Monday, July 21, 2014

Playing For Peanuts







In the immortal words of Charles Schulz, “I would have won but I got off to a bad finish.”  That’s about as much sense as I can make of 3.5 tennis.  I’ve been hit up all season for some analysis, any analysis, on the 3.5 leagues but I know next to nothing about the teams or the players.  Of course these people made the city playoffs and I did not so I’m going to give it a try.  In fairness, I asked around a little bit and very few people seemed to know much either.  So with very few insights and a little research, here we go.
There were only two flights and only one undefeated team this season.  The combatants will be Greenhill/Alzuro as the #1 seed, Fretz/Nguyen as the #2 seed, and High Point/Gardner as the #3 seed (QT winner).  Both Greenhill and High Point had one self rate disqualified.  Evidently this is not a round robin.  Instead, I have been told that #2 will play #3 and the winner will play #1 in the finals.  So it should be Fretz v High Point in round one.
High Point’s only loss was against Greenhill.  For the season they went 4-4 in singles against the four best teams in their flight.  Their DQ’d self rate played line 1 singles or doubles in four of his five matches, so that had to hurt.  Fretz went 5-3 in singles against its top four teams but had a 2-3 loss to a team that High Point beat easily in QT.  That’s a little discouraging.  I’d call this one a coin flip but will take Fretz based on High Point losing a top player.
For a Greenhill versus Fretz final I’ll have to take Greenhill.  I'll take Greenhill if High Point makes the final as well.  They went undefeated in the tougher flight (according to QT results) and they only have to play once so they should be fresh.  The Fretz versus High Point winner will have played an extra match and will have harder time getting their best lineup out for both matches. 
Not extremely insightful but that’s what I’ve got.  By the way, if he was playing this weekend I’d take Snoopy at #1 singles.  Good luck to all the competitors. 

34 comments:

  1. I'll be back with a sectionals preview for 4.5 after I have a chance to do some research and make a few calls around the state.

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  2. At sectional just take Houston.

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  3. 4.0 sectionals schedule is filled in. After the last few years I'm predicting a Houston massacre. This may not be Freeman's best team but Houston will have three teams in the semis, with Houston, Wild Houston and NOHO all winning their flights. Somabut still has the golden touch. He drew the easier flight with the Dallas wild card and should win his flight before falling to Wild Houston in the semis. Sectionals is a rematch of Houston cities, with the Hurricane coming out on top again.

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  4. While you are at it wasting your time, why don't you do an analysis on 3.0.....for Bob Bender's sake?

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  5. Snoopy actually has a nice looking serve. Good toss, full extension, head up. I could have used him on my 4.0 team.

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  6. Not sure which team this would be but usta men's little state is August 8-10 in beautiful Montgomery, Texas. How can you pass that up?

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    1. Canyon Creek would do well at Little State. Their teams have been merely victims of being in the flights with the best team.

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  7. Looks like Houston and Wild Dallas drew the favorable flights. Dallas and Wild Houston square off. Fort Worth is in with Austin and the Valley, both of which have roll in with some hot shots in the past.

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    1. Yeah, 4.5 will have some interesting decisions to be made on those huge roster teams. Pickett in particular may have to be careful about spreading the playing time too thin.

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    2. Nobody can say they were tired.

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  8. Does it matter? Freeman will anally sodomize Dallas... again. Has anybody beat his guys in recent years? NO!!!! I don't see it starting this year. That short little fat effinate pwns us.

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  9. So, do we want to beat Freeman and not complain about tanking. Or, do we want to keep complaining and never win?

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    1. I'm pretty sure there will always be complaining.

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  10. Clark is looking forward to the sodomizing, but he's wondering if it can happen any other way "butt" analy?

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  11. And for the record, I'd rather play my level and let the cards fall where they may, rather than cheat and be sodomized.

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    1. Sounds like being sodomized is just fine with you. Were you always aware of your affinity for butt sex?

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  12. SpringPark beat Freeman's team a few years ago.

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  13. It's an off year for Dallas. Reminds me of a few years ago when Sisk lost in 4.0 semis and Somabut lost in 4.0 finals. Those were actually close matches but Freeman had taken that year off. Most of the better teams in Texas seem relatively close until you get to him.

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  14. Clark got excited when he first read the new thread. .. Thought it said Playing for Penis.

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  15. Maybe Marc and Joel will finally square off when it really matters. Since Marc had Dallas to fall back on it's hard to tell how much they put into FW.

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    1. Both of their teams are strong. I hope they play and at least one goes to nationals.

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  16. Looks like Somabut was smart to drop the finals. He got the better flight. That's why he's the master.

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    1. can't be the master when he didn't know what flight he would be in.

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  17. Watch out for Austin. They have a Marc/Joel size roster and beat the second and third place teams by a combined 10-0. Joel is going to have his hands full getting past them.

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    1. Austin is strong across the board this year. They could win 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5. Freeman's reign is nearing the end.

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  18. Can you appeal an early season rating? If not, can you still play in the lower flight until end of the year ratings? This early season rating thing doesn't make sense?

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    1. The best person to ask these questions is Sherri with the DTA. E-mail leagues@dta.org and that is the best place to get answers.

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    2. You can appeal the early season rating. The only thing the early season rating affects is what level you can play in your fall league. All other usta events can be competed at your 2013 year end rating.

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  19. How about a poll... 3.5 Talk.., yes or no

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    1. Don't know anything to say about them. When does Flora play this weekend?

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  20. Sisk's fall 4.0 team has Tony Le on the roster. That should be interesting. That is a lot of shady players on one roster and the only players are 3.5 Flora and Le.

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    1. Flora and Le would be a good 3.5 doubles team next year.

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    2. Le is a 4.0.

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  21. Need to get Capt Fantastic back on the blog if you want any 3.5 talk or breakdown, as a career 3.5er he knows his stuff!

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