FOSS NATION FREE FALL

Boasters League round 5~~

From 4^th to 8^th. Even though Foss Nation did have the bye week and it was expected that they would drop on the standings because of it, they did let themselves down somewhat by picking up only 4 points in makeup matches. Complacency is the perfect recipe for failure, just because your team has the week off from the regular schedule, doesn’t mean that you take the week off from getting on court! Now, Foss Nation needs to play catch-up and that is usually not an easy strategy.

The good news is that the current top four teams on the standings are all yet to have their bye week, so catch-up is certainly possible. However, the top four teams are clearly more active than the rest: they were the top 4 point getters in round 4. And the top 3 teams have accumulated the most bonus points this season as well (so far).

In comparison to the 2015-2016 season after round 4, we are just about on par with how many points overall have been scored, so that is a positive statistic. Although I do think that we could (and should) be beating that number. Based on how popular the league night has become - it was packed in the court area last night - the feeling is more results should have come in. It’s fantastic to see so many people milling around (the keg) on Wednesdays, if only that would translate to the league matches just as much!

Here are some of Wednesday night’s stand-out matches: Andy Adamo (Nicker Ballers) picks up his second win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Jason Currie (Vivio’s) handing him his first loss. Taking nothing away from Andy’s no doubt silky smooth performance, Jason may want to reconsider his pre-match warm up ritual of plastic-cup-arm-raises. Brien Baker (Space Geckos) also notched up his second win this season taking out Bret Williams (Mongoose) with a 2-1, boast-riddled victory! And JB Peabody (Nick at Night) – who has come back from a lengthy squash hiatus to rejoin the fray – scores his first win, taking down Butter Nutz’ Adam Pabarcus 2-1.

As I mentioned above, the crowd was quite considerable last night. It appears that part of the challenge on league night is now how fast can the members kill the keg. It took a mere 2 hours to drag out the empty barrel carcass, which was slightly faster than the effort portrayed on opening night. Still, the bar was kept busy for some time afterwards as well, all the courts were still occupied by the time I left, and by the short video I received from a member this morning, the bravado-brew had clearly affected the ability of some to remember whether they were left or right handed. At least they couldn’t hit the ball hard enough to hurt themselves. If they could remain upright, that is.

BIG BOOST FOR MONGOOSE

Boasters League round 3~~

Believe it or not, even though the standing do not reflect it, the biggest mover in week three of the league was Mongoose. The mini jump from 8^th to 7^th isn’t deserving of the surge they put in over the past 7 days. They picked up a league leading 42 points since last Wednesday, 10 points better than any other team. Captain Paul Huth was ruthless last night, texting, messaging, e-mailing without respite, probably motivated by the incessant tweeting habits of one Mr. Trump at 3am, threatening his players with all types of horrors if they didn’t come down to the DAC to pick up a bonus point and a beer. The ploy worked, Mongoose lead the league with 14 of them. Additionally, his players must have felt the peril of doom looming over their heads as they handed out a fairly decent whipping on Nick at Night, serving up (so far) 6 bagels. Of the three players that did not turn up for the bonus points, may God have mercy on your souls.

Mongoose is actually in a pretty healthy position, considering they have already had a bye week. The top 4 teams on the standings are running with the trend that they are also the top four bonus point getters, but none of them have endured the week off yet. Foss Nation will sit out next week, let’s see if they can get some make up matches completed to make up for it.

Ahhh... MacVoy family memories!

As always, let’s highlight some standout performances: The MacVoy brothers. Remember when Zac MacVoy (Butter Nutz) beat Ryan MacVoy (Wardogs) in the final of the 3.0 Club Championships in May this year? Zac does, and I’m sure he doesn’t let Ryan forget it. In case Ryan’s memory was fading, Zac handed out another defeat last night to his sibling just to reminisce and experience the good ol’ days… The 2-1 victory will probably be talked about for a while, especially over Thanksgiving dinner.

Chuck Doyle (Space Geckos) had a great start to his match against David de la Torre (Winky-Dinks). He took the first 2 games, and then when I went downstairs to watch the 3^rd, David had taken complete control of the rallies as Chuck succumbed to the younger legs. Chuck took the 2-1 win, glad it wasn’t a best of 5. JC Tibbitts (Nick at Night) has been playing well of late, but he couldn’t take it easy against Bret Williams (Mongoose) who has the ability to crack winners at unexpected times. Bret was up to the task, taking his first win of the season with a 2-1 win.

As round 4 quietly creeps upon us, again I remind all competitors of the 5 match minimum rule. Play them early if you have to (I have had a number of matches already completed from future rounds), but don’t wait until the last couple of weeks to start organizing and then complain that you can’t get people to play. Be pro-active and save yourself the heartache!