Here are some thoughts I had during and after last weekends’ North Central Regional tournaments. Feel free to disagree and comment.

• I finished 11-6 in my bracket. Minnesota and Naptown’s impressive upsets threw me for a loop.
• So how do these upsets happen anyway? Well there’s good fundamental skills, hard work, a little luck, etc. But much more importantly, IMHO, is team unity. Working together for a common goal, a united belief in how to get there, and support of the team leaders. Not over thinking and over analyzing and letting your mind get in the way. Just play and have fun.
• More on upsets- another thing that can be a huge factor is recognizing when your opponents make a mistake (on the track or with mismatches in line ups) and being able to capitalize within fractions of a second. There are some adjustments that you can make in the locker room, but most of them have to happen on the track, during a jam, without thinking about them. Few teams who are otherwise talented can do this consistently.
• BTW, what makes a game an upset? When a team that isn’t expected to win (by the “experts”) wins. The seeds themselves are mostly accurate but don’t necessarily reflect a team’s ability, it’s basically just when we get surprised by an outcome that we have an upset. My point- if we had picked MNRG to beat Detroit then it wouldn’t have been so impressive.
• Naptown Rollergirls may have surprised you but they didn’t surprise me. I had the pleasure of working with them a bit early this season, and I could tell that they were on the verge of a breakout year. Not only are they a talented bunch of athletes, but much more importantly they were unified in their goals and open to any and all help and criticism. They are a smart and dedicated team.
• FYI, what Naptown accomplished in Green Bay was done without the help of some of their best players, who were sidelined a few months ago with injury. Touretta Lynn and Sin Lizzie may be done for good, but if Blazin’ Ace gets back in their lineup next year, look for them to be even better.
• Willa Hoeflinch was a bright spot for Naptown as an experienced speedskater. The Tornado Sirens groomed her along on the b-team for much of the season to get her experience in derby- a very smart move, and not one that many teams would have the patience to pull off.
• Naptown and MNRG may have been surprises, but so was Arch and Brewcity. These teams under-achieved in a surprising way. I say this not to criticize, but to note that they are much better teams than their tournament performances indicated, they presumably just had an off weekend. A few tweaks here and there and they can easily climb the ranks.
• Official time outs and game stoppage- holy moly. In one game where I took some rudimentary data, well over 15 minutes in official time outs were called in the first half alone. That’s over one quarter’s of the game’s worth of time. Yeah yeah, a lot was at stake, they wanna get it right, it’s a complicated fast moving sport. I get that. But 15 plus minutes?
• Although the games were mostly great, it seems that less strategy is involved these days due to frequently full penalty boxes. When you are down to 3 on the track, it’s hard to execute a game plan. I think that the powers that be really need to consider rule changes to try and keep as many skaters on the track as possible, so we can get to games that feature awesome strategy, more than just “whose jammer is in the box”.
• Related to this, can we track how often in a game we have five on five? I bet it’s less than half of the game on average.
• I was honored to present the 2007 East regional MVP trophy to Detroit’s Racer McChaser. Seeing her interviewed after her game where she scored 32 points in a single jam reminded me not only of how awesome she is, but how she’s about the nicest person and most selfless player I have ever known. Our sport needs more like her.
• Sadistic Sadie and Cincinnati were the source of much hushed drama in Green Bay, apparently, and on the internet as well. Regardless of how you feel about the situation, Cincy certainly showed the world that they are NOT inconsistent, that they are NOT a one-woman show, and that the ARE one of the best teams in derby. IMHO, they achieve without tons of skill, but rather through discipline, hard work and teamwork. All teams should be so lucky.
• The way that both Naptown and Cincy performed against Windy City should be considered moral victories. Few teams in the country would have fared as well. WCR is not the dominant team of 2007/2008, but they are still solid, well rounded and intimidating.
• Despite the previous thought, you almost feel that WCR was holding back in their first two games, seeing how easily they handled Minnesota in the finals. That game was essentially meaningless, and arguably a team might prefer to take it easy in that game rather than risk injury to a standout player.
• Madison’s victory over Cincinnati all but assures that they will face Texas in the first round of Nationals. This means that team captain Vicious Van Go Go will play her former team. That is going to be one fun and exciting match up.
• Once again, we witnessed a major tournament with no fans in the stands, and very low (relative to certain high profile recent single game events) viewership on DNN. Can these tourneys be marketed toward legitimate local sports fans (i.e. not just friends and family)?