Red Bull BC One 2008 Bracket

This year - just twelve hours from when I'm writing this - the Red Bull BC One international one-on-one bboy battle is being webcast live from Paris. Yesterday they released the first-round battle match-ups, and I thought I'd put down my predictions. It's like March Madness, except I actually have an interest in it and there isn't really time to start a pool. So here we go! Round winners in bold.


Round One (round of 16)

JUST DO IT / CICO
I think the judges (Ivan, Extremo, Hong 10, Lilou, and Storm) will be a bit power-friendly for my taste, but even so, Cico is a blunt instrument. The power Italian used a 90 as a whole round against RoxRite in a previous BC One. His 90s are some of the best in the world, but he'll have to show more bboy elements to make it here. If he comes off clean, the Nike slogan from Holland can make it to round two.

LIL G / TAISUKE
I haven't seen much of Lil G, but he seems kind of like a Venezualen Cico. Taisuke comes close if he doesn't completely match G for power, and the bleach-blond Japanese Zulu certainly has the well-rounded chops to win his first round.

LIL CENG / KID DAVID
I didn't realize Flying Steps was still around! I'm rooting for RoxRite's musical crewmate here, but I acknowledge the German's power may win out.

PELÉZINHO / BAEK
How many times has this Brazilian guy been to BC One now? Korea takes this one.

BENNY / WING
And... Korea takes this one too. Especially fresh off his Circle Prinz win, I don't expect any surprises from the South African entrant. I have a lot of respect for bboys coming from smaller, isolated communities (thinking Brasil and South Africa) but I don't think the conditions produce the internationally competitive bboys that win BC One. We'll see if the evidence supports my hypothesis.

MOUNIR / NASA
Who are these guys? Mounir at least has video on the Red Bull site. Looks like he's battled Extremo, one of the judges. Nasa is repping Australia and some crews that I generally like (Zulu/Fresh Sox). They both seem to have kind of goofy hyper attitudes. I like Nasa's name more.

LIL KEV / MENNO
I haven't seen anything from Lil Kev in a while, but I remember him as the boy who was so "Blond, Blond, Blond" in Planet Bboy. I may be wrong to discount him because of his youth, but Menno seems like an easy choice here.

RONNIE / KOLOBOK
This Kolobok guy seems to have some foot-grabbing moves kind of like Ronnie... But he's not Ronnie...


Round Two (quarterfinals / round of 8)
I don't know if they'll just collapse the brackets like this or rearrange match-ups, so this is all even more speculative...

JUST DO IT / TAISUKE
I think Taisuke will come off cleaner here.

KID DAVID / BAEK
Predicting Baek's arsenal gets tired before Kid David's.

WING / NASA
No-name vs. increasingly big name.

MENNO / RONNIE
I like Ronnie's tops more. Not that I like either's very much, but I have to pick somebody.


Round Three (semifinals / round of 4)

TAISUKE / KID DAVID
I want to see an international final.

WING / RONNIE
Ronnie comes cleaner.


Round Four (finals / round of two)

TAISUKE / RONNIE
Ronnie wins again.


Hmm... It'll be fun to see if I'm right about anything. I'm not particularly excited about how I predict it coming out. It seems like it would be more fun for somebody else to win. If I just pick who I want to win from the list of 16, I'd pick Kid David, Taisuke, or maybe Menno. I'm not sure Taisuke has a sufficiently original aresnal to draw from. Who knows, some of these bboys I don't know as well may totally surprise me. Should be a good show.