World Cup Thursday

It's late so today I'll just pass along a few brief observations.
This year's version of the Fantasy of Flight World Cup venue is, I think, a little more player and fan friendly. With the inclusion of the 10-man field and the UWL 5-man on the schedule all the fields seem a bit closer to both registration and the principle parking lot with the vendors laid out between the divisional fields and the pro field. The vendors are readily accessible without the past's compulsory hike through a maze of vendors.
Bands of gray and sometimes threatening clouds dashed across the sky all day. It rained hard in the early pre-dawn hours of Thursday morning and didn't rain again until the late afternoon when the Damage--187 match and Dynasty--X-Factor match were on the receiving end of a progressively heavier downpour.
The latest weather indicates more showers tomorrow as the tropical storm/low intensity hurricane moves away from Florida and up the Atlantic seaboard. Fingers crossed.
Scores today aren't meaningless but nor do they set a team's final fate just yet. X-Factor and Vicious went 2-0 with X-Factor having the better quality wins as one of theirs was a strong rally against Dynasty under very adverse circumstances for both teams. The new kids on the block both lost their single matches today. XSV lost to Vicious 1-7 and Impact lost to Dynasty 2-7. Shock, CEP & Upton 187 all put up good fights battling deep into their first (or only) matches of the day only to lose late, hampered by penalties. Nobody looked like a champion today but part of the process is to build and improve on each day's performance so that by Sunday teams are ready to take destiny by the throat and rip the Cup away from all the pretenders. Friday promises to put us all one day closer.