big dog’s backyard ultra starting hour 53:
the long game has begun.
team backyard is a game with more than one part.
the setup period is roughly the first half of the race.
during the first half of the race,
the key is to keep the team intact as long as possible.
as players drop
their team loses ground to teams with more players on the field.
you can think of this as largely the function of the 11-15 seeds.
you dont expect them to go as far as the 1-5,
but every extra yard they can muster helps in the effort to forge out as far ahead as you can get.
the long game comes next.
the 6-10 come into play here.
if you lose some players early you will know that chipping away at a lead is a long process.
the sooner you can get even,
or a man up
the better.
stop the bleeding,
and then start pecking away at that deficit.
last is closing it out.
this is when only a few people are left on each team.
this is your 1-5
if you can get a man up it is great
if you can keep your top dogs on the field until the other team has run out of players
then it is a matter of hanging until you have erased the deficit.
in theory we have assigned your seeds where those numbrers match.
in reality,
on game day
any of the seeds can serve any of those functions.’a 14 might end up being in the game to the very end.
or your 2 might get sick and be out after 3 yards.
in the end,
it is as simple as having more players than your opponent
for more yards.
and just because they had more men early
does not stop you from having more men down the stretch
and overtaking them.
neither guatemala nor iceland looked like they were contenders for the first half of their races.
but they stayed within range,
and slowly overtook teams that seemingly had them beat.
