Spoiler alert--Gotham lost!!
Now others have said it better than myself, but we're not cheering against Gotham--we just want to see someone else win, too. Importantly, it's Rose City, a league that has been through a lot this year.
But I'm not here to write about the emotions.
I'm here to borrow an old NFL adage: "any given Sunday, any team can win".
Certain people in derby, and a few derby "bloggers", would have you convinced that is not the case, but let's look at an important fact: the top four teams form a perfect round-robin of wins.
London beat Rose back in August, 193-129
Rose beat Gotham last night, 206-195
Gotham beat Victoria, 143-141
Victoria beat London, 122-99
So the quarter-final round produced no upsets, so what? The semi-final round could have been drawn any way and produced amazing matchups.
Importantly, ESPN doesn't like showing sports where the outcome is just about guaranteed in advance. ESPN likes showing excitement, and derby needs to show itself as a thrilling event in order to continue to gain fans.
ESPN's coverage came on at the perfect point in this event. Two total toss-up games with four Hydra-level teams. A sports producer couldn't ask for anything better.
I keep hearing "oh, derby's not ready for this", or "derby's too new to" whatever.
5-year win streak ended. 4 top-level teams, any of whom could beat any other, in the WFTDA. In the MRDA, a 3-year streak ended in spectacular fashion.
Clearly, derby is ready for primetime. Why? Because any given Champs, any team can win!
