TEN DAYS LEFT

Boasters League round 8~~

Yes, yes… I have been lacking in my boasters league blog reports… but I do have excuses! Round 5 was the last time I put fingers to keyboard and then things got crazy around here! The PSA, my wife’s ‘to-do’ list, the meetings, my wife’s other ‘to-do’ list, Thanksgiving, my wife’s additional ‘to-do’ list, training my Padawan, catching up on my beauty sleep (which angers my wife since it wasn’t on the ‘to-do’ list and is clearly is not working anyway!)… so many things to do and so little time!!

But the show must go on, and the first half of the Boasters League season is winding down with just 10 days to go before all the scores need to be sent in. There are still a lot of players that have not reached that 5 match minimum threshold and are risking removal for the second half. I am eagerly awaiting the mad dash for make-up matches up until then…

Looking at the standings, it appears that Mongoose have the first half honors in the bag. They just had their bye week and are still 25 points ahead of second placed Butter Nutz - who have virtually zero chance of catching them – because they have the unenviable distinction of having to sit our next week with the bye themselves. Otherwise, the teams ranked 3^rd through 8^th only have a 23 point spread and of course mathematically could overtake Mongoose if they suddenly play a truckload of make-up matches, but in reality we all know how unlikely that is. Stranger things have happened mind you.

Oddly, last night wasn’t brimming with as much activity as I was expecting considering the looming match deadline, but we still experienced a couple of curious results… Brian Rassel (Wardogs) took down one of our giants in Jed Elley (Butter Nutz) with an excellent 2-1 win. Jed admitted that Brian played well, which he clearly did. Brian mentioned that when his line and length are where they are supposed to be, the game suddenly becomes a lot easier to manage… go figure!

In another ‘upset’, Greg Allare (Foss Nation) handed Derek Aguirre (Nick at Night) his first loss of the season taking him out 2-1. I did not see this match, but Greg has been improving steadily this season and this is a great reward for his hard work.

I did get to watch the third game between Ted Morris (Foss Nation) and Andrew Peleman (Nick at Night) though – and if you were a casual observer one would have though Ted was in deep, deep trouble. I could hear the heavy panting from outside the glass. Andrew looked calm and collected, ne’er a bead of sweat would drip from his brow. Looks can often be deceiving, these two were actually battling out a doozy after splitting the first 2 games 15-14. Ted ended up being the steadier of the two players in the end and took the 2-1 victory, took the first lunge to the door the get off court and then took the first heave to the bench to sit down.

A special mention to Michael DiFrancesco (Wardogs). Not that he lost his match last night 2-1 to Mr. Lobster-Shorts, JB Peabody (Butter Nutz), but that he will be leaving us next week to move back to the east coast and his home village of Philadelphia. Michael takes up a new job and new opportunities and we wish him the best of luck. We are sorry to be losing a young and keen squash player, we appreciate his support of the program during his time at the DAC.

So as we move into round 9, keep in mind that all players have up until Sunday, December 15 to complete as many matches as possible. You must reach the 5 match minimum. Please.