Mcleod Cup IV for Babbage rules football (complete)

[Passionate Redheads]

Ruadha Plays Babbalo

All the players on the hastily assembled Mcleod Cup team are from the capital at Perth, assembled by the High King himself as a gesture of solidarity with the new allies in the Commonwealth. They come from backgrounds in Gaelic football, hurling, lacrosse, and hockey. And they miss their sticks and contact. But they have good speed, endurance, and athleticism that almost make up for their shortage of skills characteristic of Babbalo.

Eleven are redheads; the lone holdout is blonde Ráichéal O'Cullinan.

Women are asterisked.

Colmán O'Cahill, slant
Finley MacClancy, deep
Domhnall Jardine, fly
*Síonag MacTaggart, screen
*Simeag Galbraith, snapper
*Susy O'Hennessy, quarterback

Lughaidh MacCostello, safety
Solamh Mackintosh, charger
Conghalach Rice, nickel
*Betsie Brodie, middle
*Ráichéal O'Cullinan, safety
*Orna Malcolm, middle

RP Permissions: Oh, go ahead. Just keep the godmodding to yourself.

---

NB: TBI will not be roleplaying the puppets entered to make numbers; this roster is provided for opponents' convenience.

[The Babbage Islands]

At least we get points for a loss, which I find sort of weird.

OOC: Just so you know why you get points for a loss, it's because the systems used for the Mcleod Cup are derived from those in the RL World Sevens Series for rugby sevens. They reserve 0 points for a team that was a no-show. Also, it makes the gap between top and bottom a bit smaller, which is meaningful when results are turned into rankings.

[Thatius]

Former Thatian Minister of Sports Darron Elianos sat wearing blood red, the color of Thatius, as he was watching Thatius play against Newmanistan. He felt alone in the crowd of almost completely blue, and the feeling also came up when Thatius actually scored what little points they made. It was a blow-out. But that was sort of to be expected since Newmanistan was a powerhouse when it came to Babbage Rules Football. The Thatian team was organized merely a few months ago, and a few weeks of practice has brought them up to a professional level, but not near enough to beat one of the top ranked teams. Darron sat there and cheered for the duration that Thatius had the ball. But his hopes were drowned when Newmanistan kept scoring.

"Oh well..." he thought, "At least we got the worst of the games over with."

[The Babbage Islands]

WYE (BPA) -- Babbage code's top international tournament, Mcleod Cup IV, kicked off today at three venues with a record entry from 24 nations. The Bumblebees national team did not disappoint, taking a 52-21 decision over a first-time entry from Virabia before a sold-out crowd at Cougar Stadium.

The turning point came with the home team leading 10-7 in the second quarter. Cardston Space Cadets middle Zarahemla Maclaren picked off a Virabia pass at the midfield stripe and scampered home for an eight point touchdown plus stuff plus conversion, the dreaded 12-point play. The rest of the game was more level than the score would show, with both teams showing good play on both sides of the ball even as the favourites slowly but steadily added points to the margin.

The first round of the three-round pool stage went according to form, with all nine ranked teams winning their games. Defending champions Newmanistan defeated Thatius 39-12, but second-ranked Cassadaigua was pressed hard by promising newcomer Tamarindia before winning by a single point, 23-22. Other winners included Delaclava and Wolfmanne in Pool 1, Andossa Se Mitrin Vega and Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuk in Pool 2, Krytenia in Pool 3, Darmen and Cyborg Holland in Pool 5, and Tarrentum in Pool 6. The Pool 4 match between Matimar and Jimmer Fredette wound up as a 22-22 tie.

Next up for the Bumblebees are Krytenia, in a match that may well decide Pool 3. Kerblaekistan will follow.

[Cassadaigua]

Mark Clark, slant
Chrystle Bell, deep
Dominic Lammon, fly
Stephanie Mayor, screen
Glenn Adams, snapper
Lizzie Washington-Jefferson, quarterback

Cliff Kennedy, safety
Shavonna Darius, charger
LaQuinn Williams, nickel
Rachel Francis, middle
Vladimir Lipitov, safety
Malena Dowdell, middle

RP Permissions: No killing or injuring my players.

[The Babbage Islands]

Babbage Football International
Bringing Babbage code to the world

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHARLESTON, North Island -- Babbage Football International (BFI) announce an agreement in principle with Newmanistan sporting officials to organise a friendly Babbage rules match between national teams following the Mcleod Cup. Although scheduling details remain to be finalised, BFI can confirm that the site will be the legendary Proving Grounds in Tundra Falls, Newmanistan.

Brulball, as they call it, has exploded in popularity since a team from the University of Southport won the first Mcleod Cup. Thanks in large part to Imperial encouragement, Newmanistan's national brulball league has now grown to 24 clubs and a fully-organised national team are still ranked best in the world.

BFI look forward to this historic collaboration, which is certain to advance our efforts to strengthen the sport of Babbage rules football on a global scale. We also give heartfelt thanks to the Emperor of Newmanistan for his personal interest and support.

-- 30 --

[The Golden Tamarind]

A Reflection on Defeat

Coach Hugo, Quarterback Fernando Durán and Professor Alfredo de Torrente were looking through video recordings of the defeat to Cassadaigua.

“It's not so bad” said the Professor.

“I agree” agreed the Quarterback.

“We were close” noted the Coach.

They replayed the five Lickety Spit Double Quick Flip attempts. Only one worked, but they all caused confusion in the opposition defence.

“Well, one of them worked” said the Quarterback.

“And they confused the hell out of the defence” said the Coach.

“But they seemed to confuse our offense too, on the whole” noted the Professor.

That was true. Perhaps even the play that worked, worked more by luck than design. But you couldn't argue that The Tamarins had come close to causing an almighty upset against the world number two.

“We were so close, really” the Professor thought.

“An almighty upset that would've been” agreed the Quarterback.

“You know they are number two in the world?” asked the Coach.

They didn't know that. Coach Hugo said he'd read it on the Mcleod Cup IV for Babbage rules football (MD1 posted) NS Sports thread. They didn't know what that even meant but being academics they didn't like to admit it.

“I have a slight tweak that I think will get us results” said the Coach. He cleared the table and laid out his Subbutalo™ set.

“Instead of the Orangeback moving here – like this – I think, perhaps, this – here - would work”

“Reversing the flip?” asked the Quarterback, surprised.

“Yes!” exclaimed the professor.

The Lickety Spit Double Quick Reverse Flip

“Jumping monkeys, you've got it!” exclaimed the professor.

“A corker!” exclaimed the professor.

[Darmen]

Kii Won: Well that was easy.(Presses Staples button.)

Mike Funi: No kidding.

Xua Hans: What'd you guy's think of Cyborg Hollands game?

Won: It kind of suprised me, I didn't think they were that good.

Funi: They'll be a peice of cake to though.

Won: Yeah, probably. We got a really easy group to play in.

Hans: Well, Babbage Rules is a relatively new sport, at least in my opinion, so it'll take some time to catch on with other nations. Mcleod Cup VI is my guess for when it'll be really competitive.

Won: It's too bad our group is so easy. We won't be able to recreate our really awesome run of last Cup.

Funi: Hey, but this year we actually have a chance to win the whole thing.

Won: Yeah, cause that'll ever happen.

[The Babbage Islands]

Mcleod Cup IV
Pool Play: Round Two

Pool 1

Civil Citizenry 7–32 Chuckio
Delaclava 27–27 Wolfmanne

* Pool 1                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Wolfmanne                2   1  1  0   77  34 +43    5
2 Delaclava                2   1  1  0   62  40 +22    5
3 Chuckio                  2   1  0  1   39  57 −18    4
4 Civil Citizenry          2   0  0  2   20  67 −47    2

Pool 2

Vettrera 30–20 Ruadha
Andossa Se Mitrin Vega 60–2 Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuk

* Pool 2                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Andossa Se Mitrin Vega   2   2  0  0  102  17 +85    6
2 Vettrera                 2   1  0  1   45  62 −17    4
3 Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuk   2   1  0  1   31  76 −45    4
4 Ruadha                   2   0  0  2   36  59 −23    2

Pool 3

Virabia 22–23 Kerblaekistan
The Babbage Islands 42–20 Krytenia

* Pool 3                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 The Babbage Islands      2   2  0  0   94  41 +53    6
2 Krytenia                 2   1  0  1   48  64 −16    4
3 Kerblaekistan            2   1  0  1   45  50  −5    4
4 Virabia                  2   0  0  2   43  75 −32    2

Pool 4

Tamarindia 31–18 Jimmer Fredette
Cassadaigua 34–8 84733842

* Pool 4                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Cassadaigua              2   2  0  0   57  30 +27    6
2 Tamarindia               2   1  0  1   53  41 +12    4
3 Jimmer Fredette          2   0  1  1   40  53 −13    3
4 84733842                 2   0  1  1   30  56 −26    3

Pool 5

Wadomia 13–49 Green Jello Salad
Darmen 44–7 Cyborg Holland

* Pool 5                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Darmen                   2   2  0  0   94  14 +80    6
2 Cyborg Holland           2   1  0  1   51  63 −12    4
3 Green Jello Salad        2   1  0  1   68  57 +11    4
4 Wadomia                  2   0  0  2   20  99 −79    2

Pool 6

Thatius 15–30 Armorgames
Newmanistan 37–20 Tarrentum

* Pool 6                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Newmanistan              2   2  0  0   76  32 +44    6
2 Tarrentum                2   1  0  1   51  51   0    4
3 Armorgames               2   1  0  1   44  46  −2    4
4 Thatius                  2   0  0  2   27  69 −42    2

MD3 scorinates on Saturday, August 13. All 24 teams will then be assigned to places in the knockout tournaments, with first scorination Monday.

[Darmen]

Kii Won: Well that was easy.(Presses Staples button.)

Mike Funi: You did the same thing last game.

Won: Well, yeah, I mean Cyborg Holland was easy.

Xua Hans: Yeah, if we beat Green Jello Salad, yum, we should have either the #1 or #2 seeds overall going into the Cup Quarterfinals.

Won: Really? That's awesome!

Funi: Green Jello Salad will be easy per cheesey.

Won: What?

Funi: They'll be a pancake on our skillet.

Hans: Shut up Mike, your making no sense.

Funi: Should I? I mean afterall, I am a little buzzed after our celebration.

Hans: Well you better get rid of that buzz before we play GJS. I wanna win big.

Won: Yeah, cause winning big will be really hard.

Hans: Hey, you never know. Margaret can be a bitch sometimes.

Funi: Who the heck is Margaret.

Hans: Your mother.

Funi: Is she hot?

Won: I think your a little bit more than buzzed Mike.

Funi: IS SHE HOT? Answer my damn question.

Hans: I don't know. Do you like rubber chickens?

Funi: (Reaches down into pants, pulls out rubber chicken.) I love rubber chickens.

Hans: In that case she's hot.

Funi: Sweet, you got set me up with her.

Won: Yup, he's definatley drunk.

Funi: (In best Bill Clinton voice.) You bet I am.

[Armorgames]

"You know, that Armorgames News coverage is pretty sketchy. They like never cover anything that I want to see."

"I know exactly what you mean Marline. I want to see Craig's games too," said Clary.

"I mean, I wish I could be at my boyfriends games, but we just can't afford to travel. But, you know, the stupid news is only on when ever they feel like it. And, if it is even on, they usually don't have sports on."

"Hey, do you know if his game might already be over? You could like call him or something."

"I don't know Clary. I could try I guess."

Marline picks up her phone and dials the number of Craig Kingsbury, the quarterback of Armorgames' Babbage rules football team.

"Hello?" A groggy voice answers. "who is it?"

"Oh hi Craig! How was your game?"

"God, Marline, you do know that is is like in the morning here don't you? I was sleeping. But we won. 30-15."

"Oh, I am so sorry. I forgot about the time difference. Well I am glad you guys won."

"Yeah yeah yeah. Well I scored a lot and we are in 3rd place in our group."

"Well, thats great. Me and Clary are over here and the news won't come on. So we were just wondering how you guys did."

"Well, we won. So by Marline." Craig hung up.

---

To the Babbage Islands...
"Ha, she believe anything that I say," said Craig.

"Well that was a pretty convincing, 'you just woke me up voice." Said Clarence Million. A wide receiver type of player. "I assume that she wouldn't like to hear that you are out partying in TBI while she is at home?"

"Oh yeah she would be furious. She doesn't like me out when we are back in Armorgames. It is so annoying."

"Anyways, didn't that news guy say he was going to interview us?"

"I don't remember Clarence. I am always half drunk when I do interviews anyways since I hate them. Oh, but Marline did say that the news hasn't been on yet. So maybe he is still coming."

Clarence was about to say more when a tall muscular man came into the room.

"Hello, I am looking for a Mr. Craig Kingsbury. The quarterback of one of those football team." The man spoke with an accent that sounded like a mix between Russian and Swedish.

"Um, I am Craig. What would you like me for?"

"You have been called upon for a murder trial." Said the man. "You need to come with me immediately."

"Whoa, whoa whoa. You need to step off Mr. Muscles." Said Clarence. "We need this guy in our tournament. We don't have a back up."

"I don't care what you need and don't need. But, I do need him." Says the man as he points to Craig.

But, Clarence won't back off. "Well if you don't care what I need then I don't care what you need, and then you can't have Craig." Clarence then stepped in between the man and Craig and used sign language and spelled out 'go'.

So, with that, Craig made a break for it. There was a door to the side of them and Craig just ran. He heard the tall guy try to get past Clarence, but Clarence is one of the best fighters there is. So, Craig just ran all the way to coach Kevin Washburn's hotel room.

[Newmanistan]

VICTORIES ON AND OFF THE FIELD

Tundra Falls- We report to you this evening from Tundra Falls, far away from where the Rockets improved to 2-0 after defeating Tarrentum. In typical Newmanistan vs Tarrentum fashion, Tarrentum took an early lead, but Newmanistan came storming back after halftime with 20 unanswered points in the 3rd quarter. Though it was a far cry from the baseball rivalry that exists between the two nations, it was pretty apparent that the teams recognized the colors of the opponent that line up on the other side of the ball. Said quarterback Scott Brooks, “Yeah, baseball was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw them on our schedule. How can you not, really? We may be brulball players, but we’re baseball fans too. There was a little extra motivation to beat them because of that, for sure. I’m sure it went the other way too. I heard one of their female players make remarks about Courtney Keisler. It was kinda fun in a way.” With the win the Rockets improved to 2-0, and seem to be in pretty good position with the group. The finale of the group stage is against Armorgames, and they have looked good at times, but still the Rockets will be favored to win as they have been at top form so far, and have played to their number-one rank.

That win, however, was not the only win for the Empire as Babbage Football International announced acceptance of a friendly between the Rockets and The Babbage Islands to be played here at the Proving Grounds. A receptionist at the administrative office here at our most prestigious stadium told us that, “It is true that the game will be played, and right now it appears as though it will be contested at the conclusion of the McLeod Cup as right now both national teams want to focus on that. It makes sense for us as well, with some Keisler Cup games still here at the moment.” And when they meet, it will be historic, as for the first time, an international brulball game will be held here, and the game itself is a win-win for everyone involved. For the BFI, it is a chance to show that world that the sport is growing at a pretty fast pace. For Newmanistan, it can give our fans a chance to see it live, and many are aware, sometimes it takes seeing a sport live, in-person, to truly appreciate it. Although the sport has grown here, there is always room for improvement. Tickets have not yet gone on sale due to the actual date not yet being confirmed but we’ve been told the box office has fielded many inquiries about the match.

[The Golden Tamarind]

Whatever Next

The coach gathered his team around for a tactical discussion before the crunch game with Los Numeradores. Although he explained to them that it wouldn't be a discussion in the conversational sense because, as he described it, the Mcleod Cup IV for Babbage rules football (MD2 posted) NS Sports Thread was getting oppressed by dialogue-driven narrative and he wondered if the hotel rooms were being bugged. Professor de Torrente wondered if his friend Coach Hugo was getting a bit paranoid. Doctor Carmen Ordóñez wondered if this was a Supernatural Player Delusion. Most of them wondered what a Mcleod Cup IV for Babbage rules football (MD2 posted) NS SportsThread was. In any case, said Coach Hugo, we'll stick to descriptors rather than spoken word transcripts for the sake of variation, adding that as he had demonstrated right there, it wasn't going to be easy. Just taking away inverted commas, he said, didn't change the intent. And then he said, there I go again. So they made a concerted effort to help him, although they weren't sure why, and very quickly they found themselves back in the desired territory of description contained within healthy-sized paragraphs. Carmen and her research student Jessenia Castro exchanged glances, because for them, as Supernatural Player theorists, this was rich material.

The other thing Coach Hugo was worried about was whether it looked like the Tamarins weren't taking this competition seriously because they had named a play the Lickety Spit Double Quick Reverse Flip, or perhaps in some way they were encouraging a general sense of silliness. Now of course, the Tamarindo nation prides itself on having fun, not taking life too seriously, partying better than anyone anywhere, in the whole world of eighty thousand nations (Jérôme Alderete, the geographer, raised an eyebrow at the numbers) but sport still requires a focus and a certain sensibility. Coach Hugo, who had dreams of importing Babbalo to the land of the golden monkey, did not want the Tamarins labelled as gawny fopdoodles. He had a new play to describe as they couldn't rely wholly on the, as he now called it, fast reverse flip, because teams would catch on. Especially the highy analytical Numeradores. He had to spring a new surprise, so had come up with the very sensibly labelled defensive play, the

Orange Squeeze

in which an exerted pressure is applied at a certain perceived weak point during Code Orange play. It took some time to find the Subbutalo™ set to demonstrate the squeeze, until Jérôme and Nesto rather sheepishly admitted to having it in their room where they had been playing late night games as the Wye Whalers and Cardston Space Cadets respectively. While some team members laughed at this, Professor de Torrente commented that it might be a useful tool for improving understanding, thus embarrassing those who had just moments past embarrassed Jérôme and Nesto. Once the Subbutalo™ was set up, Coach Hugo talked through the play, moving the miniature Windsor Purple Wave defense - which he kept separately from the set in a small silver-plate pocket case because they were his favourite team – against the Whalers code orange offense and demonstrating a small pinch of pressure that might just open up the line and force a turnover. It was widely admired by the team.

Nesto tried to memorise it precisely to use against Jérôme in their midnight play.

[The Babbage Islands]

Mcleod Cup IV
Pool Play: Round Three

Pool 1

Wolfmanne 36–18 Civil Citizenry
Chuckio 7–29 Delaclava

* Pool 1                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Wolfmanne                3   2  1  0  113  52 +61    8
2 Delaclava                3   2  1  0   91  47 +44    8
3 Chuckio                  3   1  0  2   46  86 −40    5
4 Civil Citizenry          3   0  0  3   38 103 −65    3

Pool 2

Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuk 47–21 Vettrera
Ruadha 9–27 Andossa Se Mitrin Vega

* Pool 2                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Andossa Se Mitrin Vega   3   3  0  0  129  26 +103   9
2 Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuk   3   2  0  1   78  97 −19    7
3 Vettrera                 3   1  0  2   66 109 −43    5
4 Ruadha                   3   0  0  3   45  86 −41    3

Pool 3

Krytenia 36–23 Virabia
Kerblaekistan 0–57 The Babbage Islands

* Pool 3                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 The Babbage Islands      3   3  0  0  151  41 +110   9
2 Krytenia                 3   2  0  1   84  87  −3    7
3 Kerblaekistan            3   1  0  2   45 107 −62    5
4 Virabia                  3   0  0  3   66 111 −45    3

Pool 4

84733842 10–35 Tamarindia
Jimmer Fredette 5–56 Cassadaigua

* Pool 4                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Cassadaigua              3   3  0  0  113  35 +78    9
2 Tamarindia               3   2  0  1   88  51 +37    7
3 84733842                 3   0  1  2   40  91 −51    4
4 Jimmer Fredette          3   0  1  2   45 109 −64    4

Pool 5

Cyborg Holland 26–31 Wadomia
Green Jello Salad 19–61 Darmen

* Pool 5                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Darmen                   3   3  0  0  155  33 +122   9
2 Cyborg Holland           3   1  0  2   77  94 −17    5
3 Green Jello Salad        3   1  0  2   87 118 −31    5
4 Wadomia                  3   1  0  2   51 125 −74    5

Pool 6

Tarrentum 53–7 Thatius
Armorgames 28–44 Newmanistan

* Pool 6                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Newmanistan              3   3  0  0  120  60 +60    9
2 Tarrentum                3   2  0  1  104  58 +46    7
3 Armorgames               3   1  0  2   72  90 −18    5
4 Thatius                  3   0  0  3   34 122 −88    3

Quarterfinals scorinate on Monday, August 15.
Pairings are in my next post.

[The Babbage Islands]

Mcleod Cup IV
Playoff Seeding and Pairings

Seeding

Cup/Plate Quarterfinals
1 Darmen                   3   3  0  0  155  33 +122   9
1 The Babbage Islands      3   3  0  0  151  41 +110   9
1 Andossa Se Mitrin Vega   3   3  0  0  129  26 +103   9
1 Cassadaigua              3   3  0  0  113  35 +78    9
1 Newmanistan              3   3  0  0  120  60 +60    9
1 Wolfmanne                3   2  1  0  113  52 +61    8
2 Delaclava                3   2  1  0   91  47 +44    8
2 Tarrentum                3   2  0  1  104  58 +46    7

Bowl Quarterfinals
2 Tamarindia               3   2  0  1   88  51 +37    7
2 Krytenia                 3   2  0  1   84  87  −3    7
2 Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuk   3   2  0  1   78  97 −19    7
2 Cyborg Holland           3   1  0  2   77  94 −17    5
3 Armorgames               3   1  0  2   72  90 −18    5
3 Green Jello Salad        3   1  0  2   87 118 −31    5
3 Chuckio                  3   1  0  2   46  86 −40    5
3 Vettrera                 3   1  0  2   66 109 −43    5

Shield Quarterfinals
3 Kerblaekistan            3   1  0  2   45 107 −62    5
3 84733842                 3   0  1  2   40  91 −51    4
4 Wadomia                  3   1  0  2   51 125 −74    5
4 Jimmer Fredette          3   0  1  2   45 109 −64    4
4 Ruadha                   3   0  0  3   45  86 −41    3
4 Virabia                  3   0  0  3   66 111 −45    3
4 Civil Citizenry          3   0  0  3   38 103 −65    3
4 Thatius                  3   0  0  3   34 122 −88    3

Pairings

Monday, August 15

At Municipal Stadium
K1 Shield Quarterfinal: Kerblaekistan v Thatius
K2 Shield Quarterfinal: Jimmer Fredette v Ruadha
K3 Shield Quarterfinal: Wadomia v Virabia
K4 Shield Quarterfinal: 84733842 v Civil Citizenry

At Cougar Stadium
K5 Bowl Quarterfinal: Tamarindia v Vettrera
K6 Bowl Quarterfinal: Cyborg Holland v Armorgames
K7 Bowl Quarterfinal: Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuk v Green Jello Salad
K8 Bowl Quarterfinal: Krytenia v Chuckio

At Southland Park
K9 Cup/Plate Quarterfinal: Darmen v Tarrentum
K10 Cup/Plate Quarterfinal: Cassadaigua v Newmanistan
K11 Cup/Plate Quarterfinal: Andossa Se Mitrin Vega v Wolfmanne
K12 Cup/Plate Quarterfinal: The Babbage Islands v Delaclava

Wednesday, August 17

At Municipal Stadium
K13 Shield Semifinal: Winners K1 and K2
K14 Shield Semifinal: Winners K3 and K4
K15 Bowl Semifinal: Winners K5 and K6
K16 Bowl Semifinal: Winners K7 and K8

At Southland Park
K17 Plate Semifinal: Losers K9 and K10
K18 Plate Semifinal: Losers K11 and K12
K19 Cup Semifinal: Winners K9 and K10
K20 Cup Semifinal: Winners K11 and K12

Friday, August 19

At Cougar Stadium
K21 Shield Final: Winners K13 and K14
K22 Bowl Final: Winners K15 and K16
K23 Plate Final: Winners K17 and K18
K24 Cup Final: Winners K19 and K20

[The Golden Tamarind]

In Hope But Never With Expectation

Coach Hugo Caillett gathered his team around him. They were all terribly pleased with themselves after beating Los Numeradores. The new defensive play, the Orange Squeeze, had been a real success. Even the Lickety Spit Double Quick Reverse Flip had it's merits. Mostly it caused confusion for everyone on the field of play, but occasionally, just occasionally, Quarterback Durán and Nesto the fly seemed to be on the same page and something wonderful happened. You needed to replay the video of it in slow motion and apply generous creative interpretation to see the something wonderful, but it was there, they all agreed. Coach Hugo was getting a very warm feeling about how things were going in Wye. His dream of a domestic Babbalo league rested on doing well in this tournament, if not by results then at least in making powerful friends here at the Southern University where they were staying. So far it was the results, not the power introductions that were working for him, and that was perfectly marvellous for the Coach.

Coach Hugo did not want to rest on his laurels though. Inspired by his own tactical experiments he now had a play book. The book was an expensive Owlskine bound notebook, very popular among writers and thinkers in academic circles on South Island, which he had bought from the campus stationers. The deep brown leather book (it was not made of owl skins, of course, the Babbalonians would never allow such a heresy – it was covered with the smooth, slightly velveteen but extraordinarily hard-wearing skin of the Babbage Root Vole) was carefully labelled on the first inside page with the words

Coach Caillett AIR Libertad Babbalo Ambassadors
(for this was the nickname he had in mind for the Academy team)
Playbook.

Inside were his three self-designed plays: the Lickety Spit, the Orange Squeeze, and the all-new

Counter Counter

a defensive play by the offense, when finding themselves having turned over possession (a common occurrence so far) and with the ball still live (also unnervingly familiar); a sort of regrouping movement to kill the counter play and perhaps even force a double turnover.

The coach borrowed his Subbutalo™ set from Jérôme and Nesto (the Orange Squeeze had worked out just fine for Nesto in their late night league – so called because now several players had joined in and Professor de Torrente had made a trip to the Wye Hypermarket to buy an extra set and a few miniature teams). Hugo demonstrated the new play – whoever turns the ball over, lets say – there – then we need the two nearest – here, here – to press, thus – while the rest, except the fly, will shift to a switch position, like this – so – but what's important is that the fly remains, thus, do you see why?

They did. Secretly one or two may have thought it rather speculative, with too many permutations to prevent the switch being possible, but maybe, just maybe...

[Darmen]

Kii Won: I must say that Pool 5 was fricken easy.

Mike Funi: Yup.

Xua Hans: Hey, looks who's not drunk any more.

Funi: I still wanna meet this Margaret lady.

Won: Would you two shut up about Margaret.

Hans: What else is there to talk about?

Won: Maybe the fact that we're the Number One seed going into the Cup Quarterfinals.

Funi: We are?

Won: Yup.

Hans: Who do we play?

Won: Am I the only one who knows these things?

Hans: Yes you are, but who do we play?

Won: Tarrentum.

Funi: We'll beat them.

Won: Yeah probably. But if we do, our Semifinal matchup is going to be quite hard.

Hans: Who'd we face?

Won: Cassadaigua or Newmanistan.

Funi: Yup, we're scwered.

Won: Have faith Mike, we'll do ok.

Hans: And to think, this is all the work of Margaret.

Won: WOULD YOU SHUT UP ABOUT MARGARET!

[The Babbage Islands]

Mcleod Cup IV
Quarterfinals

At Municipal Stadium: Shield
Kerblaekistan 20–31 Thatius
Jimmer Fredette 23–22 Ruadha
Wadomia 21–30 Virabia
84733842 16–32 Civil Citizenry

At Cougar Stadium: Bowl
Tamarindia 26–16 Vettrera
Cyborg Holland 5–46 Armorgames
Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuk 14–28 Green Jello Salad
Krytenia 50–15 Chuckio

At Southland Park: Cup/Plate
Darmen 43–7 Tarrentum
Cassadaigua 17–31 Newmanistan
Andossa Se Mitrin Vega 34–17 Wolfmanne
The Babbage Islands 39–14 Delaclava

Wednesday, August 17

At Municipal Stadium
K13 Shield Semifinal: Thatius v Jimmer Fredette
K14 Shield Semifinal: Virabia v Civil Citizenry
K15 Bowl Semifinal: Tamarindia v Armorgames
K16 Bowl Semifinal: Green Jello Salad v Krytenia

At Southland Park
K17 Plate Semifinal: Tarrentum v Cassadaigua
K18 Plate Semifinal: Wolfmanne v Delaclava
K19 Cup Semifinal: Darmen v Newmanistan
K20 Cup Semifinal: Andossa Se Mitrin Vega v The Babbage Islands

Friday, August 19

At Cougar Stadium
K21 Shield Final: Winners K13 and K14
K22 Bowl Final: Winners K15 and K16
K23 Plate Final: Winners K17 and K18
K24 Cup Final: Winners K19 and K20

[Darmen]

Mike Funi: So we play Newmanistan next huh?

Xua Hans: Yup.

Kii Won: Yeah, just who I wanted to play.

Funi: Hey, we gotta pretty good chance.

Won: Yeah, but their the Number One team in the world.

Hans: Yeah so, we were the Number One seed for the Cup Knock-out stages.

Won: That doesn't mean a thing.

Funi: And you'd think that if I was going out with Margaret we'd win every game.

Hans: No, she likes Di Brandini too much.

Funi: Hey, I'm thounsands of times sexier than he is.

Won: The hell you ain't! You ugggllllyyyyyy.

Hans: So what are your predictions for the game. I think we loose 35-26.

Funi: 35-17 with us on top. Please Margaret, I beg of you!

Won: 33-29, with Newmanistan winning. We just arn't that good yet.

Hans: Funi, you're an idiot. You probably just pissed Margaret off. We're surley going to loose now.

Funi: We can only hope I didn't.

[Armorgames]

Craig was sitting on a beach somewhere, he didn't know where he was, but hey this was like vacation to him. The only time he could get away from everybody. Winning always made it better and they had just creamed Cyborg Holland 46-5. Five was something you laugh at, and that is pretty much what he was now. That muscular tall guy shook him up a lot, but it was alos for laughs and Craig is a guy who likes to laugh.

Craig's team would be playing Tamarindia in the Bowl Semifinal. And that wasn't until Wednesday so Craig had a lot of time to relax. He would probably end up staying in a hotel somewhere around the beach here so he didn't have to leave.

Craig gets up and tries to find his phone which is stuck in the sand. He picks it up and there is no signal. He shrugs his shoulder and walked over to a drink stand.

"Hey, do you know where the closest hotel to here is?" Asks Craig.

"Oh yes, it is right across the street over there." Craig bought a drink and jogged across the street and went into the hotel.

"Hello, I would like a room for the night," says Craig.

"We have on over looking the water if you would like, well it is the only room still avalible" says the clerk. "It is 750 dollars for the night."

Craig rummaged through his pockets but came up with nothing. His phone still wasn't working so he asked to use the hotel's phone. The clerk pointed over to the wall. Craig went over there and dialed Clarence. Craig found out after that fake fight that Clarence was in on it, and that tough guy stuff was all fake.

"Hello, who is this?" Clarence answers.

"Hey, its me, Craig. Could you come over here and like spot me some cash?"

"Dude, where are you? I saw you hop into that cab after the game and I called your cell like 100 times."

"Well, I um don't know where I am exactly. It is like this tiny little beach town with one hotel. I just told the cabbie that I needed to go somewhere to relax."

"And what about your phone?"

"Oh, it is like not working. No cell reception or something."

"C'mon Craig! You always get yourself into stuff. Your always lost whenever we go somewhere. Your unbelievable. Well, you have to get back here since coach called for some extra practice. Tonight. If you don't get over here you won't be able to play. Or so he says."

"Ummm Clarence, there is like dirt roads here. And very few cars. I don't know how I am going to get back."

"I'm not helping you there," said Clarence. And he hung up.

[The Golden Tamarind]

Tactics for Breakfast

Coach Hugo gathered his team over breakfast to review a successful Mcleod Bowl quarter-final and to plan for the game ahead. Trinidad Solaté, Master of International Religions, was absent because she had been invited to the Charleston Theological School to deliver a lecture on Tamarindian 'religion', and everyone in the team hoped that they realised this meant 99.7% atheism, a hearty cynicism for superstition of any kind, and in Trinidad's case a militant position on the exploitative and intrinsic usurpation of human rights that is organised religious practice. In fact, Coach Caillett had begged her not to go, fearing an international incident, what with the Babbalonians being so devout in their various superstitions. But you know Trinidad! She is not to be gainsaid when her mind is fixed on something. And she was invited (although how the Theological School had come into contact with the extreme end of the Tamarindian reasoning wedge was a mystery – the coach hoped Trinidad had not instigated contact with an economically truthful representation of her own position in order to get an audience, but wouldn't be surprised if that was the case). As far as Babbalo was concerned though, Trinidad was not the greatest loss for the semi-final.

Team spirit in the camp was very good after the win over Vettrera at Cougar Stadium, followed by a trip to Valencia for a little Spanish culture to ease any homesickness, and then, in the evening, a marvellous Subbutalo™ tournament involving the whole team, which was typically won by Fernando Durán – technically the most senior person on tour as the Head of the Experimental Sports Department and annoyingly the best at everything – with his miniature San Marco Conquistadors beating Xénia Masa's Golden Antelopes 33-8 in the final round. As Coach Caillett would not allow any more serious party activity until the Ambassadors (as he thought of them) had been eliminated, this had been the nearest they had come to a typical Tamarindo social, which would usually last several hours more and feature music, wine, white beer, singing, laughing, and often a little dance of the blanket hornpipe. For Coach Hugo's team, a table-top sports tournament and early-to-bed was the limit.

Today was an historic day, he told them. How extraordinary it would be to gain a place in a Bowl Final at the first attempt, he said. But it was not going to be easy. He had checked the Mcleod Cup IV for Babbage rules football (QF posted) NS Sports Thread and it was clearly impossible to predict how their opponents were going to approach the fixture, as so far they seemed to obfuscate and contradict, or made little to no sense in so far as Babbalo tactics was concerned. Inéz Mayama suggested it might be a translation thing, although she did not know what a Mcleod Cup IV for Babbage rules football (QF posted) NS Sports Thread was so could not be certain. But Coach Hugo was quite sure the Armori were playing mind-games with them. Once more Professor de Torrente wondered if Coach Hugo was a little on the paranoid side, but filed the concern for later consideration.

The coach took out his Owlskine playbook and turned to a new page, where there was a new entry, for he had designed a new play for this new opposition, and it was called

The Slight Feint

- although he had toyed with the idea of calling it the Feigning a Slight Manoeuvre. Using the Subbutalo™ set, he demonstrated the offensive play using his Purple Wave miniatures against Fernando Durán's champion Conquistadors (only the professor thought it at all significant he had chosen last night's winner as the victim in this demonstration – a sort of re-establishment of the tour hierarchy after the Purple Wave had performed so abysmally on the table top).

Our fly – here – will feint, thus, here – drawing out the charger, like so – while over here, as we see, because of the movement of the line on snap, thus – this way, and this way, and this way – we find the deep occupying free space, here, with a good clearway ahead of them, here. Does that make sense?

It did. In a surprising kind of way.

[The Babbage Islands]

Mcleod Cup IV
Semifinals

At Municipal Stadium: Shield
Thatius 28–34 Jimmer Fredette
Virabia 17–25 Civil Citizenry

At Municipal Stadium: Bowl
Tamarindia 45–17 Armorgames
Green Jello Salad 20–31 Krytenia

At Southland Park: Plate
Tarrentum 11–49 Cassadaigua
Wolfmanne 25–14 Delaclava

At Southland Park: Cup
Darmen 37–26 Newmanistan
Andossa Se Mitrin Vega 29–19 The Babbage Islands

Friday, August 19

At Cougar Stadium
K21 Shield Final: Jimmer Fredette v Civil Citizenry
K22 Bowl Final: Tamarindia v Krytenia
K23 Plate Final: Cassadaigua v Wolfmanne
K24 Cup Final: Darmen v Andossa Se Mitrin Vega

[Darmen]

Mike Funi: I still can't believe we won.

Xua Hans: That was the greastest game of my life!

Kii Won: We got Andossa se Mitrin Vega next.

Funi: I LOVE YOU MARGARET!!!<3!!!<3!!!

Won: Could you please get over her?

Funi: No.(Storms out of the room angry)

Won: Ok then?

Hans: What's ASMV's ranking?

Won: 5th. I actually think that this might be somwhat of an easy final.

Hans: No it won't be. Afterall, this is for ALL the marbles. We can't expect to beat them eassily.

Won: Yeah, and we expected to loose to Newmanistan, but we won.

Hans: It's not the first time we've beat them.

Won: No, but this was a much bigger game than those we played against Newmanistan in MC3.

Hans: So what. Lets face it, ASMV is going to try their hardest to beat us. So we have to try our hardest to not let them do that.

Won: I guess your right.

Hans: Now what do you say, should we go down to the bar to celebrate our win?

Won: Sounds good. Lets not tell Mike where we're going though, we don't want him drunk for tomorrow.

Hans: No we don't.

[Andossa Se Mitrin Vega]

OOC- sorry for the non-rp to this point. So much RL and so little time.

A New Champion Will Be Crowned

Babbage Rules Football. This relatively new sport is not only sweeping across ASMV, it is sweeping across the NSverse as well. This new form of football rewards the play of women rather than discouraging it and every team out there has its own twist as to the best way to utilize women on there rosters and in their style of play. Our own personal choice - Let a woman with a cannon arm (Niyadidy Kin'ia'an) throw the shit out of the ball and use a world class sprinter (Eqeende Lorot'u) to run down the long bombs. Add to that a bruiser screen player (Ykimamosa Ine'tan) and all the everything is set for maximum scoring. That of course does place a lot of faith in the so-called weaker sex, but we know that women are just as capable athletes as their male counterparts. The final piece of the puzzle is a defense that relies on sheer speed to contain the playmakers of the other team rather than shut them down entirely. Contain, contain, contain and wait for the other side to screw up. Believe it or not - it works.

And now the Sea Dragons find themselves in the finals with only Darmen standing in the way of a Championship. With the top four sides eliminated there will be a new top dog in town, and the Sea Dragons will be roaring for supremacy. Darmen predicted this match to be for third place - we will try to make sure they get no better than second.

So how did we get to this point? Let’s take a look.

MD1 - Vettrera was the first of three unranked opponents in the group stage. They looked the part as the Sea Dragons rolled to a 42-15 victory. Kin’ia’an was brilliant as she went 23 of 29 for 277 yards and 4 touchdowns. Lorot’u was on the receiving end of 3 of those scores as she collected five passes for 162 yards as well. The bomb was working perfectly.

MD2 - Sometimes things just seem to go perfectly. The winning team looks far better than they actually are while the losing team looks far worse. That was the case in this one as ABK fell victim to the Sea Dragons by the score of 60-2. While the offense was solid again in this one, it was the defense that made the big plays by scoring on two interceptions and one fumble recovery (all made on plays that ABK should have scored on). Nobody can survive a 42 point swing on the scoreboard. Nobody.

MD3 - Ruadha brought the defense and held ASMV to just 27 points. But it was enough to get out of the group stage (27-9)unscathed and earn the 3 seed for the knockout rounds.

MD4 - Wolfmanne edged ot Delaclava for the top spot in Group 1 and we took full advantage of their inexperience in a 34-17 win. By far this was the toughest challenge to date and set up a showdown with hosts and sport inventors The Babbage Islands.

MD5 - The Showdown. If you had told me beforehand that we would actually beat The Babbage Islands in their own tournament, I would have laughed you out of the room. Yet that is just what happened. This game was much closer than the 29-19 scoreline indicated and was not decided until Sicyfa Ech'hina picked off Austin Hinckley at about the 10 yard line with 2:22 on the clock. One long bomb to Lorot’u was all it would take as Lyeaip'a would add the final 5 points on the very next play.


And now for the Finals Match with Darmen, who have been very impressive in their playas well. Their offense has been stellar as they even managed to defeat Newmanistan, the world’s best team, in the semi-finals. Let’s hope that our “Bend but don’t break” defense can slow them down just a bit and give us the opportunity to win.

This final seems like a shocker at first glance as ASMV is ranked 5th and Darmen 6th. But when you look back at the last edition of the McLeod Cup ASMV finished in second place while Darmen finished third. And that was the first outing for either side. Now a finals clash awaits this budding rivalry and Babbage Rules Football will have new contenders for some time to come. With a new league beginning with 12 teams across the Empire, this could be the “Next Big Thing” in ASMV.

[The Golden Tamarind]

Endgame

And so we come to the final play in Coach Hugo Caillett's master plan for the Mcleod Cup IV.

So far, though not perfect, the coach could look back on a job well done. It had been a busy two days since the victory over Los Armori in the Bowl semi-final, with a few press calls to take, some hospitality to accept – what polite and charming people the Babbalonians are, if a little more sensible, reliable, and organised than the average Tamarindo – and even a congratulatory message from The Good Doctor himself, President Sunshine.

Unfortunately that had encouraged Coach Hugo to seek out some reaction from home, since he rather hoped to be coming back to a hero's welcome and some leeway for the development of a Tamarindian Babbalo League, but he was only to be disappointed. It was hardly surprising – the national psyche contained a strong streak of cynicism for all things of a foreign nature, and with generally good reason. Tamarindia is, of course, a nation descended from outcasts from all walks of life, with a strong refugee mentality and several hundred years of rejecting the outside world. Today there is a cautious embrace in the corridors of power for the wider world, but at the heart of every Tamarindo is the certainty that things are done better the Tamar way, however shambolic, however late, however confused. Better to fail with a smile than succeed with a grimace, as they say in the land of the golden monkey. As a consequence of this merry cynicism, most of the team's achievements went unreported, since babbalo is considered foreign, or experimental to use the polite term (as used with all sport, except football and dog racing, which the Tamarindians prefer to think they invented independently and simultaneously to - if not a little before - the rest of the world). What reportage there was contained puns about funny shaped balls, or puzzlement about why handling the ball was allowed, or deliberately confusing oranges with lemons or limes or kumquats. There would be no instant embrace of babbalo, whatever the outcome here, but the Coach was only a little dispirited, for his conviction that it could succeed was strong, and because he also had other things to worry about.

News came through just after victory over Los Armori that Trinidad Solaté had succeeding in infuriating many theologians and students at the Theological College in Charleston with her lecture on Tamarindian religious practice, which they perhaps did not realise was 99.7% devout atheist, with that natural jolly skepticism for global organised superstition comparable to their opinion of sports not invented in Tamarindia. The other point three percent, as Trinidad would have explained in her undoubtedly passionate, one might say inflammatory, lecture, was made up of voodoo practitioners, monkey icon celebrants, and taoist philosophers depending on what immigrant community they belonged to. The news that Coach Hugo had been fearing was that Trinidad had not compromised for the sake of international relations, or simply out of politeness when abroad, but had instead so enraged her hosts that she had been detained by the college's not insignificant security office and was likely facing summary deportation. A Specialist from the Academy of International Relations had been called in from further abroad to deal with the situation.

It had been a sleepless night for Coach Hugo, who could see an International Incident ruining his limited credibility back home and with it any hope of creating a league. How things change, though, in the great back and forth, the see-saw of life. At breakfast he was joined by Trinidad herself, and Specialist Jean-Baptiste Duzant, lately of the under 21s football tour of Mangolana, with the news that everything was just fine. It seemed Coach Hugo had been somewhat 'misinformed', that the 'incident' in Charleston had been a 'misunderstanding', that Trinidad was 'free' to come and go as she pleased, and that she had been offered an 'internship' at the Theological College once she had completed her PhD at the Academy of International Relations. Coach Hugo wondered about how so many inverted commas could be reassuring, but Specialist Duzant was quite convincing in an understated yet forceful way, and he had no choice but to brush off the whole affair as 'nothing' to concern himself with.

With that not-terribly-reassuringly out of the way, the Coach was free to concentrate on enjoying the attention in a country where they really did appreciate babbalo – after all they invented the sport. Several press conferences followed in which the main questions revolved around where Tamarindia was, exactly (explained), how the tournament was going down over there in Tamarindia (evaded), and what kind of outcome the Coach might expect in the Bowl Final (estimated, with good grace to the opposition). A tour of Municipal Stadium, the home of Wye Whalers, followed. Whaler's captain Roger Clark showed Coach Hugo around the team quarters and they discussed tactics, both for the game ahead and for establishing the sport back home. Perhaps he was only being polite (the Babbalonians are so polite!) when he offered to become an ambassador and visit the country to help with the Coach's efforts, but it was flattering and a little overwhelming.

In the afternoon the Regional Marketing Director from Subbutalo™ called on the team hotel and presented the coach with a hand painted set of miniature figures of the AIR Ambassadors, claiming that since the tabletop game had featured so regularly on the Mcleod Cup IV for Babbage rules football (SF posted) NS Sports Thread, sales in the Babbage Islands and other Babbalo nations had gone through the roof. The Director said plans were afoot to support the foundation of a league in Tamarindia with sponsorship, and a Tamarindo Babbalo set was already on the drawing board for when some teams had been identified and the league was up and running. Coach Hugo was expecting a call from Owlskine, too, although he hadn't written about them just for kickbacks, but that call never came.

In the evening the Coach gathered his team for the daily tactics review, and used his new Ambassadors team for the tabletop coaching session, where he introduced his final play for the Mcleod Bowl. The offensive play was called the

Cross-Mollisher

with reference to female thievery for one very good reason: “the orangeback, here, during code orange, will move to this line here, thus – see? - it's marked by the dropping slant, here – and when the defence buys the fly's move, here, like this, so, and the response, like this, and this, and the nickel badly exposed here, thus - “

“I already see it!” - Professor de Torrente - “a fake, a steal, a con! Beautiful!”