LLWS Heads Up

This starts tomorrow and ends August 30th. First, everyone's teams and pools:

Lyons: SE US - Warner Robins, GA - Pool A
Brian: Midwest US - Urbandale, IA - Pool A
Bussmann: SW US - San Antonio, TX - Pool B
Ben: Asia-Pacific - Taoyuan, Taiwan - Pool D
Hermann: Caribbean - Willemstad, Curacao - Pool C
"Campbell": MEA - Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (Obvious scrubs)
Ziggy: West USA - Chula Vista, CA - Pool B
Matty: Mid-Atlantic - Staten Island - Pool A
Scallet: Japan - Chiba City - Pool C
Pat: Latin America - Maracaibo, Venezuela - Pool C

Two teams from each pool move on to the Quarterfinals where teams from groups A+B and C+D play each other until two remain. Then the US team plays the world team in the finals.

I was looking everywhere for odds on who would win, but apparently there aren't enough Lyons-style degenerates to gamble on 13 year-olds this year. Or maybe the odds will just show up tomorrow. Things to look out for:

- This is Bussmann's number one pick. I'm not positive, but I think the last team to win the LLWS from his region was 33 years ago. He deserves to finish below "Campbell."
- MEA is obvious garbage. I am dubious of any team from Iowa as well.
- I am unilaterally declaring the favorites to be Warner Robins (Lyons) and Willemstad (Hermann) since they won two and five years ago respectively. The Western US (Ziggy) and Japan (me) have also done pretty well lately as regions, though not these specific teams, so I'm calling them the sleepers. Also Maracaibo (Pat) won 9 years ago so they have some history of success too.