Early Thoughts

Yeah, I wasn't out there, and have only talked to a coupla' people, but my first impressions:

There's a new favorite in 4.0. Chancellor's (who for some reason are calling themselves the Mob Squad now) lost badly to the Westside Warriors. Rumor on the street was that Mark Etienne moved over to Westside because he thought they would be better than his old Lakeside team. I guess he was right.

Freeman's 4.0 team squeaked past the Rolido Boys.

It was a bad night overall for Chancellor's. Sugar Creek didn't use the Jim brothers. Guess they didn't need 'em. After one week, is it time to hand them the title?

Chancellor's broke rule number one when it moved its best singles guy into doubles. It's a good strategy when it works. It didn't last night, as Minh Hoang got waxed by Patrick Baer in singles, and Hung lost the deciding doubles match in 3 sets. Great strategy if a few points go the other way, but hindsight is 20/20, and it didn't work.

Adam Berry...disappointing in a 4 and 4 win over former 4.0 Derric Driver. I was expecting more, but who knows if score management was at work?

Copperfield's rumored infusion of junior/superchamp talent (I had heard they were adding 3 of 'em, but only see two on the roster) materialized. At this point they may pose the greatest threat to Sugar Creek. If they can add one or two more and these guys are as good as advertised...who knows?

Opening Day

Nothing says optimism like springtime and Opening Day. Alas, in a few months only one or two teams from each level will be able to make the trip to Dallas.

Disclaimer: I am officially clueless, and this is stream of consciousness stuff.

Here are my picks to win their divisions:

4.5

Division I

There's no truth to the rumor that Ssshhhwings are now being sponsored by the AARP. No matter how many times Rothe and company yell "Get off of my lawn!", the Deucebags will not be deterred, and they will take Division I.

Division II

Raymond Martinez is one to watch. Is Mussenden really 6'10"??? Zachary and Mitchell should help the Canes.

Bangers' JT Fischer was a top junior at one time.

Jedi Knights are...the Jedi Knights.

Adam Berry of JCC bears watching. Who's this Richardson guy? I'm out of it, but so far he's been impressive.

I'll take the Canes to nip the Blast.

Division III

Quack and Don Rios make a decent singles tandem.

Chancellor's is loaded with decent players, but do they have enough heavyweights?

Sugar Creek will win the division. Who's this Rober Read dude? Mario Hornsby? I'm guessing Red placed them on Sugar Creek. If so, watch out!

The other teams...no comment.

Division IV

Mediocre division. I guess the two Westside teams will battle it out. I see Muhala has been scooped up. Who is NWO's second singles guy? Etienne? Cooke? Yikes.


4.0

I won't go division by division, because I'm lazy, and it's usually unnecessary. Who did Freeman, Spoor, Chancellor's add?

Dunno. The rosters, quite frankly, don't look that impressive. A lot of retreads. Based on the Coke, Chancellor's seems to have the upper hand, but I'm sure Freeman has, or will have, some players that will emerge. Someone told me Spoor has a singles guy better than Musa, but who can sift through the thousands of players he has signed up for an 8 match 4.0 season?

Throw in Copperfield because they added Salinas, and the Good Guys because they're decent. Voila! Five teams with a chance. And that's without looking at rosters. Did I miss anybody? Doubtful. Pencil in Carolina and Duke in the ACC every year. Count on the Patriots to be in the mix until Brady and the Hoodie are gone. And put Freeman, Spoor and Chancellor's in the hunt until there are major changes.




P.S. Tennis Link is the worst website I have ever seen. Using the back button is a major annoyance, at least on Chrome.

Yes, the blog is way behind

As I'm sure all of you know, the season will be starting this week.

I've perused the rosters but really have no insight to add.

I have a feeling the 4.5 division is going to be really fun and interesting this year, but I'm still holding off judgment based on who ends up actually playing for whom.

4.0 looks down overall and as of yet I don't see a killer team. Again, it's quite early in the process and things can still change dramatically.

League tennis is like college basketball, though...the players may change, but the quality head coaches will continue to recruit talent and manage it effectively. I'm still backing the captains with the impressive resumés in my office pool.

Feel free to discuss.

Draws Are Out.

The HTA Houston Open (I think that's what it's called nowadays) draws have been released. I quickly glanced at the early round match ups. Those I will be keeping my eye on:

In 4.0 men's singles the second round match between Tuyen Nguyen and Cuong Truong.

In 4.5 men's singles these first round matches: Coyle-Miles, Schmucker-Abshire, and Guy-McMullen.

Discuss.

There's a guy named Ty Cobb in the Open Men's singles.

/baseball fan'd

Coke deadline today

The HTA Houston Open deadline is today. Easter comes a bit early this year, and perhaps the deadline has snuck up on some people. Entries look light, but perhaps they will come flooding in (or maybe the deadline will be extended)?

The 4.0 singles already intrigues me. 4.5 dropdowns Daniel Kallus and Mike Salinas would seem to be the favorites, but the field will also contain league stalwart Cuong Truong, tournament warhorse Matt Drake, and a bunch of "no-names" who may be ready to emerge.

The 4.5 singles draw, at this early juncture, doesn't seem that interesting. Maybe that will change.

Lucy Kenyon Memorial Tournament

There is a benefit tournament this weekend for the family of Lucy Kenyon. Lucy was a young (27?) chiropractor with a lot of connections to the local tennis community who passed away from colon cancer in January.

Here are the details.

HTA Named USTA National CTA of the Year

Some may have seen this, but good recognition for the work put in by HTA from the national association.

Agree or disagree with policies put forth the staff does work hard for tennis in our community.

Congrats HTA!