A Tale of 4 Flights

It was the best of competition, it was the worst of competition, it was the age of putting the best teams in two flights, it was the age of putting the worst teams in two flights, it was the epoch of disbelief that our flight was so easy, it was the epoch of incredulity that the DTA would put the best teams together, it was the spring of hope, after it was the winter of despair, we had anew season before us, we had the geezer season behind us, we were all going direct to sectionals, we were all staying home claiming that the team going to sectionals were all cheaters..

While 4.0 is not my thing, Corey already did 4.5 and 5.0.  I will try to satisfy the 4.0 crowd and hopefully Captain Fantastic will satisfy the 3.5 crowd.  Since Kelly and Rossouw are neither 4.0 or below, they  should not dominate this conversation but I am sure they will.

First, I must commend the DTA in finally following through with giving more matches.  In the past, you would be LUCKY to get 7 matches.  This season, each team will be getting 9 matches.  This should help the uber-roster captains.

Now for the DTA status Quo… Per usual, the DTA managed to take flighting teams to a level badness that an accident seems unlikely.  I’ve always thought that by pure dumb luck, they would eventually get it right.  I stand corrected.  I can’t help but think of the great Bif Wellington Hitler video saying, what the hell does the DTA know, they always put the best teams in the same flight…  Yet, here we are and once again, the flights looks to be so bad, it is hard to imagine they are random.

Since it is only logical… We will start with Flight A

Flight A:

There are several of the city’s most successful 4.0 captains lumped together.  You have the reigning ity champion Bazan and he isn’t the usual one here we discuss.  We have Sisk and Somabut in this flight too.  I am unsure if the DTA seeds teams or not but if they do, this is pretty bad.  I believe you should seed based on actual known players as well as captain’s typical past success.  While it isn’t perfect, I am pretty sure Somabut, Bazan and Sisk will all put out quality squads.  With that…

The flight is top heavy.  It has the big three but it also has Oak Creek/Head.  They have a lot of players on one of the 40s playoff teams.  They won’t be a pushover.  Oak Creek looks to be light on singles players.

Bazan has a lot of guys on a different 40s playoff team.  It looks like Bazan raided McKinney/Peterson.  A solid crew.

Sisk has a lot of his usual guys.  It appears he added the remnants of Corey’s 4.0 playoff team.  He still has Flora.  This is another solid team.

Somabut has quite a few unknowns.  The unknowns are always scary but of his computer rates, few look like difference makers.  He has some good ones but not the numbers he is accustomed to having.  Carlquist, Hutchison and Bearden are good pieces.

I am going with

11)      Somabut… Based on his unknown players, Somabut’s best players are usually self rated or in this case fall rated at 4.5 on Hai’s team and struggled mightily.  Carlquist, Bearden and Hutchison are all very good computer rated 4.0s.  It is a mystery how they remain 4.0… Or is it a mystery???

22)      Sisk… He has Flora that is a very good singles option.  His regular guys are always solid and the Noel additions should make him very formidable in this flight.  Sisk has a history of picking up a guy along the way that is a real difference maker.

33)      Bazan..  This team could challenge for either of the first two spots.  There are a ton of doubles options and Rickman has won quite a few singles matches.

44)      Oak Creek/Head… They appear to have so very good doubles lines but no singles.  Sweeping doubles is a tough way to win a flight.

I don’t see much difference between the first three.  If Oak Creek can land a good singles guy, then they could make some noise.  Regardless, 4 quality teams in this flight seems like a lot when some of the flights are lighter.

Flight B:

This flight may actually be worse than flight A.  While playoff mainstays like Sisk, Somabut and Bazan may not be in the flight, there are a lot of other good teams.  This is probably the deepest flight.  You have Canyon Creek/McHugh, Greenhill/Ohl, Fretz/Clark, Eldorado/Browning and Gleneagles/Fults.

All of these teams above are good and can be very dangerous.  Ohl was in the finals of the Fall Playoffs and was close to winning.  McHugh has his very good 40s team.  Clark has a number of quality players and Browning’s team won their flight last year.  Fults has a ton of quality players.  Any of these teams can beat each other on any given week.  This is easily the toughest flight to pick.

My picks are…

11)      McHugh… He has great singles with Huff and himself.  He has several doubles and I think he would add a few more.  Dawson wins a lot of matches.  They’ve been together awhile.

22)      Fretz/Clark… This is a tough call.  He has Zackary who is a really good mixed player and per the previous thread’s comments.. “the best 4.0 singles player in Dallas.”  He has some good players.  Owen Wilson takes a break from Hollywood to return to Dallas for some tennis.  There are a number of singles options with Zackary, Pearson and Smithheisler.  I am just not sure how much he has in doubles.

33)      Greenhill/Ohl… Schwartz and Wettreich make an awful tough singles 1 & 2.  Burton, Schneider and Shanks are all good players that occasionally spend time at 4.5.  

44)      Gleneagles has McCullough and son.  These guys are very good players.  Moen and Fults are as good as any computer rated 4.0.  This is a very dangerous team that will beat at least one of the first 3 teams.

55)      Browning won their flight last year.  I’m not as familiar but they have a lot of the same players. 

This is a very tough flight.  I don’t see a team getting through this undefeated.  It is not impossible, but it will be very tough.  The great big Canyon Creek/DTA conspiracy theory doesn’t hold up here.  They would have moved Canyon Creek to another flight if there was a great big Canyon Creek conspiracy. 

Flight C

It gets easier because these next two flights are not nearly as loaded.  This is almost as easy to call as Flight D. 

11)      TBar/Snow… This is pretty cut and dried.  This is almost the same as the 40s team that I think will do very well at city playoffs.  I know a lot of these guys and they are strong.  They have Chapple, Chad, Lee, Walley, Perry, Snow and I know a few more will be signing up.  David has put together a good team.  His biggest problem is it is not a young team.

22)      The only possible dark horse is Springpark/Mauldin.  They have some pieces but little depth.

Most of this flight is pretty bad except TBar and Springpark.  Yet, this is not the worst flight.

Flight D

If there should be a DTA conspiracy, it may hold with Brookhaven.  Bartlett has the only team that would finish with a winning record in either flight A or B.

11)      Brookhaven/Bartlett… The rest of the flight is just plain bad.

22)      Fretz Jarayam… This team is the only other one that doesn’t just plain suck.

There you go… Feel free to disagree

With that, it is a far less important thing I do now than I have ever done before.  And I am going to a far better drunk now than I have ever known.Well not really, I have been much drunker.