Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Breaking Bad




For those that don’t know the premise:  A good person, chooses to do a bad/illegal thing, for a greater cause.

In the land of crystal meth, Walter White is a humble chemistry teacher who gets terminal lung cancer.  Rather than being a  burden to his family with medical bills and leave them behind in debt, he cooks meth to make money to provide for his family for the rest of their lives.  As he becomes deeper involved, he finds himself doing things he never imagined. 

In League tennis, where everyone is trying to get their hands on the “Crystal” from Nationals, we are seeing the same thing.  Good people, doing bad things, for a greater cause.  The lines of morality begin getting crossed, and what once looked black, now looks grey. 

It initially begins with recruiting out-of-level players, managing scores, and tanking in the Fall.  As they get deeper in, they realize they must go further.  Get collegiate level players down to 4.5, have them lie on their self-rate questionnaire, create bogus leagues and enter false scores.  Anything to build a squad to get to the “Crystal”.

The Playas:

 Walter White (aka Jason Freeman) – Walt is a chemist.  He is thorough, precise, and calculating.  He leaves nothing to chance.  He produces the best product on the street, over 99% pure. 

 Like Walt, Freeman has the manufacturing process down and produces the most teams to get through Sectionals.  While he hasn’t gotten his hands on the real “Crystal” (yet), he has made the most runs at 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5 trying.  At least 8 attempts that I count, that he has led directly or indirectly a team that has made it to Nationals.  You would think being 0-8 one would give up trying.  But not Freeman.  He cooks up a more potent batch of players each year to make his run to try and bring home the “Crystal”.

 

Jesse Pinkman (aka Tony Le) -  In the show, Jesse really is a good kid.  His indiscretions however cloud his better judgement which leads him in to constantly getting into trouble.  Unlike Walt, who is methodical and calculating, and who leaves nothing to error, Jesse tends to be a bit careless and sloppy. 

Like Jesse, Tony means well, but hasn’t provided enough oversite of his players and has allowed too much “breakage” in the process in the form of DQ’d players.  In the land where execution and precision is key, these slip-ups have weakened his overall team.  While he is still capable of producing a high quality product, he has made it harder on himself to get his hands on the “Crystal”. 

 


Gustavo “Gus” Fring (aka Craig Fox)  – Like Gus, an inconspicuous business owner and under the radar person, he has the largest manufacturing and distribution of the crystal.  He goes against the Mexican Cartel, cutting them out of the business. 

In his footsteps is Fox, who has formed a super team of former Lamar University teammates coming from countries like Chili, Peru, and Budapest.  Most of these players have been ranked collegiately or nationally in some form or fashion, and are planning to derail any dream of Dallas or Houston.  While we think what Freeman and Le have done is bad, Fox has taken it too another level.  It will be interesting to see how good these guys really are, and if Lamar spits out top level D1 players.  If they are as good on the courts as they are on paper, I don’t see anyone stopping these boys from getting the”Crystal”.

Tuco Salamanca - (aka Mike Vogl) Known for his connections to the Mexican Cartel, Tuco is a heavy weight wholesaler north of the border.  Vogl, a former Arkansas Hog and runs one of S.A.'s Country Club tennis centers, has been recruiting strong ex-college players as well.  With S.A.s proximity to the border and college ties, they bring a formable team and aren't a write-off.
 

Hank Schrader with the DEA (aka Todd Reed with the USTA – Texas Section)  -
 
Like Hank who spends every waking moment chasing down those breaking the law, Todd Reed has been busy busting Pinkman’s (Le’s) street peddlers by handing out DQs. 

Like in the real show, Hank always had his nose up Pickman’s ass, totally neglecting the real perpetrators, Walt and Gus.

 

 


Behind the scenes cast members (for grins):
 

 

Saul Goodman (aka Todd Feldman) – While Saul isn’t one of the main characters, he is the shyster attorney that comes across as a used car salesman, always orchestrating and plotting a plan behind the scenes to cover things up. 

Like Saul, Todd goes unmentioned but seems to always be on a roster of a team in the playoffs, and has been to the big dance himself back in 2010.  While not a shyster lawyer, he may hit you up for insurance when on the court.  (Not that he reminds me of a used car salesman.)

 

Skinny Pete (aka Sean Arcaria) - One of the playas from Jesse's possey, Skinny Pete introduces Jesse to Tuco who is a wholesaler for the Mexican cartel.  He also gets held up and has "spillage" of product.

While behind the scenes, he has Jesse's ear and is a sounding board he uses for advice.   He has been around the block before, and knows betta.  He shouldn't have allowed for the spillage and DQs occurring on their self-rates.



 



Combo (aka Bennett) - another one of Jesse's possey, Combo gets shot which puts a hole in their street peddling. 

Bennett was one of the last players to play with Gilson before getting his final strike and DQ.  Perhaps he could have kept Gilson more in line??





So there you have it.  The cast is in place and drama set for the weekend for those chasing the "Crystal".

If you are a Breaking Bad fan, I hope you enjoyed.  If you aren't.....I bet you become one.

CF
 

78 comments:

  1. For more light on springpark suspension, this post and match might have had something to with all their suspensions:


    AnonymousJune 2, 2015 at 11:16 PM
    Murray, redo your opening blog. SP not going to win sectionals at San Antonio. Confidence shattered and now just a has been team. The run is over. beautiful!

    Reply

    anonymousJune 3, 2015 at 6:17 AM
    Wow... Like I've done before with the blog. I'll answer each person.

    First, give credit to Greenhill. They have a solid team. They won. We didn't choke. They won. If you look at all my post this year, I said this is the toughest 8.0 league we have had in years. I don't think that team will finish the season undefeated. We will see them again in playoffs and if they beat us again, I will congratulate them and wish them well at sectionals.

    Second, Mike won 3-1. He didn't get his ass kicked. I know it doesn't matter because the team lost, but he won.

    "Confidence shattered" REALLY? We are all fine. It was a Tuesday practice match. We've been beat before. When we won in 2010, we were best twice that year. It's really no big deal. We will still try our best at sectionals. And if we get beat, we get beat. Again, we've been beaten before.

    Finally, one tiny shot at Greenhill spectators. Which they had a few. Well more like spectator. My initials are AA. Maybe you should look up what else that stands for. You may need it getting that drunk on a Tuesday night and acting like a total bitch. I won't name names, but when your own team wins and then apologizes for your actions, you may need professional help.

    And again congratulations to Greenhill. They played great and there was no issues on the court. But, don't sit back and enjoy it to long. It's a tough and long season. We will be ready for round 2 at Briokhaven.

    AA

    And addiction is a disease, get some professional help.

    And please post some names. I I like to know who I'm talking to.

    Reply
    Replies

    AnonymousJune 3, 2015 at 7:12 AM
    Look at Alan come to board and let everyone know he is "OK", but then go on and whine about some spectator. Classic little bitch move.

    Keep on tankin' Alan...it fits.


    AnonymousJune 3, 2015 at 8:09 AM
    Greenhill had the same problem at men's 40s cities. Don't know if it was the same guy but at 40s cities Greenhill had a non-playing spectator who was drunk, heckling during points and cussed some players as they came off the courts. Their captain apologized several times after it was all done but no one said anything to the drunk during the match. Pretty embarrassing.


    anonymousJune 3, 2015 at 11:39 AM
    I'm so sorry. I just found out that the person I referred to as an alcoholic was not drinking. I guess that's just her personality. I

    Again, I am so sorry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you have to ruin talk of Men's Sectionals with this trash? Blog Administrator, can you remove this crap ??

      Delete
    2. Spring Park will win city playoffs

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  2. Someone help me understand Tyler Cobb's rating.

    In 2014, he played Men's 5.0 winning 2 out of 3 matches, played mixed 9.0 with a 4.0 female partner winning 3 out of 3 in regular season, and 1 for 2 in Sectionals. He played Open tournaments with mixed results.

    In 2015, he has been playing as a 4.5 winning 3 out of 4 matches, but now playing Mixed with a 5.0 female partner.

    His rating is 4.0, and happens to have 2 matches in with the Hurricanes so he will be playing for Houston.

    How does a guy like this get down from 5.0 to 4.0 in one season ?????

    Todd, you out there???

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  3. Why don't you e-mail Todd?

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  4. Cobb also played D-1 tennis and is under 30 years old playing 4.0 tennis. Todd Reed is on the take from Freeman he wont do anything. Todd Reed is corrupt and we just need to live with it.

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  5. Freeman is out of control. Something needs to be done about his win at all cost attitude.

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  6. Its the entire USTA Texas office. Tosha just as bad.

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. Welcome Back Klamecki. What was on your mind?

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    2. Must of accidentally logged in as himself instead of as Murray or Anonymous. Probably had to remove his comments so he could hide under a different name.

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  8. Tyler Cobb - 2007-08 Men's Tennis
    http://www.lamarcardinals.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1717&path=mten

    There it is right their, hard to argue with that.
    Played or committed to play for a Division I college
    Age 30 and under - 5.0
    Age 31 to 40 - 4.5
    Age 41 to 60 - 4.0
    Age 61 and over - 3.5

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  9. The more updated version:
    http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/ExperiencedGuidelines_02142011_V2pdf.pdf

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  10. Excellent Post, pure genius. Thanks for the time and effort on this! Funny, Funny, Funny!
    If only these privileged, spoiled, lazy, self abusing Dallas tennis players spent as much effort improving their crappy games they would win more!

    ReplyDelete
  11. It doesn't matter. Cobb is computer rated. It's just beyond confusing how someone can have a winning record at 5.0 with 1 loss of 6-3, 6-3 and get their rating dropped to 4.0 from 5.0 I've seen a lot of strange ratings drops and bumps but that's the strangest of them all. Anyways, Cobb could still potentially be DQd depending on how well he manages his scores in Dallas but much harder as a computer rated player than self rate.

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    Replies
    1. It doesn't look like he was tanking. That is why I think Todd did it!

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  12. My guess is that he had a 4.51 dynamic rating throwing him into 5.0. Most of his play before then was Mixed and Tournament. All of his 5.0 wins in 2014 were against 4.5 rated players as well as the 3-3 loss. He also had a couple of tournament beat-downs by 5.0 players which dropped his dynamic rating back down at year end --probably to a 4.24, putting him at 4.5. He appeals and since his DR is closer to 4.0 it gets granted. Definitely should be on the verge of a DQ after the 1-0 win for Houston and his competitive play at 4.5 this year.

    That's where "Better call Saul" comes in. Cook the books and launder the ratings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry - just realized he is a computer rate and not an appeal. I guess the 4.5s he was playing in 5.0 were marginal 4.5 players as well. Seen the double bump-up, not the double bump-downs.

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    2. That's where better call Todd comes in.

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    3. SETX somehow got 2 of the double down bumps, with Horvath pulling a 5.5 to 4.5 move in 4 months flat

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  13. Does a 2-1 record against 4.5s - even lower 4.5s warrant a 4.0 rating???? hmmmm

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  14. So Freeman has a 30 year old D1 player? In other breaking news, the sun rises in the east, and bears poop in the woods. Last year's guy was Hunter Emmott, nationally ranked when he played for A & M.

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  15. Good luck to Pickman and his Possey this weekend. Take down Walt and the Cartel.

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  16. Tony Le Machine rolls 5-0!!! 5 matches to go until nationals.

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    Replies
    1. Tony keeps rolling on. 4-1 and if won the breaker be at 10-0.

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  17. What Hitler post?

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  18. 4.0 Friday - FW leads the early pack at 10-0 but has an interesting 7am match with the Valley tomorrow. Dallas and Houston both sit at 9-1 but there is no other undefeated team in Houston's flight so their flight play work is mostly behind them. Dallas still has Corpus at 2-0 but the San Antonio v Austin match tomorrow is probably the biggest.

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  19. With only one match played at 4.5, most of the work is going to have to be tomorrow. Flight 1 has Austin v SETX; Flight 2 has Houston v San Angelo; and Flight 3 has Dallas v Valley. Houston looks to have the easiest path to Sunday at this point.

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  20. Great post! Though I didn't know Budapest was a country...

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  21. neither is Beaumont !

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  22. Some cheese with the whine? Take it up with USTA, get better younger players, or keep whining. Its all good. Its a GAME. Just because you don't win every year doesn't mean there is cheating involved

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  23. No more easy matches for Le and the gang. Big match against undefeated Corpus this afternoon. Then another one tomorrow against the winner of San Antonio / Austin, who are also both undefeated. Then Houston, if they can get by Rigney's Fort Worth team, who are also undefeated and put up a nice 18-2 record in bracket play.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No hard ones. I've watched, Le has the best team.

      Delete
    2. It isn't even close.

      Dallas
      Houston
      Fort Worth
      San Antonio

      Just like Murray said. This is the year Dallas gets over the Houston hurdle. Thank you Tony Le. This goes to show Freeman that you don't have to cheat to win.

      Delete
  24. WHAT???????

    Are you high? Almost all players go 0-whatever last year and now find there form.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, I am very high. High on the soon sectionals championship. At least it will not be Houston.

      Delete
  25. ThAnks to TTA, cheaters continue to prosper, SETX in 4.5 and Freeman and Le at 4.0

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  26. You'd have to wonder what the guys in until other sections are doing if Texas can't seem to get a national title

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  27. Today is our day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not in 4.5s. Maybe Le can save the day.

      Delete
    2. Zackary loses, but Rigney takes down Freeman! And Le takes down San Antonio to set up a DFW final!

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  28. Saw Tony Le against Corpus yesterday. Pathetic yelling and screaming come on against players a level below him. He makes Dallas look bad. The Corpus team gave him a run for his money though. Funny match to watch

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    Replies
    1. You must be on Wild FW or Wild Dallas because I was there too. CC had a good team and played a great line 1. Nothing wrong with getting yourself up on court when you win a point.

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  29. And in Breaking News in 4.0......Hank (Freeman) gets taken down by Fort Worth. I knew those guys were good for something!!

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  30. Nice to see every now and then the cheaters in Houston don't win.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the cheaters in Dallas or Fort Worth win this time.

      Delete
  31. Dallas 4.5 retired a line and lost 3-2 ? Hope everyone is ok.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Match probably clinched so each team retired one of the two remaining lines, no conspiracy

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    2. Not suggesting a conspiracy......but how is a match clinched at 2-1?

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    3. touche, that is a good point, logical thinking escaped my mind.

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    4. Just an unfortunate injury in the middle of the match. That line (3D) was the first match off (because of the injury). Tip of the hat to SETX. They were a good team.

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  32. Which line. Not showing a retired line in TennisLink

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  33. They had some unfortunate injuries.

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  34. Zackary doesn't play against Le again. All talk, no action.

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  35. Not sure if you can call what comes out of Zachary's mouth as talk. More like jibberish from what I hear.

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  36. Zackary was hurt, Bad knee.
    Way to go Le you are Champs!

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  37. Le pulled of some shady things on Sunday. Surprisingly he got away with them. Hope he wins it all after all the things he's done this year.

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  38. What did Le do that was shady? Get over it. 8:50 post is probably Rigney.

    Is there a bigger idiot than Rigney? He was walking around during the finals complaining how the Le team was out of level. Someone please break it to Rigney that his team is out of level too. You dont beat Houston and make it to the finals of sectionals without having out of level players yourself. Sour grapes.

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    Replies
    1. Rigney is a douche. What did Le do that was shady? I don't know of anything this weekend. He clearly has done a lot all year.

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  39. Did anyone see the guy who played #1 dubs for Rigney's FW team in the semis and final? The one with the HUGE serve? You think he was out of level? LOL

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    Replies
    1. Not if he lost to Arcaria and Newman.

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    2. Did you even see the match? He was the best player on the court. I don't know if his partner was having an off day or what, but he sure didn't bring much.

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    3. You must be him.

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    4. Nope, just someone scouting for players. :-)

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  40. How did Freeman's 4.5 team beat Fox's Lamar players? Did anyone see the matches?

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    Replies
    1. They were better. Freeman had the singles.

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  41. Houston with Vu and Benzon playing was tough, so good win for FW.
    So for you guys wanting to move down give Jacob Vernon a call down in the Golden Triangle and play in their sham of a Fall League. It will allow you go down 1-2 levels easily, 80% of the time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't understand how those 5.0s from SETX went undefeated in 5.0 fall league and moved down to 4.5. If a section doesn't have any 5.0 spring teams at all, does the USTA just move all of their players down to 4.5?

      Delete
    2. appears they managed some scores to keep matches close with average 4.5's so as self-rates it immediately lowered them to 4.5 even though they won. Stupid USTA algorithm. out of 7 5.0's in that league 5 came came down and 2 4.5's moved down to 4.0

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    3. Some of them weren't even self rates....Lopez and Vernon, 5.0 in the fall - no loses, bumped down to 4.5.

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  42. Someone who was at the 4.5 finals said that the SATX singles guys ran out of steam. They had 2 long tough singles matches vs Dallas?

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  43. They just ran out of gas. 18 year old legs versus late 20s playing a second singles match in one morning...who do you think wins that battle?

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