"All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need."
Beatles - All You Need Is Love

With Valentine's Day this weekend, this week's theme for the picks will be love. So sit down with someone you care about, pop heart-shaped candies in your mouth, and toast the start of the second half of the IID season with the best box of wine you have in your closet!

4 Girls 1 Cup vs. Hammers

On heart-shaped, perfume scented paper, this has the makings of a St. Valentine's Day massacre! One might think that it's a gap in skill that sets the two teams apart, but it's actually the fact that the Hammers have two Ultimate Power Couples (UPCs) on the team. Andy Hardenup and Mr. Hardenup, and DGo and Giddy-up will have huge games as they hook-up for many goals. The best chance our opponent's have is if captain McKegger's purple-loving gf shows up ridiculously early for her game to cheer on her man. My personal challenge will be to run the red wearing Juffisthestuff til his cheeks match his shirt. I'll predict the Hammers will win by more than five points.

Children of the Corn vs. Ocho

The Almighty Mahatma shows no love to the Corny kids by putting them against their co-first-round-leaders in Ocho. Pistol Pete (part of the ultra-rare IID/IAD UPC) can correct me, but I'm unaware of any IID-only UPCs on Corn. On the other hand, Ocho benefits from the red hot chemistry of Liz no-breaks Drake and her speedy partner. Ocho also has a slight edge due to their propensity to wear red gear to games. In order to increase their chances of an upset, Corn should consider showing captain Bo some love, since the forum frequenters have been accusing him of the heinous crime of traveling *gasp* I'll pick Ocho to win since they're bound to hit the 14-point barrier first after spotting themselves an 8 point lead.

Grey vs. Army of Darkness

Although neither of their better halves are playing IID this winter, Grey's captains are part of two of Ottawa ultimate's elite UPCs. Clearly, Grey's captains can spread the love around, and will do so in leading their team to a win this Wednesday. Having said that, Army's own UPC, Mr and Mrs. Bush will both have monster games in a losing effort. If I were a betting man (which I am), who can accurately analyze risk (which I can), I'd wager a shiny nickel that Grey's star-striker Golentement will run her mouth all night, spurning the advances of single team-mates and opponents with witty barbs like "You can't even spike a disc right!" [an actual quote from last week] and "If you were a real man, you'd play field hockey!".

2 x 12s vs. Threezerburn

2 x 12s run to claim 3rd spot in round one from the Hammers was fueled by their UPC of Kev Pullitdown and Jumping Jess Flash. Furthermore, having dressed up as a pimp multiple times at various functions, captain Salmon from 2 x 12s definitely knows how to spread the love around. It should also be noted that two 12-packs will help set a seductive mood for the midnight classic, lulling Threezerburn into a false set of security. On Threezerburn, I think my previous name-crush Golentlement will have a huge game having taken the plunge and gotten married last fall. Also expect Ja-red Larouge to have a lovely game in a losing effort.

Predicted Quote of the Night:

From a female UPC member to her mate:
"I can't believe you looked me off! Throw me the damn disc or no love for you!"

If you've read this far, I question your sanity ;-) That said, I wanted to apologize for not posting much outside of predictions and recaps lately. The new job has me busy, and even though I have some promising ideas for posts, I haven't been able to put pen to paper…so to speak. Here's hoping I can find a few extra minutes to post something thought provoking on here. Until next time, happy hucking!