks did themselves a favor by defeating the Majors to keep the #3 seed. Interestingly enough, this is another game in which both teams will have had four straight days to game plan against each other, taking a brief intermission to make adjustments and go right back at it. This is the better game to watch though since their last game was much closer than the Jacktown/Fresno game and the Mav's / Major's switched the lead a few times in the 1st half before the Majors ran out of gas in the second half. If the Majors can fix their second half woes, which has been a chronic issue, I like their chances.
Pick: Majors
Best team to not make the playoffs: San Jose Chupacabra
Worst team to make the playoffs: Reno Marauders
Round 1 Game to Watch: Jacktown vs. Fresno
Round 1 Upset: Majors over Mavericks
Eastern Conference
#1 Eleven Wise Monkeys vs. #8 Anonymous Assassins
EMW didn't get scared by Bortsville at all and took them out in convincing fashion to finish the season undefeated, but not without faults. The unfortunate part is that this game just won't be interesting since the Monkey's blew out the Assassins in the first meeting and the Assassins are in a horrible tail spin and backed into the playoffs, barely slowing the fall enough to get in.
Pick: Eleven Wise Monkeys
#4 San Francisco Demons vs. #5 New York Warriors
The Demons won the last game to enter post season on a positive note, but it wasn't comfortable since San Francisco relied on 6 FGs to defeat the troubled Assassins and 4 of those were long ass FGs to even pull that off. The Warriors are much better than the assassins, but given the Warriors play as of late, this game's a tossup. Their last meeting was a lot closer than the score shows and San Francisco had to rally hard in Q4 to win. But through the first three Q's of that game, the Warriors were forcing the Demons to play a Warriors game.
Pick: New York Warriors
#2 Louisville Nighthawks vs. #7 Bristol Bullets
This should be an exciting game to watch since the last meeting went down to the wire with the Nighthawks kicking a game winning FG after getting owned by the Bullets in the 4th Q. Both teams have the ability to defeat each other, but with Bristol struggling more against Hell Fire Alley (which are essentially the playoff teams) and falling asleep at the wheel against the Tigers, they need to get back on track quickly.
Pick: Louisville Nighthawks
#3 American Freedom vs. #6 Megatropolis Tigers
The two teams met recently with Freedom emerging on top in a game winning TD drive and with Freedom having to play serious catch up in the second half. The thing with both of these teams is that neither of them went down in a loss without a fight with Freedom keeping the losses closer and were actually competitive through most of the games they did lose, to give themselves a chance to win. The only one that didn't fit that mold was the Monkeys. The Tigers are still a scrappy bunch, so you can expect this one to be a brawl.
Pick: American Freedom
Best team to not make the playoffs: Bortsville Mystery Nerf
Worst team to make the playoffs: Anonymous Assassins
Round 1 Game to Watch: Louisville vs. Bristol
Round 1 Upset: Warriors over Demons
#1 North By Gawd Texas Tornado Humpers vs. #8 D.C. Sonics
The Humpers took care of business against San Jose and by looking at the score, you'd never know that the Humpers had issues with their passing game against a San Jose team they should have overwhelmed. San Jose managed two INTs and 4 hurries, despite losing the battle in the trench, and had a valiant defensive performance by CB Super Glue (who appears to have been picked on all day). Despite the win, the Humpers may have laid their cards on the table for the playoffs. They went undefeated, but several teams exposed hairline cracks in their scheme and now it's up to the Sonics to take another try at exploiting them.
That second chance was granted when the Humpers defeated San Jose to keep the Sonics in the playoffs, which are the real wild card for the Humpers since the Sonics are truly a hit and miss team. D.C. has got to harness their wildness since they've won some games they shouldn't have and lost some they shouldn't have. In their previous meeting with the Humpers, they racked up 35 points, more than any other team in the conference, so if anyone has a formula to take out the Humpers, the Sonics might be on to something. Time will only tell if they able to improve on their previous formula.
Pick: North By Gawd Texas Tornado Humpers
#4 Jacktown Smackdown vs. #5 Fresno Fire
This is a very interesting matchup since these two just faced each other to close out the season with Jacktown winning, causing a flip in the standings and forcing a change in venue. Fresno came out passing and passed all day in an effort to play catch up since they trailed from the get go, but they never gave up. What hurt the Fire was that their passing game was virtually held in check and the running game was a totally lost effort. This is will be an interesting game to watch in round one since both teams will have had 4 straight days to game plan against each other: see the initial results, make adjustments and try again. It's almost as if they're playing a game and get to make half time adjustments on each other.
Pick: If for no other reason other than defeating Freedom in the S6 BBB1 title game, I'm going with Jacktown.
#2 Pontiac War Kittens vs. #7 Reno Marauders
Pontiac had some issues with the Sonics but countered well with their obvious strength to win the day and cruise into the playoffs with a solid win while Reno rides in on three straight wins. In their previous matchup, Reno got a serious shellacking from the carnivorous kittens, then improved against the Fire, survived the Sonics and laid down an ass whipping on the CPU teams (Yeah, I can say that against a CPU team. What are they going to do, argue back in the forum?). In order for Reno to have any chance of winning this game, they have to figure out how to stop Rueben Mayes and Dahk Hollywood's running games.
Pick: Pontiac War Kittens
#3 Omaha Mavericks vs. #6 Los Angeles Majors
The Mavericks did themselves a favor by defeating the Majors to keep the #3 seed. Interestingly enough, this is another game in which both teams will have had four straight days to game plan against each other, taking a brief intermission to make adjustments and go right back at it. This is the better game to watch though since their last game was much closer than the Jacktown/Fresno game and the Mav's / Major's switched the lead a few times in the 1st half before the Majors ran out of gas in the second half. If the Majors can fix their second half woes, which has been a chronic issue, I like their chances.
Pick: Majors
Best team to not make the playoffs: San Jose Chupacabra
Worst team to make the playoffs: Reno Marauders
Round 1 Game to Watch: Jacktown vs. Fresno
Round 1 Upset: Majors over Mavericks
Eastern Conference
#1 Eleven Wise Monkeys vs. #8 Anonymous Assassins
EMW didn't get scared by Bortsville at all and took them out in convincing fashion to finish the season undefeated, but not without faults. The unfortunate part is that this game just won't be interesting since the Monkey's blew out the Assassins in the first meeting and the Assassins are in a horrible tail spin and backed into the playoffs, barely slowing the fall enough to get in.
Pick: Eleven Wise Monkeys
#4 San Francisco Demons vs. #5 New York Warriors
The Demons won the last game to enter post season on a positive note, but it wasn't comfortable since San Francisco relied on 6 FGs to defeat the troubled Assassins and 4 of those were long ass FGs to even pull that off. The Warriors are much better than the assassins, but given the Warriors play as of late, this game's a tossup. Their last meeting was a lot closer than the score shows and San Francisco had to rally hard in Q4 to win. But through the first three Q's of that game, the Warriors were forcing the Demons to play a Warriors game.
Pick: New York Warriors
#2 Louisville Nighthawks vs. #7 Bristol Bullets
This should be an exciting game to watch since the last meeting went down to the wire with the Nighthawks kicking a game winning FG after getting owned by the Bullets in the 4th Q. Both teams have the ability to defeat each other, but with Bristol struggling more against Hell Fire Alley (which are essentially the playoff teams) and falling asleep at the wheel against the Tigers, they need to get back on track quickly.
Pick: Louisville Nighthawks
#3 American Freedom vs. #6 Megatropolis Tigers
The two teams met recently with Freedom emerging on top in a game winning TD drive and with Freedom having to play serious catch up in the second half. The thing with both of these teams is that neither of them went down in a loss without a fight with Freedom keeping the losses closer and were actually competitive through most of the games they did lose, to give themselves a chance to win. The only one that didn't fit that mold was the Monkeys. The Tigers are still a scrappy bunch, so you can expect this one to be a brawl.
Pick: American Freedom
Best team to not make the playoffs: Bortsville Mystery Nerf
Worst team to make the playoffs: Anonymous Assassins
Round 1 Game to Watch: Louisville vs. Bristol
Round 1 Upset: Warriors over Demons
Last edited Feb 1, 2009 23:26:33
