DAC WIN THE MATCHES… BUT LOSE THE CUP

McQueenie Cup – Nov. 13-14

The first ever McQueenie Cup was held at the DAC in honor of the late Jim McQueenie. A passionate squash player and influential to many of the people he came into contact with, this event is the start of a hopefully wonderful tradition that brings together Athletic Clubs from the mid-west area to compete on the squash court (and then later on at the bars!) for the beautiful McQueenie Cup.

Starting off relatively small, the inaugural tournament had 8 man teams from the DAC, the Toledo Club, the University Club of Chicago (UCC) and the Union League Club of Chicago (ULC). When creating a competition such as this, teething problems are expected and this was no different. Although the weekend went very well and all the players left extremely content with the experience, one the biggest items we forgot to cement before the event started (and it ended up biting us where the sun doesn’t shine) was how we were going to count the score to determine the winning club. Head-to-head match-ups? Total matches won? Total games won? You’d think it would have been decided whilst we were organizing it. Funny how sometimes the most obvious things slip through the cracks.

Our toughest opponents were the lads from Toledo. The DAC were, however, up to the task. George Kordas, Paul Ward and Ryan Bendzinski won their matches in terrific 5-setters, John Rakolta held off his opponent to win 3-1 and Paul Doherty blanked his guy for a 3-0 victory. We lost the next 3 singles matches, but won the doubles for a 6 match to 3 triumph. Our next opponents were the UCC. We emulated our Toledo result by winning the first 5 matches, losing the next 3, and winning the doubles for another 6 matches to 3 win. Lastly, we played the ULC team. Their team had been struggling all weekend and against us it wasn’t any easier for them. We didn’t lose any matches, although we did have to hand them one forfeit as one of our team members could not play his match. In the end, that forfeit cost us dearly.

By the time all the squash was complete, the DAC had swept the competition. Three match-ups: three victories. You would think that would do it… But hold on… For some inexplicable reason after lengthy discussions earlier that day, it was decided that head-to-head matches wouldn’t hold any weight. Nor would total matches won. (This would have had the DAC win as well). It would be decided on total games won. The DAC won 64 games. Toledo, amazingly, had won 66. (Had we not handed ULC a forfeit, we should have won that match and would have won with 67 games.) And based on that, Toledo were declared the winners. Even though the DAC beat them. Hmmmm… It’s like announcing the winning team in baseball is the team with the most hits, not the most runs. Obviously, this method needs to be revisited – and concreted - for future McQueenie Cup events. For the 2009 title, Toledo has claimed the spoils, although it must feel a little hollow.

Regardless of how the final score turned out, the event was still extremely successful and I am tremendously proud of the effort from our players. – George Kordas; Paul Ward; Ryan Bendzinski; John Rakolta; Paul Doherty; Peter Shumaker; John Birgbauer; Peter Logan. The location for next year has not yet been decided on, I am hoping one of the Chicago clubs will be hosting, but if that doesn’t materialize, we’ll be more than happy to run it again.

FINAL SCORES:
1st - Toledo - 66 games; 19 matches; 2 wins
2nd - DAC - 64 games; 20 matches; 3 wins
3rd - UCC - 46 games; 13 matches; 1 win
4th - ULC - 9 games; 1 match; 0 wins