MONGOOSE RISING

Boasters League round 7~~

Mongoose is on the prowl. I would say they are ‘creeping’ up the standings, but in reality there isn’t much subtlety going on here. It was expected that they would overtake the idle Paddy’s Dropshots this week to take third spot – which they did without even blinking – but they did so with a league leading 46 points for the round, 6 more than the next best Butter Nutz and 8 more than the third best Vivio’s (who are an unthreatening 38 points behind). Now, they are only 4 points back on second placed Foss Nation who have to sit out with the bye for round 8.

They are still 35 points behind Butter Nutz, but that lead doesn’t look like it’s enough. Butter Nutz have the horrible task of anguishing through the last round bye and having to nervously scrutinize the team hot on their heels getting closer and closer. Make up matches are a must in order to hold them off, and they have been doing a terrific job of that – they currently have played the most matches overall and have the (equal) best winning percentage. The other team with the best winning percentage? Vivio’s. If only they played more matches, eh? This could be a great showdown come December 10.

The one thing that let Mongoose down yesterday was that they had their worst score for bonus points this season. Shame on them. Only 13. Still, they now have the most in the league overall, and that 13 was the most bonus points of the 7^th week as well… so it wasn’t that shameful. Either way, I’m sure Captain Paul Huth will pull out the whip and torture devices to make sure such a feeble performance is not repeated!

Quite a few matches were played last night. Kind of off topic here, but I was asked to make a special mention of a non-Boasters League score. In the Doubles League, George Kordas and Robin Basil looked primed and ready to hand a beat down to Vikram Chopra and Mike Eugenio. Vikram mentioned to me that George was trash-talking (texting) during the day telling Vikram to prepare himself for the humiliation that was coming his way. George may have forgotten that Mike has actually won the Club Championship doubles multiple times over the years and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Well, as fate would have it, and as my mother used to tell me, “let your racquet do the talking”, George’s words inspired Vikram and Mike to greater heights and they pulled out the win 3-2. Nothing like a dish of humble pie to silence the thumbs.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Kevin Butler (Winky-Dinks) was all fired up after his first win of the season, taking the 2-1 win over Helen French (Mongoose). Nothing like a victory in the back pocket to motivate oneself! Maggie Durant (Winky-Dinks) was also very pleased with her performance – at least for the first 2 games – against Sandy Selinger (Mongoose) as she picked up her 4^th win of the season with a 2-1 score line. And another win for the ladies for the Wardogs – this time Ashley Thibodeau with her 3^rd victory of the season managing to get past Jim Miller (Vivio’s) 2-1.

Tom Pierce (Butter Nutz) pulled off one his best victories of the half taking down the (up until yesterday) the undefeated Chris Laenen (Foss Nation) 2-1. Chris was obviously disappointed with the loss and was already looking for when his revenge match could take place. I’m sure they will meet up again soon and Chris will get his opportunity, they are also only 1 box apart on the ladders.

A welcome rest from the league next week as Thanksgiving will be upon us. The ideal time to knock out as many make-up matches as possible. The minimum 5 matches to avoid league eviction has been reached by 76 of the 153 players so far – some of you have work to do to get there though and the December 10 deadline is looming. Let’s get proactive!