DEADLINE LOOMING

Boasters League round 8~~

Quite an obvious disparity popped up this week between the current top 3 teams and the rest. Mongoose, Butter Nutz and Over Served all picked up over 40 points, making a clear push in the last couple of rounds and cementing their finals positions. The next best team this week? The (then) last placed Nicker Ballers. With 32. Which has actually given them a glimmer of hope to reach the 6^th and last play-off position that is at the moment held by Foss Nation.

Wardogs pretty much stitched themselves with only 19 points, the least amount gathered of all the teams and have fallen to last place – now 10 points behind the Nicker Ballers who they actually have to play next week to finish the season. They can either help each other here, or… not. Everyone needs to remember, the last three teams on the standings will be eliminated.

As I said last week, it appears Mongoose have safely secured top spot for the play-offs. Even though they are tied with Butter Nutz, the Butter Nutz have the last round bye. So their main concern is now holding onto second spot – which would give them a first round bye in the finals – from Over Served. It’s a 25 point gap, so Over Served have work to do to catch them, but it is definitely within reach.

An extra special mention to the Butter Nutz team since they are the first team this season to pick up all 17 bonus points for one round. Amazing effort for sure. If Over Served happen to tie them for the second spot on the standings, the tie-break would be the total bonus points. No prize if you can guess who would win that.

We have had 26 matches played so far for week 8. An unusually high number of 3-0 results litter the score sheet (15) which of course a good thing for the players (and teams) on the winning side of that (!). Anomalies like this will happen – for example, Wardogs have so far 6 matches completed for the round, but only 3 points to show for it! Hopefully for the finals where teams play head-to-head, it will even itself out more competitively. 

There is only 1 week to go and the deadline (March 1) is looking more ominous as each day passes. I do expect a little scrambling to occur during the final few days although I do say that every year and I usually end up somewhat dissatisfied that more matches weren’t completed. Hopefully the final push will be better this time.

 

MONGOOSE IN POLL POSITION

Boasters League week 7~~

 

Coming off the DAC Classic, it is typically a quieter week on the courts as people need time to recover from their weekend of intense squash and socializing. Of course, it doesn’t help when league night falls on Valentine’s Day, Hallmark’s greatest achievement of making men feel incredibly guilty if they don’t spend a small fortune on cards, roses, stuffed animals, chocolates, dinners, and apologies. The night started off fairly robust but thinned out shortly before 7pm as everyone made sure that if there was one evening not to be late to meet your better half, this was it.

The devious mind of Paul Huth was working overtime. The Mongoose captain volunteered his number one player – Andy Adamo – who happens to be in the flower business and obviously February 14^th is the busiest day of his work year, to offer long stem roses (at a great price!) for all of his team players. Caveat was that they had to pick the rose up from the DAC, forcing them to turn up for their bonus point. Did it work? Well, yes – Mongoose had the most bonus points last night with 12. Brilliant plan Mr. Huth!

Looking at the standings, with just 2 weeks to play it appears Mongoose may have wrapped up the number 1 seed for the finals. Even though Butter Nutz are only 4 points back, they have a round 9 bye to endure, which in reality makes Vivio’s currently the greatest threat to catch Mongoose. Butter Nutz may find it difficult to keep the important second seed position which would give them a first round bye in the finals.

Looking down the ladder, the last three teams have work to do. Remember, only the top 6 teams advance to the finals. They are all chasing Foss Nation who are now 6^th but also sit out next week with the bye. It will certainly tighten things up. And let’s not forget about 5^th place Paddy’s Dropshots. They are definitely not out of the clear either.

I can’t write this article this week without mentioning one of the most special (and delightful) in-house rivalries we have: Ryan MacVoy v Zac MacVoy. Another Boasters league match between the two, this would be the 25^th recorded meeting of the brothers. It wouldn’t matter if this was a league match, a Sunday-morning-post-Saturday-night-fog-lifting-hit-around or the final of the World Open, it’s always an all–or-nothing encounter. It’s not about the result… ah, who are we kidding, of course it’s about the result! Zac won 2-1. And rubbing salt into the wound just a little, it’s Zac’s 4^th win in a row over his older sibling. Overall though, Ryan has a 16-9 winning record, so Zac still has some catching up to do.

There are only 2 weeks of league left before the finals. Deadline to get all your matches in is March 1 (inclusive). Can Butter Nutz hold onto second spot? Will Winky Dinks catch Foss Nation? Can Ryan MacVoy shake off the monkey (gorilla) of Zac off his back any time soon? Who on Earth is this guy from Egypt spam calling me at 5.30 in the morning and what could he possibly be selling? Mysteries yet to be answered…