Falcons Forum

If it weren't for the enormous gap between the good teams and the rest of the league, the division races in both the President's Division and the Vice President's Division would be extremely exciting. But to the casual observer who has the time to look over standings from years past, it's obvious that this league has failed in its attempts to encourage parity amongst its 12 teams.

Going back over the last 10 years to 2008, only 4 teams have been crowned League Champions by winning the President's Division (and it was Storm in half of those years). George Douma has proclaimed with pride that 9 different teams won the playoff tournament between 2008 and 2016, but in reality that's a reflection of which teams' members were away at weddings that weekend. The division standings are the easiest way to tell which teams are better than others. You are what your record says you are. Storm, the winningest team of the last ten years, is a good team. Bollocks (Greenthumb) has spent one season in the President's Division and "won" the Horse's Ass trophy 3 times in that span.

I'm not trying to pile-on the less successful teams of this league, but merely trying to point out that the rules the league has implemented in the interest of "fairness" and "parity" have obviously succeeded in creating the exact opposite.

The fairest thing the league has done to address this in the recent past was to award the winner of the Vice President's division an equal cheque as the team who wins the President's Division (8 different winners in the last 10 years, with Sports Illustrated/Direct Elevator and Brew Crew/Devils/Shoeless Joe's as the only repeat winners).

What's better for the league? Even competition and parity, or months-long unbeaten streaks (which we've seen twice in the recent past)? Is it time for the President's Division to be 4 teams with the other 8 in a more competitive division?

Does anyone even care?

#1. A's
(Rank last week: 1)
Record: 25-3-3 (2-1-0 this week)
1st place in the President's Division (1st overall in WMSPL)

A bit of a scare put into the A's this week on Wednesday night as they were this close to dropping to second place. Storm won their game at 8:00, and the A's, after establishing a healthy 12-run lead over the Falcons after 3 innings, allowed the VP Division leaders to come all the way back to tie. Someone broke out the smelling salts and the A's pulled out the win to remain in top spot.

#2. Storm
(Rank last week: 2)
Record: 26-5-1 (3-0-0 this week)
2nd place in the President's Division (2nd overall in WMSPL)

Winners of 10 in a row, and nipping at the heels of the A's for the lead in the President's Division. The league is poised for a must-watch game on Sunday September 9 at 5:00 as the A's and Storm face off potentially for all the marbles.

#3. Broadway
(Rank last week: 3)
Record: 24-6-2 (2-0-0 this week)
3rd place in the President's Division (3rd in WMSPL)

An undefeated week for Broadway keeps them in the hunt for the money in the President's Division. But their remaining schedule is arguably the hardest of the top 3 teams. If they win the division, they'll have earned it.

#4. Rebels (Tie)
(Rank last week: 4)
Record: 17-14-0 (1-0-0 this week)
2nd place in the Vice President's Division (5th in WMSPL)

Thanks to the rain, the Rebels only played once this week - but they won! That's enough to keep them in this log-jam for 4th place in the rankings.

#4. SI Play (Tie)
(Rank last week: 4)
Record: 15-14-1 (1-1-0 this week)
4th place in the President's Division (6th in WMSPL)

Even-Steven for SI this week, with a tough one against the Falcons scheduled for Friday night.

#4. Falcons (Tie)
(Rank last week: 4)
Record: 17-13-1 (1-1-0 this week)
1st place in the Vice President's Division (4th in WMSPL)

A big but unsuccessful come back against the A's cost the Falcons an undefeated week. They continue on their 6-games-in-7-days stretch clinging ever-so-slightly to the lead in the VP division.

#7. Re/Max Crossroads
(Rank last week: 10)
Record: 9-22-0 (1-1-0 this week)
5th place in the Vice President's Division (11th in WMSPL)

Re/Max are the hottest team in the VP division, going 4-2 in their last 6 games.

#8. Coulas Bone Crushers
(Rank last week: 7)
Record: 11-17-3 (0-1-0 this week)
5th place in the President's Division (7th in WMSPL)

Coulas has an unreported score on the league's website.

#9. Hanet Plastics (tie)
(Rank last week: 8)
Record: 9-18-3 (0-2-0 this week)
6th place in the President's Division (tied for 8th in WMSPL)

Hanet lost both ends of a very difficult Sunday doubleheader to Storm and the A's. Rain prevented them from limiting the damage this week.

#9. Brew Crew (tie)
(Rank last week: 9)
Record: 11-20-1 (0-1-0 this week)
3rd place in the Vice President's Division (tied for 8th in WMSPL)

Polar opposite for Brew Crew this week, as they only played 1 game (as opposed to 5 last week), and they ended up losing that one game to the Rebels.

#11. Bollocks (tie)
(Rank last week: 11)
Record: 10-20-1 (1-3-0 this week)
4th place in the Vice President's Division (10th in WMSPL)

Bollocks has two unreported scores on the league's website.

#12. Surge
(Rank last week: 12)
Record: 5-26-0 (0-2-0 this week)
6th place in the Vice President's Division (12th in WMSPL)

The whole world was pulling for Surge to beat Storm on Wednesday.

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