ALL PICKS ARE AGAINST THE POINT SPREAD.
4.5 Playoffs – flight 1
Greenhill Red/Rossouw: 8-0 and 36-4; JCC/Reiman: 6-1 and
29-6; Brookhaven/Harlee: 6-1 and 25-10
4.5 Playoffs – flight 2
Greenhill Blue/Rossouw: 7-0 and 26-9; Lakes/Way: 7-1 and
31-9; Village/Warren: 6-2 and 23-12
Would it be too much to ask for a Rossouw versus Rossouw
final? His Red team was pretty
impressive with the way they handled their flight play business. There are two problems with predicting fall
playoff matchups – (1) the deep rosters and (2) it’s the fall so I’d guess the
playing time will be spread a little more evenly, leaving teams more vulnerable
than they might be otherwise. All that
being said, I’ll give the nod to the Red squad but at least half these teams
have the ability to win it all.
4.0 Playoffs – flight 1
Huffines/Ratcliffe: 8-0 and 29-11; Garland1/Sisk: 7-1 and
29-11; Huffines/McIntosh: 7-1 and 28-12; Eldorado/Browning: 7-2 and 27-18
4.0 Playoffs – flight 2
McKinney/Parrish: 8-1 and 32-13; Fretz/Noel: 7-1 and 30-11; McKinney/Peterson:
6-2 and 29-11; Fretz/Jayaram: 6-2 and 29-11
GTC/Sisk dropped their last match after the playoff spot was
sewn up. Without that loss they would
have been the #1 overall seed. If Big
John doesn’t decide to play his scrubs, I like them to win this flight. I’ll even take them to win it all. I’d say Huffines to finish second but that’s
too easy.
Oh, Corey. This team
is a tease. You’ve got a nice top 6 or 7
but if one or two guys aren’t available you drop off pretty quickly. McKinney/Peterson has the other problem. A long, deep roster of #2 and #3 lines that
have been oh so close before but not quite gotten over the hump. McKinney/Parrish came out of a tough flight
but getting beat so easily by CC scares me a little. I’ll take Corey’s group and hope all his guys
show up.
3.5 Playoffs - I have no predictions on the 3.5s because I don’t know any
of these players. As always, your guess
is as good as mine.
I may try to get out this weekend and watch a little. Fall league doesn't get the glamour but this season's 4.5s playoff matchups could be spring sectionals matches. See you there.
ReplyDeletewhat do you look like Murray? Will you be wearing a bag over your head??
ReplyDeleteIf you saw my face, you would understand the bag. I've seen many players games and wonder why more don't wear one.
DeleteI actually have my top 8 for the first time in my playoff captaining history. No excuses this time. Too bad it's going to get rained out.
ReplyDelete014 Tennis news.Good article, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeletelove this look :
Source: zappos shoes.
What do you think will happen if it rains over Friday and Saturday? Way too many teams to fit on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteI think if no tennis is played Friday and none outdoors Saturday they will cancel. The real question is will they reschedule for another weekend? There was also some talk of them shortening the format and only allowing the teams who won their flight to play. Which I think would be hilarious although not fair.
ReplyDeleteWho came up with this talk? All we saw was the committee. Who is on this bullshit committee?
DeleteIt rained last year too, and was about 35 friday night. They moved matches indoors at Brookhaven and cancelled the rest of Friday. When it was still bad on Saturday, they moved all the women's matches indoors that weekend and finished play. The men still played but they moved it to two weeks later. Everyone played all the scheduled matches and there was no rain shortened format. As it should be.
ReplyDeleteActually the delay was 3 weeks for the men last year. They were told the matches would be played indoors if the weather was bad (which it was). However, come Saturday everyone had to stand around and wait for 3-4 hours for outdoor courts to dry for the priviledge of playing outside with temps in the upper 30's and windy. Not exactly as it should be.
DeleteHow about 40s? We get less than 2 weeks to get a team together and won't know who is available until after year end ratings. Who came up with this idea? Why are women playing already?
ReplyDeleteWomen played indoors last year, that's why the men were outside. Women come first, that's why they're playing 40+
ReplyDeletePlayoffs shortened. Only flight winners are playing. Second place winners are SOL.
ReplyDeleteTotal bullshit. I decided to fly out Monday just to play. Tickets were more and I could be on Thanksgiving break.
DeleteI am sure they will reimburse you. Funny thing is people will be lined up for more abuse in the spring. Once they get your league fee you are screwed. The self anointed one is laughing his ars off. Eventually he might rig it where he can go straight to nationals just by signing up. That might be the only way he gets there.
DeleteI have never seen an orginzation that treats its players this poorly.
ReplyDeleteAmateur track athletes in the 60's and 70's got treated better than this.
So Garland is out in 4.0 because they didn't cre about their last regular season match because they thought they were already in? I wonder how Big John feels about that?
Yeah, QT will miss him next year.
DeleteFlora getting beat 6-0, 6-1 really cost Sisk. I kinda think that is legitimate.
ReplyDeleteYou may be right. He was once feared and now he is pitied. Looks like Sisk just sacrificed him at 1 singles. Must have bit Sisk. Sisk will go down in captaining annals of Alzuro with that move.
DeleteAll that tanking is for no purpose. Flora couldn't get bumped to 4.5 if he wanted to.
DeleteEasier to get bumped down by tanking than get bumped up when you aren't good enough. Flora belongs in the not good enough ranks.
DeleteI don't understand why the men's has to be completed this weekend. There are no other leagues for men going right now. They could play the ladies this weekend using the indoor courts they have. They have 40 and over started already.
ReplyDeleteDTA leadership, please respond to all of the men!
Don't agree with the DTA on this but I am glad to see the extra blog chatter. Just a shame that this is what it takes to get people going again.
ReplyDeleteThis is a shameful decision by the DTA. At the heart of it all it the fact that the DTA is too lazy to run the playoffs on two weekends.
ReplyDeleteI am sick of the DTA and their actions. My captain is so mad. He actually thinks it is a way to get their best buddy Rossouw a championship.
ReplyDeleteAbsolute worst tennis decision I have ever seen, and my team benefited from it. Absolutely ridiculous. I predict a lot of men will be playing a newly-formed TCD (or other) league next fall. This will be the end of the fall USTA league
ReplyDeleteWe need to approach the TCD decision makers about whether they will add a men's league next fall. That would give them time to consider it and make it happen if they agreed. This will never stop unless there are consequences to the DTA. And the only thing that worries them is losing league fees.
DeleteThe President of TCD has already been contacted this morning about the possibility of starting Men's leagues, and I'll bet I'm not the only one who contacted her.
DeleteI am beyond words right now. I can't belive a group of "intelligent" individuals who run the DTA came to such a ridiculous decision as this. I vote mike kelly to run the DTA next
ReplyDeleteyear.
I will never captain another team in USTA. They totally crapped on my team and season
ReplyDeleteThis is not the first time. The DTA does everything possible to make our experience as miserable as possible.
DeleteIts obvious that DTA only wants to do the minimum... screw the players, why not save money and time this way? Until there are measurable consequences for these selfish decisions, they'll just keep making them. Sadly, even if every one of the affected team members decides not to play next fall, it still won't be significant.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder though... do you think the same decision wouldve been made if a few of those second place teams were from Brookhaven and whichever other country club DTA is affiliated with?
Get TCD to form a men's league for the fall. If enough guys move to it they'll have to reconsider their actions because the almighty league fee is the only thing they listen to. Once they have yours, they can do whatever they want. The reason they cater to the women is that they are afraid they will jump ship for TCD and metro. We need the same option.
DeleteCorey for TCD men's league coordinator. Will you ask TCD about whether they'd consider starting a men's league?
DeleteSame DTA hired Kamen kind over Corey.....make sense now???
ReplyDeleteKlameci over Corey...makes sense now??
ReplyDeleteThey chose Klamechi over Corey? Corey lives, eats drinks and sleeps tennis and would have done anything needed in that job. The other guy is a giant douche. If it was any organization other than the DTA, I would be shocked. They need to go George Costanza and think what they want to do and then do the exact opposite. They will then run a great organization.
DeleteI have suggested to the DTA that an alternative would be to use the courts this weekend to complete the Cities for just the Ladies and to reschedule the men's for another weekend. Ladies original schedule had 34 matches. Revised schedule has 32 matches. Men have no other leagues going until the end of the year. This would allow the Fall cities to be completed as intended for both men and women.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if others support this change, it could happen...
Any other ideas?
Someone could get a hold of the USTA office in Austin to see if they could help. Wouldn't their decision trump a local league's decision? I wouldn't think the section would want the league ran like this.
ReplyDeleteAfter what was done to Kelly last year and other choices they have made including leaving qualified teams out of the playoffs you people are surprised at this injustice??? Please. Collusion and autonomy run this league and country clubbers and self anointed "police captains" are judge and jury. This city is an absolute joke in regards to tennis policies.
ReplyDeleteI will either run my own league or collaborate with TCD to get a league going. I can promise you there will be an alternative to fall USTA next season.
ReplyDeletefigure they did not want to delay YE ratings so they come up with this solution.
ReplyDeleteInteresting.
Just another reason that Dallas needs to move to a scenario where the Fall does not count for ratings.
Have news for you. They stopped the fall for counting already.
DeleteYE ratings count matches to 11/9 only. No impact.
ReplyDeleteJust heard about the DTA decision regarding playoffs this weekend. UNBELIEVABLE! Even if you think they are totally objective in how they decided to kick out teams that had been promised a playoff spot, it's the dumbest DTA decision in years.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that those at the DTA overseeing leagues never seem to learn from their own mistakes. These are the same guys that scheduled league matches during the winter up to the last week of the season, then start threatening to disqualify players on teams if they don't finish their matches that have been rained out. Another example of great planning.
There are two major problems. First, the DTA league administrators repeat the same mistakes over and over. Second, the DTA never pays the price for its own failures to plan. It's always the members that pay the price. As a result, there is no incentive for DTA league officials to alter their behavior.
Those of you who were screwed ought to complain to the USTA. The DTA Fall League is branded as a USTA league. Imagine the Texas Section sending home the wild card teams at a sectional event where they get rain because there are too many matches to play.
The real solution should have been to leave the schedule as planned, then shorten matches as the rain prevented matches from being played. I can remember a nationals event where rain caused "matches" to be played as single sets, some starting at 2-2. It may not be a great solution, but at least it fulfills their commitment to all teams and let's play on the court determine the winner.
Shortening the format in one way or another would have been the simplest, most fair solution. Every tournament I have ever played in or run with similar circumstances has used that solution in the case of inclement weather. Never have I seen players eliminated without stepping on the court. Also still dry in all of Dallas....
ReplyDeleteLooks like the picture for this blog was prophetic. It's the DTA!
ReplyDeleteI was hoping with the new DTA director things would change. But it looks like SSDD (same sh!t, different director). I wonder if she knew what she was getting into.
ReplyDeleteI promise you that if 2 certain teams had come in second that everyone would be playing this weekend. Hopefully there will be alternative league for men's tennis ASAP. Give the country clubbers their national spot they have been trying to get for a decade but let everyone else fight it out fairly. Seems they haven't learned anything. Corey... PLEASE START A NEW LEAGUE!
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should all play out of Ft Worth or just join the "big" clubs. That's all the DTA cares about anyway. Does the DTA get a kick back from Brookhaven or Canyon Creek?
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't impact me in any way this time, but eliminating some teams from the playoffs due to lack of courts sets a very troubling precedent.
ReplyDeleteHow will the DTA ever know in the future if a club's court availability is based on whether or not they have team(s) participating?
If the club team(s) have any influence in how many courts their club has available (and it seems likely that they would lobby their club if they were concerned about getting dropped from the playoffs), this gives those teams the unprecedented power of influencing the size of the playoff field AFTER the season has been completed.
Any score updates? I believe Parrish lost at 4.0.
ReplyDeleteIf DTA Were a profit organization it wouldn't treat it's customers this way.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just move to a single elimination bracket tournament? That's basically what they did by moving to 4 teams, but they could have done the same with 8 and it would have only caused 4 extra matches. First round Friday eve, semis and finals on Sunday. How is that hard?
ReplyDeleteI don't think the DTA is malicious...just blatantly incompetent. I witnessed it first hand at last year's fall playoffs when they were trying to figure out who was in the finals. Pretty funny to watch actually.
I love this blog! As a women’s former USTA captain, I love reading that DTA’s ineptness is not just unique to the women of the metroplex! Please note that I said a former USTA captain, as I have thrown in the towel and vowed to never captain another USTA team until significant changes are made in DTA personnel/leadership.
ReplyDeleteMy personnel Waterloo centered on the short lived “primary designation”. At qualifying last July, a country club was allowed to combine its Thursday and Saturday teams, who had both made qualifying. Yes, the rule stated you could play for a secondary team, but the rule also stated you had to hook up with your secondary team at the next level, i.e. Cities in this case. DTA, of course, sided with the country club, never recognizing that when your team declines a bid to play in qualifying, you have in essence defaulted at the qualifying level. I actually felt I needed to draw a line in the sand, and paid $50 to file a formal grievance. The committee of three voted 2-1 to uphold DTA’s actions – no surprise there. Thus my vow to never captain a USTA team.
But, I continue to play on USTA teams, as USTA league play is both challenging and fun! Given that I have no desire to drive to Fort Worth, I begrudgingly sign up for DTA league play. My Fall 18 + 4.0 team was one of the four second place women’s teams that was unceremoniously dropped from playoff weekend. My thoughts regarding this DTA decision mirror those of the other bloggers who have vilified DTA’s actions and have blogged totally acceptable alternatives, i.e. shortened format, and/or moving to other weekends. That said, DTA continues to make decisions that I believe, do nothing to enhance its memberships’ overall playing experiences.
So, the question is, what do we do? Corey has “promised” an alternative for you guys next fall. Maybe a more global approach is needed to benefit both the men and women players of the metroplex. A visit to the USTA National website provides information on how to start a “community tennis association” (cta). Could this be a viable alternative to DTA? I don’t know the answer, but I really think those of us that play USTA tennis should have some options regarding league play. DTA will continue to do as it pleases, never addressing concerns raised by its participants.
I had the exact same suggestion 8:35. But have to be a tennis player to come up with that idea. Hence the reason they didn't.
ReplyDeleteMy team won 4-1 last night. Ed told me his team was going to win 3-2, whatever that means. See some of you at Brookhaven today at 5!
To 9:17, the more ladies I talk to and hear from the more I'm thinking it might not just be a men's fall league. Just need someone to help me get in contact with the captains...
ReplyDeleteCould we form the garland tennis association or the Plano tennis association and be affiliated with the USTA and form our own league? Could we do this and be placed in the sectional tournaments and bypass the DTA. I had a former DTA worker tell me years ago that the DTA did not care about any clubs except the "big" country clubs and high point because they spend the most money on the leagues. It's very clear the DTA is not doing what is best for tennis, but it's best form them and their clubs. I play out of a small club and it's very clear that they don't care. I know working for the DTA is a hard and thankless job, but they have made their own bed and now have to step up and try to get better. I know they won't unless we all take a stand. I'm going to talk to the TTA and see what we can do set set up a local league away from the DTA that could we still receive sectional and national bids. I will also contact Corey and see if he has interest in helping me. I've only meet him once, but he seems like he actually cares about tennis and he wants what's best for the Dallas area not just himself or his club.
ReplyDeleteCoredawg5.0@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteDon't let the obnoxious email address be representative of the kind of person I am haha :).
Great post 9:17. I've known Corey 13 years and tennis is his passion! He has run a successful flex league for years. With people like you, myself and others, we can get behind him and make it happen. I could get 100+players and I know 3 other captains that could bring equal or more players. DTA isn't perfect, but it's always something. I'm disappointed they didn't ask for the impacted captains opinion about a solution. Still not raining! !! Sisk
ReplyDeleteSisk is right on. If he has the ability to get the best player in 4.5 on his team I assure you he can draw another 100 guys to move over to another league. Let Brookhaven and Canyon Creek play with each other every season and the others can form a real league. Funny certain captains who are in bed w the DTA and it's brass are very quiet on this blog now.
ReplyDeleteNo rain....never seen a cancellation based on a forecast
ReplyDeleteOk...The DTA defiantly screwed up. The big questions is will they learn from it? When this happens again, will they do they same thing? Let's wait and see. How about a DTA reply. I know they read this blog.
ReplyDeleteDta decision is so freaking pathetic and disappointing for all 4 teams who made it to the playoffs, 2 teams don't get a shot , don't get to play and sadly the 2 teams who do play today may not be able to fill their roster for the best matchup as Dta tells you when you get to play which might not fit all who might be playing schedule, so that inflexibility is really screwed up as captains are scrambling to fill the lines. Isn't the idea to allow the best teams to compete or at least the best records. I hate this as I don't get to play. Bs dta.
ReplyDeleteDTA could redeem themselves if they reschedule the whole thing!
ReplyDeleteThey will call it based on the TEXAS FORECAST, before a raindrop or snowflake falls. Maybe USTA/section or New York could persuade them otherwise. We'll know soon.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the saying about Texas weather? Wait 5 minutes and it will change. The weather man is right about 20% of the time. WAIT FOR THE RAIN NEXT TIME!!!
ReplyDeleteCheck out what DTA did for the 5.0 playoffs. 3 teams tied for first with 8-1 records in the regular season. Each went 1-1 against the other two teams. When the DTA decided only first place teams were allowed in the playoffs, the DTA made TBar the 5.0 league champ without any playoff because they lost fewer total lines during the season. In making this idiotic decision, the DTA screwed the other 2 teams. The rules issued to the league at the start of the season stated that the top 3 teams were playoff bound. I fail to understand how the brain trust at the DTA picks a league winner with a 3 way tie after 9 matches in this fashion. By granting TBAR the undeserved championship of the league, the DTA saved a whole 3 courts at 2 times over the weekend. That is all we needed to truly declare a winner and break the tie. 6 courts total. And to cancel 2 days beforehand. Brilliant work! We play because we love the game. Why does the DTA feel like they need to be a barrier to this feeling so often? When you set rules, follow rules.
ReplyDeleteHey Brannon if that was you who posted this is Andre.. I would really like to play our match out .. Call me so we can set it up .. And By the way I had "friends"on the DTA board whom I feel are useless and need to be fired or step down.
ReplyDeleteAndre, are you friends with the whole board because they all should step down. They said it was no big deal because it's a non advancing league. In other words, just shut up and give is your money.
ReplyDeleteYea I meant the whole board
ReplyDelete5.0 was particularly screwed in this whole thing. I know for a fact that Andre signed up a few players just for a playoff run. That was basically money given to the DTA for nothing in return. I keep hearing that it doesn't matter, fall doesn't count, you don't advance, etc. Well then why are the league fees the same? Why are we paying the same amount and getting a lot less for our money?
ReplyDeleteDTA botched it again. Decided to use outdoor courts instead of indoor facility as promised for city championships. Consequently, people just sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for courts to dry.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to grandpa and corey for a god final! Glad to see phelps, Mckinney and Goff win before ye ratings. Sisk
ReplyDeleteIt only took me 11 years to win a city championship. That's what happens with only computer-related players :p. It was really a pleasure interacting with the other players and captains this weekend. Very good sportsmanship all weekend. Looking forward to an extended playoff in the spring!
ReplyDeleteWho are the people that make up the DTA and made this past weekends decision? Names please.
ReplyDeleteLarry, Curly and Mo
DeleteCorey, I think you will be surprised how many women would be behind you. 4.5 women didn't play this weekend with the same numbers as men's 5.0. 4.0 went from 8 teams to 4. Our original match times didn't see a drop of rain. The DTA is constantly changing the "rules" midstream, as well as, ruling differently with different players on the same issue. The league play email said "2nd place teams are EXPECTED to field a team". Well, we would all like to thank the DTA for giving us one day notice that they screwed over our whole Thanksgiving break to stay in town for what we were EXPECTED to do. Well, I guess the DTA is not subject to upholding the same respect and expectations! Sunday was a mess with the delay to play outside with a ton of courts open indoors. Lifetime's indoors were a ghost town all weekend.
ReplyDelete