(14) Charm City Upsets (4) Windy City, 187-151
MILWAUKEE, WI -- In a closely contested rematch of one of 2011's most memorable games, Charm City (3E WFTDA, #14 DNN) managed to get their first-ever win over Windy City (1NC WFTDA, #4 DNN) in a highly physical 187-151 game. With the win, Charm City effectively crashed the North Central-centric Midwest Brewhaha by defeating both of the region's top teams (they had a comeback win on Minnesota the previous night, 174-168).
Charm came out running a jammer rotation of I.M. Pain, Allie B. Back and Crowella De Vil, while Windy City ran Jackie Daniels, Varla Vendetta, Athena DeCrime and Kola Loka. Windy City was severely hampered by jammer penalties in the game, giving up 10 full minutes of powerjam time to Charm City while Charm did not commit a single jammer penalty.
From the start, both teams raced to the jammer line to establish scrum starts, but Charm City got the better of them for the first few jams. Windy City drew first blood with a quick 2-0 to Jackie Daniels, but a 5-0 grand slam to I.M. Pain flipped the early lead to Charm. Windy City was never able to retake the lead, though they got within striking distance multiple times.
Jam 4 saw the game's first powerjam as Athena DeCrime cut track on the outside; Charm City ran a slow outside paceline that allowed Crowella to claim 15-0. Five minutes into the game, Charm City had a 22-2 lead. Windy City lost their jammer twice more in the first 15 minutes, but managed to keep the margin relatively close; WCR called their first timeout at 49-25 with 15:07 left in the first half. On the other side of the timeout, Jackie Daniels got her team some momentum with a 9-0 as Hoosier Mama and Ruth Enasia were all over Crowella De Vil; Varla Vendetta added 3-0 next with an athletic spin and call-off with I.M. Pain right behind her. When Kola Loka kept it going with a 4-0, it was a tight game at 49-43.
Charm City momentarily put the brakes on the Windy comeback, but couldn't open up much daylight. With 7 minutes in the half, it was still a single-digit margin at 64-55 Charm City. Charm's Rosie the Rioter was ejected for a gross misconduct call there for pulling Varla Vendetta down.
Three jams later, a 8-0 jam from Jackie Daniels made it a one-point game at 68-67, but jammer penalties continued to plague Windy City. They'd lose their jammer on the last two jams of the half, allowing Charm City to open up some significant daylight with a 14-0 followed by a 19-0. Those 33 unanswered points sent Charm City to the locker room with their largest lead of the game at 101-67.
Windy City came into the second half looking at some serious blocker penalty trouble, starting almost all of the first five jams with one or two in the box, but managed to overcome the significant numbers disadvantage to start a rally. They outscored Charm 16-1 to move the score to 102-83, but the jammer penalty bug was back to bite WCR next; Varla Vendetta picked up two majors in the same jam, giving Charm two minutes of powerjam time. By the time Varla got out of the box, Charm had put up 34 unanswered points over two jams and was up 136-84 with 19:35 left to play.
That left WCR needing to start the rally all over. After a Charm 3-0, Windy City put up 18 unanswered points to make it 139-102 -- but then lost their jammer yet again when Kola Loka was boxed while holding lead jammer status. On the next jam, an unopposed Holly Go Hardly took the jam star for the first time in the game and racked up a 14-0 that nearly erased all of that Windy City comeback. With the score 153-102 and only about 10:30 left to play, WCR was up against the clock.
After a couple of small-ball wins for Windy, a big jam from Kola Loka while the WCR pack of Ol Dirty Go-Go, Varla Vendetta and Karmageddon locked down on Charm jammer O'Chit got the North Central partisans rocking as Kola narrowed it to 153-135; Jackie Daniels added 4-0 next and suddenly Windy City had a lot of momentum, down by just 14 points with about 5 minutes to play.
But in the end, it'd once again be the jammer penalties ending their comeback hopes. A 1-1 moved the score to 154-140, but Yvette Yourmaker was boxed at the end of that jam with 4:15 to play, giving Charm a key powerjam; I.M. Pain got 10-0 out of that and Windy City called their second timeout with the score 164-140 and 2:48 to play. Jackie Daniels got a very quick lead and 4-0 next to make it a 20 point game at 164-144.
The next jam began with just under two minutes left in the game, but when Windy jammer Kola Loka was given a forearm major during the scrum start and opposing jammer I.M. Pain did not get lead, it meant game time expired before the full-length jam was over, leaving Windy City unable to stop the clock again. The final jam went 23-7 to Pain, ending the game at Charm City 187, Windy City 151.
Windy City next plays Minnesota in St. Paul on June 16; Charm City's next game will be against Montreal at ECDX on June 23.
Comments
pivot line?
> raced to the pivot line to establish scrum starts
Should this read "jammer line"?
p.s. HURRAY CHARM!!! LOVE YOU!!
Yep, fixed.
This site desperately needs an managing editor. Oh, wait. Damnit.
Charm rosters?
There's a bottle of something good in it for whoever posts the charm rosters for this game first... very curious to see which 11 hit the track!
Roster
100 Rosie the Rioter
101 Crowella DeVil
110 Uvetta Work
1618 I.M. Pain
2 O'Chit
2AA Battery Operated
34 Lady Quebeaum
415 Holly GoHardly
45 Quickshot Kitty
8 Free Radical
T2 Allie B. Back
Thanks!
Next time you see me, remind me I owe you a bottle of something nice.
Comfy chairs and kittens?
http://memegenerator.net/instance/21459274
I think we've identified the problem
"Windy City was severely hampered by jammer penalties in the game . . . ."
They can put that on their tombstone, since it's the story of their life.
"Windy City lost their jammer twice more in the first 15 minutes, but managed to keep the margin relatively close[.]"
". . . jammer penalties continued to plague Windy City."
". . . the jammer penalty bug was back to bite WCR . . . ."
"But in the end, it'd once again be the jammer penalties ending their comeback hopes."
It's a huge credit to the amazing talent and crushing defense of Windy City that they do as well as they do despite giving up so many power jams. (It's not just in the games they lose.) And of course some jammer penalties are just bad luck---Yvette YourMaker's IP penalty at the end of this bout looked nigh-unavoidable, and of course there was the issue with Jackie Daniels taking the line against Rose City thinking she had two minors, only to learn when it was too late that she had three. Either of those could well have been game-outcome-altering. But sheesh, if Windy gave up half as many power jams, they could absorb dumb luck penalties like that. If they could just cut down a little bit on jammer penalties, they'd walk away from almost anybody.
It's heartbreaking! Girls, please, clean it up!
Agreed ... and
Windy's penalty killing was excellent, the problem was they had to do so much of it. Which leads me to wonder about the quality of reffing at Windy. If penalties are not being called at Windy's practice, Windy is not going to be able to adapt on game day.
Do my eyes betray me or is Charm better this year than last?
I don't think it's
I don't think it's officiating---WCR refs call plenty of stuff in intra-league bouts, and often a lot of them ref inter-league bouts too. Of course, every officiating crew has its own culture and may see certain things differently than others---there's lots of leeway for interpretation in the rules and if League A's officials interpret something differently than League B's officials, when those two leagues play, skaters may find themselves being called for stuff that they are not used to being called for. But WCR has a very high standard of officiating and, as I understand it, they use scrimmages to hone their own skills, so I doubt there is any case of calling things more loosely at practice.
However, in my observation, WCR doesn't get into penalty trouble much in games where they clearly outmatch their opponents; it seems that the pressure of a hard-fought game against someone at their own level turns the intensity up and they get . . . I don't know . . . careless? Overly aggressive? Whatever it is, the extent to which they get into penalty trouble seems to be directly proportional to how tough a game they are being given, and who can they scrimmage against on a regular basis that's really going to give them a hard test?
But, other leagues no doubt face that same issue, and some of them at least deal with it. I'd love to know how.
Re: officiating
I can speak directly from my experience with Charm City, but we have had a massive turnover in officiating and skill level of officials. We currently have no certified skating officials on our league. This was a major concern of mine going into this game, would we be prepared? I haven't seen the stats yet, but I don't think either team was in drastic penalty trouble over the other. Another thing, these were (mostly) North Central officials, would they be able to call the game that we're used to playing? I think the years of standardizing rules, practices and officiating has made this not a huge concern.
More detail, please.
Another thing, these were (mostly) North Central officials, would they be able to call the game that we're used to playing?
Could you please explain what you mean by that?
Touchy?
I think the years of standardizing rules, practices and officiating has made this not a huge concern.
Not for refs. :)
That's why I asked for clarification and didn't get all WTFDOYOUMEANBYTHATYOU@#$%&?!?
Just that officiating, is
Just that officiating, is really starting to standardize across regions.
teh officials
I feel like the officials missed calls, a bunch of track cuts. In particular, Charm jammer track cuts that then lead to points! At one point, I saw one ref call a track cut on the Charm jammer, but the jammer ref never acknowledged it, and they skated on. WTF! Howie Rollson needs to get on their ass!
I've seen that jammer ref (Sylvester?) calling Outfit bouts before and thought he was bad...
Poop(?)-tinted glasses
I watched online and based on the chat room I think they agree with you that lots of calls were missed. Of course, since the chat was mostly Charm fans, they didn't see any of the calls (or misses) you're referring to. They saw lots of Charm skaters being hit late or to the head (a couple got called, but not as many as it looked like happened), back blocks aplenty, and a hojillion misses on no pack and out of play. All that should have gone in Charm's favor obviously.
Yeah, I'll admit I wasn't
Yeah, I'll admit I wasn't watching for anti-Charm plays. I wouldn't doubt there were misses all around.
Oh, and, the Windy City
Oh, and, the Windy City Second Wind vs. Detroit Motor City Disassembly Line score is not listed on the "Scores" page with the other Brewhaha results.
This.
This.
Slow Derby
Any thoughts on Charm's slow derby strategy and Windy's inability to cope?!? Personally, I think slow derby is a travesty.
Retro
2009 called, it wants its complaints about slow derby back.
WCR plays plenty of slow
WCR plays plenty of slow derby themselves. I don't think anybody actually likes it, but any top team will do it. After the '09 championship tournament, those who couldn't beat 'em, joined 'em.
I hear ya, Hearya. Can WCR
I hear ya, Hearya. But it seems to me like WC All-Stars are more finesse than grindy... better on the move than in a scrum... ?
Slow is just fine
As long as blockers are actively competing and trying to control pack play with getting position, creating holes for their jammer, taking away space and blocking out of bounds the opposing jammer, slow derby is just fine. It tends to be tough physical play, yet very brainy as well. Struggle in the slow muck pack can be highly entertaining if you appreciate and closely watch the blocking techniques and compete in the skaters.
Slower play can potentially be an effective device to provoke penalties in a less patient and disciplined opponent.