Combo, Fall & Five Other Things No One Cares About

Why the hell did you wake me?  The fall is so boring!

 

What is the deal with combo?  Ok, it’s my least favorite event.  Played it once, never again.  It’s a tough time of year, no one seems that interested, and everyone wants to play up but no one wants to play down.  It’s that time of year when guys seem to only be interested if they can be the weaker player.  Clearly these guys don’t play mixed all year.  I did a quick check, not of rosters but numbers of teams.  The men have five teams at 7.5 and three teams at 8.5.  That’s borderline indifference.  The women have fourteen teams at 6.5, fifteen teams at 7.5, and nine teams at 8.5.  That’s amazing.

Fall rosters were due last week and the season starts in September?  Not exactly the cooler part of the fall but its Texas so you take what you get.  Not a huge fan of the fall either.  Not so much the usual complaints but it all seems to be pretty anti-climactic.  I do think the fall serves its purpose and has some positives though.  Most notably, it’s a good chance for a few teams that won’t make the spring playoff to make the fall playoffs.  It’s not the same but playoffs are playoffs if you’ve never been.  I do love the guys who use a fall playoff appearance as a recruiting tool.  Luckily they’re recruiting people who don’t know any better.

I was going to ask about the change to the Nationals rule where you can only take so many players from Nationals onto next year’s team.  I was going to ask, but no one advanced so it’s now item #3 no one cares about this year.  The new rule is an improvement of sorts but it isn’t worded very clearly.

The new DTA Executive Director is?  I have high hopes for this one but I’m not sure why.  I’ve never had any problems with the DTA personally and have gotten along with the individuals that work there, but there does seem to be an opportunity here.  The right person right now could do a lot of good considering where things were left.

Is it just my imagination or was the Dallas Tennis Cup once a bigger deal?  There must be some way to breathe a little life back into this event considering it’s a fundraiser.  Isn’t that a big part of a non-profit’s real job?  Raising money.

How on earth is there so much mixed chatter non-stop on this blog?  I stand in wonderment.  Actually I sit and I don’t care about it that much, but it does seem a little odd.

Then there’s tri-level.  The last real bastion of hope for redemption any given year, even though technically it will be a 2015 event.  Ok, people do care about this one, but is that legit?  While Pickett did strike gold a few years ago, it has been a hit and miss proposition for Dallas.  Captain Fantastic sings its praises and it’s hard to argue with him.  Indian Wells, BNP tourney, week two match access, crowds, stars, winners’ presentations on center court – what’s not to like?  Of course you have to win sectionals for that experience so I’ll have to rely on the Captain’s tall tales.