Manly Men by a Landslide ... [Updated 10/10/03]

The 2003 Winner's Circle

Humiliated by a dismal 2002 showing, the highly ranked Manly Men team - led by alltime WBC plaque-leaders Bruce Reiff and Ken Gutermuth - jettisoned their Ohio buddies Sauer and Mullet and went out in search of some firepower. They recruited a pair of ringers in the form of 2002 champions Steve Likevich and Dave Metzger to go into the 2003 tilt as the second-ranked team at 18:1 odds. The newly acquired mercenaries proved worthy acquisitions, successfully defending their individual championships and bringing a long coveted team title to the Manly Men who crushed the other 73 teams by a wide margin and tied the record for most points by a winning team with 22. 1991's Team Stingley and 1994's Team Dixie now share that record with the Manly Men

Manly Men (left to right) Bruce Reiff, Steve Likevich and Dave Metzger "carrying" their non-scoring teammate, Ken Gutermuth.

The defending champs, Band of Fools, finished 11th.

The 22nd-ranked Team X, made up of the Dolan boys and Greg Schmittgens finished second with 15 points, although the record for over achievers has to go to the 61st-ranked Boarding Party which finished 7th behind strong point performances by Ben Knight and Roy Gibson.

On the other side of the ledger, top ranked Greenville Mafia which was listed at 13:1 finished well behind the pack and out of the top 25 with a mere two points. But the biggest bust award has to go to the 4th-ranked Harbingers which was the highest-ranked of the 24 teams which failed to score a single point.

The Railroad Racers won a six-way tie for the final slot in the Top 25 standings by virtue of their total entrant tie breaker of 312.

So how good were the Happy Handicapper's rankings? Not bad at all. Of his top 12 picks in the field of 74 teams, only Harbingers failed to make the Top 25. Of course, his 13th pick - his very own Beltway Banditos - was the second highest ranked team to get white-washed. The lowest ranked team to defy the odds were Lords of the Wood who sneered at their 63rd ranking of 350:1 and managed to finish 14th.

The Pollish Lancers won the Consistancy Award by having all four team members score points this year. Six teams, led by Manly Men, managed to score three of four. Last year's co-winner, Peripheral Reach, was one of the six so in two years they've scored seven out of eight slots.

GCOM Express won the Misery Loves Company prize with 518 entrants for an average of 129.5 entrants per event. On the opposite end of the scale, claiming the Big Fish in the Small Pond title was Marty & the Beymas whose 68 total entrants averaged only17 players per event.


2003 Team Tournament Champions

Manly Men

                                       

                  

 Bruce Reiff

Ken Gutermuth

Steve Likevich

Dave Metzger

                                                

                          


Team Tournament History

2003: Manly Men: Bruce Reiff FBS 8, Ken Gutermuth WPS 0, Steve Likevich B81 7, Dave Metzger 812 7 = 22 [122]

2002: Band of Fools: Tom Gregorio BWD 7, Gary Dickson TRC 0, Steve Dickson DLW 7, Ray Freeman VIP 3 = 17 [119]

2001: MAWS: Dennis Nicholson MMS 8, Jim Eliason 5FT 0, Roberto Sanchez 0 POG, Rich Curtin II AOR 9 = 17 [168]

2000: Avenel Hill Game Company: Henry Richardson III ACS 4, Pat Richardson WAS 8, Andy Gardner VIP 8, Henry Richardson Jr B17 0 = 20 [250]

1999: Me & Three Stiffs: Michael Rinella BKN 8, Brian Smith EPB 0, Marvin Birnbaum WTP 8, Marc Giddings AOR 0 = 16 [259]

1998: Barbarossa: Fred Minard ABN 9, Steve Shambeda ACQ 0, Clifford Smith TT2 0, John Wetherell ACS 4 = 13 [336]

1997: Pillage, Then Burn: Scott Pfeiffer AOR 0, Dave Gantt BRI 8, John Emery UPF 8, Earl Anderson PXB 0 = 16 [212]

1996: Jerry's Kids: Byron Stingley TPS 6, Michael Arrighi BKN 0, Joe Bellas HCR 7, Jeffrey Otto RTG 0 = 13 [102]

1995: Black Bear: Sean Cousins KRM 8, Michael Neal ACV 8, Andy Lewis MOV 1, Caleb Cousins RKL 0 = 17 [163]

1994: Team Dixie: Ralph May ADV 8, Randy Cox SSB 7, Bobby Laboon ASN 7, Roger Cox DUN 0 = 22 [125]

1993: Before Team Names: Bruce Young ATS 9, John Emery UPF 3, Dave Gantt ACQ 2, Earl Anderson BRI 2 = 16 [218]

1992: Before Team Names: Wes Erni VIP 9, Peter Wilke BRI 4, Bruno Wolff TTN 3, Tom Mueller ASL 0 = 16

1991: Before Team Names: Byron Stingley TPS 10, Jim Falling RFT 10, Joe Bellas CVW 2, Jeffrey Otto UPF 0 = 22


TOP 25 TEAMS IN ORDER OF FINISH

 Rank. Name

Odds
Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Points /Entrants
 1. Manly Men

2nd: 18-1
B. Reiff/FBS/8 K. Gutermuth/WPS/0 S. Likevich/B81/7 D. Metzger/812/7

22/122
 2. Team X

22nd: 62-1
D. Dolan Sr/ELC/8 D. Dolan Jr/FBS/0 T. Dolan/WRS/7 G. Schmittgens/NW2/0

15/122
 3. Me & Three Stiffs

8th: 33-1
M. Giddings/FTP/3 M. Birnbaum/MRA/9 B. Smith/EPB/0 K. Wizson/WNW/1

13/192
 4. Team Delaware X

11th: 39-1
T. Hitchings/WAS/0 V. Meconi/GBG/6 B. Rohrbeck/WSM/7 E. Hitchings/B17/0

13/116
 5. Peripheral Reach

5th: 25-1
P. Crandelmire/GSR/9 B. Cleary/FBS/2 R. Cox/FI5/1 R,. McGinley/PRO/0

12/360
 6. Polish Lancers

26th: 67-1
J. Poniske/WTP/1 P. Gaberson/WNW/7 R. Young/HOS/3 B. Wigdor/UPF/1

12/164
 7. Boarding Party

61st: 300-1
B. Knight/ACS/4 R. Gibson/NW2/7 R. Eastman/FDE/0 G. Eastman/ELC/0

11/257
 8. Baby Seals

8th: 33-1
P. Reese/POG/1 G. Young/WTP/8 E. McNay/BRI/2 J. Levine/BAT/0

11/173
 9. Prezcon Team Champs

10th: 35-1
J. Cornett/NAP/2 S. Cornett/SCT/0 A. Cornett/MED/0 N. Benedict/BRI/8

10/215
10. Nest of Spies

15th: 46-1
J. Pei/FTP/8 D. Dockter/BTB/1 A. Gupta/E&T/0 B. Heinzmann/ATS/1

10/137
11. Band of Fools

3rd: 21-1
G. Dickson/TRC/0 S. Dickson/DLW/0 R. Freeman/WAS/8 T. Gregorio/BTB/2

10/127
12. Ghosts

19th: 54-1
L. Lingle/QGB/8 D. Culhane/WNW/0 C. Hickok/SSS/1 J. Wetherall/PRO/0

9/334
13. Team Prezcon

23rd: 62-1
J. Thompson/KGM/1 S. Stewart/FMR/0 B. Alderman/HOS/0 R. Lightburn/RSK/8

9/189
14. Lords of the Wood

63rd: 350-1
M. Johnson/UPF/2 M. Rinella/BKN/0 K. Schoose/PGG/7 J. Tracy/AFK/0

9/104
15. Three Old Farts & Ray

39th: 100-1
K. Whitesell/FBS/0 C. Villeneuve/PRS/0 R. Stakenas/PRO/0 R. Stakenas II/UPF/8

8/309
16. Wabbit's Wevenge

25th: 67-1
C. Moffa/SET/0 E. Freeman/E&T/0 G. Thatcher/ELG/0 B. Flaxington/TKL/8

8/289
17. Oh, the Humanity!

47th: 110-1
K. Youells/BAT/0 J. Gundy/SSS/0 A. Silverman/FI5/8 C. Reece/8XX/0

8/147
18. MAWS

6th: 29-1
D. Nicholson/MMS/0 R. Sanchez/WNW/0 J. Eliason/BKN/7 R. Curtin/RSK/0

7/136
19. Reservoir Dogs

18th: 51-1
J. Doughan/BKN/0 JR Tracy/ASL/7 P. Barcafer/812/0 M. Fagan/DUN/0

7/112
20. Marty & the Beymas

NR:
M. Musella/PZB/0 R. Beyma/BTF/6 Ri Beyma/NW2/1 B. Beyma/WZQ/0

7/68
21. Koleszar-Lientz-Plat

30th: 75-1
S. Koleszar/TTN/2 L. Koleszar/ACQ/0 D. Platnick/PRO/3 G, Lientz/SCT/1

6/360
22. St. Paul Rejects

12th: 40-1
M. Backstrom/UNP/0 S. Packwood/776/6 J. Pack/GSR/0 A. Daw/8XX/0

6/183
23. We Ain't Dead Yet!

7th: 33-1
Br. Sinigaglio/AFK/2 Bu. Sinigaglio/QGB/3 F. Sinigaglio/CMS/0 D. Greenwood/BKN/0

5/212
24. Temp Agency

20th: 58-1
E. Beach/GC2/2 T. Drueding/SOA/1 M. Beach/PRS/0 Paul Nied/GC3/2

5/70
25. Railroad Racers

34th: 85-1
S. Okonski/RBN/0 P. Van Bloem/EPB/1 C. Foster/MOV/3 K. Foster/ CAR/0

4/312