With only 2 events left at the Khyber this season, things aren’t looking so good for 2006 Champion and 2007 final 4 finisher Johnny Goodtimes.  5 weeks in and the former Champ has a total of 0 points in 0 events and looks like a very long longshot to qualify for the 2008 Championship.

I’m sure that this news brings great sadness to the Philadelphia RPS Community.  This means that only Baconshark has a shot at a repeat Championship on June 7th.

The standings are now current.  The halfway point of the season is here.

Only 4 weeks left (and only 3 events at the Khyber) so if you need points and practice, get out and play.

The City League Championship will be June 7th.  Venue is TBA but should be announced soon.

That’s right, thanks to PJ Rhymeswithsausage you can watch footage of the glorious moment when reigning City League Champ Baconshark was honored by all in attendance and was asked to throw out the first pitch at the Camden Riversharks game on May 3rd. It also includes footage of the tournament that went down at the Riversharks game, including Mr. Strawberry joyfully defeating the only child in the competition and then losing in the finals. So check it out. It also has the theme song from one of the Meatball Posse’s 48 hour Film Festival entries.

Fett’s Vette (above) pulled into the Dive on Thursday in his first City League appearance and put the petal to the metal, burning rubber all the way to the finals.  In the finals he met up with Casshole, who had taken 2 of the last 4 tournaments at the Dive (including off-season).  But Casshole stunk it up in the finals while Fett’s Vette cruised to an easy victory by a count of 3 matches to 1.

El Toro Papaya continued a strong week 4, winning the Street tourney on the night by a count of 74-70 against Danny Awesome!, who thought he had it in the bag.

There was so much RPS fever in the air that two tournaments were held back-to-back (with the second one somehow having more compeitors than the first) but with no points on the line.  Billy Shearz took down J. Martin Hill in the finals after defeating C. Urbanus on his way to victory.  Thanks to the guest refs for that match, Grim Trigger and Danny Awesome!, who both did a great job.  Well, at least one of them did a good job.  The other still hasn’t learned his lesson since October 2006.

Hey, remember when Kristin Lantz of Philadelphia won the 2006 SW Pro-Ams at Roshambo winery? Well, there’s a pretty good report about the Winery, the tournament and the competitors on Youtube. It features not only Roshambo’s Naomi Brilliant but also World RPS Society Managing Director Doug Walker and 2008 PBRPRPSCLCS Partner Sponsor Master Roshambollah.

And if you’re going to be on the west coast on June 7th, make sure you sign up for the 2008 SW Pro-Ams. But get your ticket in advance…this one always sells out. If you won’t be on the West coast because you have a City League Championship to play in that day, check them out anyway even though PA won’t let them ship wine here. But watch out if you do play out in California, because this might happen to you:

Here’s how things look currently:

Loomer continues to lead in total points and rookie of the year.  At the moment it appears to be a 2 player race for total points.  Loomer is up on Paper Tiger 48-41.  The other top players at the moment - PJ Rhymeswithsausage (33), Zombie Llama (30) Le Tigre (30), Billy Shearz (27), and Baconshark (24).  But anything can happen with 4 weeks left, especially if there is the possibility of a double points week somewhere along the way.

Posthumyn is still the leader in Street cash turned in with 187.  She jumped out to this early lead, but the rest of the pack is starting to catch up.  Billy Shearz has 163, Loomer has 112, Von Damonator is at 100 and the Fighting Mongooses went from 0-98 last night.

The team prize is still in favor of the Majestic 12 by quite a bit.  They now hold a 59 point lead over the 2nd place Paper Cut Posse by a score of 116-57.  David Bowie’s Package is right behind the PCP with 54.  There are rumors all over the place of team mergers and consolidation in an attempt to take down the MJ-12 before the end of the season.

There’s Thursday night at the Dive and then we are at the mid-point of the season.  Only 4 weeks left after that.

Two week running Dirty Franks champion Gizmo was unable to attend to go for the three-peat, so Loomer (above - victory dance in progress) tied the City League record for tournament wins in a season at Dirty Franks.  Two others have made it to three before - Female Ninja Whore in 2006 and Dance Rock Saskatchewan in 2007.  But they both made it with only two weeks remaining in the season, whereas Loomer has a full 4 weeks after this to go for win #4 and the record.  Number 3 didn’t come easy as the Paper Tiger gave him all he could handle in the finals, where once again the Championship came down the the last throw in the 5th match.  Paper Tiger could have made it only a 3 point lead on the season for total points if he had won, but it now remains a 7 point lead for Loomer.

The Fighting Mongooses (above - not dancing or looking embarrassed) won the street prize on the night by a total of 98-45 vs. closest runner-up Von Damonator, completing the sweep on the night for MJ-12.

Speaking of Von Damonater - If you’re looking for something to do outsidey tonight, swing on down to 5th and Federal to watch and cheer on the Dirty Franks softball team  (coached by Von Damonator) as they take on the hated New Wave Cafe.  Cans of beer are allowed and you’ll recognize a lot of the softball team, which doubles as the house RPS team The Dirty Dozen.  Go Dirty Franks!

It was like old times (or, well, maybe more like 2007) as Team Feed the Pony swept the competition at the Khyber.

El Toro Papaya (above, wearing Next American City prize t-shirt) was on a cold streak so far this season as he prepared for a half-marathon (which does not include Pabst Blue Ribbon).  With that in the books as of this past weekend, El Toro returned to his usual Rock Paper Scissors training regiment (which includes Pabst Blue Ribbon) and came out like the guy who scored the most points last season.  He notched  a hard fought victory over 2007 Champion Baconshark in the finals in a match that was back and forth throughout, with the winning throw coming from El Toro in the 5th set tied up at 1 apiece.  It may have been the most intense match of the season, with perhaps the exception of the one in the final 8 between Zombie Llama and Kennedy which was insane.  This was the first victory of the season for a depleted team Feed the Pony.

Mr. Strawberry (above in Phillies shirt) came in 1st place in the street RPS tournament.  He beat Dance Rock Saskatchewan by a pretty sizeable margin of 92-65.  Mr. Strawberry was heard to say to his teammates as the announcement was made “wait, I didn’t come in second place?”.

Since the standings have been reshuffled over the weekend due to the Riversharks tournament here’s an updated top ten for the year as of today.

Loomer – 39

Paper Tiger – 33

PJ Rhymeswithsausage – 31

Le Tigre – 29

Zombie Llama – 26

Billy Shearz – 24

Gizmo – 22

Danny Awesome – 22

Frankie 13 – 20

Baconshark – 18

Congatulations to Hisae Arai (friend of the Majestic 12) of Yokahama Japan (where they call RPS Jen Ken Pon and widely considered the most RPS-friendly culture in the world) who defeated Mr. Strawberry in the finals on the big screen in a Championship match that came down to the last throw.  Hisae Arai had to overcome a variety of rule changes from what how she usually plays in her league at home, including a different prime count and a different idea what the throw of Scissors should look like when thrown here in the US.  Regardless, she took out the talented Mr. Strawberry, who’s becoming quite good at placing 2nd in the bigger tournaments.

Thanks to everyone who came out and an even bigger thanks to the Riversharks for having us.  All the refs (even if you weren’t called into action) will still receive their 10 point credit and all competitors will get a 5 point credit. 

There will be video footage of Baconshark’s ceremonial pitch sometime soonish.  We also now know which side of the family Baconshark gets it from as his mom placed in the final four, only to be defeated by the eventual champ.  Mr. Strawberry knocked out the only child in the tournament in the final 8, so boo him a lot this week.