Madison

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My mom, of late, has been preferring for whatever reason to contact me mostly through my work email. So I didn't get her email about the bout on Saturday until this morning, saying "too bad the scores weren't on our side."

Teach her to leave early to beat the traffic; she missed the end of the most exciting comeback we've ever had.



Beautiful first half. Madison ahead by fifteen when time expired; final jam ended with jammerless jam. A new jam was started (I believe I remember this is the way things should go, yes?) Jawbreaker got frustrated as Jammer, did a knee-goose to a blocker, got called on a major. MRD (Darling Nikki, specifically) jumped on that chance with TWELVE POINTS in the resulting power jam; half ends with 27 points between the teams.

Second half: penalties everywhere. Neither teams can catch a break. Power jams everywhere and some weird calls that I'm sure the zebras will rightfully back up. Lots of 20-feet penalties as Madison strands the MNRG blockers up front, again and again. Minnesota down by 21 points with five minutes to go. Suzie Smashbox of MNRG jams against Mack the Knife and gets a huge power jam opportunity when Mack goes to the box (I believe Mack had the lead, but lost the jam on knocked-through the inside corner track cut...memory's hazy; audio recording or someone else who saw the game will show the truth later). Brings MNRG within 9 with just under two minutes to play.

MNRG's Jawbreaker takes on the DD's Jenny Knoxville. JB blows through the pack and takes lead. Jenny goes to the box. POWER JAM. Every person is on their feet in the Roy. The Stats booth is screaming. One commentator is swinging his supporter's scarf around like a damn nut. First scoring pass, the MNRG back four drop to a knee and kill their momentum, pulling off a 20-foot trap on the three MRD defenders that would make a soccer fan proud. Full five points by Jawbreaker. Second pass, JB beats two and almost blows it against (I want to say Stitch), recovers and beats the pack again - all in about fifty seconds. The audience explodes. In all, JB takes eleven points and we all go for a beer.

Final score: MNRG 89 - MRD 87.

Remember MRD/Boston? The last-minute desperation jam where the DDs almost defeated the Massacre? Yeah. Like that, except that the come-from-behind team made their points before the power jam had ended. And 3000 people screaming GO FASTER.

Flip the stats man adds:

It was a furious comeback in the final 3 jams that had the crowd at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium collectively losing their minds. 3,000+ fans were ON THEIR FEET, SCREAMING for pretty much the entire last 4 minutes of the bout. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was the very best bout I've ever seen, I will say it is was definitely the LOUDEST bout I've ever witnessed. Hands down; end of statement. No one could hear themselves think in those final jams.



It was a beautiful way to end our interleague season.

Comments

[lexinatrix.livejournal.com]

I never did understand the Minnesotan compulsion of leaving events early to avoid traffic.

Congrats on a well-earned win.

[sithlet.livejournal.com]

I almost left before it ended because my ride got sick. I then decided "So what if my crap's in her car... I'm sure I can get a ride from someone else, I'm staying!"

[lexinatrix.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Illness is a more plausible reason to leave early... but traffic? Notsomuch.

[birdfigment.livejournal.com]

Wow. I really wish I'd been there! Congratulations!

[thosquanta.livejournal.com]

that was awesome. definitely a great match for my first time trackside!

[pied-piper70.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it was full of win...LITERALLY!

[433.livejournal.com]

The refs put up 10 points on their board, giving us a 88-87 win. That's what I reported to DNN, and I think that unless there were changes, that's what the official score was.

[cynthia-french.livejournal.com]

The refs put up 10 originally, and then it was changed to 11 once the jammer ref confirmed jawbreaker passed one more on the back side of the pack before calling off the jam.

[sithlet.livejournal.com]

That explains it. I think most people stopped paying attention once the 10 was up because it meant we'd won. At least that was my take. I noticed the score at 89, but I figured it was just an error at the scoreboard because I'd only seen the refs holding up the 10 before I jumped to my feet cheering.