Almost with as much certainty you can say that Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic will make the semis of most Grand Slams, you can say that City Playoffs will come down to Somabut, Sisk, and Arcaria.
Lucky Thunder summized it all in his April 3 post which got a whopping 8 comments. But he predicted the season with pinpoint accuracy except for Flight E which has Oak Creek Bogle taking 2nd spot in place of the Village.
It is amazing to me that 4.0 has become sooo predictable that our fearless blogger can call 1st place and 2nd place of each flight before the season even begins. But this is what 4.0 has come to; a quagmire of players with the most talented easily rising to the surface and sticking out like a sore thumb.
There is no going out on a limb to make a call as to what the results of City Playoffs will be. But I will go ahead and make my calls, which to me, is blatantly obvious, but will hopefully stir the pot and get some of you out there to liven up this blog and get some trash talking going before the showdown begins.
Rather than taking a “bottom-up” approach and call which teams end up in which flight (since Jane and John are smoking peyote and it is anyone’s guess), I will take a Top-down approach and call give you your 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. This is so easy, it isn’t fair.
City Champs – Team Somabut—
He has the talent, depth, and the unknown of the self-rates. His talent level is deep and I just don’t see who is going to challenge him. While he was in a fairly easy flight, his wins were uncontested and convincing, winning all matches either 5-0 or 4-1. He beat their 2nd place team in their flight, Greenhill, 5-0. With a roster of 23 and getting each player 2-3 matches, he never had to rely on any single set of players week in and week out. He managed a flawless season playing his whole roster. As far as singles, Kargel is the only player who played with any regularity, followed by Abercrombie. Kargel was an Appeal, but no past record to be overly concerned with. My guess is his singles players are self-rates who were hidden in the roster playing doubles regular season. When playoffs come, and he plays his top horses together when he needs them, he easily walks away the winner.
Runner up and Wild Card to Sectionals – Team Arcaria
I at first battled with who will take 2nd, Sisk or Arcaria. I assume both of these teams will be in the same flight, and fighting each other to take on Somabut in the finals. Sisk relies on what he thinks are “shoe-in” singles with Flora and Zackary. I agree, Flora will beat most, but Zackary is fallible –having 3 matches going to 3 sets and losing 2 of the 3. He can be beat. On the flip side, I compare this with Arcaria’s roster. He had Glasgow and Gerber playing singles most of the regular season, with Alfonso Muriel and Kent Gray playing a few matches. Alfonso is a self-rate so I assume he is a ringer. Gray went 3 sets with Boozer from Fretz which puts doubt in my head on him being a ringer. Glasgow has game, but I can’t see him pushing that weight in 3 sets in 105 degrees come mid-July. Arcaria must be hiding someone but I just don’t see who it is. The only unknown is Tyler Flemming, and I don’t think he is it. So with proper match ups, they split singles.
So now I look at doubles. – Sisk has Caceras, Cocoran, and Pace, but I am reaching to find the others. While Arcaria doesn’t have the powerhouse players he had last Spring, I still think he has better all-around doubles players to get 2 lines from Sisk IF properly matched-up. I give team Arcaria the edge, but easily could be wrong.
The Dark Horse – Team Pearlman
As I continue down the flights of players and look throughout the roster, I can’t help to be impressed with Brookhaven Pearlman. Boccara and Arenas both went udefeated, although I can’t say they were tested with the best, but still impressive. Most impressive is the depth of Pearlman’s doubles and I think it would be foolish to count them out. I believe they easily can take 2 lines from any team they go against, so it would come down to their singles. If match up properly against Sisk with Flora/Zackary, I could see them providing the upset. Same with Arcaria. He only has Alfonso as his shoe-in. Pearlman could be the spoiler of the whole event, and I can easily see him taking 2nd place away from Sisk or Acaria.
Not surprised if last – No offense Carey. You did a great job calling the season in April, but I just don’t see the strength in your team this year. I could be wrong, but none of your wins were convincing and there is too much tougher competition out there, I just don’t see you placing.
QT – Battle between Greenhill and Canyon Creek. Regardless of the winner, they fight Bazan for last place in the City.
OK That is my assessment. Prove me wrong and let’s here the smack talk. Who’s got the Shit to go out there and win this thing and beat Somabut ???
Ice-pick was the Iceman and Top Gun this weekend, taking the 4.5 City title. Word on the street was that Joel was having his team practice nothing but Komen 10 –point tie-breakers, knowing that 4.5 would come down to that, separating the boys from the men. The payoff couldn’t have been any sweeter. HP wins 4 out of 4 breakers in the finals to take the title from Royal Oaks. They defied the odds and took 5 out of 6 breakers for the weekend, showing they had nerves of steel and that hard work pays off. This is one talented squad of aces, and should represent Dallas well at Sectionals.
We still do not know who Viper (aka Somabut) has hidden in his squad of self-rates, but from the looks of things, I didn’t see anything unusual that makes me believe he has 2 singles ringers at hand. He still relied on Kargel for one of his lines, but he most likely knew he wasn’t going to be challenged all weekend. I guess we won’t know until Sectionals. The question is, who got the easier path, the City Champs or the Wild Card. Only Bob knows!! 
