MORE ACTION, MORE LADDER CHANGES

Boasters League round 4~~

Definitely a step-up from last week, participation was better last night. But before you all go and start high fiving each other, there is still plenty of room for improvement – understand that (as crazy as this sounds) next week is already the half-way mark of this half and the vast majority of you have matches to catch up on. All I am suggesting is that you start playing them now before you run out of time and then no doubt start worrying that the 5 match minimum that is required for you to stay in the league for the second half is suddenly out of reach.

Butter Nutz hold on to the top spot although the chasing teams have narrowed the gap. Best performers of the week go to Wardogs who picked up 38 points and moved up from 4^th to 2^nd. Second best actors? Nick at Night. They scored 33 points this round (so far) and flung themselves well out of the basement to claim 6^th spot. It’s not necessarily because they are winning – in fact their current win percentage is under 50% - but they caught up on some matches and scored a respectable 11 bonus points last night.

Speaking of bonus points, in a rare shocking display of mutiny, Mongoose scored the least this week (7) leaving all the experts and pundits stunned. Helen French messaged all the way from Ireland (from some ‘posh’ restaurant – her words –, which probably means some local pub that serves cold beer) cementing her excuse and avoiding the cane when she returns. If you thought Captain Huth was on the warpath before…

Biggest drop this week goes to Vivio’s, which since they had the bye isn’t headline news, but they plummeted from 5^th to last as they only scraped together 7 points in make-up games. Foss Nation is also struggling, they scored the least amongst the active teams this week with only 21 points, and they are also having a very difficult time winning the matches they are playing. Up to date, they are winning just 25% of them.

On to some special mentionables in individual performables… Firstly, congratulations to Spencer Eick (On The Rocks) who not only managed to walk off the court with his head still attached, he did it with the 3-0 win as well! Playing Bill Largent (Winky-Dinks), rallies were hard fought, so the score line is a little misleading here, and at one stage Bill’s reaction volley almost decapitated Spencer who was standing at the front wall looking back as if he was lining up for the firing squad. Luckily Spencer had shaved that day so Bill missed him (but he did win the point!). Important lesson though for all involved that calling “lets” is an extremely important skill to learn – safety is paramount. I understand it was a ‘bang-bang’ play, and decapitation is only a temporary injury (heads grow back, right?), but in dangerous situations play should stop and the interference rule applied.

Haytham Hermiz (Wardogs) kept his undefeated record in tact although he did drop his first game for the half as he scrambled, stampeded, zipped, zagged, zigged, and breakdanced his way to a 2-1 win over the more methodical Joe Leto (Nick at Night). Justin Jacobs (On The Rocks) was relieved to snag his second win of the season over Peter Shumaker (Winky-Dinks) 2-1 who simply would not stop running the ball down making Justin every last point. Never underestimate your opponent and never expect that your last shot is a winner.

Next week may also be a tough one to get numbers up. Although I am optimistic, it is Halloween and the allure of candy, strangers dressed as monsters storming your patio demanding sugar does appeal more to some, but to me nothing beats the allure of the keg, and playing familiar faces (not so monstrous… generally) on the squash court. Will Paul Huth drive around Detroit personally and pick up every one of his team members? Will the shoes designers at Salming ever hire a person that isn’t color blind? How many squash balls are lost under the running machines in the fitness room? Much to discuss.

IT WAS WEDNESDAY, RIGHT?

Boasters League round 3~~

I’m just sayin’... In total, 72 bonus points were picked up last night. Now, that’s 3 more than last week, but only 2 teams picked up more than 9, and it’s a far cry from the average of last season’s first half which was 83. I’m just sayin’... That both courts downstairs were vacant at 5.30pm, and I’m sure the Handballers outnumbered us at that time 3 to 1. There are only 32 of them in their league. I’m just sayin’... That Wardogs “played” against Foss Nation last night. They only played two of the 17 matches. I’m just sayin’…

Am I disappointed / frustrated at the turn out so far for the league? Well… yes. Yes I am. To give you another idea of how much less play has happened over the first 3 weeks of the season, comparing the total amount of points scored by all teams combined at the same time last year, we are 98 points behind. That is a huge chunk. The Nicker Ballers – who are currently second – would be 6^th on last year’s comparative standings. Things need to pick up. And fast. Please? It’s cold outside now.

The standings this week were completely rearranged. Not one team kept their round 2 position. As expected Mongoose dropped significantly because of the bye week, Butter Nutz took control of the top spot, The Nicker Ballers and On the Rocks took advantage of the Wardogs shaky showing, and the Winky-Dinks climbed out of the basement at the expense of Nick of Night.

Mongoose’s bye did not stop Captain Paul – the “Don” - Huth from roaming the hallways claiming bonus points. Helen French tried her utmost to convince me to give her one, but I held strong. Her offer to bribe me wasn’t high enough. I also wish to make a shout out to Chuck Doyle, who unfortunately had to pull himself out of the boasters league for the season when he broke his ankle playing a box match earlier this week. He has a few months recovery ahead of him and we all wish him the best and quickest path back to the courts.

Not a lot of individual performances to choose from yesterday, but let’s start out with Peter Shumaker (Winky-Dinks) and Scott Langenburg (Nick at Night). Peter won the first game which must have motivated Scott somewhat for the second game. He was leading by 4 points, and only 5 away from taking the set, when a center court collision sent Peter’s glasses flying in every which direction, lens frame to one corner, the actual lenses to another. The frame was easy enough to locate, but the thin glass lens was another. Treading very carefully, the three of us scanned the court floor for at least 7-8 minutes and luckily the rogue lens was located inches from the tin. No permanent damage was done, but Scott kept his good play up – until 12-9 in the 3^rd. Peter then hit the accelerator, and stormed back for the 15-14, 2-1 win. His reward was waking up this morning with a lovely black eye.

JC Tibbitts (Butter Nutz) and Colin Bayer (Vivio’s) usually beat up on each other pretty well. This was no different. They have 39 results listed between them on Sporty HQ (including last night), JC wins 59% of the time, and only 5 of the results have been 3-0. Another 2-1 score line here, contrasting styles to say the least, but both players love to bust a lung or two. Colin’s retrieval ability is rather deceptive and often makes the difference as it did on this occasion. The 2-1 win gives Colin his first win of the season, and JC his first loss.

Moving onto week 4, I am confident that things will pick up. Mongoose battle Butter Nutz, will anyone from the Mongoose team dare not to show up? Helen French will be in Ireland, she may have to Skype Paul and plead for mercy.