wow I came back and home and ouch tough loss for the Pride.. I guess coach Leddy wasn't really prepare for what happen out there.

dang, i missed the livestream because of work. i just got home, lol! anyway, i wrote this last night and while it does seem mean-spirited, that's because AJ Salem is a grouchy hyena. :p


Western Conference Preview
by AJ Salem

For the past week, I had been a very anxious hyena. The prospects of having an All-Canadian Conference Final was near, and with the Totems coming off the momentum of sweeping that howling team of Fang-less players somewhere in barren Montana, and the Winnepeg Voyuegers on the verge of sending FBA darling Buck Hopper's team packing back to that town of Harley Davison hicks, my hopes were very high. Then the Totems struggled at first against Santa Fe, the Bikers were fighting back against the Voyuegers after caging Wild Thing and such, and after having my Totem flags stolen off my front lawn once again by bitter neighbors, I was literally biting my claws.

Thankfully my beloved Totems prevailed through and whipped the team back to New Mexico, a state that makes me wonder why anyone would want to live there. I mean, you ever been to New Mexico in the summer? Why would anyone want to be in New Mexico in the summer, I will never understand, and as a hyena, I'm stereotypically supposed to be awesome in the heat. Maybe I'm just too used to Edmonton and Wyoming winters, I dunno.

But the Voyuegers... oh Winnipeg. You were one game away from making it an all-Canadian affair and you let it fall through your fingers, letting the Bikers win from 1-3 games down. Maybe Bounder needs a better brand of carrot juice or something.

So now the Western Conference Finals will be between the Edmonton Totems and the Dakota Buck and the Hopperoos, and bare with me for a moment but I have just two strategies for Coach Stan Shields to consider:

1) Contain Hopper and Malone. Seriously, gang up on them, prevent them from touching the ball, knock them unconscious, slit the tires off their cars, give them poison before the game, whatever. Take them out, and they'll be like the Howlers without Fangy.

2) Piss off Redfield. However, the moment you see Redfield turn green and start yelling SMASH over and over, make sure he targets just people like Brink, Kapuur, Kassius. Well hey, if Coach Shields doesn't have faith in them whatsoever to let them play at all, having Redfield turning them into bloodstains won't make much of a difference anyway, right? Or better yet, once Redfield is having uncontrollable rage, just point at the crowd and yell "IT'S SHANE RUFUS OVER THERE!". Maybe that'll work and once Redfield rampages through the crowd, he'll accidentally take out a Howler fan or two. Or three. Hey, I can dream, can I?!

With those two strategies, Edmonton will have the chance to be on top of the world and shocking everyone in the process! Just hope the Pride and Typhoons take each other out so we won't have to bother with a Finals series.

Keep the hate mail coming! There's not much in life for me to be joyous about anyway because I live among Howlers fans and I can't muster the will to move out because I might be a masochist and not know it. Reading hate mail is one of the few amusements I have left.

My name is AJ Salem, and please stop stealing the flags off my front lawn, damnit.

URRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!! i was gunna be there but after surprise dinner with the in-laws we were stuck at their house for HOURS while the huz worked on, what else, tech problems. >:| good to know you're doing it again tomorrow, i wanna see! yowch kind of a blow out, hopefully things will pick up next game. GO PRIDE!

<8(

There seems to be something wrong with the Box Score link. o.o Also, good game despite the blowout, I had fun watching it and hopefully I'll catch tomorrow's livestream too!

I think you need to release security on that set of box scores, T.Matt. It's giving me a 'Request' button for access. I'm like... "But... but my team played! We won! Why can't I see how they did!" @_@

The previous system for results got retired, that's probably why.

CSL box scores were never used with the previous system. They were just hand-entered into a Google Docs document. Check the link again - Bhop fixed it. It's not the PDF from before.

No more Voodoo, now it's the Phoodoo!
by Nate Underwood
Florida Furry Sports, Web Blog


For a team that seemed like it was going to be suffering from a (Biloxi) Voodoo curse, TAL sure was able to turn the tables on their division rivals with a 4-2 win in the series. And now that they won, in Voodoo fashion, they take the strength of their enemies with them into the next battle.

Ever since their sixth game win in the second round, Tallahassee has been floating on air, though recently they had to be brought down to earth with the reality of who they were facing in their franchise's historic first Conference Finals EVER.

The Newark Pride. The team that has, for the last five seasons, always ran but never grabbed the ring. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Or maybe I should say, Always the PRIDESmaid, never the PRIDE.

...nah.

I won't say that. Why? Newark deserves better than doggerel puns. They fought tooth and claw, powering through Williamsburg and Tennessee to get back into a very familiar position. And hungry? Try starving. Ravenous. They are not going to make the series easy, though you could call tonight a warmup.

One thing to say about Tallahassee being on Courtside Live (CSL) - whether they win or lose, they do it BIG. Big loss against BLV, Big win against Plymouth, and now they've taken first blood against Newark with a stellar second-half rocketship blast for a thirty(!) point win against Newark, 113 to 83! That's one hell of an opening statement.

And speaking of opening statements, the word 'FOUL' was used a lot. Against Tallahassee. Neil LaRocca (Black Cat, C, TAL) getting two in the first half, getting rather physical. Even one on the everfriendly John Smith (Dog, G, TAL). Newark had their share of roughhousing as well, though, giving TAL plenty of opportunity. It was the second half that TAL stepped up its defense and essentially shut down most of the Pride's offensive ability. I say ALMOST because of two instances I think should be brought to light - neither of them looking good for Jake Velox (Swift Fox, G, TAL).

Now, obviously O-Town is one of Tallahassee's most vital resources with shotmaking ability, second only to Klaus Korber (Doberman, G, TAL). But in attempting to be more like Korber, Velox pulled a #korber. Which is a different, less... prideful thing to do. Unguarded for the most part, Velox made a fast break after a rebound-fed past, dashed to the hoop, leapt up, ball in paw, tongue hanging out...

And THUNNNNNG, the ball hitting the back of the iron and popping straight up. Thus, he pulled a #korber. This has been unceremoniously named for 2K's two similar attempts in the first round PLY/TAL game. (I spoke to Klaus about it, and he said he was alright with it, but his ears did droop a bit. He admitted both his coach and his wife chastised him severely for trying to show off and epic-failing)

Not only did the swift fox Korber in front of the cameras, but he was vaulted *OVER* by Pride bencher Sammy Sickstra (Cougar, G, NWK) in an awesome end-of-3rd quarter highlight dunk by the kitty. As my colleague T.Matt Latrans put it, "Did that happen?...That is RIDICULOUS!"

Velox would agree. So to make up for it, he scored points. A LOT of points. Enough points to make him MVP on the Tallahassee side for this first game. But that's just the first volley. Newark has another game coming up quick, so they better get their game back on if they're going to stop the Typhoons' tsunami of games.

Of course, maybe it's the spirit of the conquered Voodoo that's making Tallahassee the... Phoo-Doo!

.... nah.

Was definitely an awesome start to the series for the 'Phoons. As for Velox doing his Korber impression, like when 2K did his, I can live with it when the end result turns out fine! Better they happen then when in a match where an extra 2 points could have made a difference. Oh, and a big thumbs up for the writeup as always. Very cool!

I dunno why, but I'm in love with #Korbering. Not only does it roll off the tongue, it reminds us that even the most staunch, cool headed and talented players have DUH moments. But we all know he's not ONLY known for that. Just... it's the most visible and spectacular of the epic fails. Like something that stays on youtube that everyone reshares. But I think 2K would take it in stride.

And Maybe if TAL wins the finals, he'll treat everyone to another dunk attempt, to see if he can un#korber himself!

And thank you sir! Without the scores, all I could rely on was my memory of those two moments. But again, puts a more 'human' face on furry basketball. Even the best, screw up. :)

You're welcome for that one XD

I am so sorry for not crediting you with that. With my poor memory, I forgot who said it! I thought JWolfman did! So... I kept quiet! *blush*

But thanks, it made for a great write up name. :D

Oh no, haha, I was just teasing XD don't worry about that, I said you could use it! It's a great write-up, btw!