VIVIO’S SURGING

Boasters League round 3~~ 

From last to 4^th. Vivo’s were wallowing in the depths of darkness after round 2, dead last and hardly disturbing the score keeper. Now, with a bunch of make up matches and a (so far) perfect win record in round 3 (6 matches, 6 wins), they flung themselves into 4^th with a week’s best 38 points. That’s 5 points better than next best Mongoose, who still managed to increase their lead atop of the standings.

So a little better action with the top 4 teams, but not so much concerning the remainder. Nicker Ballers have been very consistent with their bonus point tally – unfortunately it’s appallingly low with just 4 per week. Wardogs have also gone MIA which is surprising considering they won the first half. They have played the least amount of matches so far this half.

It was meet the candidates last night, so we did see some decent action. Not just on the court, the buffet table saw constant waves of attacks, snipers, and raiders. Nothing like free tacos to attract the masses… “Om-nom-nom-nom…”. Server Tony at the keg woke up this morning with an achy arm and shoulder from pulling beers non-stop. It was actually great to be a part of a full court area again.

The on-court action was where the mouths were empty, but the lungs were heaving. Greg Jones (Foss Nation) and Schuyler Hamill (Nicker Ballers) had a looong 3 games. It was almost as if I was watching a video game as most of the game was located in the front two-thirds of the court, lots of drops and angles, but both players would be standing still admiring their shot and waiting until the other one sprinted it down and then did exactly the same thing: Hit it, watch it, wait… then tear off after the next one. In other words fellas… “Get back to the T!!” It did, however, make it entertaining. Greg by the way won 2-1.

Picking up his first win of the half, Michael Essian (Over Served) is getting more comfortable every week. A great confidence booster for him, he managed to hold off Anita Prys (Mongoose) 2-1 and hand her, her first loss of the half.

Brian Ellison’s (Cadiuex Café) match gets a special mention as well, not because of the toughness of the battle against Scott Beals (Butter Nutz), because it wasn’t. Brian won 3-0, the third game a pulverizing 15-1. But because of Scott’s blissful aura despite walking off the court after the match with his backside in his hands. He was in heaven. Why? Because earlier that evening he won his doubles league match against Vikram Chopra and Robin Basil. Of course, it would have everything to do with Jed being his partner, but a win is a win. So delighted was Scott with the best win of his illustrious squash career, he left everything on the doubles court and forgot to take it with him to the singles: his mind, his swing, his racquet it appears…

Into round 4, I expect more results to be rolling in now. (Me, being the eternal optimist!) Clearly my warnings about letting matches pile up went unheeded, which I guess as a married man, I should be used to being ignored. But time will be catching up with everybody and I have a feeling things will turnaround. I also wonder… for how long will Scott Beals mention this epic doubles win every time the conversation he’s involved in turns to squash... or even when it doesn’t? Will squash shoes ever be on the market again? Will my neighbor ever, ever, turn off the lights inside their house or are they actually afraid of the dark? Things to lose sleep over…