So I heard the NCDA had a tournament this weekend. I also heard that Grand Valley won… again. I can’t say that is a surprising result to hear, but congratulations to the Lakers… again. That being said, there are a few other takeaways we can gather from this weekend. Here’s my take from everything I heard and saw from this year in the NCDA:
The league is too predictable for its own good: This is a legitimate problem facing the league. Yes, there were upsets during the season. Yes, more teams traveled to different tournaments which created some crazy results. Also, yes BEAST was a weird weekend where the norm was broken on several occasions. That being said, when teams were lined up and went head-to-head with each other to fight for the title, everything went “according to plan” based on the seeding. The only upset on elimination day was WKU beating Cleveland State; if we’re looking at the two teams altogether, that is not an upset. Congratulations to GV for winning the title, and to CMU for making it there for the 3rd year in a row. That being said, that was one of the worst results the league could have asked for. Everybody up in the mitten will tell me that if the other teams can learn how to beat them that’d be great, but if they can’t then to keep my mouth shut. Enjoy your reign at the top guys and gals, because every year this continues, it will actually start damaging the league. Memo to the other teams: pick it up and end this nonsense so all these new teams that Jake Leski has been busting his behind to get into the league feel as if there is real hope for them.
Would the real Kent State please stand up: I’ll keep this one brief because I didn’t see them play much this year. From what I saw though they upset JMU, and took Saginaw to the brink of tournament play. I know getting player commitment can be a tough thing sometimes, but man, if they could’ve played that way all season I can only imagine where they actually would have been at. Hopefully the Golden Flashes don’t lose too much going into next season and can build off a successful end to this season.
Stop yelling at the refs and acting like children: Dodgeball is a heated sport, there’s no questioning that. However, I heard about several instances over the weekend where players would not let things go with the officials, kept yelling at them constantly just to get their way, and even shoving opposing players. Chill. Out. The league is lucky to have alumni who are willing to spend their time and money to be a part of the league and ref your games. It would behoove the members of the league, both for their own sake and for the sake of league expansion, to act like adults. This isn’t to say you can’t show emotion, but don’t be a jerk while doing it.
Kentucky knows how to put on a good Nationals: One thing I didn’t hear much of from the weekend were hiccups with the venues or anything that was the responsibility of the University of Kentucky. The Wildcats hosted the first Nationals I ever went to, and I really enjoyed myself. It sounds like most of the people attending this weekend had a great time as well. I may be bitter that Kentucky was the team that ended my playing career, but I can’t deny that they appear to be great hosts for Nationals.
Jake Leski is seriously busting his behind: I wanted this to be my last note because I don’t have too much information one how close the announced teams are to joining the league, but even having them close to their induction matches shows how much work Jake puts in. Whether he makes people mad with his smack talk or with his power rankings it does not matter, the league is in a great deal of debt to Leski for helping continue the growth and legitimization of this league. If you didn’t get a chance to this weekend, it would be worth thanking him for that.
I miss playing dodgeball, and I miss being able to go to Nationals. That being said, it sounds like it was a great weekend for all involved. I hope everyone is looking forward to next season. This is my last article that I’m writing for the NCDA as I do not have the time or resources to continue writing into the future, so I’ll be even more disconnected than I was previously. With that in mind, good luck to all the teams in the future, and I hope next year brings even more head shots, more games played, and more teams.
See you guys down the road.
From someone who’s been there and done that:
Too predictable: Cutting the roster to 12 active, 15 total might help in that regard in that it would be easier for smaller schools to reach parity. Otherwise, deal with it – Michigan is in a unique position to obtain and sustain dominance for some time to come. Having at least four schools within an hour of a central location makes scheduling games rather easy.
Kent State: They were bipolar when I played against them and they apparently remain bipolar now. I won’t say they need discipline, but if they just avoid boneheaded mistakes they generally have a tendency to be very good.
Abuse of officials: It happened during my seven years as a player, it’ll keep happening now unless and until they get the collective confidence to issue yellow and red cards without hesitation.
Kentucky: Yep, no complaints there.
Hi Wes, or Spencer or whichever old(er) Michigan person chose to not use their name
You need to back up with that accusation bruh, I’ve never been anonymous on anything dodgeball related.
Lol, literally just listing the only guys I knew that were around longer than most