By Kyle Shaw: President and Captain of the Reborn Miami Dodgeball Club
We’ve had two this week, why not a third to continue the hype? ODC is bringing 9 teams to Newark, Ohio this weekend. With more teams than any state, this looks to be a great tournament with a lot of teams having a legitimate shot at taking home the trophy. I wanted to get captain’s opinions on each of the teams, but minus all of the normal fluff you hear, so I had them give me their brutally honest opinions under cover of anonymity. With there being 3 new teams coming in, there is obviously a little less to people have to say about them, but nonetheless, here are the captain’s unfiltered thoughts about the 9 teams coming to battle this Saturday:
“When it comes to our school, it takes a lot for us to strongly dislike playing other teams. This year, two teams have made it on that list. One of them being in the state of Ohio. That team is Bowling Green State University.”
“They have the skill to beat us straight up but it goes the same for us. We just need to come together as a team before beating them. With this team, there are two people I want to call out for their abilities on the court. The first starting with one is Tyler Wickham. He has a bad attitude which can make people see differently from him but aside from that, he has a cannon that is very accurate. He is also a good play caller on the court for the Falcons. With him, they have a much better chance at going 3-0 this weekend. Another strong set is Reid Manger. He is only a sophomore and he is one of the top guys on their team. He has a decent arm but what gets me is his catching ability. He is a scary guy to throw against. Single throw him and there is a very strong likelihood that you are the one walking off the court.”
“All around good talent but they waste it with not trying new things. They also can get beat by anyone if they play sloppy. I want to see them win but they won’t. They will lose one match.”
“BG needs to learn how to beat top level teams before I considered them decent.”
“This team is looking as good as they have in a while, but I’m really disappointed in their play. Their players cheat and argue with the referees when they are clearly out, and their leaders don’t seem to have an issue with it, which is poor leadership in my opinion. I really hope that the referees at the ODC don’t take that shit”
“I want to point out Joey Stack and Josh “Harry Potter” Lyons. These two are two solid players. They both have strong and accurate throws, they can both catch, and usually they are the last ones left on the court. These two guys keep Akron in most of their games along with their captain, Adam Pfeifer, being able to control the court so well. These three make for a tough closing of a point. These three are probably a lot of the reason they don’t get blown out a lot. However, without these three on the court, the game will most likely be over quickly for Akron.”
“Akron will probably go 2-1 and get picked apart by OSU and getting caught.”
“Joey Stacks from Akron is seen as a thrower but I’ve never been hit by him once. He throws right in the bread box and it makes it easy to catch him.”
“Colby can throw but he leaves himself wide open. Also an over rated player.”
“Akron needs to team throw and Adam needs to learn how to catch a ball.”
“Akron annoys me probably more than any other team in the league. Their team-wide nice guy off the court, total asses on the court annoys the living daylights out of me.”
“That girl from Akron is a baller, and if you underestimate her, she will get you out.”
“This team has such potential, but can’t seem to close in. Their top tier players can compete with the best of them easily, I would take their overtime six against almost anyone, but beyond that, sits a bottom layer of trash players who look like they’ve never played a sport in their lifetime, sucks that they can’t get more impact players on their team.”
“This team I don’t really know who to look out for. I didn’t get to see them much at the last tournament. It also depends on who shows up for them this weekend. There is one guy that can be a big factor depending on if he shows up either physically or mentally. I don’t have a name for him but he is ambidextrous. He can throw just as well with both hands and he uses it in a creative way. Along with that he his fast and has a decent catching ability. He could prove to be a troublemaker for some teams.”
“BW needs to play like they did last year. But their throwers suck. Weak ass throwers they need to let them go.”
“While only having played in one tournament this year, their experience did really show at the Bobcat Bash, but with that being said, they are still a team that could be beaten by a Marietta, or they could beat the likes of OU or OSU.”
“I’m so glad they’re back in the fold again, a great group of guys and great players, just need to get a bit of traction.”
“They do have a solid blocker out of Alan Wardeiner. The only problem is he doesn’t really have much else to him. The last time he played, dirty blocking was not a thing. That means his blocking could be obsolete depending on how he blocks the ball. We will see this weekend.”
“Its really awesome to see new teams joining the league, and I think they have the leadership to become a long lasting squad.”
“For the predicted winners of the Ohio Dodgeball Cup, Kent State is an awkward team for me. They don’t really have people that stand out that much. If they throw, it is almost always at waist height or higher. They just work so well as a team together and that’s what wins them their games. If I had to pick one person to stand out, it would be Logan Baird. This lefty is scary when it comes to both throwing and catching. He is a sneaky guy too with his crosses. When playing Kent, all teams need to watch for this guy on the right side of the court. He is also quick. He can catch a ball, drop it and catch another just as quick.”
“Kent needs to step up for real! They have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. They try to play hero ball and they will keep losing if they try to win the game by themselves instead of a team. Kent will probably go 3-0 but they if they go into a one point match for the win I think they will lose.”
“Cassie needs to back up her talk with being a sniper on crosses. Shit is weak! Albert from Kent needs to play like the Albert of yesterday. He has sucked this year.”
“Albert Deperro throws like a girl.”
“They have arguably the easiest schedule of the day so if they win the ODC, I wouldn’t be surprised, but we’ll see what the weekend brings”
“I can’t say very much about other teams, but we are really looking forward to getting any play time at all. I will say, with our team being so young and unknown, and the help we’ve been getting from our neighbors at OU, we’re a wildcard, and teams like Cleveland State better watch out for the upset.” – Tom Farish
“I already have a person to stand out for them. His name is Jonathan Helmick. Once I taught him the grip throw, it was scary for his team. He has a rather strong arm and when adding the grip throw, it got increasingly better. Along with that, he has good catching abilities as well. If anybody is going to keep them in a game this weekend, it will be him with the communication of the rest of his team that they already show a great sense of.”
“Having played Miami twice, you would think I would have a better idea of what to point out for them. I think they are in a good state as far as it comes to players on the team. They don’t seem to be having recruitment issues after I saw more than twenty at their home tournament. However, they just don’t have much together yet. I think they will be able to pull wins from the new teams but struggle against Baldwin Wallace and Akron. Don’t be surprised if they make one or even both of those games competitive.”
“Miami will probably go 2-2 but they could upset BW if they use their blockers.”
“That dude who wears the hat for Miami can throw but can’t dodge shit.”
“They have a few strong throwers, but leave them out to dry every time they go up to throw, which makes it easy to beat them”
“I’m really hoping this is the tournament that will earn them their first W. nothing beats getting your first win. Except a winning the cup or nationals.”
“This team is another ghost for me. Who knows what they will bring. They will be about thirty minutes away from home so I am hoping they bring close to a full twenty. With this being said, it hard for to pick someone to look out for but I would go with Tze Ning Wong. I haven’t heard him talked about much but he has some superior catching abilities at least against us. He isn’t afraid to go for a catch as long as the ball thrown is in range. He plays dangerously though. He stands up in front a lot. If the right guy throws at him, he could be an easy out.”
“Bold prediction OSU will go 1-2 on the day only beating Akron 3-1.”
“Starr is overrated. He needs to back up his hype this weekend.”
“Don’t really every see what the hype ever is about OSU, they have a small number of throwers but are mostly a catching team that can be beaten with team throws.”
“Sad to see the formerly best Ohio team in a bit of a rough patch, I’m interested to see how they compete at the cup.”
“OU needs to stop acting like its their first day. They have more experience playing than probably 50% of the players in Ohio. They have 40+ matches.”
“Adam Hynes is scared to get caught so he hasn’t thrown and he can’t catch anything. Kyle from OU needs to step up too he was a rookie of the year and has been a non factor. Overrated this year.”
“OU could be good if they didn’t self-implode on themselves. All it takes is one call they disagree with, Caleb loses his temper, and then the rest of the team plays tight. Will this be the weekend he finally gets a red card?”
“Despite the amount of talk from this team, they are severely underwhelming players. They have 4 or 5 good players who can hold their own, but most of them don’t seem to belong on a court. They always have something to say to every statement, but never offer to lend a helping hand. Shout out to Adam Hynes for not bitching like most of their leadership.”
How could Felix or the content team allow for this garbage article to be posted?!?!
Who are you, not Wes Peters?
Garbage? I thought it was fun.
For the record, I liked this article. Though it did lack in MDC coverage. 8/10
Love the article…. not. See everyone tomorrow
Y’all are so cute, bottom half of the league talking smack anonymously..
Anuj, remind me how many Michigan cups or national titles you’ve won? I’m guessing about as many as most Ohio teams.
About as many wins you have on teams not in the bottom 25% of the league
says someone who sits the bench at a tournament where their team gets smacked around and goes 0-3
Ouch.
It’s funny how bold people are once things go anonymous Take the shitty comments that came from people too cowardly to associate their name with their smack talk and let them fuel you.
Can’t wait to see the results from today’s tournament. Play hard on those courts and give everyone something to talk about. I’ll be cheering y’all on from Texas.
I wish someone would have posted this when I was in the mix. I love it when people talk shit… it gets the people going!