I clearly saw that ball out.
There has been some discussion of fall playoff format,
particularly after what happened last year when the DTA shortened the event by
excluding second place teams. This is
particularly interesting considering the DTA moved the playoffs to December
4-6. I have no inside information on how
it will all turn out this year, or what the weather will be like, but if you
want to play in the playoffs I hope you won your flight, just in case. Of course the 3.0s need not worry since they
have no playoff. As of now the weather looks like it might cooperate.
Not sure if the DTA would consider shortening the playoffs
for some levels and not for others but if I were in a 4.0 flight I might be worried.
For those of you who did not get the email
from the DTA regarding the fall playoffs, here is their disclaimer on possible
weather cancellations. The DTA’s goal is to host a City Championship. However, if
faced with inclement weather, as the tournament organizer the DTA
maintains the right to alter post season play (i.e. number of advancing teams,
format, etc…) or possibly even cancellation.
I don’t know enough about scheduling issues
to take an informed stand on the issue of shortening the playoffs. If that's what they need to do because of weather, probably all they can do at this point. However, I do believe to retain any integrity
the DTA should not be allowed to simply cancel the fall playoffs in their
entirety. It may very well be beyond the DTA's control and a shortened format could be implemented again, but a total cancellation would be a big problem.
Good luck and let’s hope for mild weather.
The precedent of cancelling or removing teams from the playoffs due to inclement weather has created an interesting implication on the potential use of indoor facilities. I assume their use will no longer be permitted as it provides teams with those facilities an unfair advantage - to offer their use if it means being included in the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteObviously the subtleties of my point were lost on you, let me try to explain using a simple example I think you'll be able to understand.
DeleteIf a Brookhaven team finishes second in a flight and then there is inclement weather that creates the possibility of the 2nd place teams being dropped (or the playoffs cancelled altogether) those Brookhaven players could lobby their club for the use of the indoor facilities to keep the playoffs intact.
How is this a problem? Consider if your team came in second place and has no indoor facilities while Brookhaven came in first. In this case the Brookhaven players would not be motivated to provide use of their facilities and your team would be out of luck.
I'm all for using indoor facilities when they are available, but having established that teams can be automatically eliminated when such facilities are not available, their use provides a clear advantage for any teams with control over them.
Country Clubs control the weather?
DeleteDTA doesn't care about all teams as long as a match or score is turned it. If they did, they wouldn't wait a month between end of the season and city playoffs for the fall.
ReplyDeleteI think they should take the top 5 teams regardless of the what group they are in(if 2 only groups). So, group 1 winner and group 2 winner are locked in, next 3 teams are teams with best records. Adding a 5 team, gets more excitement and you will see a little more effort from some of these other teams.
I'm generally not one to give the DTA any credit at all, but at least they got wise and put the Men's and Women's playoffs on separate weekends. That way in case of bad weather (which has been the case the past two years) they don't have to tell the Men to shut up and wait while the Women go ahead and play indoors.
ReplyDeleteThe issue last year was multi-fold. The primary issue I saw was the fact that they eliminated half the teams BEFORE any bad weather had begun. There was 100 percent chance of rain and they buckled. Friday night was dry and Sunday was dry. Could have easily changed to a single elimination format just like every other tournament does and let everyone play. They also had five months between that weekend and the start of spring season to reschedule. I took a lot of heat from people for my open criticism of that decision but I still stand by it. One of my friends took his complaints all the way up to USTA president and got nowhere. The only way the DTA will ever change is if the money stops coming in. Until then more of the same.
ReplyDeleteHow about some actual playoff talk...
ReplyDeleteIn 4.0, I pick Greenhill/Ohl and Garland/Sisk.
GTC will dominate!!!
ReplyDeleteSisk is looking for anyone over 40 willing to tank down to 3.0 so he can regain the old GTC dominance. Until that happens, GTC is just a little tennis at the end of the shooting range.
ReplyDeleteClark needs to play at 3.0 because he cant even win himself at 3.5 these days. Thats a fact
ReplyDeleteAs long as the country clubs don't finish third and get into the playoffs because they hold their indoor courts hostage I can live with the other issues.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the dta played it smarter by separating the men's and women's playoffs and it looks like the weather may just bail them out this weekend.
ReplyDelete