Monday, June 30, 2008

4.5 Playoff matchups

So this seems like a good time for the 4.5 teams to have their time until Wednesday when the pairings come out for 3.5 and 4.0. 4.5 is set for the QT weekend on July 11-13.

Here are the matchups. Racer X and AR Hacker we would appreciate your thoughts and you too Corey even though you might be a bit biased on one side of the bracket.

Flight A
Pretty sure since OC/Branch won the flight there will now just be a four team round robin at the DCC which will include TBar M and the winners of the flight QT weekend.

Hackberry (5-3) v. Royal Oaks (5-3)
On paper Royal Oaks should win easy but they have shown they are the a mysterious team in getting out their best lineup and playing their best tennis. The first meeting went 4-1 for Royal Oaks but they have lost their last two matches of the season and Hackberry has not lost since they played Royal Oaks. Could be a good one.

Winner of above match plays OC/Feldman.

If Royal Oaks wins they have a shot to take out the OC team since they had a pretty close match the first time around. I would like to watch this match I think it would be very exciting.

If Hackberry scores the upset win over Royal Oaks I expect and easy win for OC. If they somehow muster enough for the win on Saturday I don’t see a carryover into Sunday.

Flight B

High Point (5-2) v. Brookhaven (5-2)
I know the result was BH 5-0 the first time around but it was close. It will hurt that four solid players will be playing on the 4.0 team and Uhlig didn't qualify but Gilson and Yoshida could do some damage at singles and the Phams are tough. I like HP in a close one.

Winner plays Village/Noel
Not sure if I think the winner of the first match which will be dog fight can bring enough heat the following day to challenge the Village. I think if HP or BH wins easy they will cause Corey's team some problems. I know fitness won't be an issue but even though this format is shorter I think knowing you are in an elimination match can take something out of you so I like Corey's team to make it out of the QT.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

3.5 Final week

So flight A big match final occurs this Saturday. Garland can win or lose and they will be OK but High Point needs a win to stay out of the dreaded QT with Lifetime and Oakridge lurking there. I am not sure who will win the Garland v. HP match, it all depends on the lineup card, both teams have changed lineups all season and I am pretty sure this lineup will be a new one for both teams.

Flight B has 5 teams jockeying for 3 spots although CC/Jolly has clinched at the very least a QT spot and they would really have to screw up not to win this flight. The other four teams GH, GE, SB and OC/Nehlsen can all still get in and they are playing each other which is good since they will have no one to blame but themselves if they join my team one the "Gone Fishin'" boat.

Flight C
BH v. Lifetime. Simple winner goes and the loser stays. Lifetime has to be the favorite but they have been a favorite from the start of the season and they have two losses so I am not counting them as a guarantee in this match.

4.5 Breakdown courtesy of Racer X

4.5 update

I missed a week. I had to go on strike. Cary wasn't paying enough. Glad we worked that out.

In the last two weeks, the 4.5 world went a little nuts. A couple of huge upsets and an even bigger shocker.....OC Boverman's team won a coman breaker.

On to team rankings: In 2 the last 2 weeks, this became a mess. I may have to just start drawing names out of a hat. Quick guess. Which team has the longest win streak after OC Branch. Surprise- Hackberry is tied for 2nd with 3 wins in a row.

They should get number 4 against the Lakes this week. They are what you call hot. Making that late push for the QT.

1) OC Branch (1) (7-0)
2) Village (4) (5-2)
3) OCF (3) (5-2)
4) tbar (5) (6-1)
5) Royal Oaks (2) 5-2
6) High Point (6) 5-2
7) Brookhaven (7) 5-2
8) Hackberry (9) 4-3
9) Greenhill (8) 4-3

WTF Match Number 1:
High Point over tbar 3-2- I really, really underestimated High Point this season. High Point was 1-7 in the Fall. Great turn around here. Maybe I shouldn't consider this one a shocker. HP has now beaten the 2 teams ahead of them in the 4.5B standings. This was a tight match with the #2 singles coming down to a coman. Yoshida is the hero here.

WTF match #2
Lakes over Royal Oaks 3-2 (and coulda been 4-1).If you are Royal Oaks, how do you lose this one. The Lakes was the last winless team and they go out and beat the previously number 2 ranked team. This is one of the biggest upsets in 4.5 in a while. Either the Lakes has been playing all year for next year or Royal Oaks isn't as deep as they might need to be.

This match featured a WTF inside of a WTF. Matt Duford (0-10) this year at 4.5 takes down Greg "the club pro" Zachary in a third set coman. This singles match reminds me of a conversation I had with the wife (only 7 years here- Cary's got me beat). I yell to the wife- "what is that smell. Are you cooking something." She answers, "Just cooking up some of that chicken you like." Hmmmm, after much thought I yell, "wow, something smells fishy. Is that you or the chicken." I discovered the couch was a bit lumpy to sleep on that night.

WTF #3
Hackberry over Greenhill 4-1. Never seen this before. All 5 lines went to 3rd set Coman's. This could have gone 5-0 either way. This is where you would really like to see OC Boverman on the other side of the net. This was a tough lose for Greenhill because they clinced the playoffs with a win. Now they have to hope to win more lines against a tougher opponent than Hackberry wins next week. Not quit the penthouse to the outhouse but close.

Match of the week.OC Branch over OC Feldman 3-2. These old rivals go after it. Another close one to pin on the wall. This one included 3 3rd set Coman's. Coulda gone a lot of different directions. Probably a preview of something that will be seen at Cities.

Next week. 4.5B is done. Tbar gets the bye to city. QT has High Point playing Brookhaven with the winner going against the Village. A bigger breakdown will follow in the days leading up to the QT.

4.5A.1 biggie. OC Branch v. Royal Oaks.

Had RO's won last week this woulda pitted the 1 v. 2 match up. OC Branch can't be caught so I anticipate they empty that deep bench and who knows what RO's will do. A good solid win might bump them up to the 2 seed (doubt that happens).

And a couple of results to watch. Hackberry and Greenhill are tied for the last spot in the QT. They go in tied in record and lines won/loss. The good news for GH is they go in with a 2 set advantage. The bad news for GH is they play a slightly tougher Springpark while Hackberry plays bottom dweller the Lakes. Prediction- Hackberry says hello to QT. Of course, by just predicting HB's win, I have just cursed HB. Sorry!

4.0 Playoff thoughts

So I am guessing this is what the playoffs will look like. Please correct me if I am wrong I have been drinking tonight.


DCC
Flight 1
HP/Somabut
GH/Arnette

Flight 2
Lakes
Springpark

QT:
Flight 1
1-Lifetime-29 total wins
4-LB/Spagnola-21 total wins
6-BH/Helterbrann-19 total wins

Flight 2
2-TBar-26 total wins
3-Garland-23 total wins
5-LBH Jones-21 total wins

Two teams make it out of the QT since High Point won their flight. If the QT flights stay like this it would obviously come down to LTF and LBH in the 1st flight with LBH probably winning a close one.

The other flight will be tough. I know Garland beat BH but not sure they could duplicate that win again so easily. TBar is good but how good since they lost to the only two quality teams in their flight. So I guess I would have to go with Garland.

As far as the DCC, HP should coast to the final and get one of the spots and the other flight will be very tough and I would have to go with Springpark granted they don't lose Gene or Mitch.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Latest league results

So 3.5 is getting close to wrapping up.

HP/Jameson posted a big sweep and added a last minute player-Victor Rodriguez. Always a fan of a fellow Latino, hopefully he played some Davis Cup for S. America so he can takedown dirty Garland next weekend. Sisk I would love to come watch but it is my daughter's 1st B-day party so I don't think I will drive her down to the GTC to celebrate. Good luck to both teams, who am I kidding...go get 'em High Point.

In flight B there is logjam or teams as Stonebridge beat Gleneagles today. It is a good thing GE starts strong because they always seem to fizzle at the end of the season. They are still in the mix for the playoff spots along with GH, CC and Stonebridge and OC/Nehlsen has a say in what happens as well. Should be a great last weekend.

Flight C will be decided next week as Lifetime plays Brookhaven. OC nailed down 1st place today with a convincing win so the other three teams will sort out positioning next weekend.

4.5
No results yet on GH v. Hackberry that match should tell us who will get the top spots and the order will work itself out next weekend.

In flight B the Village and HP posted wins. BH hasn't reported but it looks like those four will fight it out for the playoffs in this flight. Sorry to see Uhlig didn't qualify for the playoffs, knowing Erik's game from playing with and against him he could have played with anyone in the 4.5 league here in Dallas and gave HP as chance to score some big upsets.

Corey, what happened? Hard for me to envision someone taking you to the woodshed like that. Looks like Collins might be a 5.0 come mid July...

Latest tourney results (Tyler)

So still waiting for some Saturday results, hopefully late tonight or early tomorrow. Trae gave a good breakdown on his match.

Someone posted Blumberg's win over Forrest which was impressive, 2nd and 3rd set were not that close.

No big upsets so far so should be some good matches going on the rest of the weekend.

Post what you know...

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Potluck post

Well I hate too many postings it just seems messy and I am a neat freak. So too much to think about I will just throw it all in one post.

First thanks to Brian, OC BL and Darth Prather for coming out last night as well as Trae and Leonard as they geared up for their showdown in the early AM tomorrow. Marc was the man of the night as he came back from 7-5 to beat Brian and then get revenge on Prather. We did have a warm up set where he had to carry me in doubles and we lost 5-7 to Brian and David. I took the big zero on the night but happy to report my knee is back in action and I am ready to play some more tennis. That means you Sisk!

We might need beer next time, for Marc especially he has too much energy and we need to slow him down.

Tyler starts tomorrow, the biggest winner so far is DEFAULT who keeps taking out people with double bagels. It should open up the draw for some new faces to do well so it should be interesting. Good luck to all of you heading to East TX.

4.0 wraps up this weekend with some spots to be decided, some good matchups are taking place and I do think their will be an upset or two.

3.5 is a little boring this weekend but those are the weeks when someone can slip up and drop into the QT or worse out of the playoffs entirely but don't see any trap matches like that.

4.5 is all but decided except for positioning but the difference between 2nd and 3rd means one less match to go the DCC so that is a big deal.

And finally Anonymous posting won the vote and will stick around. I know some of you get worked up but I generally ignore idiots but like having them around, they are fun. And who knows everyone once in a while that idiot might be me. To the person who said that everyone should post bad things about me until I take off the anonymous posting remember I am celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary this July 4th, I doubt you can insult me more on a computer than I have dealt with over the past decade of marriage. (oops, please don't tell her I said that.)

Monday, June 16, 2008

Super Senior recap

So the super senior league concluded and Huffhines will represent Dallas at sectionals at the 7.0 level and TBar at the 8.0 level.

I mentioned Lamson/Milke who had a tough match v. Oakridge this weekend but apparently it didn't have near the drama of their matchup with Huffhines just last Friday.

Brookhaven just need to win the match last Friday to advance in this league and Robert Lamson and his partner had a chance to finish off Huffhines and take the sectional spot but...

after winning first set 7-6 and getting up up in second set 5-1, 45-5 and serving for the match. Huffhines stormed back and not only won the 2nd set, but won the match in the 10 point 3rd set 10-8. This was a nail biting match for both teams as even though Huffhines won 7 straight games, they were not runaways.

Thanks for the info from Huffhines and good luck at the next level.

Tyler Major Zone

3.5-S

Singles should run through Enrique Molina with Prather not far behind since they both have good seeds.

Ones to watch: Scott Blackburn, Gilberto Flores, Marc Ivy, Robert Wisdom


3.5-D

I really like the top two seeds; they will be tough to beat.

Ones to watch: Ivy/Centi, Stein/Kincy

4.0-S

Tuyen and Ismael as the 1 and 2 seeds, when I saw this I felt like I was in a time warp and it was 2007 in the 3.5 draw. I have to give it up to Tuyen for his point grabbing as he moved up a level. He has a better record at 4.0 I think than he did last year at 3.5. Not sure either of could win it but they should be factors. Forrest Feuille has to be the strong favorite; no one has shown they can beat him yet. Jose Gonzalez of FW had a strong run last week and might be the one to make him work; I hope they don’t meet early.

Ones to watch: Donald Allen, Blumberg, Matt Ellis and Turpen

4.0-D

Can anyone stop a Newman/Voss—Brouer/Robinson finals rematch? I don’t see a team that can do it so I guess we will just wait to see how this time around goes. Shouldn’t they just play each other at HP some night during the week so they can head home early on Sunday after the semis?

Ones to watch: Ellis/Kistler, Freeman/Morris, Martin/Nguyen, Ludwig/Kraemer

4.5-S

This group should be excited that Alfonso Rodriguez is taking the weekend off and letting someone else have a shot at 400 points. Shmucker would be the favorite and the #1 seed but there are some other candidates out there like Miles, Goldberg, Kallus and maybe two other dallasites Noel and Warren could make a run if they don’t see each other early like in Waco.

4.5-D

Only two seeds and both look pretty solid. Romerhaus and Hopper should be tough to beat. Some of the 4.0 Somabut team are playing up to get some good practice. I like one of them to make it far, probably Phy Pham and Hai Nguyen. I am going to plead ignorance on most of the other names so I will ask for some insight.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

4.0 last matches this weekend

So one final weekend at 4.0. A lot is decided but with the addition of the two WC spots to the QT there is still many matches that will shift positioning.

In flight D the top four teams all play each and all have chances to get in, Springpark has clinched a QT spot but not a flight win quite yet. LBH could be missing Walker, Allen and Ratana so I am not sure what their chances will be but even with two losses they could still make it in.

In flight A Lifetime just has to win to hold their QT spot and the same goes for TBar but they actually play a team in LBH/Au that has just two losses to HP and Lifetime so they will need to play well.

In flight B the Lakes just needs to show up to pick up the DCC ticket while Garland needs to win and should make sure to get at least 4 lines because BH is still close behind and with a 5-0 sweep over OC could climb back in the race.

Flight C: I have no idea but it looks like Greenhill and Canyon Creek unless that mysterious team default by LB/Jones is updated. I have to be honest I am not sure how good Greenhill is, they have past experience but their doubles has not been solid all year long but they do have depth at singles. Canyon Creek also seems curious with some good results but nothing jaw dropping.

3.5 Weekend upset

So I didn't even think there was league going on but the Oakridge boys decided to schedule a double header on Saturday. After ripping through Greenhill in the AM they took on a solid Brookhaven team and lost out 2-3.

Looks like it was a close match and Milke/Lamson almost pushed the win to 4-1.

This really shakes up that flight and Brookhaven now has a chance to make things really interesting and mess up all of our predictions.

Good win John and Brookhaven.

Any insights from David and John about the match??

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Plano Open (early results)

So some pretty good competitors this weekend at High Point. I wish I could have played but maybe I will stop by for some matchups.

Blumberg took out Jim Walters in the first round and then gave a double bagel to his 2nd round opponent.

Trae Bowman will fact #1 Trevino after he took out tough defensive player Taketomi.

At 3.5 Brinkman (new blog star) is doing well and into the 3rd round. He looks like he will face Whitt of Lifetime in a good match up if they both win their next match. Teammates Jolly and Reitzer will hit each other in the top half of that draw probably to decide the finalist in their half.

In the 4.5 draw Miles and Griggs are peforming well as is Keller of the HP team who crushed Steven Terrell of Springpark. Sandbagger Ratana, apparently isn't playing out of level unless you consider the consolation bracket impressive.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

1st true DQ at 3.5 (big shocker)

Our first DQ of the season, congrats to you all for going this far. Some of us were starting to fall in love with Greenhill's team as a potential upset candidate in the QT but not so sure as they lose Raymond Zernick, a 60+ player who was beating up on young guys like they were ladies.

I wished he would have hung around I think it would have made the QT very interesting.

I think Gleneagles and Stonebridge probably benefit the most in that flight knowing that GH will have to come up with a win over Stonebridge without him. They do have Zach Stein and they will still have a shot at getting their way into the playoffs.

No 4.0 DQs or at 4.5? Any thoughts as to why not.

I hope this is the last but I have a sneaking feeling a couple might occur during the playoffs.

Any candidates?

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Another week off (challenge matches?)

So we have yet another bye week for Father's Day.

Come join the singles or doubles ladder and get in the action.

For those of you I have talked with about playing my knee is about 60% so hopefully by next weekend I will be good but more likely it will be middle of next week.

More results

So the playoff outlook is starting to come together especially at 4.0 and 4.5.

As the rest of the results roll in we should know exactly what needs to happen for playoff spots and positioning.

Garland over BH, I have a feeling I won't stop hearing about that result. UGH!

Bitch about the DTA and upcoming playoff format

So we have a few folks angry about the DTA so as requested here is your own space to talk.

Please make some good bullet lists maybe even a pie chart or two and then we can all email Brian Modic and the crew about some changes and get them started soon.

Fall season is no that far away.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Weekend results

Just a few early results but CC/Jolly went down hard to Greenhill (nice win GH) Reitzer got taken to the woodshed big time.

HP Jameson won and added a new singles player who lost a close won to a very good McHugh from CC.

Village/Noel at 4.5 put a big result out there to solidify their position.

Lifetime and Oak Creek are probably wrapping up as I write this, interested to know what happened there.

Friday, June 6, 2008

4.0 Playoff picture

Since you 4.0s are hanging out more this week, here is what the playoffs would look like if it ended today.

What will this weekend hold? we will have a lot better picture. With the two flight system seeding starts to matter so those Springpark 3-2 wins they are getting by resting Gene and Mitch might start to hurt them.

DCC
HP/Somabut-21
Lakes-20
Springpark-19
Greenhiill-17

QT
TBar-21
CC/Heflin-16
BH/Pearlman-16
BH/Helterbrann-15

WC to QT
Lifetime-19
LB Houston-15

Monday, June 2, 2008

4.0 this week

So in Flight A.......yep still the same. But wait High Point v. T Bar this weekend, I am actually excited and I hope Bob's team is awake and ready for this match, should be good.

Flight C
Greenhill is getting back on track but Canyon Creek and LBH is hanging right with them.

Flight B
Garland got a close win without Trey and hangs in the mix but has Brookhaven this weekend, that match will decide alot. Brookhaven got trounced v. the Lakes so they have something to prove after getting their clock cleaned this weekend.

Flight D
Uhhh. I really thought we had an upset but we lost 2-3 AGAIN. Springpark remained undefeated and three teams sit at 4-1. BH v. Stonebridge should be good this week.

3.5 this week

As predicted not much happened this weekend that was interesting except for Stonebridge and Brookhaven faltering and probably costing themselves a shot at the postseason. They were both good teams but they were going to have a tough road anyway and now it has just gotten really tough.

So I was a little early on the CC/Greenhill match but it will happen this week and should be good. Greenhill is pretty much playing for their season, it doesn't get much more interesting than that.

HP v. Canyon Creek/Carman. I know someone posted this could be interesting, I doubt it will be unless HP takes them lightly.

The big match is Lifetime v. Oak Creek. This should be great. Time and place????

4.5 this week

Looks like things will start to take shape at 4.5 after this weekend.

In Flight A Royal Oaks takes on Greenhill in what should be a great match.

Flight B has three teams tied at 3-2 but the Village seems to have the upper hand there and signed up Jason Warren. Corey follows my philosophy, if you can't beat them, get them signed up on your team. Village has two bottom feeders to finish off the season with so 2nd place should come easy.

High Point has TBar and OC/Bovermann so should be tough but possibly since TBar can play a little loose and still maintain their 1st place slot.