Boasters League Semi
Finals ~~
Dragging out the excitement… by Thursday morning, neither of
the 2 semifinal match ups were decided, both of them had 4 matches still to be
played and it was way too close to call. I am all in favor of close results,
coming down to the last possible match, game, point, the final seconds… except
of course when it’s my daughter playing a tennis match where unless she wins
6-0; 6-0, I’m a nervous wreck that can’t sit still for 5 seconds straight as my
hair either falls out or turns greyer and greyer, and my fit-bit thinks I’m
having an intense workout as the heart-rate skyrockets to dangerous heart-attack
zone levels.
But, as an outsider with no dog in the fight, when winners
are decided at the buzzer there aren’t many things more thrilling. Just like
the Hail Mary pass that the Packers successfully executed against the Lions in
December of 2015 to win the game… remember that? Or the bungled punt the
Wolverines managed pull off against the Spartans in October 2015 to lose the
game… wow! Amazing, no? How exhilarating was that! Or should I say infuriating?
Depends on what sideline you’re standing on, I suppose. I guess I shouldn’t rip
open old wounds here, let’s talk about the squash instead.
Mongoose v Butter Nutz
Let’s cover the bonus points first. Being a semifinal,
neither team were outstanding in this category. That’s a little surprising
considering the history of Mongoose
and Captain Paul Huth’s ability to
get his players to turn up. They picked up only 11. Butter Nutz did just one better with 12, which also isn’t dazzling
but it does give them the tie-break in case the scores ended up even.
As I mentioned earlier, neither team established any
dominance over the other, they swapped victories as the evening progressed. I
caught the most of the final game between Mike
Petix (Mongoose) and Brandon Tasco (Butter Nutz) after they had split the first 2. It appeared to be a
microcosm of the overall battle between the teams. Both were running themselves
into the floorboards, both were hitting some great winners, great pick-ups,
long rallies. It was difficult to tell who exactly was winning, Brandon would
steal a couple points, Mike would grab the next two… It was Brandon who ended
up with the spoils on this occasion, but both players were probably happy it
wasn’t a best of 5 match. They were happy, however, to reach the keg
downstairs.
Jeff Gembis (Mongoose) nullified that result with
his own 2-1 win over (new Dad for the third time congratulations!!) Ryan MacVoy (Butter Nutz). It’s actually not a bad result for Ryan (not that he
may agree with me) considering his new family addition and no doubt the lack of
sleep he has been enduring lately. Surprisingly, it’s only the 5th
time they have played a match – Jeff has now won 4 of them.
Sam Quilter (Butter Nutz) will be pleased with her
revenge win over Nick Ioannou (Mongoose) after her round four 2-1
loss. She reversed the result this time with her own 2-1, unperturbed by Nick’s
blinding fluorescent yellow shirt that glows in the dark and is used by NASA in
space exploration.
When Thursday came around and 4 matches were still to come
in, Mongoose held a 4 point lead
even though they had won 1 less match than Butter
Nutz up to that point. The difference being that they scored four 3-0 wins
and opposed to losing just one. My prediction last week of Mongoose winning by 6-7 points overall was looking fairly good at
this stage. It was still looking acceptable after the first 2 results came
back. Each team recorded a 2-1 win, essentially cancelling each other out, maintaining
the 4 point spread but with now only 2 matches to complete.
The next score sealed it for Mongoose. My fellow Australian and Hawk supporter (… talking Aussie
Rules football there …!) Damien Rocchi
avenged his round four 1-2 loss to Mark
Montgomery with a solid take-no-prisoners 3-0 triumph, and with that
propelling his team into the final! Throwing a little extra sand into the face,
Andrew Peleman (Mongoose) held his ascendency over his brother Matthew in the final match with his third recorded victory in a row
(3-0) and now holds a 3-2 overall lead in that little family rivalry…
Final score Mongoose
42 to Butter Nutz 32. My prediction
was close.
Winky-Dinks v Nick at
Night
 |
| Brian Bartes and Jeff Jorge with photo proof of bonus points! |
Battle of the bonus points? Another down to the wire result
here so every point would be precious. The captains were doing their utmost to
get as many of those bonus points as possible and I have to hand it to them –
they did a mighty fine job of threatening, demanding, intimidating, pleading,
begging, and selling their souls to get their players to turn up. Even after I
was back home, I was getting phone calls and photos of proof that a couple of
the late comers were in the club claiming their point. Yanked out of their
houses in support of their team… it worked. Both teams picked up 15 bonus
points, cancelling each other out (!) and making sure the victor would be
decided with the squash racquet.
In one of the most engaging matches of the evening, was
between Justin Winkelman (Winky-Dinks) and JB Peabody (Nick at Night).
I have to question, though, JB’s choice of fashion. Firstly, why would you even
be in a shop that sells it, then secondly why would it occur to you to buy it,
and then thirdly, proudly wear them as squash shorts? Salmon colored shorts
with blue lobster prints all over them. A sight for sore eyes, and if your eyes
weren’t sore before, they are now. I mean, who thinks of these things, and then
who thinks it would a great idea to actually make them? Anyway, I digress.
After splitting the first two games, I thought JB and his lobsters were spent.
He was in a little distress fitness-wise. Justin took control of the third game
at the start, but faltered close to the finish line. JB found his second (or
third?) wind just in the nick of time and rolled off the last half a dozen
points or so with some solid power kills shots leaving Justin stranded with no
answers. At least his shorts were normal.
Brien Baker (Nick at Night) also got away with a 2-1
win over the ever improving Greg Allare
(Winky-Dinks). Brien is a tough
customer with his wing-span and tendency to punish you with short angles. Greg
can run all day, but he was a little too inconsistent with his line and length
giving Brien a few too many opportunities to volley. The fourth time these two have
played, and now they have 2 wins apiece, every result has been 2-1.
Once again, by Thursday morning, it too close to decide a
winner. With 4 matches to play, Nick at
Night held a very slim margin – 2 point lead. Up to this stage, both teams
has scored three 3-0 wins, but Nick at
Night had the two extra 2-1 victories. If I had to guess right now, I would
lean ever so quietly to Nick at Night,
contradicting my forecast from last week. But it’s a subtle lean… hardly
noticeable… more a posture issue than lean really…
As the results crept in, not much headway was being made
either way. Colin Casey’s (Winky-Dinks) won 2-1 but that was
matched by Brian Bartes’ (Nick at Night) 2-1 victory just an hour
later. The Tom Fabbri (Winky-Dinks) took care of business with
a 3-0 win, only to be quashed moments later by Renee Fershee (Nick at Night)
and her 3-0. The 2 point spread wasn’t budging.
It was coming down to the final match… or so we hoped. Unfortunately,
an injury and then illness prevented the match from even getting started, and Winky-Dinks had to concede that result,
giving Nick at Night the 40-38 win
and a chance at Boasters League immortality next week!
We are all set for the Mongoose
v Nick at Night final. These two
teams met all the way back in round 1 at the start of January, and believe it
or not, they tied 29-29. Mongoose
did pick up more bonus points that day, but by the way Nick at Night have been turning up for the finals, I doubt that
will be a problem. Thirteen of the 17 matches were played that day, Nick at Night won 7 of them. There
seems to be no advantage either way. But, what the hey, I’ll make a prediction
anyway and send out the kiss of death… It will be close, but my spidey-senses
are tingling fractionally more towards Nick
at Night..! 
