TOP TWO PULL AWAY

Boasters League round 5~

Butter Nutz were out in force for round 5. Fifteen of their seventeen players were accounted for, 11 matches have so far been completed for this week, and they are looking pretty sitting on top of the standings. The Winky-Dinks have also done well to keep pace. Their numbers were not as impressive as Butter Nutz’, but they did get a few make up matches completed over the week to make up for it and are still only 5 points back of the league leaders. It will be imperative for Winky-Dinks to keep up with those make-up matches as they will be sitting on the bye for round 6.

Space Geckos were the biggest disappointment for the round. Together with Nick at Night, they picked up the least amount of bonus points for the week (9), and together with Foss Nation, picked up the least amount of points since last Wednesday (21). (Not counting Wardogs who had the bye). They are still in third place, but instead of being just 9 points off first, they are now 24 points behind. They have a lot of work to do to catch up now, especially since they have the undesirable bye in the final round of the half.

Vivio’s, however, were the week’s best performers. Since round 4, they have picked up 41 points overall, putting them on equal standing as the 5^th placed Nicker Ballers, but are in 6^th position because they have accumulated less bonus points for the season. If Vivio’s would have the same amount of bonus points as the Nicker Ballers, they would be in 4^th spot, just 1 point back of the Space Geckos. In fact, Vivio’s are second last in the league in that category. Pays to turn up, doesn’t it?

Some (not all!) highlight matches of the week include: Steve Smihal (Winky-Dinks) has remained undefeated so far and picked up his 5^th straight win taking out Jim Miller (Foss Nation) 2-1. Curt Pedersen (Nick at Night) was moments from death as he tried to figure out how to end a rally against Nolan Monforton (Space Geckos). “He wouldn’t stop running!” was the message I received on my phone, but maybe Curt’s 6-foot-7 frame was a smidge too tall for Nolan. Curt won 15-12; 14-15; 15-14. I think the fitness room is missing an oxygen tank…?

Zac MacVoy (Butter Nutz) did all he could to hold off the stubborn red Rich Stimson (Vivio’s) to take his 4^th 2-1 victory in a row and keep Rich winless so far; and James Van Dyke (Nicker Ballers) let his new Ninja racquet do all the talking as he sliced and diced his way to a 2-1 win over Mike Petix (Mongoose), his 3^rd of the season.

As we approach the downhill portion of the first half of the 2016-2017 boasters league, it is my duty to once again remind all of you that 5 is the magic number. December 9 is the deadline to complete as many matches as possible, anyone not reaching the magic number is subject for replacement. I have 18 players on the waitlist, chomping at the bit to join the foray!

FOSS NATION FREE FALL

Boasters League round 5~~

From 4^th to 8^th. Even though Foss Nation did have the bye week and it was expected that they would drop on the standings because of it, they did let themselves down somewhat by picking up only 4 points in makeup matches. Complacency is the perfect recipe for failure, just because your team has the week off from the regular schedule, doesn’t mean that you take the week off from getting on court! Now, Foss Nation needs to play catch-up and that is usually not an easy strategy.

The good news is that the current top four teams on the standings are all yet to have their bye week, so catch-up is certainly possible. However, the top four teams are clearly more active than the rest: they were the top 4 point getters in round 4. And the top 3 teams have accumulated the most bonus points this season as well (so far).

In comparison to the 2015-2016 season after round 4, we are just about on par with how many points overall have been scored, so that is a positive statistic. Although I do think that we could (and should) be beating that number. Based on how popular the league night has become - it was packed in the court area last night - the feeling is more results should have come in. It’s fantastic to see so many people milling around (the keg) on Wednesdays, if only that would translate to the league matches just as much!

Here are some of Wednesday night’s stand-out matches: Andy Adamo (Nicker Ballers) picks up his second win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Jason Currie (Vivio’s) handing him his first loss. Taking nothing away from Andy’s no doubt silky smooth performance, Jason may want to reconsider his pre-match warm up ritual of plastic-cup-arm-raises. Brien Baker (Space Geckos) also notched up his second win this season taking out Bret Williams (Mongoose) with a 2-1, boast-riddled victory! And JB Peabody (Nick at Night) – who has come back from a lengthy squash hiatus to rejoin the fray – scores his first win, taking down Butter Nutz’ Adam Pabarcus 2-1.

As I mentioned above, the crowd was quite considerable last night. It appears that part of the challenge on league night is now how fast can the members kill the keg. It took a mere 2 hours to drag out the empty barrel carcass, which was slightly faster than the effort portrayed on opening night. Still, the bar was kept busy for some time afterwards as well, all the courts were still occupied by the time I left, and by the short video I received from a member this morning, the bravado-brew had clearly affected the ability of some to remember whether they were left or right handed. At least they couldn’t hit the ball hard enough to hurt themselves. If they could remain upright, that is.