M a r s   9 5   F i n a l   S e e d i n g s

1. Myron (Ann Arbor)
2. Lemon (Cincinatti)
3. Chicken Coup (Pick-up)
4. Vulcan Death Grip (Pittsburgh)
5. Blender (Ohio)
6. Philly Peppers with Seeds (Philadelphia)
7. Throbers (Pittsburgh)
8. LetITgo (Pittsburgh)

This past July 4th weekend, The Mars Ultimate Tournament was revived, thanks to Steve Paul, with a new and interesting twist. The seeding of the teams for the third day tournament play was not based on record, but rather computed by a ranking system written by Henry Thorne similar to the one used by the spring college series. The factors which went into this system were who you played, how good they were and how well you did against them (point differential capped at 10). The records after the first two days of play are listed below, followed by the teams power score.

Rank Team 1. Myron 2. Lemon 3. Chicken Coup 4. Vulcan Death Grip 5. Blender 6. Philly Peppers with Seeds 7. Throbbers 8. LetITgo 9. Wankers 10. Mass Rival 11. Oz's Ultimate All Stars 12. Suburban Sprawl 13. Ant Hill 14. North Coast 15. Old Gnus 16. Happy 2B Here 17. L.I.E. 18. Burning River

Record 6-0 6-0 5-1 4-2 4-2 4-2 5-1 4-2 1-5 3-3 4-2 2-4 2-4 1-5 2-4 1-5 0-6 1-5

Score 9.67 8.89 8.01 6.44 5.66 5.43 5.14 3.43 3.14 2.84 2.24 -1.11 -1.34 -2.22 -3.55 -5.51 -10.27 -10.33

At first glance, it is apparent that the ranking does not directly follow records, In fact, it would seem that the Throbbers, ranked seventh are misplaced having gone 5-1. However, when we look at point differential and quality of opponents, the logic of the system is clear. Below are a few examples:

Team Myron Opponent: Coup Blender Oz's Sub. Sprawl Ant Hill Old Gnus Total Team Lemon Opponent Vulcan Philly LetITgo Wankers Mass R. Happy Total Team Throbbers Opponent Blender Philly Wankers Sub Sp. Ant Hill N. Coast Total

Differential +4 +1 +4 +8 +9 +10 Differential +3 +2 +10 +2 +5 +7 Differential -3 +3 +1 +2 +5 +8

Power-Score 2.03 1.04 1.25 1.68 1.88 1.80 9.67 Power-Score 1.59 1.22 2.57 .92 1.55 .86 8.89 Power-Score .15 1.44 .7 .34 .98 1.53 5.14

The top teams, Myron and Lemon, not only won all of their games, but in addition they beat the lower teams by a good margin, gaining more points. The Throbbers, although going 5-1, just barely beat middle of the road teams, just barely putting them above middle of the road. The beauty of this ranking system is that it does not penalize nor reward teams for having an easy or a hard schedule. This is great for running a large tournament where the quality of the teams is not known in advance.

Any doubts as to the accuracy of the ranking system were put to rest after the exciting playoffs in the A Bracket of the third day. Each seed held true in the first round with Myron (1) beating LetITgo, from Pittsburgh (8) 15 - 12. Vulcan Death Grip (4), one of the Pittsburgh teams handled Blender (5), an Ohio team 15-9. Chicken Coup, a mixed Michigan and Pittsburgh team defeated a strong Philly team (6) 16-4 and Lemon(2), the Cincinnati team ousted the Pittsburgh Summer League staple, the Throbbers 15-13.

Round two saw two exciting, well fought and close games. Myron, from Michigan edged out Vulcan Death Grip 16-14 while Lemon came back from behind in the last moments and with a great poach from Wes clinched the game at cap 17-16. This set up the 1 v 2 finals match-up. Lemon, a proven champion having recently won Poultry Days, was starting to run out of gas with only 1 or 2 subs. Myron, however seemed in control with a very strong team and a large bench. Myron did go up by 5 or 6 early on, only to see the gutsy Lemon players battle back point by point. No team led by more than a point after the half until Myron pulled away in the very end to win the tournament 16-14. Congratulations to Myron, Lemon and all the Mars teams for a well played tournament.