SLACK WEEK

Boasters League week 4~~

Low scores seemed to be the theme for week. 4. The “Meet the Candidates” night does throw a little wrench into the boasters league proceedings as the emphasis of the evening is free food and booze meeting the next crop of outstanding DAC member candidates running for the all-important board. Understandably, wining and dining takes over the schedule which turns the court area into the proverbial zoo, and it’s wonderful to see all the socializing amongst the groups. It’s really the reason why we do this. Just ask Blake Ellis. I’ve never seen someone enjoy a taco as much as him.

Coinciding with a league night does make match play somewhat more challenging, but we simply do not have the luxury of taking the week off. Unless you can guarantee an extra Wednesday be slotted in somewhere, there just aren’t enough weeks on the calendar if we wish to have it all completed before the Club Championships start. So yes, scores were low this round.

That being said, I went back to see the standings for last season at the same juncture. We are actually ahead of that this year which surprised me a little so I have to be somewhat pleased with the improvement, right?

Best team performance for round 4 goes to Butter Nutz with 30 points, followed closely by Wardogs with 29. Winky-Dinks had the bye and logically suffered the consequences dropping 4 places to 7^th. Paddy’s Dropshots and Mongoose are hanging on to equal 3^rd but both of them only picked up 19 points over the week – hardly a dominating accomplishment. They won’t last very long that high if they continue in that vain. And Nicker Ballers... they better start getting their Nicks and Balls going.

Admirable individual deeds of the week… John Markus (Foss Nation) picked up his first win of the half last night. As happy as he was, he made out as if suffered a major life-threatening injury during the encounter. He was clipped on the shin and tried to pawn it off that Al “Tiburon” Iafrate (Nicker Ballers) has bitten half his leg off. On further inspection of this ‘ghastly’ wound, it was determined that he was playing Al “Nibbling Baby Hedgehog” Iafrate. Mistaken identity to be sure, nothing a tiny band aid wouldn’t fix. Or a beer.

Also scoring a win for the first time this half, JC Tibbitts (Butter Nutz) overcame the slick, soft hands of Steve Brown (Vivio’s), taking him 2-1 and handing Steve his first loss. And while we are on the theme of first wins, mark one up for James Van Dyke (Nicker Ballers) and his 2-1 win over Zac MacVoy (Foss Nation).

I was also asked to mention the HUGE upset win on the doubles league where Robin Basil and George Kordas took out current doubles club champions Jed Elley and Ryan Covell 3-1. But since this article is about the Boasters League, I won’t.

Round 5 is looming – and believe it or not that’s half way through the season. Will we see the Nicker Ballers bounce back from the depths of despair? Can Over Served overcome the bye week and keep their spot over the rest? Will John Markus’ leg grow back in time for next Wednesday? Will Blake Ellis open a taco restaurant? Will George Kordas relent and buy a razor? Stay tuned…

FREE-FALLING NICKER BALLERS

Boasters League round 3~~

You can’t really blame the Nicker Ballers for dropping so dramatically this week considering they had the bye. But the bottom did drop out rather substantially as they plummeted to last on the standings, now 7 points 8^th placed Foss Nation who, by the way, hardly rocked the boat either this round. Bye weeks are a great opportunity for teams to make up past (or even future) matches, but the Nicker Ballers failed to take advantage picking up a paltry 6 points. Silver lining is that there is still time… let’s hope it is used wisely.

Over Served increased their lead over all other teams with a league best 46 points this week, a pretty decent effort. Rubbing salt into everyone else’s wound, they also have the most bonus points so far as well. Funny how the two always seem to go hand in hand. Mongoose are sitting pretty tied for 4^th place, performing the best of the teams that have so far suffered through the bye week and they picked up 41 points for the round. Their bonus point count is also very healthy, as captain Paul Huth is on the prowl for his team members to show up. He will not divulge what he is threatening his players with, but it must be nasty… a lecture on the ‘let’ rule maybe?

Activity was reasonably acceptable last night. Plenty of eyes were on one of the early matches downstairs where Steve Brown (Vivio’s) had to use all his skill to overcome the speedy Blake Ellis (Mongoose). Obvious contrasting styles, Steve hand his soft hands and unexpected angles, Blake with his quick feet and sudden counter attacks. Entertaining squash, Steve took the result 3-0, but it was awfully hard work. I usually do not hand out coaching advice in these articles, but to keep it simple here: Steve: a little more patience at times before you shoot is needed. Some of those angles come over as forced. And Blake: watch your cross-courts! Too many of them and Steve was eating them up!

Paul Gormley (Over Served) picked up his second win of the season with a 3-0 over Tripp Kennedy (Paddy’s Dropshots). I’m mentioning this because Tripp came off the court yesterday and (half-jokingly) said I should move him down a spot in the league. For the first half of the season, in position 16, Tripp went 8-0 and absolutely merited promotion. He is finding it tougher now – as he should – but he is not outclassed at his current level. Paul’s words after the match: “He’s good!” Keep at it Tripp, you are improving and the wins will start up again.

Round 4 next week coincides with the “Meet the Candidates” night for the DAC elections later this month. That means that most of you will have a self-schedule match so you will need to be a bit more pro-active in arranging when you play. Winky-Dinks have the bye – can they minimize the inevitable damage in the standings with a decent amount of make-up matches? Can Nicker-Ballers dig themselves out of the deep hole they have made for themselves? Will Captain Huth punish his 2 players that did not turn up last night with a public square lashing? Will it ever get above freezing in Michigan again? What will the future hold…?