We are entering the final week of the tournament. Before posting the standings, I'd like to give a tip of the hat to Four Corners. Not only did it come in 1st in the East Network in what the scores indicate was a rather difficult game (Congrats!), but it also burnished its credentials as one of the most consistent teams in the tournament so far: Its four scores are 11,947, 11,631, 11,280, 12,503. Only Heroes (10,959, 10,817, 10,403, 10,375) has a smaller spread between high and low scores.
With that said, here are Tuesday's results:
12,503 Four Corners, Chapel Hill, NC 12,234 Broadway Bar and Grill, Nepean, ON 12,101 Mad River, New York, NY 11,853 BWW-Kent, OH 11,815 BWW-Columbia, MD 11,739 Scooter's, Las Vegas, NV 11,371 Houlihan's--Brick, NJ 11,127 BWW-Arlington, VA 11,016 Teasers, Chicago, IL 10,461 West Park Station, Cleveland, OH 10,375 Heroes, Wichita, KS 10,306 Henry Hudson's, Oklahoma City, OK 10,206 Parlay Sports, Tallahassee, FL 10,132 Big Guys, Winnipeg, MB 10,085 Teddy B's, Roselle, IL 9,906 New Edinburgh Pub, Ottawa, ON 9,735 Stadium Cafe, Addison, TX 9,582 Dagwoods, Tampa, FL 9,537 Houlihan's-Westbury, NY 9,484 Wallaby's, Lenexa, KS 9,430 Adam's Mill, Manchester, CT 9,383 BWW-El Paso 2, TX 9,132 Fletcher's, Kalamazoo, MI 9,028 Residuals, Studio City, CA 8,778 Blue Goose, Cincinnati, OH 8,505 Nacho Mama's, Tempe, AZ
Four Corners' consistency has caused a shakeup in the cumulative points standings. Although cumulative points has not meant much so far (the dropped-score totals are a more accurate reflection of the standings), this week they are significant because they represent the absolute minimum score that any team can have. Four Corners just leapfrogged over three teams for second place here:
50686 BWW-Kent, OH 47361 Four Corners, Chapel Hill, NC 47280 Teddy B's, Roselle, IL 46778 BWW-Arlington, VA 46481 Mad River, New York, NY 46058 Big Guys, Winnipeg, MB 44303 Teasers, Chicago, IL 43494 Houlihan's-Westbury, NY 43409 New Edinburgh Pub, Ottawa, ON 42851 Blue Goose, Cincinnati, OH 42735 BWW-El Paso 2, TX 42632 Adam's Mill, Manchester, CT 42554 Heroes, Wichita, KS 42200 Parlay Sports, Tallahassee, FL 42146 Fletcher's, Kalamazoo, MI 42125 Scooter's, Las Vegas, NV 42002 Stadium Cafe, Addison, TX 41963 BWW-Columbia, MD 41956 Henry Hudson's, Oklahoma City, OK 41325 Broadway Bar and Grill, Nepean, ON 41159 West Park Station, Cleveland, OH 39679 Houlihan's--Brick, NJ 37992 Dagwoods, Tampa, FL 37646 Residuals, Studio City, CA 31697 Wallaby's, Lenexa, KS 31511 Nacho Mama's, Tempe, AZ
Now here are the cumulative scores with a low score dropped. Last week's logjam at 4-5-6 has broken up a bit, with Four Corners vaulting into 4th place. It is still relatively tight, though, with all three teams less than 400 points from each other:
38833 BWW-Kent, OH 37212 BWW-Arlington, VA 37195 Teddy B's, Roselle, IL 36081 Four Corners, Chapel Hill, NC 35926 Big Guys, Winnipeg, MB 35724 Mad River, New York, NY 34139 New Edinburgh Pub, Ottawa, ON 34073 Blue Goose, Cincinnati, OH 33989 Teasers, Chicago, IL 33962 Scooter's, Las Vegas, NV 33957 Houlihan's-Westbury, NY 33564 Adam's Mill, Manchester, CT 33394 Henry Hudson's, Oklahoma City, OK 33352 BWW-El Paso 2, TX 33014 Fletcher's, Kalamazoo, MI 32830 BWW-Columbia, MD 32267 Stadium Cafe, Addison, TX 32209 West Park Station, Cleveland, OH 32205 Broadway Bar and Grill, Nepean, ON 32189 Parlay Sports, Tallahassee, FL 32179 Heroes, Wichita, KS 31140 Houlihan's--Brick, NJ 30981 Dagwoods, Tampa, FL 28618 Residuals, Studio City, CA 26050 Nacho Mama's, Tempe, AZ 25283 Wallaby's, Lenexa, KS
The big story, of course, is the battle among the top three teams with only one game remaining. Teddy B's (playing at BWW-Bloomingdale) and BWW-Arlington are separated by only seventeen (17) points. Both are looking up at The Fellowship, which has opened up a 1,600-point lead over these teams. This means that BWW-Kent controls its destiny: any score north of 13,400 this week will clinch the tournament no matter what the other teams do.
Although The Fellowship's lead might seem to be nearly insurmountable, it is not. A few reminders will help keep things in perspective for the rivals at Teddy B's/BWW-Bloomingdale and BWW-Arlington:
1) BWW-Kent has yet to crack the 13,400-point barrier so far this tournament. It turns out that BrainBuster is a hard game.
2) Despite BrainBuster being a hard game, Teddy B's/BWW-Bloomindale got a score of 13,907 just the previous week. BWW-Arlington nearly got 13,400 the week before that.
3) Just last year, BWW-Arlington entered the final week with a sizable lead over BWW-Kent, with The Fellowship needing at least 13,500 to even have a chance. It managed to put up a big score and sniped the trophy away from the former Slammers by all of 81 points.
Thus, there is a precedent and recipe for either the Chicago or the D.C. team to win the trophy: A) Stay ahead of the other rival (for the Chicago team, it has to be by at least 18 points), B) Put up a big score (of which each team is fully capable); and C) See if The Fellowship chokes a little (of which it is fully capable--Exhibit A: This week's Showdown score in the McCarthy Cup semifinals).
(I should also mention that Four Corners, Big Guys, and Mad River also have a mathematical shot at the trophy, but they would have to put up near-perfect scores and would need a lot of help from the other teams to get there).
So, those are the standings and the stakes as we play the final game. Good skill to all!
_________________ Anon "He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."
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