Conference Round Run Down

It's down to 4. None of whom have ever won a championship. The Diamonds have never been to a championship. The Cat's have never been even this far into the playoffs since 2007 where they lost the Championship to the Gremlins. The Scarlet Ember and Interceptors on the other hand are making an unlikely era of success for the Midwest over the past few years, both having made the championship and lost to the Toros in the past 2 years. So much hype is made around the big market North, but it's one of these guys who will again represent the conference. 

 The Diamonds are coming off of a really high energy, stellar performance series against the Dragonfish. No doubt they deserve to be here. If they can keep Sebastian playing this immortal, and Sean playing his level, this could be an interesting series. The Cat's on the other hand, hand a slippery series despite the 2-0 count. Many mistakes and under-performance. They will not last doing that again. However this shakes out, good season for each of these very green teams.

Jack and the Scarlet Ember have made the least impact to the culture of this season of the teams remaining. They got hot in the middle of the season, but unfortunately (or fortunately) for them they were overshadowed by 'undefeatable Interceptors' fever. But now the lowest seed in the playoffs is in the big time. Jack has lead SE to 2 pretty convincing victories over the Dizzy Devils who just weren't on their game. The Interceptors are playing pretty strong. Not as lights out as many would have imagined, especially after losing their 1st game all season in the opening game. But now that the championship is in sight, we may finally see some fireworks. During the season, the Intercptors didn't drop a set to the rival, going 10-4, and 10-6.  Let'ssee what happens. 

All*Star 2011

The All-Star Game will take place in the hallowed grounds of Dragonfish Park in Palmetto, FL. Here are the stars and the amount of times they have been given this honor.

North-Midwest
6 - Miller Reapers - C - 2
4 - Russell - L - 3
3 - Jason - L - 1
24 - Travis - R - 3
8 - Casey Gremlins - R - 1
25 - Salem Interceptors - C - 3
11 - James Seadogs - L - 2
13 - Wayne Seadogs - R - 1

South-West 
1 - Maurice Skylarks - C - 1
11 - Desmond Gold - L - 2
7 - Sean Diamonds - L - 2
5 - Ausonio St. Cat's - R - 1
2 - Rayquan Toros - R - 2
9 - Jacoby Dragonfish - C - 4
3 - Keith Skylarks - L - 1
21 - Paolo Dragonfish  - R - 1

Salem makes his 3rd straight game, but this time as a back-up to Miller who has made his 2nd straight. Sean is surprisingly making only his 2nd appearance and the first in 3 years. Jacoby has the most experience of the bunch with 4 apps. Rayquan makes a streak of never missing an All-Star Game, lets see how long that can last.

Of interesting note is the lack of rookies in this class. No Sebastian, no Zeno, both had stellar seasons but played along other big stars and had to share time. Also of interest is the Interceptors sending only 1. Obviously because the points were spread around all season, at least they sent their cover boy. The Scarlet Ember quietly got into the conference finals and even quietly....er have no All-Stars.

Watch the 2011 DBL All-Star Game in Palmetto, FL this Sunday, December 18th on ZBS.

Div. Game 3

Final game of the first round kicked off in St. Louis last night. The Reapers were trying to stage a huge upset to the 11-1 Interceptors. It was a very close first set, coming down to a final throw. Miller (REP) v. Roman (INT). Roman throws a bad one, but surprisingly Miller can't hold on. And then Miller tosses a duck to Roman! Set over with the catch. The 2nd set was when the Reapers started to slip, Jason and Miller threw bad ones and were outed. Then it was just a rout from there.

Reapers shouldn't be too down on themselves, they beat the mighty Interceptors, heralded as the best team ever. They came from 0-10 a year ago to knocking on the Conference Round doors. Huge improvement and even better things to come down the line.

Div. Game 2

It's a new ball game folks. All games ended in a swift 2 set victory. Only one series will go to the 3 as the Interceptors push for another game. The Dizzy Devils Conference streak and also Nathan's streak comes to a screeching halt. Sebastian and the Diamonds have another solid performance. Toros end 3-Peat hopes.

 Rayquan was off his game, and there goes the Toros. Semere had some 1st set magic but that was abruptly ended by Ausonio as he caught his final throw for a 5-4 W. Then the Cat's easily rolled to a 2nd set W. No 3 straight for the Toros.

 The Interceptors were back to 10-0 form with a quick and easy defeat of the Reapers in STL. They shut down Jason first and foremost, and a lackluster performance by Miller helped the cause 10-3. Game 3 should be a doozy.

 More shut down ball by the Diamonds. They are clearly playing the strongest right now. And that's what it takes to be a Champion, being able to peak right in the nick of time. Sebastian is playing out of his mind and Sean is right there beside him. The Dragonfish appeared drained and outmanned in a 10-7 loss.

The Scarlet Ember won against the wind last night. That would have been a better matchup instead of the Dizzy Devils. The home team had no inspiration. They came out flat and nobody stepped up. 10-3 victory for SE. For the 3rd year in a row, the Midwest will be represented in the Championship. 

Div. Game 1

The stars of the day were Jason and Sebastian, both made their playoff debut in a huge way.

 Things kicked off in Nebraska. A very sloppy game with many overthrown balls and dropped throws. It was really a toss up, but Jack played strong enough to will SE to a victory 10-8.

 Although the score was 10-6, it seemed like a shutout. The Diamonds played HQ ball on their home floor. Sebastian caught 2 good throws and was a perfect 4/4 in throws. What a rookie debut, and the legend keeps growing.

 I the most unexpected game of the night, the Reapers outright won the game versus the goliath Interceptors. The Interceptors seemed alittle off, but it was the play of Sophmore Jason that gave the Reapers such a push. Each set he was a rough play, and made the Interceptors look like mortals.

The Cat's played mediocre ball to secure a game 1 win in Houston. The Toros big 3 were flaky, no real input from Darren. On to New Orleans.

Divisional Round Run Down

The playoffs have arrived folks! It will be a good one to watch too. Many great story lines. The Dizzy Devils trying to keep an insane streak of making the conference finals EVERY time they go to the playoffs. Sebastian and the Diamonds trying to upend and surprise some folks. The Toros trying for an unprecedented 3 straight title. And that has been marginalized by the Interceptors who have not lost a game all season and are looking like the best squad we have ever seen. 

This Southern rivalry rages on into the playoffs. The Cat's bested the Toros twice during the season but they were both really close. Ausonio and Jared are charged with finally earning this team some respect despite being the top seed in the South-West. The Toros showed in the Play-In that they are playoff ready. All this talk about Semere being over rated seems to fade every time the post season comes. And Rayquan and Darren are firing on all cylinders.
Prediction - Toros in 3 games.

 This will be a surprisingly interesting series. The Scarlet Ember were burning up early in the year but no one heard about it because they were being over shadowed by INT. They hit a lull, but they could be back to form. The Dizzy Devils have played exceptional ball all year, a slip up against the Reapers and a tough loss to the Interceptors were the only blemishes. Maybe it's something with the Midwest? Nathan knows how to get to the next round, 4 years straight he's done it, esp with Russell backing him. Jack is still green, maybe this is his coming out party.
Prediction - Dizzy Devils in 2 games.

Two teams with 3 power players. Should be a very unpredictable affair. Of course the gripe about the Diamonds is the 2 weak links they have that will undoubtedly interrupt rallies and momentum. Can Sebastian show himself to be THAT good? Can Sean the Diamond power his way to the promise land a time wanes on his career? Many speculate that the Dragonfish are just a playoff team that had to just wade through the season. Some say they are the only hope against the Interceptors. They have won some good games and lost to only playoff caliber opponents. Earlier in the season the Diamonds upended the Dragonfish in a 3 set thriller. that was DF's last loss.
Prediction - Dragonfish in 3 games.

It's not to say that the Reapers aren't a quality team that deserves to be in the playoffs, but this series is all about the Interceptors. Everybody is watching just to see if the Interceptors lose a game in this series. In 2 matchups this season, the Reapers couldn't win a set and Dian went off both games hard. It was a nice season, quicker turn around for OKC than many expected. But the time is now for the Interceptors.

Prediction - Interceptors in 2 games. 

Toros Get to Playoffs!

New York, NY - 

The DBL season revved up again and it pitted the Silverbacks against the Toros in the only play-in game for the year. Another edition of Semere v. Kenneth, a rivalry which has kinda fizzled to be honest. Diminished play from both the reason and leadership issues from Semere. But I digress, New York City finally was able to watch some quality ball inside Empire Gym this season. 

The Toros were hot from the outset. Darren set the tone in the 1st set by intercepting an Ethos throw and setting up a 4-0 score with Kenneth remaining. A Kenneth of past years would have been alittle more scary, but this year he was mortal, got 2 points but was outed by Rayquan. In the second set, Rayquan pretty much controlled things. Nadashess tried to get things going popping off Martin to begin things, but the Toros did not sweat it. It came down to 2 former Texas Institute teammates Rayquan and Zeno, also 2 hot hot youngsters in the league. Rayquan bested him and the Toros rolled to a 10-6 victory. 

Now its on to Houston to prepare for the Cat's and try to begin the road to a 3-peat! This team is built for playoff mode, and that showed tonight, but they will face a much harder team that has beaten them twice already this year. 

For the Silverbacks, its another year gone by. Last year was a groundbreaker, but this year was promising showing that this team will become a duo with Kenneth and Zeno. Young team, many more playoff runs in them.

Now on to the dance!!