week 4 recap


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Miotke, Kaiser, Berges Ride Victory Poles,
Three Yellow Cards Tossed

As the old saying goes, riding poles ain't for kids. The men and women of UGT discovered that this week the hard way, while managing to put on a display that easily made this the most exciting week of the season so far.

Premier League winner Dave Miotke, Champions League winner John Berges - now on a two-week win streak - and Crossover winner Brian Kaiser were all discouraged as the games began. "I thought I had no chance in Hell," Miotke said. "I was terrified," Berges admits. "I expected to be out in the first round," Kaiser remarked.

Instead, all three would take home a win with Berges doing it the hard way, being the first winner this season to get it after taking a loss and having to battle out of the loser's bracket. It's his second win in a row and catapulted him into the lead in the Champions League. With more than half a season to go, though, Berges took the victory in stride, saying, "I caught a few lucky bounces. I just have to hope this hot streak continues."

With Berges, Holmberg-Weidler, Epp, and Rodriguez capturing 4 of the top 5 slots this week - and being the only Champions League competitors with wins so far - the Champions League has a clear core of favorites. Can they continue their dominance of the league? Mitchell and Pearson are only 6 points back from Epp and two wild card slots are still up for grabs, so it's too early to be calling it, but the top four certainly have gotten themselves a cozy bit of a lead.

The Premier League is a different story. With the win, Miotke joins Dan Gibson atop the leaderboards, but the point spread from 3rd to 9th is a paltry 8 points. Every point, every win, every game counts, and no one knows that better than Miotke. "This was a HUGE win!" he said, with a grin. "[Gibson]'s technique of 'quick-separation-to-insta-kill' had me very worried. My strategy of 'quick steap back to forward jump kick' seemed to catch him by surprise and I barely made it through with a victory! The fact that I stopped Dibs from running away with his third win in 4 weeks was also a huge relief."

The Crossover this week was a fairly straightforward affair, though Mitchell managed to surprise Larimore, taking second place and grabbing two extra points to keep him right in the middle of the chase while keeping Larimore just out of the top four in the Premier League. None of them could quite stand up to the poleriding of Brian Kaiser, though, who called this a "critical win" for him. Kaiser also praised Miotke's ability to ride the pole, noting that Miotke has "really performed the last couple of weeks. It was exciting to see him step up."

Rookie Premier League member Grant Rodiek, stepping in this week for the Chiao team, was given a rough welcome, as he only managed to take home a single point and had to play his last game under duress after having vomited potato salad.

Something else that set the UGT community abuzz this week was the handing out of not one, but three, yellow cards to Alex Hetu, Hunter Howe, and Eric Holmberg-Weidler. Yellow cards represent a warning and are given for a variety of reasons, including what the UGT deems unsportsmanlike behavior, intentionally or unintentionally delaying of games, or violating the spirit of UGT. These are at best vague definitions and commissioner Dai didn't care to help clarify much, simply saying, "I know it when I see it."

Opinions were mixed on the yellows. Berges dismisses them as part of play, saying, "Passionate play can get you a yellow even if you have the best intentions. I'm sure all the offenders had only the spirit of competition in their hearts." Miotke called them "mostly deserved," but admits that he thought "Hunter may have gotten a bit of a bump rap." Kaiser was surprised and a bit skeptical, commenting "Yellow cards with no warning, and right after the commish appeared to condone the very behavior that was punished? I know I can't see everything when I'm down on the field, but I'm sure the official are reviewing it."

We reached out for comment from the UGT board, who simply cited that yellow cards can be appealed, but that none of the cards this week have been.

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