Hello, I am WPC Freak, I will provide a view on the goings on within WPC and beyond, often utilising the opinions of others in an effort to produce an entertaining read. I am not a predictor, although I may venture into thoughts of a predictive nature in future posts. I am more of an observer, possibly a statistician. Only time will tell how I develop as a productive member of the WPC Sportscene team.
In my first post, I would like to talk about Money in the Bank:
MIB, following in the footsteps of leagues such as PDZ, have frequently been considered one of those sides that everyone expects to beat. Their recent records in other interleagues do not make handsome reading.
- IPA3 - Won 0 Lost 9 Tied 1
- GIT - Won 2 Lost 12
- UIC11 - Won 5 Lost 9 (In the weaker tier of UIC)
Again, like PDZ were, they are often considered to be favorites for the Sportsmanship award before the season had begun, this award has become known as the 'Pity' award in many yahoo pool circles, and its value is mediocre at best.
So why then, are MIB suddenly considered to be candidates for more than just a pity award?
The arrival of Pommy as team captain has caused a stir in the predicting world, with three predictors in PRO considering them worthy of a second place finish behind LPL. Our very own Mr.Knowitall has them down as outright winners in WPC6. MIB in actual fact have two different teams altogether just now. They have their old guard, players playing in earlier weekend interleagues, whereas the later weekday interleagues is completely different under the newly instated Pommy regime. The latter of the two is by far the better & will be the one spoke about here at WPC. Having had a peek at a recent MLP match involving Pommy's MIB squad, the dangers this squad could possess are there to see even before a match has been played. Boasting players such as Si, Joey, Conor, Mike and of course Pommy himself. Now that isn't to say that these players are going to be taking part in WPC, but i don't see why they wouldn't. If these guys show up on a regular basis & play to their full potential, then its easy to see why Mr.KnowItAll has them as #1. You can see where the problems are though with that last sentence, will they show up on a regular basis?, will they care enough to fully concentrate & play to their best abilities?, Most of these players haven't played much recently, around the interleague scene at least. These are some questions that cant be answered, but will find out over the course of the season. My thoughts?.. I believe that they will be competitive, but they are not the front-runners for me. In my opinion X8B is the standout teams, but it promises to be a competitive season, with ten teams who could all beat everyone else on their day, and it will be a short season, with teams only playing each other once, so anyone caught napping and slow out of the blocks will be left behind quickly.
I spoke to Richard, the Head Admin of MIB to check on his views. He is pleased to have "pulled up a strong line up from the ranks, [with] quite a few new faces that are really good players" but their is still a place for his old guard. He feels strongly that these newcomers are not merely mercenaries who are purely here for interleague matches, but they are "an active part of MIB".
I would not be disappointed if MIB were to go on and fulfil the promise that has been suggested they can achieve, and maybe they can buck an interleague trend, and win the WPC6 title, as well as the so-called 'Pity' award, in the same season.
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