- Actual scores are hard to come
by up here, so we'll report them on Saturday's games, but
won't be able to before then. Sorry
- Weather: beautiful,
sunny, slight breeze, maybe 75.
- I haven't seen them but,
apparently, the Gamecocks from Washington DC are the
happiest team at the Games, cheering not just after or
during games, but between them as they walk around.
- The hottest team at the
Series: after one day, my vote goes to the Twin Cities
Boom in the C Division.
- The hottest streak at the
series belongs to the Phoenix BS Express. The #30 seed
has beaten #35 Phoenix Stallions, #3 Long Beach Sharks, and
#14 Twin Cities Boom.
- Number of articles of
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH clothing I've seen on my first day
here: 3.
- I spoke to two women from the
C-Division Long Beach Sharks, Kathy McComb and Bobbi Price,
both of whom have chosen to play on an open division team,
as opposed to the all-women's division. "It's
more competitive, more fun," Price said. "I
step up a level here." I should say so. With her
team trailing late in the game, Price extended a single into
a double with a spectacular slide that would make an pro
baller proud. While this is Price's first World
Series, it is McComb's second - and neither intend to make
it their last.
- I also spoke with Tina Prato
and Tera Longest, who are two women playing for a San Diego
team sponsored by womenmoto.com.
The team started several years ago and just recently changed
it's name to Womenmoto.com - specifically to promote the
site. The site represents a group of about 500 women
in the San Diego area who, you guessed it, love to ride
motorbikes. Five of the women on the team, including
Prato and Longest, bike as well. The team is seeded
#23 in the women's alternative bracket and beat the #10 team
in the first round. Their team and annual fundraisers
benefit lupus research.
- The C-division Twin Cities
Smoke, from Minneapolis/St. Paul, have been
disqualified. Their first round opponents, Toronto
Sneak Attack, protested Smoke, saying they were using
illegal players - players who had played B-level in the
past. The NAGAA Protest Commission review the team and
upheld the protest. This puts the #28 (out of 40)
Sneak Attack into their third round with no losses.
- Long Beach's "Yes I
Am", a lesbian team playing in the women's competitive
division, was filmed by the local WB affiliate for a story
and there are rumors among some World Series officials that
the footage may be picked up by ESPN. The LA Stray
Cats, the favorites to win the A Division, were shown on the
local Channel 4 as part of a two-minute bit on the GSWS
earlier today.
- There is a not-so-subtle
difference between the seven-time champion LA Stray Cats and
the rest of this division, and one spectator put it
well: "they're a franchise." The Stray
Cats arrived on the scene in 1994 with their first World
Series Championship - they've won it every year since.
As one former Stray Cat put it, "we don't break the
rules. Ever. We just use them to the
fullest." Flying players weekly from the Midwest
to guarantee their eligibility and maxing out their limit of
two straight players are just a couple things they do to
continue their dynasty.
- Women are screamers.
- Couldn't catch his name, but
#6 Tampa and Keith's Bar and Bandit hit a fantastic
in-the-park three-run homer.
- Speaking of the Stray Cats,
they are tearing it up in the A Division. They ran
through their round robin games on Tuesday and Wednesday,
and crushed Philly's Wood's team today. They play #5
DC Metz Friday at 2:30pm.
- The San Francisco Chronicle
ran an article Wednesday morning titled, "Gays
Ready To Play Softball" about the 2001 World
Series.
- Check back tomorrow for some
thoughts on the series from Bill Konigsberg, ESPN's only
openly gay employee and a member of Boston's Shamrock
Stallions - plus, photos from the World Series!
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The good news: no teams are
gone. The bad news: more than half will be at the
end of Friday. It's impossible to get the results of every
game, so here are the highlights:
OPEN A DIVISION
A team finally took the LA Stray
Cats to the brink. Though, LA did advance to the
semifinals with a 16-9 win over the DC Metz,m it was the first
time this tournament that a team kept up with them.
The teams remaining in the A
Division are: #1 LA Stray Cats (2-0), #2 Twin Cities
Bandits (1-1), #3 SF Seals (2-0), #5 DC Metz (2-1), #7 Atlanta
Power (2-1), #8 SF Badlands (1-1), #11 Seattle R Place (1-1) #13
Houston Force (1-1).
OPEN B DIVISION
The top eight seeds in the B
Division are: #1 NY Eagle, #2 Ft. Lauderdale Stingers, #3
Chicago MSA Spin, #4 Boston Jackhammers, #5 Tampa Krewe, #6 San
Diego Rich's, #7 Birmingham Rockets, #8 Atlanta A's.
The #13 Dallas Bandits and #12 LA
Destroyers meet for a trip to the quarterfinals this
evening. They upset, respectively, #4 Boston Jackhammers
and #5 Tampa Krewe.
The #14 Seattle Monarchs scored
the upset of the day, topping Chicago's Spin before losing to
Blue Dot this afternoon.
The only teams in the top eight
to make it through to Friday undefeated were the #1 NY Eagle, #2
Ft. Lauderdale Stingers, and the #8 Atlanta A's.
OPEN C DIVISION
With the disqualification of Twin
Cities' Smoke, the #5 seed, the #28 Toronto Sneak Attack have
lived up to their name and are 2-0 going into round two (after
their play-in game).
The top eight seeds in the C
Division are: #1 Atlanta Comets, #2 SF Hard Drive, #3 Long
Beach Sharks, #4 Twin Cities Storm, #5 TC Smoke (disq.), #6
Tampa Keith's, #7 Dallas Poison, #8 Chicago Scot's Shots
The upset of the day was the #30
BS Express (from Phoenix) topping #3 Long Beach Sharks,
15-8. The #1 Atlanta Comets also lost, to #16 Chicago MSA
Hunters, in the second round.
WOMEN'S COMPETITIVE DIVISION
The top eights seeds are:
#1 SF Creative Tech, #2 Long Beach Yes I Am, #3 Tampa The
Jungle, #4 Dallas Front Runner Sports, #5 Phoenix Roscoe's
Kaddywhompus, #6 Long Beach What's My Name, #7 LA Bent, #8
Atlanta Heat.
The California teams are
dominating this division, with at least three teams through to
the second round - #1 SF Creative Tech, #2 Long Beach Yes I Am,
#6 Long Beach What's My Name.
WOMEN'S ALTERNATIVE DIVISION
The top eight seeds are: #1
Ft. Lauderdale Just For Kicks, #2 LA Outlaws, #3 Basteis, #4
Title IX, #5 No Biz, #6 San Diego Ontherun, #7 Seattle Area 51,
Kansas City Sting.
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