Posted by contrarian23 on 8/24/2010 9:19:00 PM (view original):
Wide awake at 3AM this morning as a result of jet lag coming back from Australia, and I decided we need to introduce some WISC lingo to talk about the various idiosyncrasies of this tournament....weigh in with suggestions that will no doubt be an improvement over these:
The Cage - Refers to the top 24 in the standings. Partly because round 2 of the WISC resembles a steel cage match (fight to the death) and because "cage" has a nice secondary baseball meaning (as in batting cage). Usage: "I've been flirting with The Cage so far, but have not won consistently enough to secure my place in it."
Schwarze - To go 6-0 in any particular set of games. Named, of course, after the illustrious founder of the event. Variations include "double schwarze" for consecutive 6-0 rounds, "triple schwarze" for going 18-0 across any given day, etc. Usage: "I schwarzed the PM2 round today to get back in The Cage."
Mauch - Inverse of Schwarze: 0-6. Thought about naming this one after my least favorite WIS owners but decided too many people out there would rename it "The Contrarian." Went with Mauch in homage to the 1964 Phillies, even though I think he got a bit of a bad rap for that season. Has a nice ring to it, plus it allows for variations like Mauch 2 and Mauch 3. Usage: "I needed a triple schwarze today but I pulled a Mauch 2 instead."
Spider - When you totally screw up a team, with a record so abysmal it potentially sinks any chance you have of advancing to round 2. In homage to the glorious 1899 Cleveland Spiders, of course. Usage: "I spidered my 80M team and have no chance of getting to The Cage."
It appears that some people are getting confused on what an 0-6 session is called. It's not called a "schwarze".
Although, I have no qualms about calling an 0-6 session, where all six losses are by 1 -run a "schwarze".