Derby News Network Power Rankings - May 2012
For more background on the methodology and reasoning behind our Power Rankings, please see this month's intro article and the original DNN Power Rankings FAQ.
| DNN | WFTDA | W/L | Next | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 E | 2012 1-0 2011 14-0 |
5/5 vs CT RollerGirls | Gotham is currently on a 15 game winning streak on the flat track, and set a sobering record in their 2012 opener when they put up the most points ever scored in a flat-track game -- sanctioned or unsanctioned, women's or men -- with a 630-65 obliteration of massively overmatched Long Island. This weekend, they look likely to do something similar to Connecticut. It won't be until the very end of June that Gotham will face potentially dangerous competition, as they take on Denver and Rose City at ECDX. | ||||
|
4 W | 2012 1-0 2011 13-3 |
5/6 vs Team Awesome | Denver blasts to their highest ranking ever after a crushing second-half performance against Bay Area, where they won 235-97 in a game that many expected to be a last-jam nailbiter. Bouts this month against #4 Rose City and #9 Rocky Mountain have the potential to solidify that ranking; if they win those, their meeting with #1 Gotham at ECDX will definitely be the biggest game of the regular season. | ||||
|
1 SC | 2012 3-0 2011 14-9 |
5/12 @ Houston | Texas has been pretty much kicking back and watching the action thus far this year - they haven't played since the last weekend of January - but they get back into the swing of things with games against #23 Houston and #5 Rose City in May. | ||||
|
6 W | 2012 1-1 2011 14-5 |
6/23 @ Rat City | An up-and-down weekend for Bay Area in April saw them lose badly to rival Denver but also become one of the very few teams to defeat Rocky Mountain in the last two and a half years. The latter result moves the BAD crew up to #4. | ||||
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3 W | 2012 1-0 2011 9-6 |
5/12 vs Denver | Rose City turned what seemed certain to be a 0-1 start to their season into a 1-0 when they came back on the last jam to defeat Windy City last month; they pick up one spot as Oly and Rocky Mountain both drop past them and Denver moves up. Denver faces Rose City next weekend in what looks like it could very well be a battle for #1 in a rapidly changing West. | ||||
|
|
1 NC | 2012 2-1 2011 16-3 |
6/3 @ Charm City | Though they couldn't get the upset win against Rose City, WCR's performance in that game lifts them to #6. They don't have anything on the horizon for May but have a quite busy June coming up, with games against #21 Carolina, #14 Charm City and #13 Minnesota. | ||||
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|
2 SC | 2012 3-0 2011 12-4 |
6/2 @ Rocky Mountain | KCRW is 3-0 on the year, but had a somewhat tougher time with both Omaha (155-88) and Montreal (132-101) than might have been expected from their 4th place finish at last year's WFTDA Championships; they're also dealing with a few very significant losses from their 2011 roster, including Kelley Young, Eclipse and Hall Balls. For now KCRW drops to #7. | ||||
|
5 W | 2012 0-0 2011 11-9 |
6/9 @ Terminal City | The Seattle crew is basically a big fat question mark right now and will continue to be one for another month, as they don't play their first sanctioned game until June 9. They drop one as the top-ten field shifts around them. | ||||
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2 W | 2012 3-1 2011 9-3 |
5/5 vs Team Awesome | For two years, Oly and Rocky owned their region, but the departure and limited availability of key players seems to have moved Rocky right back into the thick of the pack. Last year, RMRG defeated Bay Area by 44 points; when they rematched last month, the outcome nearly perfectly flipped as Bay Area handed Rocky a 47 point loss. RMRG drops 6 slots to #9. | ||||
|
10 W | 2012 3-1 2011 4-7 |
5/5 vs Emerald City | When Arizona picked up Atomatrix, Hockey Honey and Joy Collision all at the same time, it wasn't a question of whether Arizona would quickly improve, but whether they would improve quickly enough to bust their way into their region's top 10. As it turned out, their 11 point loss to Rocky Mountain was enough to bust them into the global top 10 in their Power Rankings debut. | ||||
|
2 E | 2012 0-0 2011 12-9 |
5/5 @ Montreal | Like Rat City, Philly is a pretty big question mark with no activity as an all-star team all year long; they get back in action this weekend against #19 Montreal, though. | ||||
|
1 W | 2012 1-0 2011 14-1 |
6/3 vs Tampa | With an all-time record of 41-3, it seems somewhat odd to see Oly drop from their previous rank of #2 all the way down to #12, but Oly suffered even greater talent loss than Rocky Mountain did following the 2011 season. It's hard to draw much of a conclusion from their 103 point win over Jet City, and we won't get any more useful data until Oly plays Tampa and Naptown in June. For now, we're expecting that the talent loss has hit Oly harder than it hit Rocky, and sinking them accordingly. | ||||
|
2 NC | 2012 3-0 2011 11-4 |
5/5 @ Naptown | Minnesota and the rest of the teams in the teens range are all knocked down a single peg by the arrival of Arizona at #10. Their next 4 games will assuredly solidify their placement in the North Central, as they take on Naptown (May 5), Cincinnati (May 6), Detroit (June 3) and Windy City (June 16). | ||||
|
3 E | 2012 2-0 2011 9-8 |
5/12 vs Nashville | So far, the loss of major talent (Joy Collision, Dolly Rocket, CC Bang Bang, Just Carol, Reckless Ndangerment and others) doesn't seem to have slowed Charm down much, but they also haven't faced top-level competition yet. They get Nashville on May 12, but the first major tests will likely come when they play Minnesota and Windy City at Midwest Brewhaha on June 2 and 3. | ||||
|
3 NC | 2012 6-1 2011 14-4 |
5/5 vs Minnesota | The Indy crew was busy in April, going 4-0; Tampa gave them a surprisingly stiff challenge in a 149-126 win for Naptown, but solid victories of about 50 points each over #17 Steel City, #19 Montreal and #20 Boston keep Naptown steady. | ||||
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4 NC | 2012 0-0 2011 8-13 |
6/2 @ Arch Rival | Not a peep from Detroit since finishing 4th at last October's North Central playoffs, and they're quiet for May too before playing Brewcity, Arch Rival and Minnesota in a busy weekend at Midwest Brewhaha. | ||||
|
4 E | 2012 2-1 2011 11-7 |
5/5 @ Dutchland | Steel City has mostly been performing as expected so far this year; while they play Dutchland this month, the critical game of the regular season for Steel will likely be their June 9 meeting with perhaps their most closely-matched regional rival, Montreal. | ||||
|
5 E | 2012 1-0 2011 4-6 |
5/20 vs Auld Reekie | Still no WFTDA sanctioned action for the faraway LRG; they do get a WFTDA game against Auld Reekie (Edinburgh, UK) on May 20. | ||||
|
6 E | 2012 5-3 2011 17-7 |
5/5 vs Philly | Montreal has been following a busier and more ambitious schedule this year than most top teams, but have fallen just outside of striking distance in all their upset attempts, losing to #13 Minnesota by 41, #5 Kansas City by 31 and #15 Naptown by 46. They'll have another chance to shake things up when they play Philly this weekend. | ||||
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7 E | 2012 0-1 2011 7-10 |
5/6 vs Carolina | Played more or less to expectations in April when they lost to Naptown 182-131; the Massacre seeks their first win of 2012 when they take on longtime rival Carolina this weekend. | ||||
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8 E | 2012 2-1 2011 17-3 |
5/5 @ Maine | Carolina bounces back into the top 25 after a short absence by defeating Ohio head-to-head in April. They have a chance to punch their way higher against Boston on Sunday; they also play Maine Saturday. | ||||
|
7 NC | 2012 8-1 2011 13-8 |
5/5 vs Gold Coast | The Columbus team has built up an impressive 8-1 record this year with their only loss coming by 15 to Carolina, but their April results against Grand Raggidy (156-121) and Killamazoo (179-160) were quite a bit closer than their March results suggested they'd be. Still, at the moment, Ohio seems to be at the top of a very tight clump of teams in the middle of the NC playoff picture, jostling with the Chicago Outfit just outside of the top 4. | ||||
|
4 SC | 2012 6-1 2011 14-9 |
5/12 vs Texas | Houston appeared on the Power Rankings for the first time in a couple of years last month at #22, and bore it out by winning a thriller of a back and forth match against April's #24 Chicago Outfit. They drop one on the return of Carolina, though. | ||||
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5 NC | 2012 3-2 2011 12-6 |
5/19 vs Pickup Teams | No movement for the Outfit, who played close to expectations in their battle with Houston. They only have one in-region sanctioned game left in the regular season, as they face Brewcity on June 23. | ||||
|
U W | 2012 4-1 2011 2-2 |
6/9 @ Auckland | VRDL's performance at Dust Devil was an eye-opener, and their second-half surge on Angel City (who still defeated them, 149-105) pointed up a quick learning curve for the previously isolated team that continued in 100+ point defeats of Pikes Peak and Silicon Valley. Even though Angel City had the head-to-head win on them last month, we'd pick VRDL in a rematch. However, back down under, VRDL unfortunately doesn't currently have any more bouts scheduled for 2012, so it might be some time before we know any more. | ||||
| Key: | |
| E | WFTDA East region |
| W | WFTDA West region |
| NC | WFTDA North Central region |
| SC | WFTDA South Central region |
Comments
Lack of games
The lack of games shouldn't be surprising. Gotham has shown you only need to beat the #20 team in your region to be #1. From a purely rankings based perspective, what is the motivation to play more?
Discontent?
You mentioned on facebook earlier in the week about these rankings being chaotic. Given that they came out on the 4th instead of the first, and that there is a lot of movement, I suspect there was some disagreement among the staff. Care to share any of the most controversial decisions within the ranks?
Nice try N8!
I will say that 1-12 was less combative than 21-25.
Oly
Wow. This is the lowest DNN has ever ranked Oly since their debut in April, 2009!
http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/power_rankings/2009/04
actually...
the outfit has a couple more in-region games at brewhaha against burning river and cincinnati. also, we are no longer playing green country as they were unable to travel up to us. hold tight and we'll let you know who it is that's coming instead.
Brewhaha schedule
We've been trying to get a master schedule from that tournament for a little while -- apparently, every team knows who they are playing, but nobody has the actual complete list of games. The "Tickets / Schedule" page on the website is totally blank. Help some journalists out!
Teams *just* found out this
Teams *just* found out this week, so I'll bet Brewcity will release it shortly.
Sure!
MNRG is playing Charm on the Saturday of Brewhaha and Detroit on Sunday.
WHAT??? IT'S AN OUTRAGE I
WHAT??? IT'S AN OUTRAGE I TELL YOU!!! Surely you can see this by now.
Australia has arrived.
VRDL making us Aussies proud. So awesome to crack the power rankings. With the crazy flux in the West right now, I hope WFTDA gives them that 10 spot for regionals and you can all see more of what us Aussies can do.
Curious about their 2-2 record in 2011 though. Don't know what the 2 in the W column would be from last year.
AZRD's got talent!
The Tent City Terrors of AZRD have experienced some significant roster changes in addition to the ones most noted by derby media. Since October the TCT's have received a total of 6 transfers from other leagues, bringing perspective, experience, and fresh ideas to the league/ team. Moreover, the rapid development of Ovary Z & Luz Chaos (who I personally hope to see as DNN rookie of the year) has deepened our talent bench. For the past 9 months, the TCT's have build a solid foundation of talent, execution, and teamwork, with clear goals & steps to set ourselves up for longterm success. The addition of our most recent transfers is the icing on our delicious, moist, cakey foundation.
This cake is only going to get more delicious (e.g. more awesome) with time. This is all to say: Icing is FANTASTIC. Lets not fail to mention additional factors that are contributing to AZRD's success: Our transfers, rookies, vets, & leadership are all complimenting each other so well right now, it's redonkulous.
I am not at all prejudiced, goddamnit.
The addition of our most recent transfers is the icing on our delicious, moist, cakey foundation.
YEAH! I just want to say that AZRD has been coming up and up for awhile and just hasn't had the games to prove it the rest of the derby world. Certainly high profile transfers are one reason for their sudden crash into DNN's consciousness. But they have a solid core of experienced AZRD skaters (Nutz, Messy Missy, and just try to knock Lena down!) that have been working hard, as well. That near-win against Rocky in Tucson, for example: Lena was jamming full time and held her own with new teammate Atomatrix (I haven't seen stats, but from the sidelines and in my heart, it sure looked that way). Give transfers their due - but please give those hardworking vets that have struggled through the lean years their just desserts when that delicious cake hits regionals and beyond!!
A! Z!
RD!
Come on guys...
Ranking VRDL above ACDG based on theoretical future performance is baloney. No disrespect to VRDL who totally killed it at Dust Devil, but they never had the lead in the ACDG game even once. Do you have a crystal ball over there? Because otherwise this makes your ranking system look pretty subjective. I love you guys to death, but this one baffles me...
Three answers to that
1. This ranking system *is* subjective, no doubt about it; that's much of the point. This is definitely not the first time we've had a team ranked above a team that beat them head-to-head in their last meeting. Although I think it might be the soonest after the game in question that we've done so.
2. The theoretically objective mathematically based rankings from Flat Track Stats actually have VRDL at #13 and Angel City at #19, so there's that.
3. 99 times out of 100, the three of us come to a consensus on the final list after talking it out and trying to convince each other, but on rare occasions we completely deadlock on something and somebody just gets voted down. What I'm saying is, one of us agrees with you, but I'm not going to say who :)
Commendations
I want to commend DNN on taking a risk and ranking teams based on their (DNN's) perceptions of the teams' abilities instead of simply triangulation of head-to-head results. All of those mathematical rankings out there already do that, but there are often intangible things that have a an impact but can't show up in those results. In the past I have felt DNN erred too far on the side of just using past results and not enough speculation as to what the team is going to do, but I really like their bold decisions this month. I don't think they're off-base at all with their justifications for placement.
And, since it hasn't been said yet, remember DNN's method is to figure out who would beat whom if they were to play tomorrow.
This.
And, since it hasn't been said yet, remember DNN's method is to figure out who would beat whom if they were to play tomorrow.
And here's a fresh link to the FAQ. Seriously, go read it again.
Blood!
Ranking Victoria over Angel City! I hope there was blood spilled over this.
Oh, I assure you...
... we painted the walls red.
It was not the very most internally contentious power rankings decision in history, but it was definitely in the top three. You can be assured, too, that we're having to exercise quite a bit of restraint not to rehash the debate ourselves in public!
Once we're resolved, though, we sink or swim together on these predictions. While not everyone may agree with our methodology, it's hard to argue with the track record :)
I'm with Bomber on this. 1.
I'm with Bomber on this.
1. ACDG BEAT VRDL. That proves that on the day that they met, ACDG beat them. No theoretical "if they met tomorrow" in that. There's an error in logic that is so great it's mind boggling. And...it's something I haven't ever seen DNN do in the past: pick a theoretical winner over one who just actually just beat them in a full head to head, sanctioned game in a tournament.
2. ACDG will continue to play opponents that are BETTER than the best Australia has to offer right now. Which means that ACDG will improve every single game, while VRDL doesn't have a reality check for a long time. They'll be the team other Australian teams rise to meet and try to beat, but they have no idea whether where they are going will be enough to move up the West ranks. And all of the West teams will improve throughout the season (early games have never been a good predictor for the West, especially in a year where it seems every top league in the WFTDA pointedly avoided challenging interleague games for the first quarter).
3. ACDG just beat #7-W, which means that all of their challenges to move up in the region take them up against the West's 6-pack, a strong motivation to bring their game up even more.
While ACDG didn't make this month's PR, I predict that with their upcoming games and Regionals as well as an increasingly strong non-WFTDA local scrimmaging partner, they'll prove the decision to leave them off the Power Ranks was in error. Which they obviously have an opportunity to do, while VRDL does not. But hell, it's the bottom of the Power Rankings, which has never been a very stable place.
This is not to downplay VRDL's accomplishments. They play a tight middle-division-equivalent game, but their potential is limited by their location.
Chipping in
Victoria is not London and Dust Devil was not Anarchy in the UK.
Says you.
Someone from DNN attended both of those events, and we have all seen both teams (VRDL and London) play, and we've spent quality time with those teams off the track. We might know something. Futhermore, I will go out on a limb and say that it is my personal opinion that VRDL would have beat ACDG if they played again the next day. Let it be known: I have zero to do with the power ranks. Some other people might share my opinion. But not many people watched VRDL play Duke, then all of Dust Devil. I happen to be someone that did, and I am here to tell you that the way they adapted in game play and team work in those 4 days is EXACTLY like what I saw London do in one weekend when I was at Anarchy. But we can compare notes again this fall.
Pssst...over in the article
Pssst...over in the article (3rd paragraph) it's implied that the Carolina over Ohio game was a regional upset -- but CRG is East and we're North Central.
The monthly
Might I just comment that month to month rankings just are like any other monthly, ugly, and bloody. Look to be based on the last game and not cummulative of a teams overall performance.
DNN rocks!
Thanks DNN! We'll be playing the top seated teams very soon. Can't wait!
Subjective. ....phooey
Of course I am going to mention that you went ahead and stated all of those skaters that we lost. But none that we have gained.
I guess you just added to the excitement with this very subjective, though almost titillating editorial. Way to reach for viewers. ;-)
A bunch of us
in derby nation are watching your roster very closely, with curiosity and hope, I assure you! I can't wait to see what Oly does next! Care to share any new additions we may not know about from your WFTDA charter?
Oly -10? Oof.
I don't disagree with the methodology, but dropping Oly out of the top ten just because of the talent they lost is freakin' harsh. They didn't seem to be lacking for teamwork or talent when they played San Diego on the banked track earlier this year, I can tell you that. On top of that, the Hayden sisters are officially on Oly's charter (they told me directly this was the case a while ago, at least for now) so what Oly lost in Hockey Honey and Atomatrix, they gained back with DeRanged and Psychobabble. They might not show up until the Big 5, but still.
At best, it's a wash. At worst, they could go down a few spots on inactivity, but kicking them down that low? Overreaction, if you ask me. I say they're top-5 until someone in the top 10 dethrones them.
yeah what he said.
Please add Ecko as well. A damn fine threesome if you ask me from last years RMRG roster.
Late August?
The last weekend in August, Oly will be hosting Minnesota and Texas. The Dream 3 may fly in for those bouts prior to the beginning of the Big 5, plus other vets that may consider it worthwhile to roster up for another shot at the Hydra if the team dynamics look really promising.
But Tannibal may be out for the Big 5?
agreed
But I've made this point before that I tend to want to rank teams until they've been beaten while the DNN want to do theoretical matchups. But I predict Oly will have no trouble with Texas, which will be a huge miss for DNN.
The western region has a lot of teams with significant roster changes, but it's really difficult to predict how that will play out. Losing experienced players can hurt, but fresh blood can be invigorating. Rose City lost over 50% of their players but they're looking strong so far. The bout against Windy will hopefully be the weakest their roster will be all season. Oly has lost some great players but gained some great players; I wouldn't be dropping them out of the top 5, let alone top 10, for now. Oly has finished no worse than 2nd place in the world in the last 3 years and that's not something to gloss over. Rocky still has a number of amazing players, and I haven't seen them play yet this season to assess their new players. Arizona is certainly going to be a team to watch with their infusion of talent.
If I were going to drop a team out of the top 10 based on roster changes, my pick would be Kansas City. But who knows, maybe they have some awesome players that have been waiting for their chance.
I'd say flattrackstats has a better pick for the top 10 teams at this moment, with Oly and Philly in and Arizona and Kansas City out.
Won't come easy
If Texas skates as well as they did in the latter part of 2011 as they did around the SC Regionals and the Championship Tournament and keeps many of their key players from last year, then I believe that August bout will be a tough one for Oly. This was a Texas team that twice beat a KCRW team that played an arguably tougher (on paper) Oly team at the championships and lost by 20 or so points?
June 2
Still scratching my head trying to figure out how it is that you guys think a team that still has Frida, AJ, Urrk'n and Sweet Mary Pain should be ranked below a team that lost Kelley Young and Eclipse. Very much looking forward to June 2. Just think, if you crank out your June rankings on the 1st, you can fix it before they play the game.
;-)
June 2
I co-sign!
Nerds.
Also, this sport needs way more streakers. I'm looking at YOU, DNN fanbase.
By your command.
Also, this sport needs way more streakers. I'm looking at YOU, DNN fanbase.
When they haul my unsightly whiteness away, the cops are getting your name, lady.
Conspiracy theories
[conspiracy theory]
We all knew about the Oly transfers before the March rankings, right? Their last game was in March when they "struggled" against Jet City before the April rankings. Why didn't Oly drop in March or April? The transfers were known about in both of those months.
Maybe the pageviews have been dropping a little bit as there hasn't been much controversy so far this year? Maybe there's another reason?
But, look at Oly's schedule. Their toughest game before August is Naptown. What does DNN have to lose by dropping them to #12 (still above Naptown BTW)? They still get to count all of Oly's wins as correct predictions and they get to gin up a little controversy and conversation by moving Oly out the of the top ten. Win/win.
Same goes for Victoria. Look at what DNN has to gain. They can count all of Victoria's wins against weak Australian competition while they don't have to take any risks with Angel City. I don't think Angel will lose to Wasatch next weekend but they might have a shot certainly more of a chance than Victoria has of losing over the next couple months. So, again, DNN has nothing to lose and will only gain pageviews by creating a controversy that can be easily changed in a month or two (not based on incorrect predictions but more of "well, Angel City kept it closer than Rat City than we thought so maybe they do deserve to be in the top 25"). Win/win.
[/conspiracy theory]
Is Oly really the #12 team in the world with DeRanged, Psycho Babble and Ecko? Please. They might be better than they were last year.
But...
But we don't know which of those out-of-state players will be playing in each bout. When you have multiple people that live 1000 miles from their "home" team, you're never sure who will be there to play. Canceled flights, money issues, getting time off work...all of those are a bigger problem for Oly, who has multiple strong players who can be effected by one or more of them. That's a real problem with ranking them compared to teams who all live, practice, and travel together.
I'm pretty sure
I'm pretty sure that DNN has stated multiple times in the past that they are ranking teams based on their best players being on the roster. I can think of a couple times where teams didn't move after losing or winning a game because of dramatic roster absences. If that's the case, then canceled flights, money issues, etc shouldn't enter their heads at all (not to mention that's an issue with every single skater on every roster in the world for road games and even home games *cough cough* Hockey Honey playing for Team Awesome instead of Arizona *cough cough*).
Now, if their argument is just missed practice time then that's a legitimate concern but I don't think there's any way it drops them 10 spots. Stella Italiana performed pretty well for Oly with limited practice time last year. I mean, does losing a few of the best players off the #1 team and replacing them with a few of the best players off the #2 team in a region really mean the #1 team drops to #7? Seriously, that really doesn't make any sense.
Maybe DNN just compiled these without DeRanged, Psycho, and Ecko on Oly's roster. If that's the case, then Oly at #12 isn't that crazy but the question still has to be asked, why did it take two months for DNN to drop Oly in the rankings?
Rosters (yet again)
I'm pretty sure that DNN has stated multiple times in the past that they are ranking teams based on their best players being on the roster.
Not exactly. As always, the bottom line is "If two given teams meet today, which one do we think is more likely to win?"
If Awesome Skater A is almost always on Team X's roster, and then there is one game in which Awesome Skater A is unavailable (or injured early) and Team X underperforms, we're probably going to consider that result to not necessarily be indicative of how Team X will do in the future. Now, if Awesome Skater A is only on Team X's roster half of the time, it gets much tougher to confidently rank them.
The problem is considerably worse with Oly: we have NO IDEA how often a trio of world-class skaters will be on their flat-track roster. As of right now, they have played in zero percent of Oly's WFTDA games. Will we only see them when Oly plays top-ten teams? Will we see all 3 of them at the same time or just one or a couple? Will we not see them until playoff season? We just don't know. I have no problem at all admitting that Oly #12 is a guess. An educated guess, but still a guess.
As for your conspiracy theory - of course we love it when conversation is sparked on the boards, because fans arguing about who's best is part of what makes a sport a sport. But the bottom line I cited above is always the bottom line.
So, in April, you guys
So, in April, you guys thought Oly would beat Denver, Texas, Bay Area, Rose City, Windy City, Kansas City, Rat City, Rocky Mountain, Arizona, and Philly and now you don't. What new information came to light that made that change necessary between April and May? I don't know of any.
The roster changes were announced in January or February. Still #2.
They played Jet City in March. Still #2.
Nothing happened in April. #12 with a bullet.
Almost,
but not quite. You got the first part right, about the DNN monthly "how to drive more pageviews with controversy/ which are the safest picks" meetings. However, you left out Part 2 of our nefarious plan: prodding you into commenting = more pageviews, too.
We're so busted.
*hangs head in shame*
Joking aside
I did post a reasonable question in there...what's different about Oly now that necessitates a ten spot drop from April? Nothing publicly has changed about the team as far as I know. It seems strange. If Oly was the 2nd best team last month, they're not the 12th best team now. Either they were 2nd in April or they're 12th now. They can't be both. I don't see how you can possibly defend both of those rankings.
Ok, fair question
Your point is absolutely fair: between April 1 and May 1, nothing about the team really qualitatively changed, and they didn't post any results to provide performance data. I think the explanation, actually, is that we're reluctant to take chatter about roster changes very seriously right away. If I had a nickel for every top-ten-team skater who retired one November, only to return by March, well, I'd probably have enough to contribute for a DNN Keychain, at least.
In any case, the main thing that changed between April and May is that we decided (each, independently, as it turns out) that it was time to "price in" the retirements and transfers out. This is not unlike Justice's observation upthread about the transfers in -- we're not pricing them in yet, because past experience has taught us to be skeptical.
In an ideal world, Oly would play Philly tomorrow, or Rat City (an hour up the road? please can we has?), and we'd all get a reality check. We have not, as yet, achieved an ideal world -- perhaps you've noticed :)
Conspiracy theories … pffftt!
I despise conspiracy theories. To me, they are signify a mind detached from reality.
Why has DNN had different rankings for Oly? To me, the answer is easy and obvious. DNN, like the rest of the derbyverse, is guessing. Nobody has any idea how strong Oly is or isn't. So, different month, different guess.
I'll take this opportunity to ask a question that I have been aching to ask:
Is Oly a pickup team?
And the plot thickens...
They can count all of Victoria's wins against weak Australian competition while they don't have to take any risks with Angel City. I don't think Angel will lose to Wasatch next weekend but they might have a shot certainly more of a chance than Victoria has of losing over the next couple months.
Wasatch 150, Angel City 141
Research!
Not enough research is done on all the high level teams for these rankings to be anywhere near accurate based on what DNN is looking for. Do they look at when "insert random skater here" is on her period? That may influence a bout you know.
Its an honor to be on here, but kind of bs at the same time.
The Sense
You are not making it.
Mens Rankings.....
Hey DNN,
Ever though about doing a top10 monthy rankings for men? I'm sure you have....It would be kinda awesome....
I'll give it a shot...
1. Puget Sound
2. Magic City
3. NY Shock Exchange
4. StL GateKeepers
5. YOUR MOM
6. Dallas Deception
7. TC Terrors
8. Rock City
9. Harm City
10. Portland Men's Roller Derby
Except for that pesky 199-148
Except for that pesky 199-148 win by YOUR MOM over the NY Stock Exchange. And since NYSE beat the Gatekeepers, 131-125, that would put YOUR MOM at #3.
Yeah, but...
Last time they played (last year), the GateKeepers beat YOUR MOM. So, it's hard to put them ahead of the GateKeepers, but I'd totally understand if there were some sort of ranking that did put YOUR MOM ahead of the GateKeepers.
I'm looking forward to seeing Puget Sound travel to Des Moines to take on YOUR MOM this summer. It should be interesting.
I say recent data takes
I say recent data takes precedent over old data, especially when that old data crosses the New Year's boundary. Especially when a field is moving forward dramatically. That wasn't a small win by YMMD over NYSE.
I also will give it a shot...
Sorry, James, but a number of your rankings don't mesh so well with Spring Roll and a number of other recent game results. Did you actually do research, or were your picks just pretty much off the cuff?
Anyway, here's my (totally unsolicited & unnecessary) opinion on the MRDA Top 10.
1. Puget Sound Outcasts
2. Magic City Misfits
3. Your Mom Men's Derby
4. St. Louis Gatekeepers
5. New York Shock Exchange
6. Portland Men's Roller Derby
7. Dallas Deception*
8. Race City Rebels
9. Twin Cities Terrors
10. Mass Maelstrom
*Can't find any games for Dallas in over six months. Is that accurate? Really hard to figure out how to compare them to everyone else. Six months is an eternity in derby. Is RHINO hibernating, or what?
Men's rankings...
It's gotta come down to MCM and YMMD for #1. I just don't forsee anyone else beating one of those two teams at the moment.
Debate about the top 5 is nice but....
The bottom of the ranked MRDA bracket is exciting, too! And @ James Brains, I think you meant Race City instead of Rock City. I'd love it if people could remember Rock City Riot and Race City Rebels are two different teams. I mean, Race City loves every men's team out there (yes, every single one...some more than others) but we'd like for a few people to actually remember we're a separate team.
That being said:
-Portland made a pretty strong statement in all 4 of their Spring Roll bouts giving them a legitimate shot at the 6 or 7 slot.
-Central Mass and Rock City were neck and neck during their entire bout. Both seem like good matchups for The Death Quads or Harm City...so try and make sense of that.
-Since PVRD only brought 10 players and three were rookies (is that right?), can we draw any conclusions from their Spring Roll play?
I just thought I'd throw all of that into the mix. It's unlikely anyone can make sense of the top 5 MRDA team rankings so why not have the 6-10 slots be complete chaos as well?