Okay, so if you've been following World Cup coverage at all, you already know that the USA took home the cup. And if you saw them play at any point during the weekend, you're not the least bit shocked that they won. Every team that they played, they beat by over a hundred points. Sometimes over two hundred. Sometimes over... well, you get the idea.
Saturday's USA vs. New Zealand bout was business as usual for Team USA. Get lead jammer almost every jam, get a bunch of grand slams, don't let the opposing jammer get out of the pack, and if she does make it past the blockers, call the jam. Simple when you think about it, but difficult for most teams to pull off... but then, most teams don't have Suzy Hotrod and Bonnie Thunders and Donna Matrix and... well, you get the idea. So we weren't exactly floored when USA beat New Zealand 470-8, but we cheered ourselves hoarse when NZ got those 8 points in two jams.
While that was going on, Germany and Scotland were having their consolation bout, where German organization beat out Scottish fire for a final score of 104-41. That put Scotland into a battle with Brazil for 11th place and let Germany move on to their final placement bout.
Once the track was swept, England and France set up for their elimination bout, and boy, was that a rowdy game. French fans are just about as loud as English fans, and it didn't matter what the score was, everybody cheered all the time. My favorite cheer from the English fans had to do with skater Violet Attack, who wears skins with "ATTACK" emblazoned across her bottom. Whenever she was on the jammer line, her fans would chant, "I see London, I see France, I see Violet's underpants!" It was probably more than her inspiring attire that helped England beat France 383-14, although as a blocker, she probably had something to do with england holding France to only a two-point gain in the second half while England more than doubled their points.
The Canada vs. Finland quarterfinal bout was rather like watching a USA bout, only the Finns scored a few more points than most of the USA's opponents. The final score was 499-31 (with chants of "five hundred" peppering the last two jams), and Flocci was tickled to see that Canada's helmet covers incorporated maple leaves into the design (one around each jammer star, and several along the pivot stripe).
Scotland and Brazil had their 11th place bout over on track 2, and the Scots easily took a 110-64 win to settle their spot in the rankings.
We should mention the banana. The east coast's best-known mascot (NY Shock Exchange skater Bane-Ana On Skates) was at the Cup in all his a-peel-ing glory, cheering for whichever team had more yellow in their uniforms and teaching the crowd some brain-hurting puns during time outs. He was a wonder in and of himself, and then we noticed that someone else (possibly Finland's coach?) was wandering around in a monkey outfit. Sadly, we never saw the two meet (nor chase each other around the venue, which we would have paid extra to see), but it was funny in our heads.
It's time for us to pack up and head back across the border, so we'll save the rest of the recap for when we get home. For anyone else who's on the road today, drive like you're jamming, but stay out of the box!
