Scrum

From The Great Outdoor Fight

A Scrum is a jumbled free for all fight, usually witnessed at the beginning of the Great Outdoor Fight, and sometimes near the end, when the leaders of the major armies are taken out. Most armies are formed during the scrum, and most great fighters shine best while in the middle of it. Young Jude Surrency is famous for walking unhindered through the scrum during the first day of the 1932 Great Outdoor Fight, and then turning around and walking back. Many other such feats are witnessed during the scrum. The scrum usually resolves itself within a few hours, and armies are formed.

The anarchy of the scrum leads to a morass of eliminations -- often making it difficult to accurately track standings as a result. This is one reason why the Fight now standardizes standings based on the order eliminated fighters are removed by the Crane. Statistically, it can be shown that between one thousand and fifteen hundred eliminations typically take place before the scrum resolves itself.

Post-scrum there is often a lull as armies sort themselves out, fighters take stock of their circumstances and factions cohere. Some factions -- particularly those that organize at least in part prior to the gate going up -- intentionally bypass the scrum (if possible) and get to a clear area of the Acres to wait it out.

As mentioned above, sometimes a second scrum forms leading into the end of the Fight. This happens generally in the evening and night of day two, after the turkey feast. As the major leaders, whether they eat turkey or not, are off the field during the period of the feast, their armies can significantly change while they're away. In certain circumstances, a scrum might form when the leaders are off the field, if they have not set up discipline and a strategy within their army.

Antonia Pery, whose 1952 Championship Fight was the shortest on record (ended seven hours into day two), won by careful scrum management (as well as cheerful bloodthirstiness). By knocking out key fighters strategically as the scrum began to resolve itself, she was able to perpetuate the scrum through most of the evening and night of day one. As a result, while Pery's (almost invariably lethal) eliminations were numerous, she was able to set up her win by keeping a constant rain of eliminations happening on all sides of the field around her. In effect, she let the scrum do much of her work.

Pery's scrum management is considered a key example and strategy for solo fighters, though no fighter since Pery has managed it. It is worth noting that the most successful solo fighter of all time, the legendary Rodney Leonard Stubbs, not only didn't attempt scrum management, he parked himself on the corner of the scrum and picked people off regardless of their standings or leadership. In effect, Stubbs helped resolve the scrum earlier than usual by uniting the field against him, which makes his eventual victory all the more remarkable.