3.5 odds
HP/Bender 2 to 1
I have never seen David Atlas play but from viewing results he seems to be a lock for one win and with Ashok, Fujii, Richardson and Ferrell they look pretty strong.
Oakridge 7 to 1
Hmmm. Don’t want to get the Oakridge group going but I am not sure I see this roster prevailing this weekend. I like Prather, Reitzer and Anderson but not sure if they have depth after those three. They obviously are good enough to compete but can they beat three solid teams in a weekend. Their tourney toughness will help though which gives them an outside chance.
Huffines 8 to 1
I don’t know these players as much as the other three rosters but Newman, Leopard and Haney are strong players. Alexander seems to be very strong with Newman which should be a good tandem for them. It is hard for me to pick against them since they had such a good regular season but hard for me to pick them to win the whole thing.
Greenhill 25 to 1
If I had to pick a winner before this season started Kayser’s team would have been an easy pick after their great win in the Fall Adult League but that team seems to have been split up a bit with Huffines so it is hard for me to see them not struggling to win a match this weekend. I don’t think they will get crushed or anything but they just aren’t deep enough to come out on top.
4.0 playoff
This level is a little easier to look at with just two matches deciding the champ.
Springpark v. Bartlett
The first time they met Bartlett’s team won taking lines 2 and 3 in third set tiebreakers and Springpark dominating at line 1 with Raney and Roten. It is hard to go against this result repeating itself since it seems they both put out their best rosters. I have a feeling the results will be very similar and Bartlett will squeak out a win.
Both Springpark and Brookhaven lost to TBar M and it is hard for me to see one of those teams taking a lunch break and then coming out and beating TBar M in fact I think it might be lopsided with TBar M winning.
4.5 thoughts
TBar M will also be waiting for a winner at the 4.5 level. I know it is seniors but I like Oak Creek and their winning experience to win the initial match and then have a very close match with TBar M and unlike at 4.0 I think Oak Creek will come out on top over T Bar M.
Thoughts????????????????????
Didnt Oak Ridge Boys defeat High Point/Bender twice during the season??? Robins/ratcliffe had good results playing together. Only Problem is depth but who knows.Huffines seemed to throw there last match with weak lineup to help Greenhill make it in playoffs.Should be a very interesting weekend.
ReplyDeleteyep but the last one didn't matter much Bender had already clinched. Also Atlas didn't play in either match. I do think their match this weekend will decide it but if Bender has his best 6 available I just don't see Oakridge winning but you never know who can make what match and that will make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI would think Oak Ridge would be the favorite. I am confused by your comments about David Atlas. He is probably a very good player, but then why did he play line 2 or 3. I guess it all depends if Bender sand bags his lineup.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if Oak Ridge had it's strongest team out there when he played Bender the 2nd time.
I also think it might turn into an endurance issue. We are seniors and/or super seniors and I am not sure if the best lineup will be playing for 3 matches. Depth may be a factor.
Just my opinion GH - REK
Bender always has a reason why he does lineups particular ways. Kris Endress and Joel Pickett used to play for him at 3.0/3.5 and they didn't always play line 1 or even line 2. I do see him playing more straight up this weekend since the matches are more even. But if you look up David he played 4.0 3 years ago and after laying off 3 years was able to self rate down to 3.5, so he has to be protected for future matches in seniors and in the upcoming spring season. I would bet my house Atlas doesn't lose a match this weekend but they might be "close."
ReplyDeleteSounds to me that Atlas is a good canidate for a dq this weekend by the raters if they are aware of his status. It will be interesting to see if he plays and where.You can only hide people for so long before it catches up with you.With Benders team being the favorite I wonder how everything will play out. Good Luck To All 4 Teams!!!
ReplyDeleteOakridge has 5 strong players with Prather, Reitzer, Anderson, Robbins & Ratcliff. That makes them the favorites.
ReplyDeleteHigh Point's best players are Bob Richardson & Al Parekh _ not Atlas. Myers can be tough when partnered with a good "closer". Fujii is pretty good as well.
Greenhill has 2 lines as good as anyone with Kayser/Stein and Foreman/Davalos. But they're weak at line 3. It's pretty hard for two lines to carry you all the way.
Huffines is pretty solid top to bottom. They'll be in every match.
All the matches will be very competive.
Get your popcorn ready!
As a person who enjoys reading this here blog, I sure wish there was a way to block posting as anonymous.
ReplyDeleteSigned,
Anonymous
Congratulations to all the Senior tennis warriors playing in the City Playoffs this weekend. I hope everyone has a wonderful time.
ReplyDeleteBut enjoy it while you can _ because the younger guys will be out in full force in the spring and things will get a lot tougher!
Hmmm. younger guy I am not so sure the sr. players won't play a huge part at most levels 3.5: Greenhill, 4.0: Springpark and 4.5 Branch.
ReplyDeleteThere is a way I can make people have names to post but I didn't want make everyone sign up to get a gmail acct, I don't even use mine for info other than this site. As much as I wish I knew who the anonymous posters were if they really don't want to post it doesn't bother me all that much.
Without the anonymous posting I would have never got the laughs from the never revealed anonymous poster who hated Jeromiiiiiiii!!!!
Interesting and accurate comments from Annonymous last night at 7:41about the senior playoffs.
ReplyDeleteDoes he have any prognostications for the regular season?
As for the youngsters that are waiting for the regular season. I have more losses in the senior and super senior league than I do in the reglar season. The senior league is much tougher. I usually play line 1 in the regular season, but I don't in the senior leagues. My partner last year in the regular season is a senior also.
GH REK (Greenhill - Bob Kayser) I would use my login it but I am getting older and can't remember the ^(@#* password.
Seniors,
ReplyDeleteI know 95% of our playoffs are at Brookhaven but I just wanted to find out for sure, is that where you guys are at this weekend? In case I can sneak out of the house I was curious where to go.
As far as past humorous postings are concerned, we haven't heard from Jeromiiiiii in a while. How's the 4.0 league going for him? Is he still playing? Only saw results on him for the Cotton Bowl Tourney and then he's gone!
ReplyDeleteWe do play at Brookhaven this week end.
You're right Bob about it being pretty tough in our Sr. league, as we've faced some really tough opponents.
Looking forward to this week end. See you there.
I too forget how to sign in properly, so I have to do this the hard way.
Looking forward to the spring season as well. Good luck to all. David Prather
Seniors tougher than regular league? You must have forgotten to take your medication this morning!The purpose of having an old man league is so you don't get crushed every week in the regular league. I'm not saying that there aren't any quality senior players, but I can probably count them on one hand. If you can still compete with the younger players why would you want to play seniors? Most of those guys still have the strokes, but they can't reach a ball that isn't hit within 1 foot of them. If you are playing line 1 on your regular team that just means your team sucks.
ReplyDeleteIf it were an open league I guess I would agree, but 4.0 at 25 is still 4.0 when you reach 55. There is a reason they have 3 Doubles lines and only 2 Singles lines. I have seen plenty of guys in their 50's and 60's that are extremely good at doubles because once they get up there, that is all they play and they master it. Don't under estimate the Seniors.
ReplyDeleteThe 3/25 @ 4:56 posting is just another smart ass that's too ashamed of his own game to let anyone know who he is, or he might want to play one of the old sr. guys in a challenge match. Put your game on the line where your mouth is, or are you too afraid?
ReplyDeleteFrom one of the Oak Ridge Boys to anonymous @4:56 pm.Sounds to me like youare a young ego freak who thinks allsnior players cant move on the court you are so wrong!!!As for quality seniorsthere are probably many who would like to know who you areso when you get your ass kicked by one of them you will give some respect to the others.We play in seniors this time of year to stay in shape to take guys like you out!! whoever you are. Our Qak Ridge team is split between young and seniors and thank god we have great respect for each other.Next time you blog identify yourself if you have the GUTS!!!!
ReplyDeleteSeniors don't have game??? I don't believe that. I still to this day respect them on the tennis court, especially where doubles are concerned.
ReplyDeletePrather,
I'm still around. I've been adding my two cents in on occasion, but since I'm not playing league this year I haven't been keeping up with things a whole lot. I can't play this season because I'm leaving for boot camp in May and would miss all of the fun, but I am still playing TCD and accepting challenge matches if you want to play sometime. I had fun that time we played doubles. Good luck this weekend and during the up coming league.
I notice you are also posting anonymous. I did not mean to bash all senior players. I just thought his statement about the senior league being tougher is ridiculous. There are some very good senior players that can compete at the 4.0 or 4.5 level, but most cannot. That is why they have senior leagues.
ReplyDeleteI think the original comment was the matches were tougher and think that is because there are less teams and therefore the talent pool isn't so spread out which makes sense. I believe there was about 12 teams at 3.5 and 10 at 4.0in comparison there is 30 to 34 teams in the upcoming spring leagues so I do think you get some weaker players in the Spring towards the bottom of the doubles lines. At 3.5 though seniors are some of the stronger players in that division, maybe not in singles but most of the better doubles players are seniors. When we played sectionals just about each team was consisted of seniors except for Freeman's team and some line 1 singles players. Obviously the higher level you go the younger the top players get but I have seen some 55+ singles 5.0 players that made my jaw drop.
ReplyDeleteTo All players young & old. I am so glad the season starts soon as the fun begins. Good Luck to all the old guys who made the senior playoffs they should be very competitive with evenly matched teams. As the new season starts only time will tell where the strong teams are. As far as the blog is concerned keep up the good b.s. it keeps everybody laughing.
ReplyDeleteMost of my comments were made to tease some of the senior players on my team. I was just trying to have a little fun with them. I forget how grumpy old people can get. Good luck to everyone this weekend. I will still crush all of you when the regular season starts!!!
ReplyDeleteDo you mind at least mentioning your team and division if you don't like signing your name, so I know who to look out for. Who knows maybe you have already "crushed" me in the past.
ReplyDeletenice joke Trey, there is no one that has crushed you but you have done plenty of crushing in the past few seasons.
ReplyDeleteHello Jeromi, it's good to hear from you. I didn't know you were off to boot camp, so good luck with that. I would like to play sometime, but this weekend we're in the old mans playoffs. I guess I'll have to crawl onto the court and have my ass carted off when I'm through making a fool of myself out there. Ha ha. I guess that guy who is going to crush all of us srs. still won't reveal who he is, oh well. Call me at (972)800-3449
ReplyDeleteand let me know a good time to play and who we'll
get if we're going to play dbls.. Talk to you later, David
Prather
Don't be so sensitive. I think it's great all you guys are still playing tennis with one foot in the grave. Mr. Prather if you get bumped up to 4.0 or 4.5 someday maybe I could arrange a match. However until that time the best that I could do is set up a match between you and my wife. I think you could take her in 3 sets. I might come out out and watch some of Bob Bender's team this weekend. I'll say hi if I see you.
ReplyDeleteI have a 4.0 rating so I'll play the match in Prather's place.
ReplyDeletebest of luck to you guys this weekend I was really hoping to make it out for one or two matches but my Saturday is filling up fast with household stuff (wish you would have played last weekend when my wife was out of town) Oh well I will watch over the computer. Go get'em old guys!!
ReplyDeleteOakridge getting a lot of love on the polls who knows maybe an upset might just happen.
To the guy who won't say who he is, I guess I'll have to settle and play your wife instead of you. Too bad you won't get face any of us old guys on the court.
ReplyDeleteDavid Prather
To the hot shot that doesn't have the confidence to reveal his name: Anybody can't write anything. I really doubt you have crushed anybody. We have no evidence that you even play tennis or even have a wife. Only a wining low life doesn't have the guts to make himself known. It is your type of character (or lack of character) that doesn't understand the difference between making fun and being disrespectful. Why don't you reveal your name so we can compare your record to where your mouth is.
ReplyDeleteHector Davalos
Hector looks like you might get your chance to show off against mr. anonymous when you all play Bender's team tonight.
ReplyDeleteYou know a lot of those guys so you should have an even match tonight. Good luck!
don't hit the ball to Atlas or Parekh but I am thinking you already know that.
That kind of anonymous crap belongs on the Houston gutter blogs.
ReplyDeleteI was going to sign my name to my next post, but apparently most people on this blog don't share my sense of humor so I will remain anonymous. Most of my posts were meant for a few people that I know read this blog. If anyone took my comments as anything but teasing and b.s. I apologize. I will refrain from posting anything else about seniors. I don't want any heart attacks on my conscience.(OK that was really the last old person joke) Good luck to everyone this weekend. GO BENDER!!!!
ReplyDeleteYep probably better stop with the old guys, those Oakridge Boys get feisty, I remember I got in trouble before then I just had to go beat them with my 40 mph serve.
ReplyDeleteOakridge: thanks for keeping our blog relevant.
If this mist keeps up you all might get lucky and play inside tonight.
Looking forward to seeing the outcome of the Bender/Prather match.
Us young guys are just jealous we aren't out playing this weekend in "real" matches, still 18 more years till Jacques and I put together a ringer super Dallas Senior team. So watch out in 2025.
Mr. Bender thank you heads-up. I look forward to the challenge. I think I will just play my game and let the chips land where the may. However, I am pretty sure, based on Young Mr. Anonymous' comments, that he is not in the senior's league.
ReplyDeleteHector
I just want to remind everyone that there are FOUR teams competing at 3.5 this weekend. It is not just Oakridge vs High Point. Greenhill has two outstanding lines with Davalos & Foreman and Kayser & Stein. They can beat anyone. Huffines has great depth with a bunch of strong players. They will be tough at all three lines. I would not be surprised if every 3.5 team lost at least once this weekend. (That would mean the champion would decided by some crazy tiebreak system.)
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Still no votes on the polls for Kayser or Huffines, if Bob and Hector didn't cast a vote for themselves it is hard to think this is a four team race.
ReplyDeletebazan, your 40mph serve could not beat anyone without a terrific partner.
ReplyDelete