Poll Thursday - It's the big one, Labor Day

Last week we took our stands on the new Florida based team, Ronin. Our mass guess is that these guys won't make it out of Regionals. A smaller group thinks they'll fit into the bottom half of the UPA championships.

This week, the major tournament before the UPA run happens in Santa Cruz (there's two divisions for mixed in San Francisco, but I don't think it's the same tournament).

In the open division, the tournament is made up of 13 of 15 teams from last years UPA championship. PoNY and Revolver are the additional teams that missed the UPAs by a point, and I would argue are as good or better than some teams that went to Florida. Many teams in the poll (right), and who you think will win this one.

In the women's division, it's much of the same. A strong field of 12 teams, with all our favourites, will play for the championship (poll right). I notice the traditional east and the west teams from Canada are missing from the field, and we'll see if that hurts them come the fall. Missing out on good competition can be a costly game. Of course, it literally costs to get out to Santa Cruz.

PJ