Ahhhh good ol' doctor Joe...bringing up the stats to hoist up the midwest on the grand pedestal! Well Joe, I do believe that there are about 50 or so teams from the New England area who would take those metrics, throw them to the ground, stomp on them, and then laugh at the stats.
I do not deny that the midwest has dominated the championship tourney since about 1997...however, I think that the championships actually show about 0% indication of the actual strength of the regions or regionals in the country.
Here is my case...
There are multiple styles of play in the region. The midwest and south have always been mainly offensive regions, as where the northeast and west (growing by the year) are becomming more geared towards the defensive. The fact that New England only has one team represented in the final teams of the tournement to me is just more of an indicator of population of midwestern teams representing at the championships. More teams from offensive regions mean more of an offensively geared tourney...obviously favoring the midwest.
Its as if to say...if you were to take a team out of New England, send them to the GLR, they would not stand a very good chance based simply on style of play. I think that midwestern teams (post 1998) have shared that fate in every attempt at a championship in new england for the same reason.
I think the only true way to find out who really is the toughest region around is to duke it out on an even plane. 12 of our best versus 12 of your best...winner takes takes it all home and so on. This is what made Rumble at the Rock such a great competition in its day. At the end of that competition, there was no denying who was tops when all was said and done.
In short...you can take all the stats you want, you can take the trophies and banners and all the fun things you want to flaunt...but until our regions go toe to toe...there will be no true answer to who is the best...
Well outside of the fact that everyone should already know its the New England Region
Lets find a way to do this..eh?
-Andy Grady
Disclaimer: This was meant to be a good natured post to try to stir up a good ol' rivalry between regions and maybe at some good legitimate conversation to the board. Do not take this as demeaning the midwest or any other region. In other words...relax people, this is just for fun
