I'm usually not one to say "I told you so," but you may remember that last week I said,
ANON wrote:
The term “upset” has a pretty clear definition, but I’m not sure it carries the same connotation when it comes to this stage of a tournament like this. . . . In a field as strong as this one is there are no “gimme”s, and it should not be too surprising when any given lower seed wins its matchup.
This week's results demonstrate not only that this is one of the most competitive tournaments in recent years, but also, well, "I told you so."
Of the four quarterfinal games, two resulted in major so-called "upsets," by the slimmest of margins:
1 BWW-Kent, OH 52,0869 Stadium Cafe, Addison, TX 43,000
12 New Edinburgh Pub, Ottawa, ON 44,7814 Brewstirs, Roselle, IL 44,587
14 Dagwood's, Tampa, FL 44,903
11 Mad River, New York, NY 53,584 10 BWW-Tallahassee, FL 56,6082 Houlihan's-Westbury, NY 56346
Houlihan's, which was consistently among the best teams throughout the tourney and finished second in the network last night, was edged out by BWW-Tallahassee by a mere 262 points, and Brewtir's fell to the #12 seed New Edinburgh Pub by an even more slender 194-point margin. We are thus left with the #1, #10, #11, and #12 seeds in the semifinals, but don't let those seedings fool you. As stated earlier, this is an exceptionally strong field, and every one of the remaining teams is a legitimate threat to win the whole shebang.
Before posting the semifinal matches, I would like to congratulate Stadium, Brewstir's, Dagwood's, and Houlihan's-Westbury for their impressive runs in this competitive field. I hope to see you again in the McCarthy Cup this spring (but preferably not in The Fellowship's bracket).
So congrats to the semifinalists, which will be facing off in the following pairs:
1 BWW-Kent, OH 12 New Edinburgh Pub, Ottawa, ON11 Mad River, New York, NY 10 BWW-Tallahassee, FLGood skill to all this week in what is sure to be a couple of exciting matches.