Tuesday, June 30, 2009

4.5 Qualifying Tournament

Friday

High Point v. Huffhines @ Brookhaven

This is a rematch of the regular season matchup that High Point won 4-1. Two of those wins were 10-8 third-set tiebreakers so I don't think either team is expecting an easy win. Always interesting to see which team makes the proper adjustments in the rematch.

Saturday

Huffhines v. Royal Oaks @ LB Houston

Rematch from the fall championships that Huffhines won 3-2. Quite different rosters for each team with ROCC adding Andrus and Kelley and Huffhines adding Xu and Hawkins. Unless Huffhines gets blown out against High Point, this match will be crucial for both teams. Molina seems like a sure win but I'm not quite ready to give Andrus that same distinction.

Sunday

High Point v. Royal Oaks @ Greenhill

Interesting matchup between two strong teams. Huffhines could make this match meaningless if they win their first two but otherwise, the championship will be on the line. I give ROCC the clear advantage in singles but I would say the opposite for dubs. I think it will come down to which team gets the right matchups in doubles.

Please keep your discussion limited to the 4.5 QT.

Monday, June 29, 2009

3.5 The Season in Review

Div A Champ "Huff-Whines"
3.5 A
City - Huffhines/Ratcliffe 8 - 0 **Division Champs**
QT - Lifetime Fitness/Kaiser 7 - 1
City - Brookhaven/Milke 5 - 3 **Fall Champ**



3.5 B
City - Garland/Sisk 8 - 0 **Division Champs**
QT- Westlake/Haney 7 - 1
QT - HP/Jameson 6 - 2



3.5 C
City - Greenhill/Kayser 7 - 1 **Division Champs**
QT - Fretz/Albrecht 7 - 1
QT - Lakes Tennis/Foy 5 - 3



Flights A & B pretty much went as planned.
I was wrong about Sisk having a rebuilding year, after visiting Garland Tennis Center and seeing the Al-Qaeda like training ground Sisk has set up I can see how he keeps getting fresh blood into his system.

FYI...Did you see the Westlake match? 3 out of the 5 lines retiring?
Wow! nice way to end the season.

LT came up one 3rd set 10 point tie breaker short in a 3-2 loss vs Huffhines, vanquishing them to the QT.

Things got wild and woolly in the last weeks in flight C,
Both OC and CC flinched in the last weeks and let a surprising Lakes team into the QT,(For the first time?)
Greenhill was able to right their ship and take their rightful place as Div C champs.
Fretz finished with a very respectable 1 loss.

QT 5 team round robin
Round 1 - 6pm LB Houston Fri
Westlake vs Highpoint
Fretz vs Lifetime
Round 2 - 9am Greenhill Sat
Fretz vs Lakes
Lifetime vs Highpoint
Round 3 - 1pm Brookhaven Sat
Lifetime vs Westlake
Highpoint vs Lakes
Round 4 - 11am Brookhaven Sun
Lakes vs Westlake
Highpoint vs Fretz
Round 5 - 3pm Northwoods Sun
Westlake vs Fretz
Lifetime vs Lakes

Waiting in the City Play-offs
Huffhines/Ratcliffe
Brookhaven/Milke
Garland/Sisk
Greenhill/Kayser

And just to show I'm a fair critic....
EPIC FAIL OF THE WEEK
Lifetime Fitness
Loses 2-3, You came up one set short.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

4.5 Playoff Scenarios

Alright guys,

This is a big week for a lot of 4.5 teams this Sunday. It' s very unusual for this many teams to be playing for something in the final week of the season. Here's what the teams need to do to make the playoffs.

Flight A

Actually everything in this flight is decided except for positioning. Oak Creek/Branch is locked in first place regardless of what happens vs. Royal Oaks this week. Feldman and Royal Oaks are locked in the 2 and 3 spots. Unless there is some scheduling advantage to finishing two or three, neither of these teams has anything to play for this week. It will be interesting to see how the Branch v. Royal Oaks match turns out.

Flight B

For this flight you will have to get the calculators out. One of four different teams can win the flight and any of those teams can also miss the playoffs.

Brookhaven--can clinch first place with a win this week against the Lakes. With a loss, they would actually drop out of the top three and miss the playoffs. The Lakes has some solid players so it will be interesting to see how Brookhaven handles the pressure of being #1 for the first time all season.

High Point--would most likely clinch first place with a win and a Brookhaven loss. A win would clinch a definite spot in the QT though. Against DFW Hilton they will be in without a doubt.

Huffhines--could clinch first place with losses from Brookhaven and High Point. More likely, they will need a win and must stay ahead of Greenhill. A 4-1 or 5-0 win would clinch for sure, whereas a 3-2 win would put them at risk.

Greenhill--can only make the playoffs with a loss by Brookhaven or High Point, or by winning two more lines than Huffhines. Against a tough Oak Creek/Juhn team, it looks like they will be on the outside looking in yet again.

Predictions:

Oak Creek d. Royal Oaks 4-1
Brookhaven d. Lakes 4-1
High Point d. DFW 4-1
Huffhines d. T Bar 4-1
Greenhill d. Oak Creek 3-2

Brookhaven and Branch win their flights and advance to the DCC along with Feldman and the QT winner. The QT will consist of High Point, Huffhines, and Royal Oaks.

Thoughts?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

4.0 Final Week

So one more week to go and playoff spots are on the line in a couple of flights but a couple of flights are all but set in cement.



Flight A:

This is one of the cement flights as TBar faces off against Springpark and should win easily and head into the DCC. HP/Bob will casually join them as they finish off their final match. BTW, thanks for all the calls and emails last week about my "secret", not a huge deal in this flight but I could see this scenario happening, you all will just have to wait and see the results come in for this flight. Hackberry hangs on to slim hopes and will need a 5-0 sweep and some help to get into the QT tourney.



Flight B:

Upset of the year in this flight had to be LB Houston beating Stonebridge on Saturday, Stonebridge had to best shot to catch us but now have eliminated themselves from playoff contention. Of course we have to play this same LB Houston team on Saturday so thanks for the heads up that this team has not packed it in. Brookhaven fell as well this week to Garland, Garland clinches spot in DCC and Brookhaven falls out of playoffs entirely unlesss some teams lose around them. They do have Huffines in front of them so there are style points to be earned. We did our part in trying to get that QT spot and with Garland's help we actually moved into 2nd place this weekend.



Flight C:

This flight has gotten interesting as three teams are still in it for 1st and 2nd and one could possibly earn a wildcard spot as well. The MOW is Brookhaven v. LB Houston, the winner will be in and the loser will be checking their tiebreakers to see if they are still in the playoffs. The Village has JCC and "should" win and then will await the outcome of the MOW to see if they are in or not. I wish I had a read on this flight but there has been some odd results and lineups. Looks like Burt might not have had their best players out v. the Village and thus the Village came out on top. The Village must be kicking themselves for that early loss to Garland/2 (yikes!?). I will say looking at these rosters the Village is the best overall team but they have to toughest road to make it into the QT.



Flight D:

Another of the cement flights, I guess I will call this a 2nd MOW but even if one of them sweeps each other they will just play each other again in two weeks in the QT. I do know Eddie and Don have small rosters so the best most likely will be out to get a tune up. I like LTF 3-2 in this one. Springpark should be good to go into the DCC if they win this week.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

4.5 Week Eight Results

A couple of important matchups that will have a big impact on the playoff picture this week. Use this space to post results and potential playoff implications of the Sunday matches.

Greenhill v. Brookhaven is the battle between the two teams with the best record, winner takes clear position in first place and the loser goes on life support for playoffs.

Royal Oaks faces T Bar in what looks like an elimination match for the loser. Royal Oaks could conceivably get in with a loss here but T Bar is definitely gone if they lose. Also, one of T bar's singles players is still in the Tyler tournament so that can't help their chances.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Hitting the Grass - Wimbledon 2009

This year's grass event is intriguing even though Nadal is out.

A couple of obvious plotlines:

- Will Federer continue to capitalize on Nadal's absence to lock down GOAT status (if he hadn't already).

- Will Andy Murray electrify Britain and keep the trophy home for first time since Fred Perry.

- If Murray does win, will he wear a kilt to the Champion's ball (he is a Scot after all and it would help to distract the attention away from that weird hair)

- Can Andy Roddick take advantage and at least play for the title again?

- Will James Blake show up?

- Will the Bryan Brothers finally get back on track?


Some very good first round matches to look forward to:

- Lleyton Hewitt vs Robby Ginepri
- Andy Roddick vs Jeremy Chardy
- Sam Querrey vs Ivan Ljubicic
- Rainer Schuettler vs Xavier Malisse
- James Blake vs Fabrice Santoro (i love watching how he confounds everyone on tour - he's retiring this year)


Grass is unpredictable but I think Federer's dominance is not. He will win again.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

4.0 Week 8

So a pretty good weekend as the playoff picture is getting ever closer to being decided and should be locked in by the end of day on Saturday barring any major upsets in the final weekend. There is still positioning as far as the DCC and QT to be decided though in the final two weeks.

Flight A
T Bar all but clinched the top spot in this flight as they beat Hackberry this past weekend. Hackberry has an outside chance at a wildcard but they would have to sweep their final two matches and they would still need some help from other teams. Team Bob had a close victory but keeps qualifying more and more players for the playoff run. There is one development I could see happening in this flight that could be dramatic but I will hold off on making that prediction until it happens...

Flight B
Looks like the MOW occurs in our flight again as Garland takes on Brookhaven/Bartlett for a claim for 1st place in this flight. A win would guarantee Garland a spot in the DCC since all other teams in this flight would have two losses. Of course I am cheering for that result. Go GTC!!! We made it through Stonebridge in a tight match last weekend but now sit with them hoping to rack up some style points this weekend and await the outcome of the MOW.

Flight C
This flight heated up as the Village took out LBH/Hicks this weekend and now it is a three team race between those two and Brookhaven/Pearlman. They all play each other over the next two weeks. LBH has HP/Harrigan which will not be easy followed up by BH/Pearlman so they could move up to first or drop out entirely. The Village has BH and then JCC so I like their chances to split those matches. I want to make a prediction on this but it is just too damn confusing. If I have to make a wager I am putting my money on BH and the Village to come out with the 1st and 2nd spots here. Not sure why I have picked the Village in the past and they have let me down so I am due on this pick. Most likely whoever finishes 3rd will not have strong enough numbers to get a wild card spot.

Flight D
ZZZZZZZZZZZ. This flight is just as boring as flight A now. I guess the only mystery is how many more players Eddie can get DQ'ed in two weeks. It is too bad the big final week showdown will not decide anything more than seeding in a round robin tourney which I can't see being advantageous to anyone. I did hear Eddie had a rough go at the Plano Open as he had a set lead and up 5-1, 40-love and somehow lost the 2nd set and the 3rd set. Ouch!

Monday, June 15, 2009

3.5 Week 8

3.5 A
"The Huff-Whines' Boys" Get Spotted 2 defaults by JCC and win 4-1
Lifetime squeaked by 3-2 over Stonebridge...
This is the only division left with two undefeated teams.

Huff-Whines will be tested this week by the wildcard Brookhaven.
Should be interesting.
If Huffwhines were to stumble this week they could stumble right out of the play-offs.


3.5A Team Standings

3.5 B


Big Durrty took down Westlake this week and it's all over except for the crying in this division.
Looking back was anybody in this Division worth a damn except for Durrty and Westlake?
Wake these two teams up in July.

3.5B Team Standings

3.5 C
Epic Fail of the Week

Canyon Creek and Oak Creek

You were right there, The door was open, it was right there in your face, you just had to grab it.
And instead you jerked the wheel to the left and flew off the cliff.
Fretz and Greenhill Clinch post season spots and play for First and Second Place in the 3.5 Match of the week,

3.5C Team Standings

Match of the Week 6/21/2009 :
Fretz/Albrecht @ Greenhill/Kayser

We are almost there kids 2 weeks to go..

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

4.0 Week 7

Yikes, is it almost Thursday already, I guess I better get a lineup together since somehow we are in the 4.0 MOW. Things are starting to flesh out in the 4.0 ranks but after this weekend it will look even more clear. Can't skip over the big news that came down on Monday though as Team Eddie (Lifetime) lost Andre Vahdat to a DQ and thus lost their match to Springpark. (That is why I picked you all to win 4 so you had some leeway guys). This does alter their team significantly but they are not out of the playoffs but will be headed to the QT instead most likely with OC/Smith who they face in the final match of the season.

Flight A
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Hackberry still has their makeup match with TBar so there is an outside chance this flight could get interesting but I am not banking on it. TBar to the DCC along with HP/Bob everyone else stays home in this flight. Don't expect Bob to be doing anything but qualifying players because he doesn't want to risk joining the DQ counter.

Flight B
Last week was an interesting one as Brookhaven pulled off a great win over the Lakes to knock them out of the playoffs and keep pace to stay right behind Garland. I was at the match and the Lakes had this match in their hands to win but unfortunately a few points turned the momentum as Brookhaven was able to prevail in what turned out to be the deciding doubles match. That breaks a pretty good streak of playoff appearances for the Lakes with this core group of players but I have a feeling they will be back again soon. The MOW occurs in this flight as the SWAT team hopes to avoid joining the Lakes in the "gone fishing" category of league tennis as we take on Stonebridge (5-1) who is also at the top of standings with Brookhaven and Garland. Next week is the Brookhaven v. Garland showdown which might just decide 1st place. Garland picked up a few players this week as well as Sisk starts to plan for the future in 4.0 as well as 3.5.

Flight C
This flight could be decided this week as a big matchup occurs between the Village and LBH/Hicks. LBH is showing they are for real as they continue to stay unbeaten and I think they will do the same this weekend. They will play Brookaven on the final weekend to decide 1st place if they keep on pace.

Flight D
So this flight is all shook up at the top as Lifetime dropped from 1st to 3rd and evil Springpark someone sits in 1st with OC and LTF matches behind them. I think that final match will be interesting but as I mentioned both of them will be in the QT anyway so they might just wait until then to show their best lineup.

4.5 Week Seven

Alright guys,

Sorry for the delay in 4.5 posts but the divisions have really gotten interesting. Both flights have only four teams left in contention with only the top three teams from each flight making the QT. Some of these teams face each other this weekend and we should know a lot more after Sunday.

4.5 A

Status: Oak Creek/Branch and Royal Oaks are on a collision course with a combined 53-7 record. They don't play this week but Royal Oaks could drop significantly with a loss against Feldman this week. ROCC plays the top three teams the next 3 weeks so that is when we will find out what they are made of. T Bar is on life support and can't afford another loss if they want to make the QT.

This Week: Only two compelling matchups this week as ROCC takes on Feldman and T Bar takes on the overachieving Bovermann team. There is a youth movement in 4.5 and ROCC and Feldman are an example with at least 3 players under 21 between them. Interesting to see how they will fair against top-level 4.5 opponents. T-Bar should roll over Bovermann to stay in the hunt.

Predictions:

ROCC d. Feldman 3-2
T Bar d. Bovermann 4-1
Branch d. Hackberry 5-0
High Point d. Stonebridge 3-2
Village d. Collin County 3-2

4.5 B

Status: This flight was totally shaken up last week due to Greenhill's 3-2 win over Huffhines. There is now a 3-way tie for first place with the top two teams only being separated by two sets. High Point is a close 4th but will need a lot of help to have a chance at winning the flight. Only three of these teams can advance to the playoffs and we still have Huffhines v. High Point (this week) and Greenhill v. Brookhaven (next week) to come. High Point will be all but eliminated with another loss after their crushing loss to OC/Juhn a couple of weeks ago.

This Week: The feature match of the week is Huffhines v. High Point. HP has done well against my teams in the past so I'm expecting a tough match. HP has added a couple of new players to the roster too so I'm sure they will choose this week to bring them out. None of the top 4 teams can afford to lose another match if they want to win. Springpark could provide a tough test vs. Greenhill if they are still playing to win. Springpark has underachieved this season but they have an undefeated line 1 singles player to go against Greenhill's 1-2 singles punch. How will the Plano Open impact the matches with Griggs and Howard both playing 4.5 singles?

Predictions:

Huffhines d. High Point 3-2 (you know I have to pick my team)
Lakes d. LB Houston 4-1
Greenhill d. Springpark 3-2
Juhn d. DFW Hilton 4-1
Brookhaven d. T Bar 5-0

Let the trash talk begin!!! Welcome back anons, I missed you like I miss hemmorhoids.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

3.5 - Week 7

Alright it's getting to be that time of the year,
Matches are starting to matter,

Names are starting to be called,

Captains are being called out...

Week 7, Lets Get it ON!!!!!!

3.5 A

"The Huff-Whines' Boys" won again this week 3-2.
They keep just scraping by. Is this a sign of weakness or just part of Ratcliff's master plan to stay under the radar. In any event they are still on a crash course with Lifetime.

Lifetime and Brookhaven each won as well,

3.5A Team Standings

3.5 B
Durrty Garland delivered the death blow to High Point this week 4 -1.
Westlake squeaked by 3-2,
Setting up 5 - 0 Garland/
Sisk vs 5 - 0 Westlake/Haney for the B Division title.
This is for the Season, Believe it!


3.5B Team Standings

3.5 C
Epic Fail of the Week
Greenhill loses to Canyon Creek 2 -3,
This effectively turns this Division into a 4 way cluster fuck giving both Canyon Creek and Oak Creek an outside chance at slipping into the post season.
Hey Oak Creek, kicking yourself over that loss to the lakes?
Greenhill must run the Canyon Creek, Fretz, Oak Creek gauntlet to make it out alive.
And Fretz needs to win at least one of there last two versus CC or GH for guarantee post season play.
The next 3 weeks in this division should be very interesting,
Does Canyon Creek have it in them to make a run?

3.5C Team Standings

Match of the Week 6/14/2009 :
Westlake/Haney @ Garland/Sisk

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Women's $50,000 Tennis Classic

The Grapevine DFW Hilton is hosting the Women's $50,000 Tennis Classic this summer. This is largest women's tennis prize money event in the area. The pre-qualifying tournament starts July 1st. If you would like to play in the pre-qualifying or know someone that would like to play, you can sign up at the link below.

You need to have a usta membership to play the pre-qualifying tournament.http://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=82061

The qualifying starts July 4th. It is free to attend the pre-qualifying and qualifying events. So let's get a big group out to show our support. The main draw tournament begins on the July 6th, the semifinals will be on the 11th, and the finals will be on the 12th. This is the first year for this event. We need each of you to come out and watch as many matches as you can to show your support and make this tournament a huge success.

Tickets are available online now at the link below: http://hiltondfwchallenger.eventbrite.com/

Buy your tickets now to have them mailed to you. Box Seating is the best deal and the best way to share this experience with your teammates. Box Seating is limited.

Thank you,

Felipe (Tony) Wescoup

4.0 Champion Division - Fall

There was chatter on the blog several months ago about the possibility of having a "best of the best" division to have great competition every week in a season that has very little meeting. I'm opening that conversation back up as it seemed that most folks were for it, but to make it happen there would have to be some conversations with Jane Gilpin and the USTA. I don't know what if any reservations they may have to do a test in 2009.

I'm willing to spearhead that conversation but need to ensure the captains and players truly are wanting to find a way to improve our overall league.

The key questions in my mind for this to happen for 4.0 only:

1) Are the captains/teams willing to give up possible playoff opportunities in the Fall for great competition during the season (only the top 2 of say 8, would be eligible)?

2) Are the captains/teams willing to give up the automatic qualifier for the Fall winner into the Spring playoffs for this to happen (thus everyone starts level in the Spring)?

3) Can we develop a decent mechanism to keep this continuing in the future (i really like the idea of the 2 worst teams in the Fall rolling out to 2 new teams with best records from the next Spring that weren't in).

Let's discuss.

Please captains, give me your direct feedback either here or offline via email (rockettjobe@gmail.com).

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

4.0 Week 6

So far other than flight A things are still up in the air as far a playoff spots so this week gets even more interesting with some interesting matchups and some makeups still out there that might shed some light on the top teams in each flight.



Flight A

The most interesting makeup of the season might just be here with Hackberry v. TBar. Anyone know the date for this, is it being made up individually? I guess the question is can anyone take down TBar and have HP vault back into first place. HP/Bob had a somewhat close match v. Canyon Creek as Weymer dropped a 3 setter to Patricio Rodriguez. No interesting matchups this week so we will just wait and see if an upset occurs. Closest to an upset might be LBH/Jones over Hackberry, although it wouldn't be a major upset it would all but cement the two top teams in this flight.



Flight B

This flight keeps getting tighter and tighter and with the top 5 teams separately by the narrowest of margins and luckily we all play each other so it should begin to make sense in the next two weeks. The MOW in this flight is Lakes v. Brookhaven (I will come check this one out, 3p at the Lakes). If the Lakes wins they are in the mix for sure and would have 3 light teams on their schedule, if Brookhaven prevails they have only Garland left as a major obstacle. Next week the SWAT team takes on Stonebridge which should further clarify the top spots. I like the Lakes 3-2 (of course I kind of have to, don't I)



Flight C

I am not going to pretend to know what is going on in this flight as 6 teams are still in contention for the top two spots but this week is huge in this flight with all these teams playing each so it "should" make more sense after this week. Village v. OC/2 (Village wins here but close), undefeated LBH/Hicks v. Greenhill (I see Greenhill winning here), BH/Pearlman v. HP/Harrigan, I want to vote with my old friends on this one but with singles play about even I think BH will win enough at doubles to take this one. I will be pulling for Steve and the crew though, sorry Burt.



Flight D

So we can talk about Eddie now. YEAH! The MOW of the week is Lifetime v. Springpark and first place should be on the line although I am not going to discount OC altogether. The OC v. Springpark makeup lived up to its billing as it was close but Springpark prevailed. I hate to drink the Eddie Kool-Aid but I don't see this match being close maybe it is because I drafted Johan and Brian into our 4.5 team but I just think this is a bad matchup for Springpark, Lifetime is just a little better at every spot. Sorry Black Panther, I see a 4-1 Lifetime win. OC will be taking out their frustration v. Stonebriar this week and I see them going 5-0 until they meet LTF at the end of the season which I think will be a very close match.

Monday, June 1, 2009

3.5 Week Five

Sorry for the lack of 3.5 threads lately.
I have been super busy between my house arrest and a sever case of swine flu.

I am ready to call the season over and start my play off predictions.
Lifetime, Huffwhines, Garland, Westlake, Greenhill, Fretz, and the wildcard Brookhaven.
I guess the only question now is who will play who and when.

Notable notes from this week,
1) Lifetime singles ringer Alan Gerber gets taken down, I guess he could not stand the heat.
2) Highpoint has an outside chance of making thing interesting if they can beat Garland this week,(3.5 MOW Garland v Highpoint)
I know Sisk is taking this one seriously so watch out.
3) Our Epic Fail of the Week goes to two contenders, who became pretenders this week!
In Section C, The Knock Out Blow was delivered to both Oak Creek and Springpark.
Done, son!
3.5A Team Standings

3.5B Team Standings

3.5C Team Standings

Match of the Week 06/07/2009 :
Garland/Sisk @ High Point/Jameson

Discuss!!!