The question on everyone's mind - and definitely on the minds of those sixteen teams competing for the national title in a few weeks: can anyone stop the Condors? Santa Barbara has been beaten several times already this year by teams like Jam and Axe from the Northwest, and they dropped a game to Furious in Sarasota last season. But when it mattered, the Condors mopped up. They took down Sub Zero 15-9, rolled over DoG 15-10, and squeaked by Jam 17-15 to win it all. They have looked beatable this season, even in the regional finals. But no one sees the real Condors until late October.

As they did with DoG in years past, other teams have spent the off-season trying to find answers to the Condors' dominance. Furious George, who lost to Jam in the semis last year, only wants another shot at them. Behind the stellar play of Mike Grant and the veteran smarts of Johnny "Do you know who I am?!" Gewirtz, Furious looks as potent as ever. In the Midwest, Sub Zero seems to be thriving off its third or so youth movement in the past six years. Captained by two of the lightest players in the game, Sam O'Brien and Tim Murray, and getting superlative play from Eric Lonsdorf and Dave Boardman, Sub Zero is looking to join, for real, the ranks of ultimate's elite. What better way than to dethrone the reigning champions? Meanwhile, Electric Pig out of DC is looking to create a tradition of its own. Having already avenged last year's quarterfinal loss by beating DoG in the finals of this year's Tune-Up (which, as we all know, is a decidedly mixed blessing), E-Pig finally took the Mid-Atlantic by beating an improved Ring of Fire and is now carrying a good deal of confidence into Nationals. DoG doesn't necessarily need to find an answer for the Condors; they only need to recall one. With young stars like Fortunat Mueller and Moses Rifkin adding legs to the veterans who remember all seven of those championships, the team that overlooks DoG is going to pay. Johnny Bravo may be the most dangerous two-seed out there. They took sixth at Nationals last year and return almost all the members of that team. Also, they've added a former Oregon superstar, Josh Greenough, who was involved in six of Bravo's eleven scores against the Condors in the regional finals. Along with Sub Zero and Electric Pig, Johnny Bravo is a team that could fill the vacancy in the top four left by Jam.

For a few teams this is a Nationals of redemption. Sockeye, who finished below seed at last year's nationals, scrapped out a victory against the heavily-favored Jam at regionals to make it to the show this year. Featuring a mish-mash of former college stars, proven veterans and athletic newcomers, this team has already taken out one of the nation's best and now wants more. Reclaiming a strength bid for the region would certainly be nice, as well. Ring of Fire fell apart last year after a first-round loss to Sub Zero. They proceeded to lose all of their remaining games on Thursday and Friday, excepting a one-point victory over their fellow fallen, Florida. This year, with added talent and something to prove, they will be a dangerous team for higher seeds to face. Vicious Cycle, who went by the generic name of Florida last year, choked away a seven-seed and failed to win a single game until they were already in the placement bracket. Having taken the South region handily this year, they hope that their talent shows up against teams they're supposed to beat.