Our curious readers want to know: What do the above images have in common?  Read on to find out in this session of the BUM Report!  We're back for Season 12, session 2, with high hopes of setting new marks to beat this season.  For our regular readers, you will see some familiar faces, like Craig and Jason, from this weekend's Olmec-inspired shenanigans.  For our irregular readers, you'll see the same thing, only with less context as to why any of it matters. Your loss. In either case, let us begin!

As (almost) always, we start out with our Blowouts of the Week!  Coming in with a two-way tie for third place this week, we start with our non-Pac 8 winner, as Merritt Island and Columbia clashed in match 6, WGM group play, round 2.  Mark and the Sea Cows were not making much effort here, deciding to keep the starters at home in the kelp beds (neutral court team rating 57).  Steve, meanwhile, is pushing to try to get the #1 overall WGM seed, and brought a 77.  The 20 ratings points differnce was the third highest for match 6, and the match featured the Do-Ragged Dugongs (not really, just cousins, yet I wanted the alliteration) making an effort in set 1 before falling to 10 and 12 pts for sets 2 & 3 and sliding back into the coastal waters with a 31-combined point smashing by the Round Red Regiment.  Not to be outdone, another aquatic-themed team was putting out our highest yet home rating, as the Shrimp put out a 90-rating in just session 2!  Albuquerque, on the other hand, brought a 59 to the water front.  The 31-pt ratings difference is our largest of the season to date, and the resulting 31-pt combined beating was a perfect parallel for their match 5 pairing.  San Jose let up a little in set 2, allowing 20 pts, while bookending the match with 25-12 sets in 1 & 3 to leave no doubt as to how this match was going to go.

At our #2 blowout (and third-best of the season to date), Amy and the be-Spiked Spikin' Sand-dwellers rolled out the welcome mat to long-time frenemy Phil and the Chameleons in conference play, match 5.  Phil's 62-rated team also managed a set 2 rally to at least get to 21 pts.  In the other two sets, the Cacti were relentless, needling their opponent at every opportunity and holding them to 10 and 11 pts, with a resulting 33-pt victory.

At #1 for our weekend's festivities, we see a repeat of Phil, this time at Carlsbad for conference play in match 4!  Hosting Santa Clara (who were on the receiving end of our #1 blowout last week too!), Phil seemed to play everyone who wasn't going to play in match 5, and was 23-ratings points better than Martyn and his ankle biters.  Repeating our common theme of the week, the Chameleons were dominant in sets 1 and 3, holding the Chihuahuas to 10 and 12 points resepctively.  I think they let one eye drift over to the snack tables and let up in set 2, allowing Santa Clara to get up to 19 before slamming the door on any hope of a comeback.  Topping our weekend, congrats to Phil and the Chameleons for a 34-pt Blowout of the Week, and setting a new #2 for the season, currently trailing Vick and San Jose's highly impressive 41-pt win in session 1.

On the Upset end of the column, we first have to feature a familiar fellow, our resident tactical genius Craig.  Since we started tracking upsets in season 9, we've never seen a team end up in more than three straight matches where there was an upset victory.  Craig scoffs at such records and commonalities, seeming to play just for the opportunity to pull off things that leave the rest of us scratching our heads.  As our faithful readers will recall, Dallas and the Bulldogs were participants in upset games for all three last session, which tied up the known record by itself. Not one for sharing or playing nice with others, Craig decided to not just break the record, yet to set it out to what may be unbreakable levels!  We're going out of regular order on this one, starting in match 4, Columbia at Dallas.  Columbia brought their A-game, 85-rating on the road, definitely not an Extra Fancy condiment base.  Dallas and the Paw Patrol put out a respectable 81-rated home team, fifth best of the match 4 ratings.  Olmec did the rest.  Despite a notable edge on the skills, Columbia was unable to make any runs to overtake the 'Dogs, and Craig won 21-25 in the opener.  In set 2, it was even closer, with the 'Dogs needing extra points to dig and claw their way to a 26-28 victory.  Steve's crew managed to take set 3, 25-22, and also hit 25 points in set 4!  Sadly for them, Dallas went to 27 to win a second set in extra points and take the -4 Upset Victory at 3 sets to 1!  Congrats to Craig here on the Upset of the Week at -4!

But we're not done!  Depsite this fourth-straight upset match, Craig then traveled to St. Charles!  This one was a far more pedestrian time for both teams.  The Pound Puppies rolled out of the car carriers with a 59-rated road team, tied for 2nd-worst road rating in match 5.  How did Max greet them?  For reasons that only Max can explain, he picked this match to play his own bottom-ranked players.  In matches 4 and 6, he played a 79-rated team.  In match 51, they topped out at 61, at home.  That 61-rating was the lowest home rating of the entire session, and ties 3rd-lowest of the season.  Olmec was less than impressed.  At least this one went to five sets, as they traded turns playing well.  Dallas only put up 16 in set 1, while the Scarecrows mustered all of 12 points in set 4.  Frustratingly for St. Charles, they also put up 12 in set 5, as Dallas rolled away from St. C with yet another upset victory, making it 5 matches in a row that they were upset (matches 1 & 2) or pulled an upset (matches 3-5)!  Congrats to Craig on a marvelous streak, or at least we think so here at the BUM Report!  Condolensces as well, on the utterly boring 8-ratings points better match 6 victory over the Darlo Fan, in a match that was suprising only for its repetition, with the Bulldogs winning all three sets by the same score, 17-25.

And on to the other upsets!  Though the -4 mark above was the tops for the week, making this a rather humdrum weekend for the BUM faithful, we would be remiss not to at least mention the other matches, as some will enjoy seeing our regular managerial talent featured yet again.  Match 6, WGM group play, and the (near universally hated) Hogs were on neutral court against Vick and San Jose.  Anybody else remember how San Jose would put up ratings near tops in the league, only to consistently lose close upsets last season? And remember how despite being dominant elsewhere, Olmec also saw fit to gift James T and the juggernaut Cinci squad one of the top upsets of the season last year too?  You know where this is going!  Who put up the best neutral court score of the season-to-date in match 6?  Vick, at 86.  Who brought the 3rd-best at 83?  Cinci, and they matched up to give us a stellar match that rolled out to 5 sets before Cinci finally pulled away in a nailbiter at 15-13, landing the -3 upset, #2 of the week!  I have no idea what Vick did to anger Olmec.  Whatever it was, it's now bleeding over into two seasons.  We eagerly await next session to see if his lousy luck continues, or if his prior transgressions will finally be forgiven by the fickle and unflinching face of fate.

Tying the -3 upset mark we have a match featuring Jason and the 'Squatch! The Hairy Humanoids were on neutral court in match 6, facing off against Kelsey and the Trash Pandas.  Neither one put out their best team, with Kelsey at 76 and Jason at 73.  That's right, BUMmers, Jason was not favored here, and to play it safe they took multiple Ubers from the airport and avoided any commuter lanes where there may have been a BUS sighting.  Kelsey kept it respectable, losing 3 sets to 1 and topping 20 in three sets, yet Olmec had decided it was finally Jason's turn for a small taste of what pours out from the Cup of Upsets, and the 'Squatch rolled back home with a -3 upset victory and a shot at hosting a WGM match if the Bananas continue to focus solely on SEC dominance next session.

And in the final Upset notes, we have to unfortunately feature our own N'Orleans squad.  Match 5, conference play, and the Rats scurried to the east to face the Manatees in their shallow coastal court.  The Sea Cows put out 80 at home, two less than New Orleans brought to the party.  Olmec didn't care about the effort.  Mark wasn't even challenged in sets 2 and 3, winning both by 16-25 margins, and the Manatees pulled not just the -2 upset, but an Upset Sweep!  It was the only one of the session, and #2 on the year, so congrats to Mark for the Upset Sweep, and forewarnings of the return match this season at our house!

And that brings us to the More section of our weekly madness recap, and the reason for the images heading this week's column.  The PAC-8 turned into the Pac 10 in 1978 with the additions of Arizona and Arizona State, so I had to go back to their own history pages to find an image of a logo from 1977.  No idea if it's their actual one or a sub-logo for a specific sport.  In any case, it's the PAC 8 from the year that also brought us the first Star Wars movie, Smokey and the Bandit, and Slap Shot!  And this version of the Pac8 are absolutely mailing it in so far this season!  Did you know that all 4 matches to date in the PAC 8 conference play have been 3-0 sweeps?  All 16 matches, sweeps.  Of those, only one was an upset (San Diego, match 2, our current leader in the Upset Sweep for the season).  That was also the 2nd-closest match at 7-ratings points difference.  Only the first match, Wolves at 'Coons, was closer (1-pt).  The rest?  The next closest is at 14.  All 8 matches in session 2 featured a road team at least 14 pts worse than the home team, and only San Diego hit 70.  In match 4, all four Pac8 road teams put out lineups in the 50's.  In session 1, four of the lowest 5 away ratings came from Pac8 play.  In session 2, three of the lowest 5 were found out west.  What's going on in the Mild Mild West?  Is this a conspiracy or collusion to give everyone more wins?  Is everyone fully committed to trying to get blown out or a massive upset?  Of our blowouts so far, the Pac 8 holds the top 3 (41, 34, 33)!  Of our upsets, the top mark is also in the Pac 8, at -7, and it was an Upset Sweep to boot!  So what's going on in the Pac 8?  We don't care, we love you all!  Here at the BUM Report, this is the perfect recipe for ongoing column fodder, so keep it up and we hope to see road ineptitude, home dominance, and blowouts and upsets gallore!  None of this mediocrity and close matches like the other conferences.  Oh, no.  You do you and all that voodoo you do so well!  We look forward to session 3 in anticipation of another 8 home wins by sizeable margins, or 7 wins and our first double-digit upset of the season!

In other More news, where your road game fell made all the difference this session.  In match 4, 5 away teams were favored.  Only one won (the Bullyfrogs, rated +11, over Spokane).  In match 5, 6 away teams were favored!  Only 1 lost (New Orleans, sadly, seen above in upset sweep news).  Will there be such an extreme shift in next session's matches as well? Only Olmec knows, and the BUM Report reports like only reporting reporters do.

Final note of the week, we also have our early marks for highest points in one set and total points in a match to report!  Match 4, conference play with Merritt Island at Nashville.  Set 4 saw the Manatees trying to battle back and force a set five, only to see the Red Pandas hold out and top off at 29-31 for Roy's team to hold home form.  That sets our mark for highest points in one set.  On the match end, we saw last session a total that hasn't yet been beat.  match 2, Portland at Dallas, featured in this column as the -6 upset by the 'Jacks was #2 for the weekend.  What we failed to note was that the resulting 5-set win that saw three sets go to extra points, including the set 5 20-18 finish, tallied an impressive 238 total points!  Only 8 other of the 96 matches to date have topped 200, and none higher than 216.  Will we see any other matches top this mark, or make it an astounding 4 sets in extra points in one match?  We don't know, yet we certainly hope so.

As always, comment below on what we missed this week, or how sad you are for Jason that his 'Squatch pulled an upset and are now certainly in the midst of an all-out identity crisis that has their early-season scores (and 1-5 start) seemingly set for swift and certain turnaround (hopefully not making a U-turn in the bus lane).  Best of fortunes in session 3 for everyone trying for an upset or final WGM group round blowout to overtake Steve for the #1 seed!