New Scaratings

FWIW, I'm rooting for the team that will run the tournament next year in the most traditional manner according to McCarthy Cup history.

Good luck to that team, whoever they are.

BO

That's my feeling as well. It was so great this year to have a tournament where no team boycotted because of a rules change or played but was put at a disadvantage because of limitation on boxes or inclusion of an earlier game besides Showdown. It was also great to immediately be able to tell from the rankings who had won or lost without wondering what box was or was not being counted at a location or trying to remember how a team did on BrainBuster.

Thank you ANON et al. for doing a superb job at running a fair and fun McCarthy Cup!

Brooke/AARDVK/KRIEM/LGLPRO

Good skill to the remaining teams this week.

It turns out that it may have been just as well that Fletcher's beat us last week. The manager of Damon's Twinsburg informed me just this morning that the landlord of both the Twinsburg and the Independence locations told him just last night that both locations will be closed today to put in new gas lines and new water heaters. Since the one in Independence is our backup location, we would have been scrambling for a place to play tonight, and might not have been able to get the whole team together for it even if we found a place.

In any case, we'll be sitting today's game out, which means I will not be able to post the winners tonight. If anyone wants to put the unofficial winners up after the game tonight, please be my guest.

We hope to be back the next week to try to beat the semifinalists.

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

Man, I take one lousy week off and the whole tournament goes to hell. Unless, you're on one of the Final Four teams.
Let me add my voice here to the chorus of those paying respects to ANON and The Fellowship. Any good thing that I did as Commissioner in 2010 was learned by following the example of my friend ANON. This year he proved again how well a tournament can be run. I am saddened to read that location problems will sideline the Fellowship tonight. Were they still in the tournament, they could play at Fletcher's and have that score posted as Damon's own.
I'd also like to tip my hat to the In The Zone team. Our 8th place finish last week was one I'm proud to have been a part of. Come visit Fletcher's and I'll teach Hanna, our bartender, how to make a Hurricane. It's 5 o'clock somewhere!

Last week, two huge upsets sent the # 2 and #6 seeds to the sidelines, leaving fith seed Coaches as the highest ranking team still in the hunt and one wild card qualifier looking to take back the Cup from pre-tournament favorite The Fellowship.
I was only one-for-four in predicting last week's winners -- Danny K's over the Concert Pub. The no-pick-made Coaches vs. Blue Goose match panned out well for the Albuquerquians, despite the strong tournament-long play of ROOROO and the Gaggle. But, boy did I blow it in the other two contests.
Both BWW-Tallahassee and Henry Hudson's are relative newcomers to the Showdown elite. In their three-or-so years together, Henry Hudson's has done better than BWW-Tallahassee, but the Seminoles laid a nealy 5K shellacking on the Oklahomans to move to the semi-finals. Well done.
In the Midwest, The Kzoo Krew stunned The Fellowship (and me) by posting a mere 229 point win over the current McCarthy Cup champions. If memory serves me right, Fletcher's also beat Damon's-Twinsburg in the only way it could two years ago by finishing first for the night to Damon's close-by second place finish. This time it was fourth over fifth. It's lucky that the two locations don't hold grudges. Right?
So for this week, here's the crystal-gazing report . . .

#5 Coaches vs. #8 Danny K's
By the numbers, these are the two best teams still standing. Both teams went 3-0 in the Round Dead Parrot phase, but Coaches had the arguably tougher task, defeating Houlihan’s Westbury, Toucan’s and Stadium Café, while Danny K's beat Average Joe's and Old Town Tavern and O’Brien’s Irish Pub. Nonetheless, Coaches finished in 5th place in cumulative score (158,732) compared to Danny K's 8th place (153,929).
In the brackets so far, Danny K's has the advantage with 107,842 total points in two games compared to Coaches' 101,180 total and would have beaten Coaches in the past two games had they been playing head-to-head. Hell, they beat EVERYONE else last Tuesday! (BTW--well done SUES Z from Jilly's on the week's best individual score.)
HEBEGB, LIBRTY, BALDRC and EF HEW anchor the New Mexicans, while the "H" brothers (HHHHH and HHHHHH), TIMMAY, DODGER, BYOTCH and KCRW front Danny K's team. Both teams have come into their own in the past five years or so and both teams field just under 20 players per week. But Danny K's has the better record, last year and in 2011 as well. The Left Coasters are the team to beat this year and should win tonight.

#7 BWW-Tallahassee vs. #14 Fletcher's
This is a face-off between two teams that have been somewhat inconsistent in the tournament. BWW-Tallahassee went 3-0 in the Round Dead Parrot, defeating the always tough SRO OT's in the third game. Fletcher's was 2-1, losing to the upstarts from Ottawa's New Edinburgh Pub and entering the brackets as a wild card in 14th place. In the two weeks of the brackets, however, Fletcher's has outscored BWW-Tallahassee by nearly 12K points -- 102,214 to 90,457.
ARTHUR, KENDO, HUNK, ZIPPY, RMAC, RAOUL and MERKIN lead the Floridians. PHRED, SGRAWL, ARROW, RIDLEY, BETTE, BOKSER and CTCOOK headline the Michiganders. Both teams field about 10 players each week. Perhaps the difference is that the core of the Kzoo Krew has been together for about 20 years, while BWW-Tallahassee's team only has about four years together. In the long run, according to Don Denton, Fletcher's is the better team. And this week they will be again, if for no other reason than experience.

Next week's championship, Danny K's versus Fletcher's, should be a goodie, and a study in contrast -- the young up-and-comers versus the Old Guard -- large (20 players against 10) versus small -- consistent versus inspired.
In 2010, Danny K's chose not to play in the McCarthy Cup in protest of the tournament as set up by . . . Fletcher's! Although an analysis of the 2010 games showed that the Fellowhip would have won regardless of the Californian's participation, Danny K's absence was surely missed. They are simply an incredible team -- consistent, competitive and confident. I think that they're hungry to finally take the McCarthy Cup out west.
Fletcher's is the little team that could. And did. And is doing so again. They've won before as a wild card team and seem to be able to rise to the challenge when they're the underdogs. Can they do it one more time?
Let's see how things go tonight.

Good luck to all.

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"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.”

You are right that history did repeat in several ways on Tuesday: It was in the quarterfinal round, The Fellowship scored in the 57k range, and you did come in right in front of us--all just like in 2009. The only difference is that we came in 4th and 5th respectively last week, as opposed to 5th and 6th respectively in 2009.

Not that we're BITTER about it or anything

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

Danny K's threw down the other gauntlet tonight, taking the number one spot in Showdown for the second consectuive week, posting the only 60K+ score in the game, 60,080. Their opponents, Coaches, could do no better than 26th, logging a score of 48,245.

The other semi-final is somewhat in doubt. Fletcher's notched 9th place with 56,155, but BWW-Tallahassee failed to be reported in the Top 50. Since the Floridians had done very well in games earlier in the evening, their absence on the Board is mysterious. Surely, they are better than the 38K scores noted at the bottom of the Top 50, so perhaps the was a glitch in getting their scores to Carlsbad. We'll know tomorrow.

For now, we know that the finals will be Danny K's versus whichever hapless victim steps up.

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"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.”

HHHHHHappy to see you.

Well, Michael, it seems that you WILL be happy.
Unofficially, by calculating the top six scores from BWW-Tallahassee, Fletcher's will advance to the McCarthy Cup Finals next week against Danny K's. BWW-Tallahassee had a 34,883 score, short of the Top 50 and not nearly enough to defeat Fletcher's 56,155 score.

Danny K's topped the leader board with a 60,080 tally, taking the game's #1 spot for the second week in a row. In 26th place, the Californian's opponent, Coaches, was eliminated.

Official scores will be posted when they become available later today.

_________________
"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.”

Thanks to CTCOOK for posting preliminary results. They have held up with the official HOF standings:

#8 Danny K's 60,080

defeated

#5 Coaches 48,245

and

#14 Fletcher's 56,155

defeated

#7 BWW Tallahassee 34,833

Congrats to Coaches and BWW Tallahassee for making the final four. Although I know it is disappointing to lose so close to the final, there are a number of outstanding teams that did not even make it that far; and being in the top four in the world in ANYTHING is an accomplishment worthy of note and admiration. You had a terrific run, and I don't think any team will ever take you lightly in subsequent tournaments.

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

Well, this is it, folks! The final pairing of the 2011 McCarthy Cup will be:

#8 Danny K's vs. #14 Fletcher's

The Californians against the Michiganians. The Spammers against the Silly Walkers. Godzilla against King Ghidorah. The irreversible force against the immutable object. Or something like that.

I hope no one is fooled by the seedings here. Fletcher's, of course, is a former McCarthy Cup champ (and Sandbag Tournament champ, for that matter), and in one form or another has been a top-flight team since the 1990s. Danny K's is not only last year's Pink Pig trophy winner, it is also--along with the team at Jilly's--probably the best current team never to have won the McCarthy Cup. I would not begin to hazard a guess who will win, but if past results are any indication of future performance, then Fletcher's is going to have its hands full this week--Danny K's has been on a roll. Then again, Fletcher's does seem to have a knack for rising to the occasion (says the guy from Damon's Twinsburg looking up at them from the dustbin). It should be a great game worthy of the longest-established trophy in NTN/Buzztime triviadom.

Good skill to both teams!

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

Looks like CTCOOK may be heading back to the jam and muffins shop this time next week...

Meanwhile, I would just like to tip my hat in public to my often unsung colleague MIKEEE for registering the #1 individual score in SD last night. Always an impressive achievement.

And if (repressed) memory serves me correctly, the last time Danny K's made it to a tournament final (Sandbag 2009 maybe?), we finished 2nd to Fletcher's 1st. The game was insanely close, with something like 200 points separating us. Of course, a tight 1-2 finish is exactly what you want to see in a final, but it's pretty freakin' frustrating when you're on the losing end.

Yes, it was the 2009 Sandbag, and Fletcher's did come in first in the continent for the night. But the margin was an even more repression-deserving 112 points.

Whoever wins this year will certainly have earned it.

_________________
Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

Well, here we go again . . . my youthful indiscretions once more have seemingly affected my memory. (But those indiscretions are good memories anyway.)
YOTCHO and ANON and even my own PHRED are correct -- it was Fletcher's versus Danny K's in the 2009 Sandbag.
Now if I could only remember how we did it . . .

_________________
"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.”

It appears that Damon's in Twinsburg will still not be open tomorrow, so I'll have to leave it to the fine folks at Fletcher's and Danny K's to announce/brag/weep-and gnash-teeth about tomorrow's results that night. I'll be happy to confirm them here officially the next day. Whoever wins, please have a team representative email me with mailing instructions.

That being said, one unfortunate side-effect of the Damon's not being reopened yet is that I will not be able to mail the team the trophy the next day. The manager has told me that we'd have access to the trophy, but it will have to be by special arrangement since, well, the place is not open. I'd like to apologize for this in advance, but I will endeavor to get the thing of beauty that is the McCarthy Cup off to you as soon as I am able.

_________________
Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

There really ought to be someone not involved with the competition who writes this report, but lacking any other volunteers, here we go for the final time.
By all indications, except one, Danny K's is easily the favorite to win tonight's McCarthy Cup Finals. Let me count the ways . . .
Lately, Danny K's has two #1 finishes in the past two weeks' Showdowns and six consecutive wins in the McCathy Cup to date.
Last week: Danny K's, posting the week's only 60K + location score, placed four players in the individual Top Ten (#5 GAMBIT, #6 RWK, #7 ELSOLO and #10 THIEVE), lagging only two players each from SRO OT in Houston (#1 MIKEEE and #2 KRIEM) and McGillacuddy's in Portland, OR ( #3 SPOT and #4 DTSLUG). You had to scroll past five other Californians before finding Fletcher's best -- #40 EWESUQ. The Michiganders finished 9th over all with a 56,155 score.
Through six weeks of the 2011 McCarthy Cup, Fletcher's outscored Danny K's only once -- in the second week:

Round Blind Dead Parrot
#4 Seed Danny K’s
Week 1 -- 59,416
Week 2 -- 36,401
Week 3 -- 58,112
Combined -- 153,929

#9 Seed Fletcher’s
Week 1 -- 50,390
Week 2 -- 46,564
Week 3 -- 55,110
Combined -- 152,064

In the Brackets, the Danny K's domination has continued:
Sweet 16 -- 8th-seed Danny K's 48106 (the second best Showdown score of the week among the tournament teams in a very difficult game) over #9 BWW-Ironton.
14th-seed Fletcher's 44358 stunned #3 Teaser's

Elite 8 -- Danny K's 59736 defeated #16 Concert Pub
Fletcher's 57856 upset #6 The Fellowship

Final 4 -- Danny K's 60,080 defeated #5-seed Coaches
Fletcher's 56,155 overwhlemed #7 BWW-Tallahassee
Add up the three Brackets Round scores and you get -- Danny K's =167,922, and Fletcher's = 158,369.

From the longer view, we turn to the Sultan of Statistics, Don Denton, for his 2010 rankings:

SHOWDOWN PLACE POINTS FOR 2010:
#1-Danny K's with an average ranking of 11.5. Fletcher's Pub ranked #6, with a 20.8 average ranking.

SHOWDOWN TOTAL SCORE RANKINGS (Total score for all Top 100 finishes) in 2010:
#1 Danny K's 2,678,326
#5 Fletcher's Pub 2,453,874

SHOWDOWN RESULTS FOR 2010:
#2 Danny K's booked 7 wins
Fletcher's Pub had 0 wins

SHOWDOWN AVERAGES FOR 2010:
Average High Low
#4 Danny Ks Cafe 53,567 62,872 38,665
#13 Fletcher's Pub 50,079 61,229 27,445

In terms of State rankings, Danny K's is the best in California of 25 teams, including Maeve's Residuals, Old Town Tavern and Toucan's. That's good company.
Fletcher's is easily the best Showdown team in Michigan of 12 teams. But they really don't have much competition, except from J.P. Shaker's in Warren, which only plays occasionally anymore, and The Hunt Club in Battle Creek which is where the Kzoo Krew sometimes hangs out for a change in menu.

Whew. That is one over-whelming case in favor of Danny K's in tonight match. Except for that one indication noted at the top of this posting --
Fletcher's has continued to win as the underdog.
Oh, yeah, there is one more item to note -- Fletcher's jaw-dropping victory in the 2009 Sandbag over Danny K's, the last tournament face-off between the two teams. The Kzoo Krew may have squeaked out only a 112-point victory, and may have had to top the leader board that night, with Danny K's a heart-breaking second. But Fletcher's did win . . . as the underdog.

Based on the statistics above, only someone with the brains God promised a lightbulb would bet against Danny K's. Yet, Fletcher's motto seems to be a quote from Anonymous, "People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."

Good luck to both teams.

Meanwhile, ANON wrote: "Whoever wins, please have a team representative email me with mailing instructions."
Mailing instructions?! I'm sorry my friend, but we have a tradition in this forum of following tradition.
"I'm rooting for the team that will run the tournament next year in the most traditional manner according to McCarthy Cup history." -- BO
See? There ain't no mailing. There's delivery! Repeat after me, "ROAD TRIP!"
(Just pick me up on your way west. I know some good spots in Chicago, Denver and Las Vegas before we hit the coast.)

_________________
"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.”

Thanks as always for the cogent analysis. Can't really disagree with any of it. Still, on any given night...



Geez, I'm pithy.



As much as I'd love to make a road trip to sunny California (especially with the weather we've been having lately) should Danny K's win, I'm afraid it is not in the cards this year. If you want to go, though, I'll be happy to get the cup to you to deliver...

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

Hail to the Victors -- Danny K's.
Coming in 4th place for the night, the California Kids posted a score of 55,215 to take the 2011 McCarthy Cup Championship, defeating 2009 McCarthy Cup champs, Fletcher's Pub. The Kzoo Krew posted the 6th best score of the evening, 54,775 -- a mere 440 points less than the winners.
Congratulations also to Zack's in Little Rock for topping the leader board, followed by In The Zone and Player's.
In addtion to now holding what has been dubbed “Da Wiz's Official Replacement Kevin Vahey Memorial Traveling Tin Dribble Mug”, Danny K's also boasts the first BiLL (PNKPIG) DALY MEMORIAL TRAVELING TROPHY for the highest score in last year's Sandbag Round Robin.

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"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.”

I was under the strong impression that Zack's is a borg team. We do not congratulate them. But good for Danny K's.
XT

Well, I'd like to congratulate the winners tonight, but they're a borg so I'll just pat my teamies on the back for winning the wetware divisiopn tonight. Man, we had a lock on first but that last question--Mozart's obscure unfinished opera --tore us to shreds and dropped us to #2.

And that final question, about Zaide--an unfinished opera that would be amazingly easy to google. Only need five keystrokes and your answer appears in about a millionth of a second. Damn. I wish NTN would at least make the damn borgs work for their scores.

Anyway, congrats to Danny Ks for another good night and a great tournament. And condolences to the Kzoo Krewe for their spirited challenge. It was a terrific tournament with an unusual number of teams that had a real chance to go all the way. Already looking forward to next year!

b

hhhhhhappy

Glad to not have to wait a year to wonder whether or not BrainBuster will be included in next year's cup.

I find it quite ironic that one team with the balls to sit out last year's tournament in protest of the absurd rules is the one to slay the administrators of that event.

I'd laugh my ass off if next year's event included not only Speed, but the CD game after.

BO

Man, another mystifyingly close final between Danny K's and Fletcher's. Between the stress/exigency of tonight's game and the final a couple years ago, I'm pretty sure 5+ years have been shaved off my life. If we never have go mono a mono with the Kalamazoo crew again, I'll be just fine with that.

And thanks ANON for crafting and running another great tournament. It was just plain fun to vie for the Cup again after last year's rules impelled us to sit out.

Now we can all look forward to next year's McCarthy Cup which will combine Showdown and Spotlight scores!

I also salute Danny K's, and their fine group of players. There's been many times when Rembrandts/Boccavino has finished second to them in SIX.

Just one more thing: FZAIDE

_________________
/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?

Congrats to each team. We had a great night at Adam's Mill and ended up between each of you.