Shocking Opening Day

I have to admit that from a fan's perspective I find the 4.5 division the most interesting. There are enough good teams to make it intriguing, but also enough potential upsets to make every week potentiall disastrous for the "good" teams.

However, I would never have believed that the "JV" Copperfield team could pull off an upset over mighty Kingwood. They did it the old-fashioned way...by defaults. Kingwood captain Jimmy Kilshaw is perhaps the most likeable captain in the city, so I feel bad for him. Apparently he had some problems getting his players out there. Copperfield's Men in Black have just 5 players rated above 4.0 on their roster, yet won both singles and #1 doubles by default. (This brings up a totally off topic question that I would love hear Cheryl address in the "comments" section: According to the USTA rules, lines are supposed to be defaulted from the bottom up: line 3 should be defaulted before 2, etc. In a league with staggered starting times, are captains supposed to ignore that rule and just default whoever doesn't show up?)

I'm not sure what happened to Kilshaw's players. With a roster of 15 it's hard to believe only 4 could make it. With two lines starting at 7 and 3 at 8:15 I'm shocked they couldn't get people out there by 8:15 and try to sweep the three played lines.

There was another big upset in 4.5, this one taking place on the court. Westside took out Rice. Jonathan Magid didn't play and Ryan Kudva was taken out in straight sets at line 1 singles by Atushi Fukanaga. Fukanaga had a spotless record in the HTA doubles league, including a win over 5.5 player Blessing Bvunzawabaya Westside is more of a factor than I thought. Rice's line 3 doubles of Mike Palladino and Roy Coe put up a feeble effort and got crushed by a team that is not that strong.

As usual, the 5.0 captains have not yet reported their scores. They often take weeks.

I'm off on tangents today, but I wanted to give credit to Jochen Moser's 5.0 team, which lost its first match 2-1. Nowadays with so many sandbaggers and tankers and overly competitive teams, it's nice to see a bunch of guys play a bit above their heads in order to get some good competition and practice and maybe improve their games.

In 4.0 the presumptive favorites (Rice and the Hurricanes) rolled on. The Hurricanes had a bit of a scare, winning 3-2, but were just points away from a sweep against a Heat team that many thought would prove difficult. Sarosh Ahmed won his match 2-0 retired. Another totally off topic question: For DNTRP purposes, does that go down as a 6-0, 6-0 win? (I'm not sure even Cheryl would know the answer to that one. Anyone who knows, please post in the comments section. Thanks)

Back with more later.