On Guard?

There's been quite a bit of talk on the boards lately about the "old guard" and the "new guard". The constant spitballing between LNF, the Dude, CaliforniaMash, Tin Cup and a fleet of other revolving monikers has to make the observer wonder, what's the point?

Do the Yankees, Red Sox and Braves constantly refer to the Marlins, Rockies and Rays as "new guard"? Of course not. They simply assume their the better team and go out and win. On the same token the others don't constantly seek to overthrow the "old guard" they simply go out and play the game. In a league where anyone can sign up a team, and where there are over 115 teams, is it shocking that new teams will show up just about every year, and that once in awhile they might be as good as the teams who have been around since league inception.

That alone begs another question, how in the world can you have an old guard when the league is less than 10 years old? For that matter how can you have a new guard? Isn't it just a bunch of teams in a league trying to win the title? What false sense of pride does being a part of a guard give this posters that it merits such a heavy spattering of posts? 

In it's short life the House Softball League has had some fine moments. Everything from tournament fights, message board brawls, epic games, and unexpected upsets. But it would probably serve all in the league well to remember how young the league is and that it simply hasn't been around long enough to have old and new guards. I suppose you could refer to the different groups as Seniors, Juniors, Sophomore's and Freshmen, which is about right for the style of commentary that it breeds.

Now to the exciting part...

Ok, so we've successfully meandered our way through the opening weeks of the season and there has been little worth noting, per usual. 

Those expected to be at the top of the league are. Texas Republic lost, ending a remarkable streak and dropping them all the way to 9th, ouch. The Arizona Booze Kittens, who I believe are the latest transfer over from the legendary Congressional League (but also bare a remarkable name similarity to the storied Booze Your Daddy's Wicked Kitten Militia of 2008), made a snazzy run to top 15 only to find out that the Blue Pups are not, as they appeared to be, dead. DGS has managed to avoid their first loss of the season which usually rears its head around this time of the year, but they play the team formerly known as Insliders in two weeks so don't hold your breath, that ones usually a barn burner. All in all, mostly uneventful.

Now is when it gets exciting. The sage teams know to schedule their marquee match-ups for the second half of the season and as we inch along they are start to emerge. This week the Slayers play Blue Pups and next week as previously noted, we get the Sliders/DGS game. And who can wait for the August 11th juggernaut bash between Channel 4 News Team and Hurricane Ditkas. Every week will be chalk full of games to watch which brings me to my pick of this weeks game of the week:

Softball Guy's Game of the Week/Season so far:

What Exit? v. Hoosier Daddy? - This matchup may not look like much to the untrained softball eye, but the very title alone poses a multitude of questions that must be answered. WE? has fallen into a nice grove alternating wins and loses every other week, coming due this week for their next victory. But HD? stands poised for redemption after suffering a rough one run loss to the upstart Category 6 team. So all of the softball world will watch in anticipation to see just "Who is who's daddy?" and which team will find their exit on Thursday. Softball Guys Pick: Hoosier Daddy? 8, What Exit? 6.

Pre-Season Rankings

Well, the season opener is just around the corner, the scheduling is done, and it's time to pick the pre-season favorites. A lot of the old faithfuls are back (Insliders now the Liberty Square Sliders, DGS, Pot Fever, Texas Republic and more) with a few new faces like the Yellow Journalists who appear to have skipped over from AAA Congressional League. 

Looking at the scheduling that has taken place so far, its hard not to like the rankings for the favorites given the strength of schedule settings. At a glance, here are my Pre-Season Top 10:

1. Texas Republic - if they can manage to only lose a game or two, the league champs will be back on top.

2. Liberty Square Slider - easily the toughest schedule in the league.

3. Potomac Fever - with enough top tier games to give them quality wins, I only see one game that could go the wrong way for them.

4. DGS - hey, it's the Commishes team, homage. 

5. Moderately Sober - caught some bad breaks last year, people better be ready for them this season.

6. Big Lebowskis - this one is too obvious because the Dude is back in town after a short lived goodbye.

7. Dragon Slayers - committed to only bringing in elite talent every off-season, the Slayers have a chance to improve on last years disappointing finish.

8. Blue Pups - just too good every year.

9. Vito Power - returning the majority of their team, no reason they can't rebound to a top 10.

10. Fat, Drunk and Awesome - after failing last year, rumor has it this former great is energized to redeem themselves.

Spring Training is in Action

WASHINGTON, DC - It's been a long cold winter, and you can still find reminders in the piles of cast aside snow that dot the capitol city sidewalks and parking lots. But it's spring once again and already the beer-belly ballers are breaking out the gear and hitting the diamonds. Sporadic practice games have been popping up all around DC over the last week (something you'll never see from the kickball league this early) and it's only a matter of time now before the crack of the bat and slap of leather is on every open patch of grass.

Registration has opened for the House Softball league and a few eager-beavers have begun to ping the chat boards. Already new drama has sprung with the departure and return of one of the more prolific bloggers, something I don't doubt the board will not let them live down easily.

The defending champion Texas Republic leads the lists of the early registrants, with the ever present Big Lebowskis, DGS and Dragon Slayers locked in for another run.

It's bound to be another glorious season of beer, trashtalk, field squatting, drama and victory. I'm looking forward to every minute of it. I'll be here all year folks, look forward to hearing your stories and covering the league for a second year.

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.

Bubble Teams

As it gets closer to tourny time for the House League the talk over who the top seeds should be is heating up. It's fun to kick around who belongs in the top 16, who should be #1, are the usual suspects there, but what about the teams hanging on for dear life? What about the Bubble Teams?

Going over the middle of the pack standings, there are some teams that stick out to me as being on the bubble and potentially on their way OUT:

1. Jolly Rogers - barely inside the buffer zone and with a game against a team ranked so low a win might even hurt them, and a game against another bubble team in the Liberal Agenda, the Rogers could be on the outside looking in, or at least counting on one of the slots currently held by a team with less than 10 games played to open up for them.

2. Liberal Agenda - conversely if they drop the game to the Jolley Rogers, and lose to the Dragon Slayers, they may become one of those Green teams conserving gas by not trekking out to Fairfax.

3. Strike Place Market - this team is reeling after back to back losses, it's looking more and more like they will have to win that Washington state matchup with WAsabi to make the cut outright.

4. Hired Guns - sitting on the very edge, a loss to the Milestones in their last game of the season could be the straw that breaks the camels back and ousts them. It will be a tougher game than they think.

5. Bases Loaded - with a tough 3 game stretch coming up, they could easily drop all 3 and find themselves well down in the lower 50's.


Teams waiting to get IN:

1. Big Sticks - possibly already in with the 10 game rule, BS has an easy matchup against Stimulus Package and then a big game against MB to close out the season. Even if they go 1-1 they could still make it, 2-0 they are a lock.

2. Big Riggin - all they have to do is beat 18th Amendment and then cruise to the finish line. They may be tougher than it seems, but I think they can do it.

3. Kansas - with one game left against a higher ranked Bases Loaded, a game I think they can win, that will put them at 10 and inside the loop to pick up one of the vacated spots.

4. Not rocket Scientists - with 4 easy match ups left, they could glide into the playoff picture with consistent performances. They should make it out to Fairfax.

5. Xunshine Staters - unknown to many, this team is good and on a roll. If they can manage upsets of the Destroyers and Scared hitless, which is possible, they'll make the cut. This is my long-shot pick to make it.

These are just a few of the Bubble Teams out there, and with the way the RPI is calculated it's nearly impossible to predict this outcome, but it's always good to spread a little ink to the middle teams. They're as big a part of the league as anyone else.