Tournament Time - Top 16, Bubbles Teams.

Going into selection Sunday, I thought I'd get a jump start on everything and offer up my projected Top 16 seeds and the 8 current bubble teams. Based on teams currently ranked and not going and games still pending, here are the top sixteen seeds I see in come selection Sunday:

Top 16

#1 - Dead Presidents
#2 - Texas Republic
#3 - Big Lebowskis
#4 - Potomac Fever
#5 - DGS
#6 - Insliders
#7 - Big In Japan
#8 - Dukes of Haphazard
#9 - Suspicious Packages
#10 - Moderately Sober
#11 - Dragon Slayers
#12 - Owego Fire Department
#13 - Destroyers
#14 - Cap City Brewery Flyers
#15 - Un Do's
#16 - Vito Power

Last 4 in (45-48): Bases Loaded, What Exit, Orange Crush, Jolly Rogers

The Waiting Room (49-52): Hired Guns, 18th Amendment, Kansas, FDA

Games to be played: Green Sox v. Milestones - implications for this game could completely overturn all of these current rankings, a win by the Milestones might even launch them into the tournament.

Risers and Fallers...

My apologies to all of my loyal and unloyal readers out there, I've been absent for most of this month and thus further out of the loop than I normally am. With the end of the season nearing and the standing having currently locked, I thought it would be a good a time as any to nod at a few of the risers and fallers from last year to this year.

While some may consider the Diplomats to be highly over ranked sitting at #14 overall, they do top our list as the highest top 20 riser this year. Jumping from #91 overall last year into the Top 15, they certainly head our list of biggest risers. Second on that list is a team that erupted to beat several good squads this year, Moderately Sober. Sitting at #13 this year, that's a 47 spot jump from last years finish at 60 overall (which, interestingly enough was a drop of 48 spots from their #12 2007 ranking, so maybe they have just righted the ship). Really the only other team with any noticeable climb into the Top 20 from last year would have to be the highly controversial Suspicious Packages. Many have claimed that the Packages are overrated at #10 overall, but at 13-1 you can't fault a team that managed to jump 41 spots from 51 overall a year prior. Those are the three biggest risers out there, but there was a landslide of teams going the opposite direction.

Leading the pack as probably one of the most surprising fallers is Fat Drunk and Awesome. FDA has been a league power since season one so it's hard to imagine how this kind of a fall from grace took place, but there they sit at an astonishing #71, down 68 spots from their 2008 ranking of #3 overall. Perhaps not quite as impressive in numbers, but certainly in storyline is the drop from #8 to #30 by the former League Champion Blue Pups. Granted the Blue Pups have played a schedule that makes everyone else's schedules look like a cake walk, but still the #30 ranking is a bit of a shock. The Great Lakers join this list with a 58 spot drop to #69 from a 2008 rank of #11, they're followed closely by Big Riggin who plummeted 41 spots from #18 to #59 this year, both teams are likely on the outside looking in come playoffs.

One of the House records is the Hired Guns rise of 87 spots from 2007 to 2008. This record is a testament to how flexible a beer league can be. An interesting note though is that the Hired Guns have dropped back to #59 overall from their glory at #17 last season. It's one thing to earn your way to the top, but don't be fooled at how hard it can be to stay there, and as we saw with Moderately Sober, the good teams often don't stay down for long.