PADDY’S DROPSHOTS SHOOTS UP

Boasters League round 4~~

Biggest mover this week? Paddy’s Dropshots. Surprised? Well, yeah – two weeks ago I was hanging them out to dry, calling them out on their elusiveness. Clearly a premature premonition, Paddy’s Dropshots jumped up 4 places on the standings and are now in third place. Certainly we must give them credit for yanking themselves out of the hole they were digging themselves into, but just a fraction of perspective should go with it…

Even though they are third, they are only 2 points off dropping to 6^th. They did pick up the second most points this week with 36 which on paper sounds terrific, but in reality it isn’t an awful lot. They were helped by the lack of points the other teams scored. And they still have a bye week to agonize through…

The most points this week was scored by Foss Nation with 39 and they leapfrog into top spot, taking over from Butter Nutz. Winky-Dinks suffered the largest drop, but since they had the bye, it was to be expected. At this stage of the first half of the season, Mongoose look to be in the best position. Currently 4^th, they have already had the week off, and are averaging over 14 and a half bonus points a week. 44% of their total score is purely on bonus points.

The last 2 teams on the standings are there for a reason. Yes, they have had the bye week already, but they have also played the least amount of matches and currently ranked 7^th and 8^th on total bonus points. Double (triple) whammy. There are still 5 weeks to go. But, there are only 5 weeks to go…

Not to get too detailed about the matches last night, but I do need to mention the 2-1 win Steve Brown (Vivio’s) pulled out over JC Tibbitts (Butter Nutz). JC looked rather ashamed but it’s not like he hasn’t lost to Steve before. In fact – a not that we’re counting here (!) - it’s the third time it’s happened. I’m also going to mention Ashley Thibodeau’s (Wardogs) 2-1 takedown of Bruce Greening (Over Served), just because I was watching the last game and enjoyed seeing Bruce’s desperation (entertaining!) court coverage bouncing off the walls.

Last but not least, I mentioning a game that is yet to be played. For the first time that I can remember, we will have a husband and wife match-up in the boasters. Kelli and Andy Hodges will be battling in a couple of weeks for their house-hold supremacy title. Kelli is currently nursing an ankle injury (or so she is letting on!) limping around in a medical boot. She was smirking a lot and sipping red wine last night though, it could be ‘fake’ news here… She says she’ll be ready to go for the epic encounter. Andy on his part is taking this all in stride. As the good husband he is, it’s clear he prefers hot meals at night and sleeping indoors. He had no comment.

Week 5 coming up and into November. Still plenty of squash to be played, don’t let your matches pile up. The deadline of for completion of all your matches will be upon you before you realize. That’s December 10…

PICKING UP THE PACE

Boasters League week 3~~

Mongoose are on the move. It’s tough having the first round bye because you have pretty much resigned yourself to playing catch up the whole way, but Mongoose aren’t particularly interested in playing that game. They jumped 3 spots to 6^th on the standings this week picking up a league best 41 points – which included the highest bonus point total of 15 (from a maximum of 17). This ‘attitude’ puts them in a pretty good position. All the teams above Mongoose still have to sit out a week.

Last week I hopped up on my soap box and lectured about not playing matches on Wednesday and putting too much emphasis on bonus points. This week was a vast improvement. Only 2 teams picked up more points off court than on it – surprisingly, one of those teams was Mongoose. But it would be hard to criticize them for it. Against Vivio’s, they have played 11 matches so far for round 3 – the most of any other match-up – but it just so happened they only won 4 of them.

I’m sending out a shout-out to the Wardogs team as well this week. After 3 rounds, they have completed the most matches overall, and picked up 40 points this week, jumping to equal 3^rd on the standings. I’m very pleased to see the amount of play and the tightening up of the standings.

The busy night didn’t allow me to watch a lot of the matches. I did get a peek of Justin Winkelman (Winky-Dinks) and Curt Pedersen (Foss Nation) upstairs though. Battle of the giants, we need a heads-up next time these 2 get together, we may need to raise the ceiling a foot or two or install a basketball hoop. For the record, Justin ended up with a 3-0 victory. The always smiling Helen French (Mongoose) has been enjoying her summer break and was happy to take a game from the very experienced, “I-know-exactly-where-you-are-hitting-it” Jim Miller (Vivio’s). Never have I seen someone relish a beer so much after a loss!

JC Tibbitts (Butter Nutz) picks up his first win of the season taking down fellow captain Paul Ward (Wardogs) 2-1; Tom Fabbri (Mongoose) is 2-for-2 this season as he outlasted the younger legs of Kevin Thomas (Vivio’s) for a 2-1 victory; and Michael Rahaim (Foss Nation) scores his first career (!) win in his third match ever with a 2-1 triumph over Kevin Butler (Winky-Dinks).

Hopefully this trend will continue with the amount of play we experienced this week. It’s all a matter of keeping on top of the schedule and not falling behind. Play the matches early if you have to. There is already one player in the league that has reached the 5 match minimum rule – and we’re only 3 weeks in!