Unintended Consequences.
Seen the bracket, yet? I’ll assume a bulk of you already have. If not, please click on the above link and view it’s splendor. Here’s how we came up with the version you see: we ranked each team (based on their merits*) 1 thru 28. Phil had an excellent playoff format that equally spread all 28 teams among 4 brackets of 7 each. In Round one the 1 got a bye, the 2 seed plays the 7, 3 the 6, and 4 the 5. The rest of the tournament unfolds in this fashion. I think the consensed 28 allowed for the most fair and balanced (heard that before?) playoff we could provide. I realize that not everyone will agree AND rematches happened. Unavoidable. If we moved one team to prevent a rematch, another would be displaced and so on. Where would the switching end? That would’ve been too confusing and even more subjective from where we began. I feel it correct to stick with the numbers.
That being said, I shamed myself. My mantra this year had been (in order of importance): league, team, then self. Whelp, blew that one. When I realized JG had a potential 3rd round match against the Eastsiders, I cried foul. Anybody but the GODFORSAKEN Eastsiders (FYI- my team’s record against Robert’s teams is 2-3-1, mind you Robert may have different numbers)! Simply put, it was the luck of the draw. I cried foul again….you see where I’m going with this. Ideas started wheeling around in my head about how we could switch this team for that team so JG and Eastsiders would only have met in the final 4. That’s more like it, right? All this perceived KVKL influence, and I couldn’t get one little team moved into another bracket. See what fear does to a person? It’ll turn you into Ann Coulter. Seriously. How much sleep do you think she gets in a night? Anyway, the points being, I forgot my mantra and that I wield little influence. I prioritized myself over the league and JG. For that, I apologize to whom it may concern. May my hubris rest in peace.
Here’s the great part: remember when I pined (June 24th) for new teams to break the final four? This year it is virtually guaranteed to happen. The most likely suspects would be teams from the Jazzhaus bracket and/or the Eldridge bracket. Let us rejoice at the occurrence of this phenomenon! It’s about time. This bracket is what’s best for the league. Period. See you on Sunday!
What are your opinions regarding the brackets? Looking forward to any match-ups? How do you think your team will perform? Who’s going to win this thing? And, so on…
*merits=(in NO particular order) overall record, division record, RPI, head-to-heads, and an abundance of subjectivity.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Tags: Kickball, KVKL
Search
-
You are currently browsing the Sunday(s) in the Park weblog archives.
Fear not, Deron! If everything goes according to my daydreams, Blue Collar will make sure you don’t play the Eastsiders
Seriously, though, the bracket looks great. Best of luck to everyone!
Yes the brackets look great, I just wish that the Sun Creations bracket which has five teams from their division, and the Eldridge bracket with four, were a bit more split up like the other side. I know mathmatics and seeding and all but what is the difference between this 5 seed for that 5 seed, or this 7 seed for that 7 seed. Switching teams like that couldnt have been that big of deal. Right???? Does anyone else from those 9 teams agree?
I agree, poopypants. Those two brackets (along with the JG-Eastsiders one) perplexed me a little too. I think the council did a great job with a thankless task. But 4-5 division rivals (if you can really use that label when referring to 4 or 5 teams) in the same bracket seems like, maybe, the pot should been stirred up a bit more.
I can totally see how the council would (over?) rely on the numbers, since about everything they do prompts cries of bias, nepotism and the like. (Incorrectly, in my opinion.) But a little manipulation in favor or fresher match-ups would have been just fine by me–especially re: the 5s-7s. (But, then, I wouldn’t have minded the Eastsiders and the Sword being swapped straight-up either. Both to separate the top two seeds from the WSB, and to delay a potentially HUGE match-up between a couple of league lions at least until the semis.)
But then, I’ve always thought of kickball as being just as rewarding a spectator experience–especially when enjoying cool beers and high-level match-ups in our city’s beautiful parks. So whatever tweaks can be made to enhance viewer interest are A-OK in my book. (Part of why I am so ambivalent about the stature of the bunt in our league, but thats a topic for another thread–or three.) But I am sure Ann Coulter and her laissez-faire advocates would resent the notion…