Cleveland TSB Tournament: 6 spots open - sat. feb. 5th, 2011

[Deleted Account]

The best of three went insane right at the get go. I began by using two pro form plays with sanders. Calling them exclusively till Matt caught on I drove down to his twenty. Then he took me off guard by guessing run on third and short. I decided to settle for a field goal. Only to have it promptly block. After a couple of plays the fumbles began. Over the next few plays when ever I hit the ball carrier there was a fumble. Each one would be recovered by Matt but there had to be four in a row.

Then after an exchange of three and outs I would make my first mistake. The score was 0-0 and Matt controlled the LB. With the wr's all open on pass two i decided to take whatever clark would get. Only to see a JJ int as Fulcher had crouched in to the perfect spot. I picked up the d to defend the short field and held him to a fg which I blocked. I would then drive for 7 with the key play being a cc catch to clark in front of fulcher. I then tapped off fulcher just in time and knocked off two defenders and juked down the field for a td. During the extra point I noticed that he could no longer get in with James Francis.

Matt returned the favor in the second half as he drove down for a td. We might have exchanged 3 and outs but somewhere I would get the fg from a long distance. Only to have Matt answer it with about 40 on the clock. It looked like overtime would ensue. Yet I did have the ball at the fifteen with 10 seconds to go. I decided to put sanders at the top wr, gray at the bottom wr and clark to tight end. All game i had noticed he guessed mainly run and run and shoot passes. I had gone to the first pass pro form. It went unguessed and even better Matt choose James Francis. The CPU did not send Fulcher deep. There was no pass rush in time and I winged it. Sure enough once again JJ in the endzone as Sanders came down with the game winning td.

In game 2 I had a chance to eliminate Matt. Yet now I began to make mistakes. This game I started with all pass plays to throw him off guard. Then hoping he would bite on going for an int I tried to decoy him on pass 4. Except he didn't bite, stayed on the deep wr I wanted and picked me off. Then on offense Brooks began to break contain. This pattern ensued as he went up 7-0. Undaunted I returned to a more balanced play call. Yet it was tough sledding. I barely managed to gut out a td to tie it up. Only to quickly see my lead vanish as he got a td then held me to a three and out. I would just barely hold him to a late field goal.

In the second half it all fell apart for me. I got the opening kickoff return and fumbled it away. Matt settled for three this time but now I felt pressure to score quickly. In mere moments with the ball back Fulcher took it away and then I could not stop him till the redzone. Then I did manage to score once more but it was never close again. My defense would contain but not stop. That game I could not move the ball at all and though I held in the redzone the field goals added up to make it a 26-14 loss.

Then as Matt took a break I began to think of a game plan. I just could not rely on any big plays or the running game. Instead I was going to have to take what was assured. Since I knew he would guess a lot of run it meant short passing and qb sneaks. Meanwhile on defense all I had to do was get a couple of guesses and keep him off balance using mostly Mike Coffer.

It started great. Just as I planned I began to move the ball with relative ease. Mostly on wide open passes, qb sneaks and the occasional sanders run. Then on defense I began to figure out how to hold him on downs. Slowly I began to press and it unraveled for Matt. As the defensive pressure increased so did the constant qb sneaks and scrambles. I would go up 14-0 in the second when a big break came my way. Only i can't remember what it was but I suspect it was a short punt. This put me in range for a field goal to make it 17-0 at the half. At that point I came out strong in the third going up 23-0. Eventually I would go up 31-0.

At which point again I would like to clarify I observed the squares to see if I could land the game on one of the make a wish squares. Having squares for the finals was a great idea and I hope we can try it at Madison. Seeing it would take a lot of work to get on a wish square I just messed around and punted.

Then Matt made one big play to get inside the 10. Yet this was just not his game as I shut down his team in four straight plays. With a minute to go i chose the pro form run up the middle to run down the clock. Only to find myself Lurched. "That was my one" Matt joked. It was a good joke and a reminder it is all in good fun. I highly doubt I could ever repeat a performance like that on him anytime soon. In fact now I worry about our next game cause as I said after wards we seem to be exchanging games. Hopefully if we do meet again it will be the Madison finals. Though I will do my best to prove that fate wrong.

Anyways I then took home my reward of a couple hundred bucks and an awesome trophy. Another high light was the small solid one piece trophy. Instead of the nightmare of a time I had getting that Madison trophy into my bag then getting it back together again. (Hint Hint). Not to mention it look so cool on my desk. I can't wait for Madison and the next Cleveland tourney too. Which I would love to play in again.

[toolie]

The tournament was a great time and was very well run. While I do think the Madison-style tournament is the most fair way to set up a tournament, the drawing of ping-pong balls and drafting of teams was pretty exciting and cool for a change. Going into Cleveland and with my Steelers in the Super Bowl, I decided to dust off my old Kordell Stewart jersey and play the part of the heel. I received plenty of good-natured jabs from the locals, who all seemed to think the Steelers are bound to win today. They also didn't like the fact that I was from Michigan, even though I can't stand U of M.

I drew #11 for my group, which I wasn't thrilled with, but since Mort had already gotten stuck with 14 in his group I didn't feel that bad. As it was, the Bengals fell to me (I couldn't believe that NOBODY in group A took Cincy) and I felt very fortunate to land them. So now I am playing in a tournament in Cleveland as the Bengals wearing a Steelers jersey. Louis got Houston at #5 and Nick got the Eagles at #8 (Philly fell to #11 in group A).

My first game was against the Raiders and a guy who didn't play the game that much. Next I had to play the 49ers and was able to win 28-7, then I beat the Bears in a close one, 14-7 (this was the only game where I really used my allotted one lurch per quarter, as my opponent's playbook made it obvious that the lurch would work). Then I won that close game over Louis and won easily over my buddy Nick. That game was much more lopsided than any game we have played in a long time.

So I found myself up against Morty once again in the finals. I felt good about the match-up. It's probably good that he didn't take Cincy or we would have had to figure something out.

Our best-of-three can be likened to Ray Jackson vs. Chong Li. Mort got the upper hand by winning the first game (another full-length JJ to beat me? come on!), and then I hit back (and caught some pretty good luck) in the second game to even things up. That apparently just made Mort mad, as he face-stomped me in game three. He played great in that game and I couldn't do jack. Once I fell behind it got out of control.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1j0Loz-JRI

I would have liked to have a shot at OT in that first game, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I think until I improve my tapping ability I may never win one of these things. I always seem to get put out by someone who has that edge in addition to great play. I need to pay Louis for some lessons on his new-found skill.

Some of the impressive feats on the day were strong showings by both players who had Washington, and then the play of TK with the Steelers and also the guy who picked SD at #13 in my group (I think he finished fourth in our group behind me, Nick, and Louis). People definitely made some strange picks (CLE, PHX, even PIT) and I think a lot of other people benefited from nabbing good teams in low positions. That was part of the fun and the randomness. It was a great time, I'd love to go back next year, and it has me pumped for the big show next month.

[Deleted Account]

one advantage for us is having a nes advantage. a turbo controller built for the nes I used to measure tapping ability and to practice my tapping. The nice thing is with this the speed your tapping at can be marked on a dial. Even better its easy to set up so you can practice it hundreds of times in order to experiment. I'm sure if you look it up you or anyone can find one at a local flee market, ebay or elsewhere.

[ohiotecmo]

I think we should do a tapping contest in Madison!

Can't really add too much more about this tourney, but it was a great time with great competition. I was pleased with my co 3rd place finish. Louis and I had two great games, each getting a victory...and it was a treat to watch Mort and O'Toole battle it out for the prize (brought back shades of '10 Madison).