UNLUCKY NUMBER 7

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, but every time this happens, I go away shaking my head wondering where it all went horribly wrong... This, the 8th Cross Border Challenge against Windsor (which quietly, have without a doubt become the nemesis of the DAC) was another episode of Wile E. Coyote getting excruciatingly close to its prize – the Road Runner – only to be slammed head first into a gigantic rock face.

We started off well. Patrick Petz and Rich Stimson avoided falling for the old Windsor “Let’s-put-hot-chicks-on-the-court-to-distract-their-players” trick and won their matches 3-0 over two women. Chip McDaniel, however, did not. (Please see photo – Chip, under the circumstances is forgiven). He lost 3-1 to Krista Leslie, and since it was the first time Chip was on court since March, he also lost a lung, about 6 pounds, and I think at one stage one of his eyeballs almost popped out. (As did some of the spectators.)

The DAC continued its success on the singles court with Ken MacDonald also grabbing a 3-0 win, and Jon Walton battling hard to take a 3-1 victory over his buddy Dan McClatcher. And, if you add on Ryan Bendzinski’s 3-1 triumph, we were looking pretty good with 6 wins out of the 13 total matches. Of course, we needed 7 wins to secure that elusive Cross Border trophy, which has found an all too comfortable place on the walls of Windsor Squash. The trophy has been hanging their so long it has melded itself into the brickwork and will probably need skilled workman to pry it off. (If ever it becomes necessary…)

The three doubles matches were always going to be tough. Windsor has an excellent and deep pool of doubles players to choose from. We lost the first 2 matches 3-0 and 3-1 and by the time the 3rd (and final match of the day) started, we were all tied at 6 matches each. I was of course worried – we had been in this position before and none of those outcomes turned out positive for us. Peter Logan and Mike Counsman represented the DAC against Tom Beneteau and Stan Furmanek. Peter and Mike actually played very well. The match was especially entertaining. The DAC took a 2-1 game lead and the 4th was a real ball-tearer. Great rallies, seemingly impossible gets, miraculous behind the back and between the legs shots, and at 12-all we were 3 points from glory… then that gigantic rock face came out of nowhere… Suddenly, we had lost that game 15-12, and to start off the 5th, Stan rolled off at least 3 ridiculous winners and the Windsor team did not look back. Peter and Mike fought as hard as they could, but the dice were simply not rolling their way. We lost the match, and for the 7th time in a row – yes, seven – we came up short.

Congratulations – again – to the Windsor team. A special thank you to Mike Counsman and Steve Toseland (Detroit Racquet Club) who, although not DAC members, were kind enough to play for us and help make this event happen. We will have our chance for revenge in April 2010 when the next Cross Border Challenge is scheduled at the DAC. I am already on the phone to ‘ACME’ for their latest and greatest Road Runner trap…