Shocker

Apparently, our game last week against the Central Cal War Angels is now part of WFA history. I heard today that it was “the biggest upset in the history of the WFA.” OK, yes…#10 Central Cal beat us (#2) 23-14, at Central Cal’s place. But hey, you play enough good teams (#10 is still Top Ten last I checked), and that’ll happen. That’s the thing about the WFA, especially this year – there are very few dominant teams. The DC Divas are probably the closest to a “sure thing” that I’ve seen so far. Everyone else can be beaten by any other Top 10 team.

Hats off to the War Angels, they played very well indeed. It was ungodly hot out there (104 at kickoff), but they had to play in it also, and I’m sure it was zero fun for everyone. I know I was miserable the entire time. That bus ride home was probably the longest ever. I left my house at 7:50 Saturday morning and walked back in the door at 2:00 Sunday morning. Bleh……

I’m sure everyone wants to hear about how we got handed our second regular season loss since 2011, but that’s gonna have to wait – we play the War Angels again at our place on the 27^th. Breaking down what happened and analyzing it here wouldn’t be too prudent right now, but I promise a more in-depth look win, lose or draw after the 27^th.

The playoffs have been set, and overall, I think the league did a better job this year with travel in the first round. The one team that got messed over a little bit is the Pacific Warriors. They ended up at #9 (Central Cal climbed to 8, while we dropped to 4) and Tacoma got in at #16 instead. Honestly though, in the women’s game, expenses play so much a part of things. If Pacific got in, they’d have first round travel to Seattle. We had to do that last year, and although Seattle is a fine team, a classy organization and all, it was a costly trip in terms of funds. Let’s say they won that game, and then beat the winner between us and Central Cal. They would then face the winner from the Midwest (very likely the Dallas Elite) in Dallas. Asking a team to pay twice for air fare is beastly. Again, we had to do it last year and it was very, very tough financially.

So now Tacoma gets to go to Seattle (like, down the block or what?) and Central Cal comes to us. Now that I think about it, Seattle could very well face the same issue…..if they win their first round game, they’ll be rooting for Central Cal for sure. If we win, Seattle would have to come to us. If Seattle were to win that, then guess what….they get to go to Dallas. And if they win there, holy moly….it’s back down to LA for the championship! Wow…..better get to fundraising!

The other thing that the league got right was in the Mid Atlantic / Southern regions. Always before, for some reason, whoever won down in the Florida area got to travel up to Chicago for the first round. Never made sense to me. Now, Miami (I think?) will go to DC for the first round. Much more manageable, if not more winnable. Those southern teams still have to learn to beat someone north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

I don’t have a whole lot else this week….have some serious game planning to do for the 27^th, and still getting my men’s team up to speed. Their first game will be on July 18, and right now I’m working with 3/5 of an OL. That’s always fun……said no offensive coach ever. 

Considering all that, there may not be a post next week (the 24^th). I think next week will be a pretty slow news week, you know? If something comes up that is noteworthy, then I’ll talk about it. Or, if someone has a certain subject they want me to talk about, OK. Otherwise, I’ll see y’all on July 01!