The Bell Curve... Dallas Rules the tails of the curve! Houston rules middle of the curve. :(

Sectionals is over and it was a definitely story of Dallas, Houston and the Little Dwarf cities.  As or commenters noticed, Dallas won 40% of the sectionals events.  In itself, that is a remarkable number.  On the flip side, a comment was made Houston won 60%.  That left exactly 0% for the est of the state.  San, Antonio, Austin, West Dallas (aka Ft. Worth) and all the irrelevant cities were shutout.

5.0+--At 5.0, Lakes-Jannasch brought home the sectionals trophy.  I cannot say I am shocked as I think this is the best 5.0 Dallas team I can recall.  Jeff deserves a great amount of credit as this team is loaded top to bottom.  The only thing surprising me was they actually had 3 matches go to 2-1.  This team is good and I think they have a serious chance at gong deep at nationals.  This team is better than the one Oscar finished as runnerup a few years ago.  Jeff is a good guy and I wish them success.  This is the one nationals I will follow as this team has a chance to impress the nation and make Dallas proud!

4.5--Freeman and his Houston forces... well Vidi, Vici, Vini..  They came, they saw and they conquered.  I saw a little of this and the kid playing singles out of Houston was... out of level.  I will leave it at that.  Dallas made the semis but outmatched by a good San Antonio team.  The score says 3-2 but two matches were abandoned when San Antonio got three lines.  It is a good run for a relatively new captain in Jorge Aguilar.  If he keeps his core together and adds a couple of pieces, this team could be really special next year.  I will root for Texas as they do have Jean on the Houston team.

4.0--Wild Houston wins this one.  They beat Freeman's forces in the semi finals here.  I actually thought the Kanchi team would do damage but I guess you have to get to sectionals to actually win sectionals.  Garland/Russell gave Wild Houston everything they could handle but losing  close 3-2 while missing their best singles guy on Friday.  I have to wonder if things are different if this match is played on Saturday.  I will once again root for Texas...  I guess it isn't Freeman.

3.5--Deja Vu from 4.5.  Freeman and his Houston forces came and won again.  I could pretty much copy and paste the 4.5 commentary except Houston beat Dallas in a close semi-final match.  It looks like Dallas needed to sweep doubles as they were all very close but that is asking a lot.

3.0--What would a year look like if a Bender team did not win a sectionals title?  I am sure it happened in Far Far Away Land a Long Long Time Ago.  Bender wins again while playing in a single flight and dropping the first match to comeback and win.  Let this be a lesson to those captains that just tank after they lose... ahem, West Dallas captain.

In the end, it is always fun.  Dallas won the two extremes of the bell curve and Houston won the working man's part of the curve.  The rest of the state is just playing to go to Dallas and be fodder in the heat.  Regardless, I still think 40% of the events is impressive.

Combo starts and I guess Sisk and Kanchi have the best teams.  I am picking Sisk as I will not pick Kanchi again until he shows me his teams actually win even when they have the best roster.