Friday, May 25, 2012

Things have heated up.

There was a lot going on last night. I was out at Sugar Creek to see the much-anticipated rematch between the Mob Squad and JAM. Sugar Creek took the Mob to the woodshed, winning 5-0. I've seen Sydney Jim play much better, but he was able to break through the rust/nerves against a tough opponent to win a first set tiebreaker and cruised in the second.

Sugar Creek has got to be in the discussion of teams with a legitimate chance to make it to Nationals. Mario Hornsby is allegedly their top doubles player, and he and Simon Jim looked dangerous last night when they got it rolling. Add in the always solid Burrmann/Day combo and you've got three legitimate Sectionals quality lines. The question marks will be that second singles line and the third doubles line. Tim Marco is playing with renewed vigor, and he and Stephen Coyle convincingly won a match where I thought they were slight underdogs last night. Kevin Lotz at line two singles doesn't appear as fit as last year. We'll see if eventually that costs them. They do have other options there (Baer, Cooney, Coyle et al.).

A couple of new players made their debuts last night in 4.5.  I'd heard good things about Robert Baker and wondered if he would be able to get the Good-er Guys over the hump against the Blast last night. He and Ward Jannuzzi were unable to take down Eric Kiser and Craig Richardson last night, falling in straight sets, despite Baker's huge serve. I was told before the season started that Kiser and Richardson would not lose this year. I was doubtful. Looks like I may have been wrong.

California import Cy MacKinnon was the other new face last night, putting a big scare into always solid Ryan Cooper before falling in the super breaker. The Blast appear to have added some firepower that will make them a player in citywides. I REALLY hope Houston gets a wild card in 4.5 this year. If you assume, as I do, that JAM will win in 4.5, that would leave a really exciting fight for a second spot. The Black Sheep, Copperfield, Blast and maybe the Hurricanes all appear to have really strong teams. And JAM is by no means a shoe-in to beat any of them.

The huge battle in 4.0 was not a disappointment last night. I had received some texts which seemed to indicate that the Warriors were cruising early against the Mob Squad. It looked like they had two lines in hand early. But things can change quickly, and the Mob came storming back to take a 3-2 win, with not too much drama, as all matches were straight setters. Nice to see Joseph Mai making a huge contribution in the victory. Cuong Truong absolutely destroyed Terry Hobbs, who had beaten him the first time the two teams met.

The only other 4.0 news I heard was that Andrew Nguyen had yet again put up another double bagel. Apparently the score managing memo never reached the Good Guys. More power to 'em. There was a lot of discussion years ago about whether 6-0, 6-0 matches are used in computer ratings calculations. The theory was that many captains inadvertently enter defaults as 6-0, 6-0, so the computer throws them out when it calculates its DNTRPs. Whether that's true or not is anybody's guess, but it's got to be the only thing that might save Nguyen from a DQ. The kid must be a damn good player.

67 comments:

  1. The Copperfield team seems to be for real. They made a statement last night with their thumping of the dbags. I wasn't their to see it in person but from what I was told their juniors are legit 4.5s and will be no easy out for anyone. They will seem to have an advantage come playoffs with the heat not going to be a factor with them. I would love to see a jam bs Copperfield playoff match.

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  2. great win sugar creek! finally you guys live up to the hype with your best lineup.

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  3. Great win Jam. That sure stirs the pot for that division and restores them as the team to beat. Chancellors falls to third. Copperfield rolls on, can Blast survive undefeated, and can the Gypsies do anything to curb the momentum of WSTC Black Sheep (they were a 2-3 match last time)?

    4.5 promises to continue to be a lot of fun this year.

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  4. What are the new 4.0 rankings now? Good Guys are looking more and more solid.

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    1. If the Good Guys keep Andrew Nguyen, they're really dangerous. That was a great win by Kiss last night, destroying a good player in Heng. Rating the 4.0 teams is tricky. There's at least one impact player who may have to choose 4.0 vs. 4.5. There are several other impact players who will have to avoid the dreaded third strike.

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    2. I'm pretty sure he picked it up last night. We'll see Monday.

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  5. 4.0 Rankings after Week 6:
    1. Hurricanes (4-0, 17-3)
    2. Copperfield (4-0, 17-3)
    3. Good Guys (5-0, 23-2)
    4. Lakeside (4-0, 16-4)
    5. Mob Squad (4-1, 17-8)
    6. Westside Warriors (4-1, 18-7)
    7. Unicorns (3-1, 15-5)
    8. Cinco Ranch (5-0, 19-6)
    9. Westside Phoenix (3-1, 15-5)
    T10. Sienna Plantation (3-1, 14-6)
    T10. Columbia Lakes (3-2, 17-8)
    T10. Rolido Boys (3-2, 14-11)
    T10. RPM (3-2, 13-12)

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  6. Someone just alerted me that Daniel Kallus may have gotten his third strike. I must admit I didn't even realize he was a self-rate. Move Copperfield down on the list. They didn't appear to be in the "score management" camp.

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    1. Turns one of their wins into a loss as well. Could have playoff implications. Or not.

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    2. The team adds two strong Juniors to their team with no issues and Kallus gets third-striked? He was a computer-rated 4.0 not a self-rate so what happened?

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    3. Does anything that TTA do make sense? It how you work the system.

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  7. Yep, the NoHo match he played last week has been overturned too.

    http://i.imgur.com/yj3x0.png

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  8. Sugar Creek got lucky beating us again last night.

    Signed
    Mob "Bitch" Squad

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  9. This was lifted from the Austin blog.

    I love these...If you can type, you can make a script! Well done guys....Vamos Rafa.

    http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13437940/the-usta-rating-system

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  10. I can't find anything on the HTA website. Is league info hidden?

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  11. Where do you get Noho league result info?

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  12. Kallus was a computer-rated bumped down to 4.0 at the end of last year. Why would he be D-Q'd?

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    Replies
    1. He probably got the 3 strike rule.

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  13. I thought the 3 strike rule was aimed at self-rates.

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  14. kerig please clarify

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  15. He was T rated last year so had to self-rate

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  16. Why would he not rate at the same level as his tournament rating?

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  17. it was a 4.0 T at YE11

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  18. Should'nt a 4.0T self-rate as a 4.0 for league? Makes sense to me. Shame on him for actually winning.

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  19. Why is Chancellor's 4.5 so quiet....cat got your tongue Tuan

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  20. Tuan is actually pretty entertaining

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  21. With the incredible amount of cheating regarding recruiting juniors into league, a 42 year old man with no serve and no backhand gets dq'd for playing his matches straight up. No doubt Kallus is pissed cause he only payed league as a favor to the copper field guys. Now his year is done. Everything about league is so f'd up. That said, it will probably help my team's chances so I guess I should be glad.

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    1. How does Kallus get DQ'd? Did someone protest him or is it all computer based?
      Mid year DQ's should not be allowed.

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  22. League needs to consider scoring requirement penalties. Why does it take so long? If not reported by following Monday, matches are defaulted.

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  23. Nothing in the rules say that recruiting juniors Is illegal. Thus making it Cheating. It's a usta rule that's been around for awhile. So blame the IATA not the trams following the rules. Damn, if we had juniors that were eligible I would use them to. Stop being so bitter.

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  24. agreeded. who cares about teams recruiting juniors. if it's witin the rules, then stop complaining. personally, i rather have a former div1/div2 player, who's got more experience, then some high school superchamp.

    8:35, i also agree with the team score reporting. this is a disadvantage for the other teams, not knowing the previous line up and it also open up to collusion by making up the scores in each others favor.

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  25. Bingo on the collusion. Everything about league tennis is so crooked. Said I would never play again and I should have stuck to that. Never again...and this I mean it...probably.

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  26. There is no disadvantage to other teams. Win your own matches and it won't matter what other teams scores or lineups are.

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  27. It is Monday night and Sugar Creek hasn't reported their score yet. We all know it was 5-0 based on Htown's post above but it would be nice for that to be confirmed by their captain in tennis link.

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  28. Hey 9:12
    Maybe Team Jam has a life besides tennis, they really don't get a hard on after a win, why don't you relax and wait when they have time, I understand you are watching the show and it looks like Team jam is your favorite show please be patient.

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  29. not really sure who mob bitch squad is, but not the mob squad I know. MOB wanna be maybe

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    1. Yes, I'm envious and would love to be on the MOB Bitch Squad.

      All they do is brag and talk trash, but can't back it up on the court where it counts, maybe

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    2. I haven't heard any bragging. More likely: you are a racist, sir.

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    3. YOU BITCHES WILL LEARN TO RESPECT US FOR LOSING 5-0!

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    4. You haven't heard any bragging, have you talked to any of the Mob Bitches, that's all they do.

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    5. You are a racist sir for talking strictly about tennis! Can we make fun of the Mob Squad more for talking trash... it's to easy.

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  30. doesnt look good for mob squad. losing 0-5 puts them in a bad place if they get in a scenario ending up with the same record. however, losing to lakeside this week will end their season. even if they beat lakeside, they will need help from jam the last week. lakeside 4-1

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  31. 9:25
    are u kidding me? have you seen jam's roster. that takes a long time and energy to get all those talent on a team and you're telling me they have a life? all that time and energy putting this team together and the captain can't spend 5 minutes to report the score? that's crazy. they should have a rule on completed matches to have all scores recorded within 48 hours.

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  32. If a weak league 4.0 player like Kallus can get DQ'd only 4 matches into the season, do you think there is going to be a major wave of DQ's coming our way. I find it quite funny that a guy with what I consider ugly, unorthodox strokes and pretty much no serve to speak of is the first one to getted kicked out of league for being "too good".

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  33. The reason Kallus got DQ was because he signed up as a Self-Rate. And its about winning not about how pretty your stokes are.

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  34. Why did he sign up as a self-rate? Did he have a choice? I thought he was excited about getting bumped down so you would think he would have tried a bit harder to avoid getting bumped right back up.

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  35. Obviously he didn't get "bumped down" since he is self-rated. think he and Copperfield just got caught

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  36. He was a 4.5 at year end 2010 and was bumped down by the USTA computer to 4.0T at the end of 2011. If he had stuck to tournaments he was fine. Since he did not play league in 2011, he was required to self-rate for league and could sign up for 4.0 since that was his most recent published rating. It was the actual beating people that did it and I would imagine any other league self-rates out winning their matches may be equally at risk.

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  37. this is just another sad day for usta rating system. let him play in his rightful 4.0 division.

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  38. 1150a I don't think Kallus is a weak league player at 4.0. He would have fit right in on the Houston 4.0 teams that went to Nationals in the past few years. He has wins over players in the past that most 4.0s could never have..

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  39. This is not a slam at Daniel at all, but I don't think people realize how bad the 4.0 division has gotten lately. The quality of play at Nationals was quite poor and there were several also-ran teams in Houston that were as good as some of the teams we saw there.

    You may think that 4.0 is his "rightful" division, and maybe it is/was in comparison to some of last year's local 4.0 talent, but I'm sure he is better than the VAST majority of 4.0 players nationwide.

    The shady, League-veteran part of me thinks "He/Lance were morons for not easing up on the gas peddle in some of those matches or by restricting him to just a couple of regular season matches, or by putting him at line 3 doubles", but obviously not everyone operates by the same mindset. Clearly, Lance and Mike Salinas have been around League for quite some time and realized the risks involved and chose to play it straight. More power to 'em.

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  40. It would have been interesting to see how Kallus would have fared against the big dogs of 4.0 come Citywide playoff time. No offense to the guys he had played thus far, but I don't see how he could have possibly been DQ'd from beating the opponents in his team's flight. No names I recognize and no strong 4.0 win/loss records in their histories. Self-rated 4.0s should beware cause it looks like it is a whole lot easier to get DQ'd than I would have imagined. If you have already played your two matches, either sit out the rest or strategically start losing.

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  41. What is the name of the discussion group on Facebook?

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  42. new rankings below.


    I think y'all are underestimating sienna and sugar creek. They have some top dogs that will easily beat all three lines of cane's doubles…
    and there are so many sand baggers on the gooder guys it aint even funny. I smell a DQ coming… =)



    1. Hurricanes
    2. Good Guys
    3. Copperfield
    4. Lakeside
    5. Mob Squad
    6. Westside Warriors
    7. Sienna Plantation
    9. Westside Phoenix
    T10. Columbia Lakes
    T10. Rolido Boys
    T10. RPM



    I think y'all are underestimating sienna and sugar creek. They have some top dogs that will easily beat all three lines of cane's doubles…
    so many sand baggers on the gooder guys it aint even funny. I smell a DQ coming… =)

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  43. Sienna still sucks. They need babu.

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  44. There better be more DQ's.

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  45. 4.5 Rankings???

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  46. there could possibly be 4.5 players on the hurricanes and good guys. ive never seen a college player I went to school with tank so bad. this is just sad......

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  47. Babu over Rios 6-2, 6-1.

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  48. i agree rios will destroy babu's black ass

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  49. and who is this college player and what school?

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  50. If I had to rank the 4.5s, it would look something like this based upon them using their top lineup against each of the other teams.

    1 - Black Sheep
    2 - Sugar Creek
    3 - Copperfield
    4 - Hurricanes
    5 - JCC
    6 - Lakeside
    7 - Gooder Guys
    8 - Mob Squad

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  51. nice list. but, i would put sugar creek at #1, because i dont see anyone beating sydney, and their best doubles line up can sweep any team. their only weakness is line#2 singles.

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  52. i agree with you about sugar creek. they are definitely underated...

    their doubles line should all get DQd, except line 2

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  53. We should DQ the whole jam team so other team will have a chance

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