With all of the drama between Rice and Teague in the 5.0 league I'd almost forgotten that there is actually some tennis to be played this week. The 5.0 standings are so questionable right now, but it's safe to say that the Lost Forest - Met match tonight could be very meaningful. There are too many possibilites to figure out what the standings will look like when all of these protests are decided.
The 4.5 division has some great matchups. First and foremost, we get the long-awaited battle between Ssshhhwing and Jedi Knights. Both teams remain undefeated. Both have escaped nail biters at Copperfield, but this is the first time I think we're going to really see what these teams are made of. Is King Bonaay the real deal? Who IS this guy anyway? Will Hunckler's 5.0 tournament successes be matched in 4.5 USTA league? Ward Jannuzzi has big matches this week with his 4.5 and 5.0 teams. Which team will he suit up for?
Of course, there's also chapter III of the Kingwood-Hangovers epic. Will it all come down to another Armstrong-DeLuca classic? Will Tim Green finally get the Kingwood monkey off his back? Have the Hangovers recent additions now made this a one-sided rivalry? Will there be more roster moves late in the day today? Time is rapidly running out for roster additions.
In 4.0 the JCC dudes face another hurdle in their quest to remain unscathed in the regular season with a rematch against Chancellor's. Chancellor's used Phuong Le in singles in the first battle and his backhand let him down. I'd expect Jerry Pham and Tom Le to get the call in singles today as Chancellor's shoots for a singles sweep and scraping out a doubles line. A Chancellor's loss will leave them in a desperate battle for second place.
I neglected to mention Lakeside's big win over Copperfield's Copperheads last week in 4.0 division I. The Copperheads still have the inside track on the second playoff spot. They're tied with Lost Forest's Hackers but the Hackers have yet to play Lakeside. The Hackers and Copperheads were rained out earlier in the season. The makeup match may have a playoff berth riding on it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Too late in the day. You really need to get the "weekly preview" out the day before to get some traction with the late night surfers that log on Wednesday night.
ReplyDeleteThis is when the debates start and the juices are flowing...
Just my $.02
Keep up the good work, don't let the haters keep you down.
Some of the people posting on this site have no clue! If we were to go strictly by the self rating guidelines and I were to self rate today...I would be a 5.5 player. Yet I don't hear anyone complaining about me being at the wrong level since I lost some matches recently. It all goes back to the players out there who are afraid to play against better players. A few years ago when I was winning every match I played, I to was called a ringer by many. This is the problem. If players get a few losses under their belt, they no longer have to worry about flags or even a captain protesting them. I hear people talk of Tim Hurlbert being at the wrong level. Tim is one of the nicest individuals you could meet and a great player. He is an asset to the Houston league. He beat me in our last match yet you do not hear me complain about him not belonging in 4.5 league. I played in the same confrence as Tim in the RMAC and I was the All RMAC First Team player in 2001 if anyone wants to check. With that said I also was on the team that came in last at Nationals two years ago. We need to stop beating each other up and let the best players play to represent Houston and Texas. We need more Tim Hurlberts! The major flaw by the way is that players are getting ratings before they go off to college and improve. When they come back they still have ratings such as I did. If you feel this year has ringers you are probably playing to high for your level and need to move back down a level. What happened to the challenge of wanting to beat another good player? I have never protested another player and wish others would learn from it. by the way...Why did someone send a protest on Grant just because he talked himself up on his club bio?
ReplyDeleteWell then, let's just have everyone in Houtson sign up on the same team and we'll all enjoy riding the ringers to nationals.
ReplyDeleteHow nice someone is has nothing to do with what level they should play at. Why are many college players afraid to play at a minimum, the 5.0 level. The guy who wrote the comment a couple before mine sounds like he is the one who is afraid to play up to his own competition.
ReplyDelete"Well then, let's just have everyone in Houtson sign up on the same team and we'll all enjoy riding the ringers to nationals."
ReplyDeleteThere is certainly a note of sarcasm in this post and I agree with sentiment. Is there no point in playing other than to win Nationals? Last years 4.5 National champs from San Antonio have all but ruined that league by loading up on ringers (all but one of whom got rated out AFTER Nationals) so that it was very little fun for anyone else. If we are so desperate to have a National champ, lets put together an all-star team from Houston. We can hold tryouts for those interested. Then after those players are selected, the rest of us can put together evenly matched, competetive teams and get down to the business of challenging ourselves against our peers - which I thought was the purpose of playing in the first place.
I don't think anyone would have a problem with Tim Hurlbert playing 5.0. Him playing 4.5 as a ringer is what probably bothers people.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how this guy is playing 4.5 self rated. http://web.uccs.edu/athletic/menstennis/Game%20Stories/0424story.htm
ReplyDeleteI'm a 4.0 playing up to 4.5. I feel like I can compete against a legitimate 4.5, but I've gotten my rear end handed to me in a few matches this summer by guys who are clearly 5.0+. It's not right.
ReplyDeleteThen maybe you should keep playing 4.0 ? No offense intended, but if you want to play with the big dogs, don't whine.
ReplyDeleteTim Green is right, the complaining is getting out of hand. I don't know Tim Hurlbert. Maybe if he were a new player people would be justified in having a beef, but the guy played all of last year, played city playoffs, played at sectionals and never tanked a match to protect his rating as far as I can tell. The computer spit him out as a 4.5. Case closed.
ReplyDeleteHe and Green lost a match at sectionals. They're both great players, but there are dozens of others of similar ability in Dallas, and the computer determined they are still 4.5 level.
What Tim Hurlbert is doing is actually worse than if Arun played 4.5. Hurlbert 2003 D2 all conference and scholarship player vs Arun D3 non scholarship all conference player in 2000. Nadal might have trouble at 4.5 sectionals since it is played on hard courts its all gotten out of hand. Was anybody 4.5 on the San Antonio team?
ReplyDeletenope not one legit 4.5... maybe red riding hood?
ReplyDeleteHurlbert is computer rated. He played at a high 4.5 level last year.
ReplyDeleteI can assure you that the captains of the Mob Squad and/or the Jedi Knights knew his history last year when he was not computer rated. They chose not to protest him. It's only in the last year or so when protesting has become "in vogue".
Nobody has mentioned this yet but is it possible that Lost Forest may be behind some of the 5.0 protests? The AlleN Teague team can't even field a 5 man lineup half the time and lost again yesterday. There arent enough players out there for them to DQ that would get them back in the playoff picture. If it really is them behind all this thats just messed up.
ReplyDeleteFor all of those who believe they are a strong 4.0 and who have choose to play up at 4.5...stop the complaining. As someone who has played every level from 3.5 and up, one thing that always seperated the 4.0s from the 4.5s and higher was that we didn't have this much drama around protests and bad sportsmanship in the 4.5s as I remeber in the 4.0s. Now we have players playing up out of level and hiding behind "Anonymous" causing troubles. Anyone using "Anonymous should be removed from this blog if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the previous rants but if you notice...this year we have more players playing up instead of down for a change. The problem is not ringers, but people trying to play over their heads. The people complaining in 4.5s about the level is the 4.0s who are playing to high an dclaiming everyone is a 5.0. The same can be said about all the 4.5 players in the 5.0 league protesting the 5.0s claiming they are 5.5 players. I strongly believe the problem this year is from everyone playing up. You do not hear me complaining and I have not won a match against anyone other than the Copperfield "4.0 JV" all season.
ReplyDeletedinker,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, use your real name or stop bitching about people posting anonymously. dinker could be a lot of guys in the league, there are a lot of dinkers.
Secondly, I'm 4.0-rated but I can't get bumped up unless I play 4.5 guys. I win at 4.5 so I should be 4.5. If no one ever played up they'd never increase their rating. Duh.
Thirdly, the problem isn't the strong 4.0's (or 4.0's who are now 4.5 competency) playing up. The problem is a legit 4.5 playing a strong 5.0 or 5.5 in a 4.5 league.
A legit 5.0 should beat a legit 4.5 easily every time.
Guys like dinker who are trying to get to nationals have a different mind set than normal league players. Their idea of a 4.5 team is one that has 5 5.0's 5 5.5's maybe one 6.0, and 2 or 3 4.5's that dont ever play.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. Dinker's team has 17 players and 15 of them are rated 4.5 based on their play last year. You can argue that Murphy and Whitsett (who lost last night)are 5.0 or 5.5 or whatever, but it's silly to say the others are too good for 4.5
ReplyDeleteI think some people play in HTA league against "4.5" players and don't realize that a lot of the players playing 4.5 in HTA are really 4.0's. The summer league is a different animal.
Dinker is Tim Green. I have operated in this league for years as dinker which comes from my email address. As to having to play up to get moved up...that is crazy. You improve your game to move up. Joe Schornick was moved up from 4.5 to 5.0 this year by being dominant in 4.5 last year, not by playing in a 5.0 league were he would get destroyed by the 5.0 singles players. I have finished #1 twice in 5.0 in singles and doubles yet still have a 4.5 rating. How can you say you get moved up by playing higher. The reason I stay at 4.5 is because of how strong league gets outside of the city in 4.5. What is with everyone being down on my team wanting to win and go to sectionals? Why play if you do not play to win? Does anyone who is not anonymous think we have a ringer on our team? I think I am an OK singles player but would not waist my time or my opponents by playing singles in 5.0 league right now. Everyone needs to play to their correct national level and not worry about our lower than average city levels. We are all small peas in a pod!
ReplyDeleteTim, look at how NTRP's are calculated. You are 4.5 because you're playing mainly against 4.0's and 4.5's. How many true NTRP-rated 5.0's are you playing? Have you ever been bumped to 5.0 and appealed down? Have you ever tanked a match? I'm not accusing you of anything nefarious, but I know how NTRP's are calculated, so I'm just curious.
ReplyDeleteI find this entire discussion pretty rediculous - but I can't turn away! Too funny!
ReplyDeleteBottom line, we're all in it for fun. I know when I signed up for the league it was because
a. I need some excercise (I'm old and fat)
b. It was an opportunity to meet some new people
and
c. To get those competitive juices flowing again.
Everyone needs to relax - have some fun. Just in case you've been mis-informed, there is no $1,000,000 check waiting for the winner of this thing.
Cheers!
Well Whittsett lost to Tim Hurlbert who is a strong 5.0, but anyway look at that san antonio team 4.5 last year. thats what people strive for when they put these teams together a lot of times.
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm having a mid-life crisis, cut me some slack!
ReplyDelete