Fresh off his win last month in the Bar Room Brawl Championship Game (not to mention a top-board finish at Weasel Moot), Christian "The Scorpion" Kline kept rolling last night at the Red Lion in Lincoln Square, topping on Opening Night for the second straight year. This top was much more modest than the whopper he pulled off in the Season 13 opener, but it was harder fought. In fact, rather than relying on his deadly sting, Kline showed off other elements of his game. He eked out the board-top with stolid defensive play and a charm offensive. 

The game ended by time limit after the Fall 1905 turn in the following center counts:

"All decisions made involving 12-packs work out."--Chris Glassburn

The 12th installment of our Weasel Moot, played September 1-2 in the meeting room at 400 East Randolph, Prime Weasel Brian Shelden's condo building, was like a party pack from your favorite brewer. There was enough variety to please every taste, including one game that only ended after the players were serenaded into submission at a Karaoke bar.

When the fog machine cleared, Eric Grinnell, on the strength of monster board-tops in the first two rounds, including a near solo as Austria in Round 2, was holding the brass ring. Grinnell was playing in his seventh Chicago tournament, and the win was the first of his long and colorful career. All hail the Alpha Weasel mu!

Christian Kline walked into his first Weasels game--No. 3 way back in January 2006--like a gunslinger. Later that year, in August, the player known as The Scorpion soloed at the first Weasel Pyle to claim the very first Weasel of the Year title. (In its first installment, the Pyle was known as Weasel Moot; we wouldn't attach that name to our premier tournament until the following summer.)

In 12 seasons since then, Kline hasn't stopped shooting. But while he has finished on the podium in our tournaments, topped more than 23 percent of his league games, and won Best Country awards, a second major title eluded him. In fact, the drought dragged on for so long that some wondered whether The Scorpion was trying to fashion his Dip career into a more natural habitat.

And then Tuesday's Bar Room Brawl Championship Game at the Red Lion in Lincoln Square happened.

The drought is now over. Let it rain.

Brandon Fogel entered Season 13's final day of play with a tenuous hold on an unprecedented third straight Weasel of the Year title. His three closest pursuers also were playing at the Weasel Pyle, and any one of them could unseat him with a strong result. A poor showing by Fogel, thus hurting his sparkling leftover average, would make their jobs even easier. So the stakes were high.

But one does not win a Weasel of the Year title, let alone two in a row and a Royale championship to boot, by blanching in the face of high stakes.