NPPL Chicago:Friday

Wow, some wacky scores, eh? A lot of hard fought close matches today. Partly due to the layout and partly due to more aggressive officiating. I heard a few objections during the day but most of the teams didn't seem to be too worked up with the fairly rigorous and active approach taken here in Chicago. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a topic for further discussion after the fact although that will almost certainly only happen behind closed doors. I'm good with the calls and the effort and believe it's an improvement for the league as a whole. Others may disagree. The only downside I'm seeing is that in their zeal to stay on top of the action and players the refs tend to bird dog the players and one of the elements of play on this layout is the ability to get "lost."
Changing the subject--the Dynasty rumor (from yesterday) was only partially correct. Alex is here but Ollie isn't. Nor is Mouse. That's it in 'Rats news except the kids in blue are 1 of the 4 teams that went 2-0 today.
XSV & Damage dropped matches today as did Infmous, Legend and X-Factor. Xplicit got a split on the day and Uprising is 2-0 after two tough well fought victories. Avalanche is a surprise 0-2 today but all that Friday accomplished was to give some teams an easier path to Sunday. Nothing is settled yet and nothing will be settled for sure until the last match is played tomorrow. It may be a cliche but it's true nonetheless.
In losing our first match to Xplicit (1-2) we took it as a Cliff's Notes guide to what we were doing wrong. We sat down together afterwards and tore down what we were doing, decided what we needed to be doing and made the appropriate changes in personnel and focus. And if/when it sees us through to Sunday it will have proven to be that rare worthwhile loss. But it all depends on Saturday for us, just like it does for all the rest of the competing teams.
The weather was great today; hot but not too hot (though my sunburned face might disagree) as a periodically stiff breeze provided a cooling reprieve.
More tomorrow but it's gonna be a long day. Our second match is at 6pm so no telling when I'll get around to catching up here.