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Major League Pool has just seen one of the sorriest sights in its 13-season history.

Wednesday night's only match, a Cross-Conference showdown between 1-1 teams Magic Pool and Straightshots, turned into an utter joke. MP jumped ahead 3-0 with wins from lvlancunian (Ian), legend_skillz (Cameron) and an impressive runout from mike_oneill43.

Straightshots was hampered in games 2 and 3 by poor shot selection from sakic_returns and john_d_singleton. After Cameron wisely played a safety with two solids left, rather than forcing the issue... Sakic foolishly tried to run up the right rail and get behind his stripe. That led to a no-doubt scratch. Cameron was able to finish out, and bank the 8ball into the top middle to secure the win.

In the 3rd game, mike_oneill was left with an open table from John and immediately went to work, making the full runout look effortless. Magic Pool appeared to be on a roll.

MP ran out of quality players, though. They had to turn to tibetanfightingchipmonk, who had leafed_leafs beat surprisingly, but potted the 8ball early. Then it was the Captain and Head Admin, Jane. Straightshots got a solid win from xlx_w_i_n_xlx who potted 8 in a row... To keep the match alive. It seemed like the 'shots were coming back.

And then, Straightshots Captain xlx_spit_xlx was disconnected from the room. With cue_vision and snookrun trying to get eligible for SS, Jane requested a timer. The home team had 10 minutes to call an eligible player. Co-Captain j4cks_baby called Mike, the SS Captain per his request. The time kept ticking off the clock... and at 7:11 PM, Mike and Straightshots had timed out.

By rule, Magic Pool received a forfeit win for the 7th game, despite not having a 7th eligible player available. The win will be credited to the team, but no player will receive the individual forfeit credit towards Playoff eligibility. The final score is 5-2 Magic Pool.

According to UIC Head Admin Roy's research, Straightshots is the largest league currently participating in interleagues. www.MyLeague.com lists SS with 436 active members. The forfeit continues SS's trend which started last season, of not bringing a full team of eligible players to matches. It also drops SS to 1-2 on the season, with another match coming up in less than 24 hours. No coverage of that match will be provided here.

Magic Pool also has a match tomorrow night, and improve to 2-1. This looks to be MP's most successful season ever in MLP, with a 2-1 record, an impressive showing against perennial frontrunner Pool Fiction, and what has proven to be a cakewalk of a cross-conference matchup. Magic Pool with a win tomorrow night would move into a tie for 2nd place in the National League. They have Sexy Poolerz tomorrow night, and a winless Pool Dragonz team next Thursday night.

The lone matchup on the schedule in MLP tonight is the first of two this week for both leagues.

Straight Shots and Magic Pool, which each had matches postponed due to Yahoo! server issues last week, will square off at 6:00 tonight. The matchup is week 4's Cross-Conference showdown, and both leagues have held true to their pre-season XC pairings - they're each 1-1 on the campaign with only 1 win the difference in their overall records.

Magic Pool's 1 win came in the season opener over Pool Fiction - a 5-2 beatdown. In the 2nd week, they fell to undefeated Pool Legends by the same score. MP's week 3 match is scheduled for tomorrow night, visiting Sexy Poolerz who beat still-winless Pool Dragonz 4-3 Tuesday night. MP's week has not been a pleasant one. David Daniel was recently banned after being caught with XAimer in PLC over the weekend, and then they suffered a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of the same PFN league they beat up on a few weeks ago.

Straight Shots were also opening week winners, stunning True Pool Legends by winning in 6 games, with a DQ loss in the 7th. Following that was a 5-2 loss to Tourney Pool, leaving a 6/8 record and uncertainty as to how improved the team really was. Their 2nd match this week also comes tomorrow night, a 6PM start against Lucky Shots who won their first match of the season earlier this week. The SS season does figure to be a roller-coaster, with a new Captain in great_white_mike and a host of new & improved players joining the team. This match tonight will be their first against a mid-level opponent and a chance over these next two nights to get a sense of where they fit. They've already had mixed results with the top tier opponents on their schedule, so how consistent are they?

Magic Pool routinely does poorly when things are a mess. Monday night in PLC, lvlancunian who's NEVER ineligible, was DQed for a lack of tourney games. This can be a very dangerous week, and especially 48-hour period for MP. Things could really implode for them, but probably won't.

Straightshots at a glance don't SEEM that much better. Magic Pool has Jordan, and a solid runner in jcm, and the aforementioned Ian can make some outstanding position shots. They are not a unit to be taken lightly. I put a little bit of weight though on the mental factor, and think that Straightshots edge one out thanks in large part to Charlie, winning 4-3.