The Courts at McKinney Proudly Unveils a New Sign...

MCKINNEY — The Courts at McKinney unveiled a digital sign outside its facility in McKinney today that will keep everyone abreast of the time since there has been an NTRP ratings DQ at the facility.

“We keep getting questions about player DQs, character and behavior and we want to let people know that we haven’t witnessed anything bad at The Courts since Tuesday” said Matt Hanlin, Director at the Courts, of the captain and team that is heavily favored to win the Qualifying Tournament. “There hasn’t been a single  ratings abuse accusation since Sunday. It’s been great.  Then again, it was a Holiday weekend.”

Hanlin and other McKinney Tennis staffers have been going out of their way since Sunday to tell the DTA and Todd Reed that The Courts at McKinney and Ranganath Kanchi are behaving and working hard with computer rated ringers instead of self rated ringers. But they hope the sign will illustrate that point and answer the question before the DTA or USTA Texas even enters the facility.

 “I see it as both a service to the Dallas Tennis Community and as a way for us to boast that maybe our pick of players and ratings wasn’t so foolish after all.” said Captain Ranganath Kanchi.

The team stressed that the sign’s clock will only reset after tanking or ratings accusations are investigated by policy. Unofficial ratings inquires or serious allegations that don’t draw NTRP police inquiries will not affect the running tally of days.

Kanchi said he appreciates the sign.  “I see it has enough space for two digits,” he said. “I really appreciate their faith in me.”

The Courts started the sign’s “clock” at zero because, according to a team spokesman: “We didn’t really want to look too much into things and find out if maybe there’s been some recent stuff, you know? We’re content with our current impression that there haven’t been any new incidents and we’ll just start it today. We’ve found that Dallas tennis whiners can be extremely biased in their recollections of events.”

This is the End... Of the Regular Season... At Least Almost

The regular season is over some and should be over either this weekend or the next... weather permitting.  It is nice for the DTA to give us Father's Day off.  You newbies may not remember when the DTA scheduling geniuses scheduled us on Father's Day (let us not forget Memorial Day Weekend too).

As it stands today, we are pretty much finished at most levels but not all.

5.0 We have a 3 way tie but no match on Father's Day so it gets decided on 6/26.  First, we have the ever present teams of T-Bar Bartzen and Perkison (fka/Village but now Prestonwood).  They are joined by Greenhill Vahdat.  Bartzen gets Brookhaven Harlee and should have no problem winning this match.  I do notice Bartzen has a 6.0 player on his roster.  This is a 5.0+ league but I am pretty sure that doesn't fly.  Perkison has Lakes/Jannasch and The Lakes are 5-2 with everyone else 6-1 so this is the toughest match coming in.  Perkison has the H2H over Bartzen but a 2 line deficit will be too much to make up.  Vahdat has GH/Saqueton and should win.  The Lakes have 2 losses but they have the lines to bump somoeone if they win.

Prediction of finish:
Bartzen
Perkison
Vahdat

All teams need to actually win so they need to bring a strong lineup  I would like to see the Lakes v Perkison as that match has a lot of meaning in this flight.

4.5 is nearly complete.  The season is over but there is a match to be finished and mathematically it matters but in reality it will not.  JCC/Reiman has a match against a bottom dweller to finish.  As long as he puts ut a good lineup it should be fine.

Flight A GH/Rossouw is the winner but Rossouw may suffer from a lack of depth with only 27 quality players on his roster.  Sam Grand/Hanna finished second.  This is an overachieving team as they have a whopping 7 4.0 players on a total roster of 15.

Flight B JCC/Reiman has an outstanding match against 2-5 Stonebridge.  SN only has 6 4.0s on their roster and clearly were missing that last one to be as strong as Hanna.  It is merely a formality and Michael wins.  In pending 2nd place is ever present BH/Harllee.

Flight C Newcomer SP/Aguilar wins this flight.  They finish 7-1 but they have a 5 line lead and the last lost came in the last week.  There was no consequence.  2nd place goes to Oak Creek/Pribadi.  There were several teams with better line counts but they finish 7-1 and taake the Flight C Silver.

In the end, I think it comes down to Greenhill and Springpark.  I still am not sure what to think of the Springpark team so I will go with Rossouw to go to his umpteenth trip to sectionals.

4.0 is nearing completion.  There is still some drama and races too close to call.

Flight A has HP/Somabut and McKinney Kanchi all knotted up with equal lines.  HP has the H2H win.  If HP sweeps they win.  they play OC and a sweep is not out of the question but Somabut needs to play his best lineup.  McKinney has Greenhill and they should sweep. I get the feeling McKinney sweeps and HP drops a line giving this to McKinney.  We find out on 6/26.

Flight B has Huffhines/Ratcliffe at 8-0 but knotted up on lines with 7-1 Brookhaven/Bartlett.  Huffhines has 3-5 McKinney remaining.  If they win this, they finish in first so Huffhines needs to bring their top lineup.  BH has 6-2 Lakes remaining.  BH has the tougher match but both need to win to have any chance.

Flight C has Huffhines/Jayaram sitting at 7-0 with 2 matches remaining.  Greenhill/Ohl is 7-1 with a layup remaining.  I really can't tell you who wins but my gut goes to Greenhill/Ohl.

Flight D has Garland/Sisk with the flight wrapped up with a win of Greenhill/Alzuro.  2nd place is up for grabs.  McKinney/Bazan has a final match with third place JCC/Schachter.  McKinney needs to win to take second.

Several of these third place teams advance to QT but one never knows if the DTA will shorten or reduce teams because of a sprinkle.

That is everything for this week.  With no matches being played this week, it may be a couple of weeks before I write anything.  Unless something of interest or of note arises, have a great Father's Day and see you in a few weeks.

4.0 Playoff Picture

 

M4.0 – 39 Teams

3 flights of 10 teams (9 matches) and 1 flight of 9 teams (8 matches)

Wild Card (WC) – McKinney/Kanchi M4.0

League Play Offs Format:

4-2^nd Place Teams and 2-3^rd Place Teams, 2 flights of 3, Flight Winners advance to League Play Off, Winner advances to City Championship

If Wild Card Needed: 4-2nd Place Teams and 1-3rd Place Team with Best Overall Records and WC, 2 flights of 3, Flight Winners advance to League Play Off, Winner advances to City Championship

City Championship Format: 4-1^st Pace Teams and 1-QT Winner, 5 Team Round Robin

Flight A – two of the best 4.0 teams in town still inhabit this flight and one is going to have to fight their way through League Playoffs (QT for the old timers).

High Point/Somabut 6-1 (26-9), remaining schedule is Garland/Sisk (0-6) & Oak Creek/Wei-Ben (3-3).  High Point needs to finish 10-0 over the last two matches to hold McKinney at bay but they can do it.  High Point holds the head to head tie breaker over McKinney so it’s all in High Point’s court.

McKinney/Kanchi 6-1 (26-9), remaining schedule is Oak Creek/Wei-Ben & Greenhill/Parga (2-5).  Same issue here.  One line lost to the house could mean the difference in city playoffs and QT.  Last week HP won 3-2 and McKinney won 4-1 to tie the line totals for the season.

Eldorado/Browning 5-2 (22-13), remaining schedule is T Bar/Snow (4-3) & Royal Oaks/Templeton (4-3).  They are still in the hunt for one of the two third place spots in QT but they finish with two respectable squads.

Flight B – the order here is still up for grabs with a couple of meaningful matches left.

Huffines/Ratcliffe 7-0 (27-8), remaining schedule is Greenhill/Davalos & McKinney/Jacobson (3-4).  Still some work to do before the flight winner title is wrapped up.

Brookhaven/Bartlett 6-1 (26-9), remaining schedule is McKinney/Jacobson & Lakes/Reifsnyder.  The Lakes match is sudden death for these two. 

Greenhill/Davalos 5-2 (21-14), remaining schedule is Huffines/Ratcliffe & Lifetime/Heflin (1-6).  It’s all on the line with Huffines.  Even a sweep over LT won’t pull them out of another loss.

Lakes/Reifsnyder 5-2 (20-15), remaining schedule is Oak Creek/Rich (2-5) & Brookhaven/Bartlett.  BH will need to keep winning so Lakes is likely out.

Flight C – Jayaram’s crew has always fallen a little short in the past.  Let’s see if they can bring it home this time.

Huffines/Jayaram 7-0 (28-7), remaining schedule is Canyon Creek/Patterson (4-3) & Stonebriar/Dickey (4-2).  Can’t fall asleep on the last two matches.

Greenhill/Ohl 6-1 (27-8), remaining schedule is Stonebriar/Dickey and McKinney/Oh (3-4).  Should be able to wrap up a playoff spot but which one will it be.

Hackberry Creek/Myers 5-2 (22-13), remaining schedule is LB Houston/Montalvo (1-6) & Canyon Creek/Patterson (4-3).  Probably on the outside looking in for second place but maybe they still slip into QT.

Stonebriar/Dickey 4-2 (19-11), they haven’t posted their score with Fretz/Ward but SB should roll Fretz so they are still in the hunt.  Remaining schedule is Greenhill/Ohl & Huffines/Jayaram so their odds are slim.

Flight D – this is the tightest flight with two to play but JCC has by far the hardest road.  The McKinney/JCC match has a lot on the line. 

Garland/Sisk 5-1 (24-6), remaining schedule is JCC/Schachter & Greenhill/Alzuro (1-5).  They need to keep their focus to retain first place.

JCC/Schachter 5-1 (22-8), remaining schedule is Garland/Sisk & McKinney/Bazan.  Really tough finish but you either have it or you don’t.

McKinney/Bazan 5-1 (20-10), remaining schedule is Gleneagles/Miller (3-4) and JCC/Schachter.  Fate is their hands with the JCC match.

Oak Creek/Iyer 5-1 (19-11), remaining schedule is Seay/Jacob (2-4) & Las Colinas/Otey (1-5).  At the back of the leader pack currently but an easy finishing stretch could propel them into a playoff berth.

A lot of information but wanted to be as clear as possible.  At this point the flight winners look like: High Point/Somabut, Huffines/Ratcliffe, Huffines/Jayaram and Garland/Sisk.  HP and GTC are relying on tie breakers so their margin for error is pretty small.  In either case, both would make QT if they dropped a spot.  These four will be joined by the QT winner for a five team round robin city championship.  I think this comes down to a rematch of High Point and McKinney (who I’m picking to win QT).  Even though McKinney lost in flight play to HP, the players for both squads in that match didn’t look like their top eight so I’m still going with McKinney to sectionals and the wild card to High Point.  Dark horse to GTC.

League Playoffs (QT) should be won by flight A’s second place team, at this point McKinney.  Joining them in the contest as second place finishers I’d go with Brookhaven/Bartlett, Greenhill/Ohl and McKinney/Bazan.  In years past that could have easily been the city championship lineup so it’s looking like a deep and well balanced QT.  Since the WC holder will finish in first or second, two third place teams will advance.  I’ll take what should be a one loss Oak Creek/Iyer team and then it gets tough.  Best odds look like Hackberry Creek/Myers and Eldorado/Browning.  I’m going with Hackberry.

And your Over the Hill Inter-Gender Champions Are!

As many know and are debating int he previous thread, the 40 and above Mixed Sectionals was last weekend.  From now on, I am renaming this bastardized version of tennis the Inter-Gender Championships.  With no further Adieu...

9.0

At the big boy level (there is no 10.0 for over 40 and it makes little difference for 99% of you anyway) for the over the hill crowd, Brookhaven-Ware represented Dallas.  They competed well but fell to flight winner NOHO 2-1.  NOHO advances to get the crap kicked out of them by Austin.  In what seems like in every 40+ event at these higher levels, it is dominated by the ageless Juan DeKruyff.  Austin wins 3-0 and who really cares since our boys (and girls) were a non-factor.

8.0

This is the level that gets all of the talk because Voldemort, Alan A and Zackary (or Zacry, Zachry, Zachary, Zackry and feel free to add about 10 more spellings if you wish) play.  Voldemort joined Zackary in Dallas-West (aka Fort Worthless or the easy road to sectionals as most people know it).  In the finals, they easily defeat NOHO 3-0.  I am attaching  a picture of Voldemort from his pre-tennis playing days.  Most had no idea that he was a pro-wrestler back in the day.

There is a rumor that with the current political climate that Alan has started self identifying as a woman tennis player so he can dominate mixed even more than he has in the past.  I am sure it has not escaped many that Voldemort played doubles with a Zackary.  Is there any truth that he is self identifying in a new way to help his mixed team?

In the usually important Dallas, Alan A had a team that fought admirably but with his usual team playing on the wuss side of the city and not yet playing with questionable gender identification, they finished 2-2.   I am certain with the return of Voldemort and this new gender identification scheme, Springpark will return to dominance.  I really have no desire to see Alan or Zackary in a skirt so I hope that is just rumor but in this new day of accepting everything, I am not sure.

7.0

 Dallas looked to be in good shape by reaching the finals but ran into an all too familiar city.  They met up with mighty Houston and lost a 2-1.  There are cities we love to beat and cities that we hate to see win.  For most of us, Houston has been the bane of our existence.  I accept when Amarillo brings Logan Powell and beats us but I really hate losing to Houston.  Oh well, I will pull for Texas but I will not pull for Houston.  When they go by Texas, I will root for them again.

6.0 

Intellectually, I know there is a 6.0 mixed.  I have heard about it but never actually witnessed it.  I would have forgot about it but several of you really showed some interest in the last comments.  While I suspect that was maybe one person who showed interest, Dallas wins and deserves a shout-out.  The field was extremely deep with both teams in the field narrowly winning their own cities.  Although, the deep Dallas 6.0 competition must have really prepared Alzuro (who I was told self-identifies as a 5.0) and his forces as they played Austin 3 times and emerged victorious 3 times!  

Best of luck and next week we can get back to men's tennis.  I am wondering when Freeman will start a women's team in Houston and have all his male ringers identify as women.

5.0 and 4.0 Updates

5.0 playoffs will be the second place and third place teams from flight play meeting each other for the right to play the flight winner.  At this point, both T Bar/Bartzen and Prestonwood/Perkison remain undefeated.  Greenhill/Vahdat is at 5-1 and Lakes/Jannasch is at 4-2.  T Bar still has to play Prestonwood but their other two matches are bottom feeders.  Prestonwood has the T Bar tilt but they also still have to play SpringPark and Lakes so they need to stay sharp or they could go from undefeated to completely missing the playoffs.  SpringPark has the Prestonwood match and two lower end teams remaining, while Lakes still has to play Prestonwood and one more loss could leave them on the outside looking in.  Interestingly, the Royal Oaks/Stitt team started the season with five straight defaulted matches then they actually played Greenhill and lost 0-3.  How they were allowed to keep playing after five defaulted matches I do not know.

4.0 playoffs have the four flight winners headed straight to city playoffs.  QT will be comprised of four second place finishers and the two best third place finishers unless the fall wild card is used.  With McKinney/Kanchi holding the wild card, it is unlikely it will be needed.  The six QT contenders will be split into two flights of round robin and both flight winners will advance to cities.

Flight A – always the cream of the crop, an unexpected loss by High Point/Somabut has left them in a virtual dead heat with McKinney/Kanhci and High Point holding only a one line lead at this point.  Both teams could likely sweep the rest of the season if they really wanted to and HP has the head to head tie breaker.  Third place has Royal Oaks/Templeton and Eldorado/Browning tied at 4-2.  Eldorado has the far easier finish but they do still play each other so either could make it.

Flight B – Huffines/Ratcliffe has remained undefeated thus far, being chased by two 5-1 teams in Brookhaven/Bartlett and Lakes/Reifsnyder.  Huffines has already beaten them both so they should close out the flight.  Brookhaven and Lakes finish the season playing each other so their fate is in their own hands.  As importantly, with only one loss apiece so far, both have a shot at the third place advancement slot.

Flight C – Huffines has another undefeated flight leader in the Jayaram team.  These guys have been close a number of years and never closed the deal so maybe this is their year to advance.  They have two tough matches left versus Hackberry/Myers and Canyon Creek/Patterson.  Two 5-1 teams vie for the playoffs as well in Greenhill/Ohl and Hackberry/Myers.  Greenhill currently leads in the tie breakers and has a little easier finishing schedule.

Flight D – by far the tightest flight at this point, we have four teams sitting with one loss; McKinney/Bazan, Garland/Sisk, JCC/Schachter and Oak Creek/Iyer.  Garland/Sisk still has a slight mathematical lead but there are some big matches left for everyone.  Garland still has to play JCC and 3-3 Gleneagles; McKinney still has JCC and Gleneagles; JCC has the toughest finish with Garland and McKinney both yet to play; and Oak Creek finishes with the three last place teams in the flight, all with only one win a piece.  That leaves Oak Creek with the best possible shot at taking the third place QT spot because they could finish as the only one loss third place team.