Underdog Triumph, Odna Wins Spring 2011

21 May | Inwood

Hardly anyone expected to see Odna Komanda's smiling faces in the victory picture above that will forever grace the top of these soon to be historic spring 2011 newsclips, especially not Odna Komanda. But they defeated the heavy favorite Von LeMeure in a championship game with some of the season's best highlights.

Pool play began the day at Inwood as the lower seeded teams buckled down and went at it. Mimosa's Revenge faced the healthy Tres Equis and it was a brutal affair. Mimosa's won it close at 15 to 12 but were clearly worn down. On the other side, Odna and Loko dug in. Odna has insisted all season that they play as many points as possible and the tournament was no exception. According to Odna Capt. Steve, "hard cap was called at 15 all. The Touchstones, taking advantage of the fact that none of us could stay with Bob or Mark D, had beaten us to 15. But apparently it's win by 2 if there's still time in the playoffs. After multiple failed hucks by each team, Josie hit Gill going long for the Odna win!" 16 to 15.

The higher seeds arrived and Black to the Future took care of the demoralized Four Loko 15 to 10. However, an upset was brewing on the other field. Eight players had shown up for Von LeMeure and they barely hung around against a fully warmed-up Tres Equis. When the remaining 11 players showed up for Six, their flow suffered and they couldn't contain XXX's deep game. Equis won 15 to 12.

Now LeMeure was in a win the pool by differential situation. (This has never happened before in MUD.) Six had to beat Mimosa by at least 4. But with the second best season differential (70) in league history—Electric Boogaloo was +81 in Spring 2009—LeMeure confidently smashed Mimosa's attempted Revenge 15 to 8. Across the divide, Black to the Future stood poised to join Von LeMeure in the expected finals. But Odna Komanda had just begun its own upset plan. After being down to Black 8-6 at half time, Odna's hustle took over. Keith Piaseczny had a couple amazing hucks and Odna overtook the second seed, 15 to 12.

And so Steve's team met Mateo's team in the finals for a second straight spring. This time Mateo was unacceptably absent and Odna took full advantage of the substitute captain, John Kim. On the third point of the game, John dropped the pull and Odna went up a break. John Kim's excuse: "We played down to Odna's level. We were the better team but we couldn't carry our energy level from our second miraculous game to the finals." Odna Capt. Steve agreed. "We were severely out-talented," he said. "Hunt was limping, Ben Graf (who'd walked over six miles to get to Inwood) was beat, Rich had gone home (hamstring). I felt like crap." Despite these complaints, Odna cruised to a 8-3 lead at half. The highlight of the game, perhaps of the season, came on the first point of the second half. Ben Graf caught and threw a leaping greatest for a score to Josie. Obviously frustrated, Von LeMeure went on a massive run to cut it to 10-8. A couple more points swung back and forth until Odna got it to game point at 14-11. Again LeMeure fought back to 14-13. Six then pulled and got the turn. But Odna wouldn't let the opportunity go. They forced a quick D to regain possession. Then, of course, it was Hunt who threw a backhand just over two Von LeMeure players for the final score. 15 to 13. Steve wins again.

Hopefully everyone had as exciting a season as finals turned out to be. Thanks for all your efforts in making this another no-forfeits affair. Such dedication! See you in the summer.

Wet Week Six Finishes Out the Regular Season

18 May | MUD Newsdesk

A damp Inwood managed to fit games in between the brief rains that simply crippled good ol' Riverside. So the uptown combatants avoided getting rain-wet this Sunday. However, the saturated air influenced plenty of perspiration and some awfully heavy breathing. It was amidst this toil that Von LeMeure added two more wins to their record and pulled within one win of tying Electric Boogaloo's league-record record of 13-1-1 from Spring 2009.

LeMeure's first victory was hard fought against Four Loko. Cuatro was missing a few starters but managed to take half and stay ahead until 11-11. At that point, it seemed as if Loko's fatigue finally caught up to LeMeure's nearly-savage tiredness. The final was 15 to 12, but a full-roster Loko is certainly a threat come finals. Von Six then battled the ragtag pickup crew that was masquerading as Mimosa's Revenge. Quickly the wear and tear of Mimosa's previous universe-point win was apparent. After trading points for a bit in the first half, Six took off and won 15 to 8.

Odna Komanda was the other team at Inwood Sunday. And this week they decided to play as many points as possible. After losing the aforementioned game at universe to Mimosa, they battled Four Loko. When the LeMeure/Mimosa game was finished, Loko and Odna were just coming out of half time. For both allotted hours they endured. At 14-14, Odna pulled. Loko went for a breakside dagger and the throw was turfed. Loko Capt. Brandon cursed and Odna's Hunt Clark jogged to pick up the disc. After several obviously frustrated fakes, Hunt found Odna Capt. Steve, on a tough in-cut. Capt. Steve tossed it just outside the endzone to Elena Skavinskakzvyczxya. By this point in the now early evening, Hunt had had enough with ol' Brandon shutting him down. He cut up the line and Elena lofted it high. Landing in with the disc in his hand, Hunt won the game. Touchstone threw his hat.

With the wild weather working its way up and down the island, everything but Wednesday was canceled this week. After some schedule politics involving the taking away of LeMeure's chance for 13 wins, Black and Tres finally got to make up one of their games and did so at East River to close out the regular season. It was a slippery affair, but Black managed to keep Tres in their last place holdout by winning 15 to 8.

So the seedings are set. Von LeMeure (1), Black to the Future (2), Odna Komanda (3), Mimosa's Revenge (4), Four Loko (5), and Tres Equis (6). Please check the standings or schedule page to see the tournament schedule. Get ready to kick some ass this weekend.

Black Slays the Giant and Tres Wins in W5

13 May | MUD Newsdesk

"See Jacques. See Jacques," shouted Jacques Couvilon from the swing position.

"What the hell? Is that guy French?" Someone asked on the sideline.

And so Jacques was up to his old tricks again: talking about himself in the third person, getting mocked by the sideline, and beating down Six LeMeure for their first loss of the season. What a triumph. Jacques's (how do you pronounce that?) team, Black to the Future, thrilled the league by knocking Six off their undefeated perch as the season entered its final two weeks. Black, officially led by Fred and Danielle, came to their second game amped to play on Sunday. Six was unprepared, losing 12 to 15. Suddenly the playing field—even at Inwood—seems a bit more level.

Black lost their first game, however. Odna Komanda had seized an opportunity. As one of the two teams who haven't gone 2-0 at Inwood this season, they added their name to the winner's list this weekend. They defeated Black 15 to 12 in their first game and then stomped XXX 15 to 8. Tres Equis had previously lost to Von LeMeure 15 to 6. These loses represent Tres's nine-game losing streak (second only to Vintage Winos of Summer 2010 who managed 11 in-a-row). This is especially interesting if one considers Tres capt. Rey's week-one comments regarding the success of his team.

On Tuesday, Six met Odna at Riverside. Odna has been unable to beat Six this season and the trend continued. LeMeure's Aalap Shah had a couple spectacular layouts to help his team win the game 15 to 12. The captains agreed to adjust the score many times throughout the game in order to "make things more interesting." Due to a failure on the part of the MTA, many players were quite late. These included Odna's Eric Shoemaker who managed to arrive for the last three points yet still got himself a score. With the win, LeMeure becomes the first team to reach double-digit wins on the season.

Wednesday, East River. In the words of Black Capt. Danielle, "Score tonight: Black beat Four, 15 to 6."

Finally, finally Tres Equis got their third win of the season after a four-week drought. Nearly everyone is happy for them, everyone but Mimosa's Revenge. Tres beat Mimosa 15 to 6 on Thursday. The loss is a double bummer for Mimosa. Their last two games have gone poorly against lower-ranked teams. It almost seems as if this season's battle is not for the top of the standings, but for the bottom. Yikes.

Week Four: Rain stays away & we get to play

6 May | MUD Newsdesk

INWOOD
Black to the Future grabbed two wins on Sunday, becoming the 4th team to do so this season. Their first was against Four Loko. The crazies put up a decent fight, but they couldn't compete with the pent-up gigawatts flowing through the Future (Black's last two games were rained out). The final was 15 to 9. Against Mimosa's Revenge, Black still had plenty left in the tank (where do they get that kind of power?). They burned through Mimosa's like Michael J. Fox through medication. Winning 15 to 10, and with a 4-3 record, Black moves into an insecure 2nd place.

Suffering two loses on Sunday was Tres Equis. Mimosa's beat them 14 to 12. The Revenge was up 13-9, but with the help of what Revenge Capt. Jeff called "some full speed, full horizontal layouts" by the league's commissioner, Tres staggered back and made it 13-12. Commissioner Winston then called hard cap and the Revenge scored to avoid universe point. In the next game, Tres met Four Loko. Ticked off about constantly losing, Loko got the score all the way to 14-8. Then, according to Loko captain Brandon Touchstone, "we let them bring it to universe before I got so frustrated I just ran deep for Josh, who put it to me for the win." Touchstone added, "Thank god we left there 1-1."

On Tuesday, Mimosa's Revenge edged out Black to the Future 14 to 11. Black had just beaten Mimosa's on Sunday, but they couldn't muster the same winning spirit at RIVERSIDE in the evening. With the win, Mimosa's moves into 2nd place, definitively taking it away from Black.

EAST RIVER (write up provided by Odna's captain Steve Nicolson)
Wednesday evening's highlight was certainly Tres Capt. Rey making a diving catch of an errant swing and nearly landing on the track. He was standing there yelling "I'm in. I'm in." But we were like, "Rey, you're on the track." Tres also had a crazy guy on their team who must have laid out on each point. I think they called him Eugene and one of those layouts was on league commissioner Winston, Eugene's own teammate. Because of this tenacity, we (Odna) were a bit shaken up. Josie hucked one to Gil and Rene in the endzone. They backed away from each other and the disc fell in between. Tres's Reed Cooley was given a point after claiming that Hunt pushed him out of bounds while he was in the air (what? that's legal in the NFL). Later, I yelled "Injury!" when Keith fell out of bounds and doubled over in pain. Little did I know, Keith, while on the ground and out of bounds, was stalling Rey who was trying to figure out who was injured. All in all it was chaos, despite the new jerseys. Odna 15. Tres 10.

Thursday at RIVERSIDE was a close game. Four Loko took on Von LeMeure and kept it even the whole time. Just before half, Loko gave up a break and Von LeMeure rushed it to 8-6. That mini-break remained the difference the rest of the game. Dark cap game was called at 14 to 12, Six.

Finally, a Friday make-up game was played. Black to the Future (in white) played Odna Komanda at RIVERSIDE. Check out the video below for highlights.

W3: Six Kills Easter Bunny, Everyone Else

28 April | MUD Headquarters

INWOOD
Four Loko, that awful team that loses its games and shames its reputation, was playing Mimosa's Revenge, you know, the folks who always show up with 12 ladies and 2 gentlemen and seem to win. Mimosa was gendered at 4/3 and Loko took advantage. The game was tight all the way through and then, goodness, Four Loko scored on universe. 15 to 14 first win of the season.

Across the triangular divide, the only remaining undefeated team Six Von LeMeure was busy beating down Odna Komanda. Six's one woman, Ms. J. Broadbent, savaged up the whole game and yet was uncoverable. LeMeure won 15 to 5 and kept Odna from scoring in the second half. It may as well be noted that six men accompanied Ms. B. throughout the game, which was allowed and not matched by Odna's gracious captain, S. Nix.

In Sunday's Part II, Four Loko lost a couple ringers and fell 4 to 15 against the Komanda. Odna scored in a furious hurry and got home in time to carve their glazed pigs and hunt for their deviled eggs. The weekend's marquee matchup (though it was spoiled by Four Loko's win, but when hasn't Four Loko spoiled something?) was between Von LeMeure and Mimosa's Revenge. Mimosa was poised to even the standings as Jenny B. had a dinner to attend and Six was left with a only a lowly pickup woman. And this time, Six was made to go 5/1. Several spectacular scores and strange zones later, Six had taken half 8 to 5. They then scored the next three. Mimosa brought it back to within two at one point, but Six's offense couldn't be clogged. The game ended 15 to 10. Both nearly savage teams were exhausted, but Six was on top of the world, and now the standings.

Sunday's RIVERSIDE game was rained out, as was Thursday. Tuesday was another story, however. Four Loko showed up at Riverside with Mimosa waiting for them, looking to get revenge. But it was not to be. Loko had the taste for blood after the shocking universe point defeat of Mimosa on Sunday. Again on Tuesday, Loko was victorious. This time 12 to 8. After the game Loko's Mark Dellaquila commented, "look out, we're coming together." If the Touchstones' supposedly well-drafted team can run up two wins this weekend, the league might just believe that statement.

EAST RIVER
Tres Equis was ready to play. At 6:01pm Wednesday, captain Reynaldo Uno Uno had a starting line set to go. Of course, they hadn't moved the soccer goals off the field or put any cones out, but the Xs seemed amped. By 6:15pm Von LeMeure had matched Tres's preparedness. At exactly 6:30pm Tres pulled to Six. The two teams traded scores for about four points. Then Six took off. It was 5 to 2 when Rey called a time out. Equis scored two out of the time out with a trap zone D. Six quickly changed their O to create an onslaught of poppers and the disc moved smoothly back in the favor of Von LeMeure. Half was 8 to 5, game was 15 to 8. Six extends it's undefeated streak to +6.

Week Two: First Riverside, First Rainout

21 April | Riverside

Sunday's 72nd Street game was rained out, and the rain kept on through Tuesday. Inwood, however, drained quite well—not that it mattered. On Sunday, Mimosa's Revenge and Von LeMeure proved that their week-one tie was in fact a matching of strength, skill, and the league's best. Both teams went 2-0 against Black to the Future and Tres Equis, thus ruining Tres's week-one hopes of perfection, and becoming the only undefeated teams left in the league. They face off at 4pm next Sunday.

The turf fields up at 104th and Riverside Park served as the venue for Tuesday's would-be rained out game. Four Loko and Von LeMeure captains, the Touchstones and Mateo, respectively, sought out the location to avoid a second week-two postponement. Though the field was a bit small and both teams began each point on the back lines of the endzones, LeMeure had no trouble finding the front of the endzone again and again. Four Loko found yet another loss, this one at 15 to 5.

Wednesday's turf field showcased Black to the Future vs. Tres Equis. This East River matchup ended in spring's fourth universe point. So far, that's all East River has seen—though darkness settled last week's in a tie. This week, Black pushed through the darkness and finished off Tres Equis. It ended 15 to 14, an impressive score considering the evening time slot.

Dry grass and Thursday welcomed Riverside's first games of the season yet it didn't allow nearly as many points as Wednesday. At 7 all, game point was called. Mimosa's Revenge pulled to Odna Komanda and set a zone. After about four turns apiece, Odna was poised to score. The Revenge got the D in the endzone and worked it against Odna's zone in the pitch black to score and win, 8 to 7. After two universe wins in week two, Mimosa slips into week three undefeated. Here's looking at you Six.

Week One, Fun and Done

13 April | East River

After a dazzling weekend and a daylight-starved Wednesday, week one has concluded and MUD's 10th season is officially underway.

Tres Equis showed early chemistry and conservation with two big wins at Inwood. As evidenced by Tres captain Reynaldo's post-game comments, "no one can beat us. We're gonna win it all," he seems relatively confident this undefeated streak will continue. The X's wasted Four Loko in their first game, 15 to 12. Their second game, vs. Steve Nicolson's Odna Komanda, which was this week's (and MUD's first) video-featured matchup, went all the way to universe point.