Boasters League Final
~~
It probably wasn’t the most exciting evening ever for a
league final. Ideally, every player on both teams would turn up, cheer their
mates on in every match, and celebrate (or commiserate) the victory (or
defeat!) all together as one big happy squash family, holding hands singing “We are the Champions!” or “Kumbaya” depending on which side of the
result you happen to land on.
But of course we live in the real world and as it so
happens, the converging kismets of the universe would throw that utopian
scenario out the window, onto the street, and have it run over by a 24-wheeler.
What was left of finals night was (comparatively speaking) a low turn-out
considering the stakes.
Seven matches were played early, one wasn’t going to be
played at all (since both regular players couldn’t make it happen and I wasn’t
going to have 2 subs play each other) and 2 matches would need to be played
later. That left just 7 matches for the actual scheduled night… less than half.
On top of that, 4 subs total were needed which is a high
number for the final. Three of those belonged to Nick at Night and adding on all the rearranging that went on, bonus
points may end up biting them on the backside in a big way. It was a problem
for them during the season, and we would have to see if would be a problem for
them here, too.
So, based on all that, my prediction last week of a Nick at Night victory didn’t change but
now I was a less confident in my prognostication abilities… not that I was
overly confident in them to start off with… To be perfectly clear – every point would be precious. Or so I
thought.
The early results coming in was setting up the likelihood
that this was going to be a tight race all the way. Dino Ricci (Mongoose)
started off the campaign for his team with a 2-1 win over Sam Fogleman (Nick at Night),
his 4th straight win over Sam. Evening it out, Brian Bartes (Nick at Night),
then claimed his own 2-1 over Mike Petix
(Mongoose) which is actually one
step better for Mike when comparing that to the 0-3 loss he endured against
Brian when they played back in round 1.
Brien Baker (Nick at Night) picked up the next 2-1
win for his team over Jeff Gembis (Mongoose), but again, it was another
small improvement for Mongoose from
the round 1 results where Brien took all three games. Then Mr. Fashion himself
– JB Peabody (Nick at Night) - decided that the potency of the lobster pants was
his ticket to success and riding the wave from last week, he donned his secret
ingredient to claim his second straight lobster-powered win, this time over Mike Cooney (Mongoose) 2-1. I guess if JB keeps on winning, we’ll keep on seeing
these pants. Oh boy…
 |
| Nick Ioannou and Renee Fershee |
Mongoose’s ‘sure
thing’ in Stefan Houbtchev kept to
the script and to no-one’s surprise, he took down Jed Elley (Nick at Night)
3-0. Jed did all he could to snag a game and ran his South African tuchus into
the ground– I actually watched some of this one - but Stefan was simply too good.
But yet again, Nick at Night came
back with a 3-0 win if their own when Riley
English managed (just) to keep Jay
Bonahoom at bay. It was then Renee
Fershee’s (Nick at Night) turn
to add on to her team’s total taking down Nick
Ioannou (pronounced “Eye-Waaarh-Noo”…
damn you English language!). When I
happened to be wandering by their court mid-match and watched 5-6 rallies, Nick
couldn’t put a foot wrong. Renee on the other hand couldn’t put a ball above
the tin. However, when I walked away, that arrangement reversed itself and it
was Renee taking all 3 games. It leaves me wondering… am I Renee’s Kryptonite?
In any case, at this stage, Nick at
Night had a 13-8 lead.
As the official league night kicked off, Mongoose was not having much better success – or luck. Mongoose Captain Paul Huth had his hands full battling the quick feet of Brendan Fossee but still did fairly
well to pick up one game. No such fortune for Jim Palmer (Mongoose)
who did get close a couple of the games but could not close out either of them
and he went down 3-0 to Matt Turnbull.
Matt Paradiso (Nick at Night) wasn’t taking any
chances or prisoners as he avenged his 1-2 round one loss to Todd Baker with a quick-fire 3-0 win
here. And probably the match of the final, Mongoose
still couldn’t catch a break. Kevin
Kennedy was subbing in for the absent Sandy
Selinger (Mongoose) and split
the first 2 games against Scott
Langenburg (Nick at Night). The
third game was a neck-and-neck wrestling match, both players pushing themselves
that tad bit extra, probably wondering how they managed to run down some of the
balls that they did and then coming out the other side without a torn
hamstring! Kevin held 2 match balls at 14-13 in that third game, but somehow
Scott managed to hold him off for the 15-14 win, delivering another stabbing
blow to Mongoose’s chances.
Andrew Peleman (Mongoose) saved some face for his team,
taking down his opponent 2-1, but it was too little too late by this stage.
Andrew’s win was only the third victory
overall for Mongoose. Mack Gembis (Mongoose) picked up his team’s fourth win with a 3-0 win, but there
were only 2 matches left to be played at this point and Nick at Night were way too far ahead. One of those matches was
played anyway and Damien Rocchi (Mongoose) scored a 2-1 victory over Tripp Kennedy (Nick at Night).
Final score: Nick at
Night 37 to Mongoose 28.
What about bonus points you ask? Obviously it didn’t play a
factor in the result, but Nick at Night
struggled – as expected – and only picked up 9 of them. I haven’t looked
through all the finals over the years, but I would venture to guess, this must
be one of –if not the – lowest totals
ever. Mongoose on the other hand
didn’t really take advantage. They only scored 11 of their own. Just a 2 point
advantage.
In the end, bonus points aside, and subs aside, the stronger
team won. When you win 10 of 15 matches, it’s difficult to argue otherwise. Nick at Night – who, if you remember
were last on the ladder after round 8
– make the miraculous comeback and end up winning the entire season! Just… wow!
