LOW TURNOUT HURTING TEAMS

Boasters League round 4~~

I’m not sure what the problem is, so how does one go about fixing it? How do you convince everyone that they should be playing their matches? Another low turnout yesterday has spread out the teams even more. The most matches played by any team in round 4 so far is 6 (of 15). Overall court usage hasn’t waned, so why aren’t these matches getting completed? The last three teams on the standings have all had the bye so it is understandable that they currently occupy those positions, but the “Winky-Dinks” have had the bye too. And they are 3^rd.

“Busting Rails”, for example have only picked up 17 points combined in the last 2 weeks. Where are they? With 4 rounds in they are already 22 points off the last play-off spot – and 66 points of first. All I can do is keep pushing… it is up to you to get on court.

Exciting matches were featured last night, here are some highlights: Paul Huth (“Mongoose”) battled hard to take the 2-1 win over Rich Stimson (“Vivio’s”), and with that victory Paul remains undefeated so far this half. Dane Fossee (“Foss Nation”) snuck out a 2-1 win over Josh Slominski (“The Kampai Warriors”) celebrating his first win of the year; Chip McDaniel (“Paddy’s Dropshots”) s now 4-for-4 as he got past Steve Murphy (“Wardogs”) 2-1; and Andrew Spohn (“Butter Nutz”) took care of business with a 2-1 triumph over Joe Schaden (“Busting Rails”).

With the DAC Classic coming up next week - the league is still scheduled for Wednesday – everybody could use some much needed match practice. I won't sugar coat this. There are numerous people in the league that have committed the cardinal sin of not played any matches yet – it will be very difficult to get them all completed as the days go by. As I mentioned above – it is up to you to take a pro active approach and organize times to get on court. League success is not measured by how many people are listed in each team, but by how many matches get done. So get them done!

BUTTER NUTZ SQUASHES WINKY-DINKS

Boasters League round 2~~

The quick-fire lead the “Winky-Dinks” established in round 1 was short lived. “Butter Nutz” made up the deficit and more last night when the two teams squared off against each other. Bonus points aside – (“Winky-Dinks” picked up a season low 11 which was still more than every other team) - the “Butter Nutz” were instead content in handing out some goose eggs on the court. Five of them in fact. That’s a significant amount of points which is tough to overcome.

On the other end of the ladder, “Mongoose” improved considerably compared to week one’s performance, but are still reeling in 8^th place, 2 points ahead of “Wardogs” who have already had the bye. Unless they start now to get matches completed, they will be struggling mightily to make up the big difference that already looks threatening.

Participation was quite healthy for round 2, but there is always room for improvement. Every team picked up at least 6 bonus points, but you can’t live on those alone. Matches also need to get done, and if your team is scoring more bonus points than squash points because of that (3 teams did that last night), you may find yourself lingering at the back of the pack.

A few close results worth reporting: Nick Cinqueranelli (“Butter Nutz”) scrambled his way to a 2-1 victory over the improving and power-serving Brett Torgler (“Winky-Dinks”) who moved up a position from the first half. Stu Neufeld (“Paddy’s Dropshots”) picked up his first win – an impressive one – over Brian Bartes (“Mongoose”) 2-1 with some clever use of his angles; and Chuck Doyle (“Winky-Dinks”) squeaked a 2-1 win against Marc Lakin (“Butter Nutz”).

Take careful note that next week is the 2^nd Dividend. That means that league matches will only be scheduled up until 6.30pm. All other matches with be self-schedule. This does not mean that you cannot play after 6.30pm, but it is encouraged that you join the crowd to meet the candidates for the DAC presidency in the gym and enjoy the feed!

FALLING SHORT

Farris Cup 2014

As I made my way to the BAC down the I-696, I was thankful that it wasn’t a week earlier when it snowed almost a foot. It would have covered up the pot-holes of death that littered the highway. I felt like I was in a old-school video-car-game, avoiding the bottomless pit obstacles, only to be confronted with a blinding fog and rain once I neared Bloomfield Hills. Luckily I (and everyone else) arrived unscathed, and I hoped my prize would be a nice shiny trophy with the words “Farris Cup” inscribed on it.

Peter Logan (center) with the Farris family.
BAC's Tom Walbridge is on the right.

The past 3 years have been anything but successful. Comprehensive clobberings is an understatement and as the day started off for the 10th Annual Farris Cup event, it appeared as if we were in for another shellacking. Four matches in, and we had lost them all 3-0.

The fifth result was an improvement. Shail Arora didn’t win  - although he very well could have. When the game scores are as close as this: 12-10; 14-16; 11-9; 12-10 - just a little luck can change the outcome. Shail didn’t have enough of it, but at least the DAC had won one game!

Our first match victory of the day came at the hands of Tom MacEachern who took care of his opponent 3-0. I wasn’t surprised by this result. Tom, as I have mentioned before, has improved substantially since winning the 3.0 club championships 8 months ago. He was in control from the beginning, and didn’t let up.

Phil Pitters on the other hand also had control in the beginning of his match against Jeff Gembis. (Jeff is also a BAC member and was representing the ‘enemy’ on this day!) Running his  usual 20-court-sprints-per-rally self, Phil scampered and crosscourt-drop-flicked his way to a 2-0 lead before his McDonald’s based diet started to take over. Jeff began to wrest control and take advantage of the tiring Phil to take the next 2 games. It didn’t look good for the DAC, but somehow Phil mustered up enough energy to survive the 5th and win it 11-8. Who said an extra Quarter Pounder wouldn’t help?

The DAC were poised to take a third victory by the hands of Jim Stroh. Okay, maybe ‘poised’ is a little exaggerated, but at 1 game all and leading in the 3rd - and playing very well against BAC’s Mike Beauregard - Jim unfortunately tweaked his back and had to retire. It was, however, a victory the DAC missed out on and seriously needed.

Kurt Streng and
Andy Adamo

When Paul Van Tol got so close (but no cigar!) with a 2-3 loss, the BAC were only 1 victory away from retaining the Cup for a fourth straight year. Derek Aguirre kept our candle flickering a while longer when he had to battle hard for his 3-1 over the impressive 62-year old Claude Mencotti. Claude should play the Nationals...

Our hopes were finally dashed in quick fire fashion. Andy Adamo was in a no-win situation when his opponent graced the court. One could have sworn it was J.C. himself and how does one beat the Almighty Savior? You simply can’t. In actual fact, it was Kurt Streng, who happened to play like he was on a mission from God and he won 3-0 leaving the DAC without a prayer.

Sante making another
fashion statement!

Not far behind Kurt, Seth Rogers scored a 3-0 win as well over Anthony Fracchia and the BAC  had stamped their authority once again. But, even though the Cup was lost, their was still some fight left in us.

Sante Fratarcangeli - proudly displaying his all whites - was too fit for the skillful hands of Bob Mylod and won 3-1. Then Jed Elley stepped up to take on their club champion Jon Uffelman. To be fair, Jon is carrying a knee injury and how he competed the way he did was certainly admirable. Jed fell victim to Jon’s solid strokes to find himself 2-1 down, and had to fight his way through the 4th until he finally managed to move the ball around the court more effectively to also win the 5th - albeit a little more comfortably.

John Rakolta and
Brad Steel

The final match of the day was also an entertaining affair. John Rakolta floated the ball around the court and used his trademark crosscourt forehand lob-drop from the back corner to frustrate Brad Steel just enough. The players swapped games and went deep into the 5th game. A couple of awful and soft ‘lollypop’ serves threw Brad completely off as he clunked them into tin giving John the breathing space he needed. He finished it off 11-9 for the 3-2 victory.

 As usual the DAC failed miserably in the doubles as we lost all 3 matches and only managed to pick up one game in the process. We had lost the day 11 matches to 6, but to be honest the squash was a lot closer than that score represents. If Jim Stroh, Paul Van Tol and Shail Arora had managed to win, the DAC would have been victorious. Now, please don’t think I am blaming them - that’s the last thing I am inferring. What I am saying is that this year was very competitive, we had our chances, we could have won, and the Farris Cup has lived up to the reason for what it was created for. Thank you to the BAC for a very enjoyable day.

WE’RE OFF AND… SPUTTERING…!

Boasters League round 1~~

Except of course the “Winky-Dinks” who have bolted out the gates, sprinted down the straight, hurdled the fences, crossed the bridge, traversed the hills, and are already leaving the rest of the teams in their bonus point created dust: an impressive thirteen of those points – four more than the next best which came from “Butter Nutz”. Still, it is only week one, but if the first half was any indication, the “Winky-Dinks” are going to be a distant blip in the distance very quickly.

While the “Winky-Dinks” exploded out of the starting blocks, team “Mongoose” was still stuck in their driveways, scraping the ice from their car windshields. A not-so-impressive 2 points – total – for the evening, they better not wait too long to get their engines going and hit the gas pedal hard. The “Wardogs” are excused for their zero points – they had the bye week.

It was a relatively light night in terms of participation; the courts were virtually abandoned by 7pm. The keg, however, was swamped with bodies although many of them did come from the Handball arena. I am sure the treacherous road conditions had a lot to do with it…

Some commendable results to mention for round 1: Scott Langenburg (“Winky-Dinks”) jumped up to a number 3 spot after the first half and proved the move worthy by winning a tough match over Patrick Petz (“Paddy’s Dropshots”) 2-1. Glen Milligan (“The Kampai Warriors”) managed to fend off the brute force of Joe Paglino (“Busting Rails”) just enough for a well earned 2-1 victory; and Brian Schrage (“Butter Nutz”) held firm against quick riser Cleveland –CT- Thurber (“Vivio’s”) for a 2-1 triumph. CT was bumped up 5 spots from the first half.

It was great to get the league going again and now that this “polar vortex” has left us this year (hopefully for good), we will see the courts jammed up as usual again. It’s looking pretty full tonight, so people are getting back at it at last.