For me, this is the best weekend of the year for tennis in this city, even ahead of the Coke weekend.
Thanks to Cheryl and Diana, who can finally get a little rest now. As always, they did a great job and put in a lot of hard work. Also, thanks to the classy captains and players I came across this weekend: Jimmy Kilshaw, Tommy Ristau, Mike Salinas, Jason Freeman and many others.
My observations: The energy in the lower divisions amongst the fans and players dwarfed that of the 4.5 division. Their strokes aren't pretty, but some of the 4.0 guys (Dutchover, Jerry Pham and many others) are every bit as gutsy as their 4.5 counterparts.
Kudos to my teammates Thang Pham and Adrian Santesteban who pulled out a crucial 3rd set breaker to again send the Mob back to Sectionals. Mob Squad doubles have taken a lot of flak this year but they pulled out two doubles lines against Copperfield when it counted. I wish Adrian and Thang had played better against Hurlbert and Armstrong for Kingwood's sake...I'd be slightly worried about three strikes if I were Jimmy. If The Crush can get their singles in order, they'll be tough to beat in Dallas.
Like it or not, there have been pretty much three powerhouses in 4.5 in this city in this decade: Kingwood, the Mob and the Burkhart/Green teams. This looked to be the year someone else would break through, but it just didn't happen. It'll be interesting to see if Copperfield remains competitive next year with the inevitable 5.0 rating for John Kudrick.
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Phi Huyhn finally won a Houston singles match after being 0-5 this year. Kingwood is in trouble. Ted Puma is over rated.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to all teams in Dallas.
ReplyDeletesomeone give kudrick a book when he's playing. he's looks too bored out there.
ReplyDeleteI thought Ted Puma was winning when the injury occurred. Congrats Phi, you finally did it!!!
ReplyDeleteHahaha, the the only way Phi can win is if someone gets injured or cramps up like the over-rated Ted P. That guy was covered from head to toe in the middle of the day, no wonder he cramped up.
ReplyDeleteIn some peoples eyes Ted may be overrated, but he has a pretty damn good record of wins, with a few losses.
ReplyDeleteGotta give credit to all that played today, especially the ones that played two matches. I am surprised more players did not cramp up.
I can't believe the asian teams made it to sectionals AGAIN
ReplyDeleteGreg,
ReplyDeleteYou brought up an interesting point last week about the HTA disqualifications and their impact at the next level. I am sure you are already working on it.
How does the eligibility change for the Mob Squad and the Chancellor's guys for sectionals in Dallas? The HTA membership is NOT a requirement for sectionals.
Are these guys now able to play?
btw Abilene won the 4.5 QT
ReplyDeleteIf you are not eligible to participate in the local competition that qualifies you for Sectionals, then why would it be fair to allow them to go to Sectionals and compete? Being that player matches were not disqualified because they were not HTA members, what makes anyone think it will not happen again next year? Ultimately, the responsibility comes down to the captain: they should not allow their players to participate in local play until they are members of the HTA.
ReplyDeleteI am not arguing that the responsibility comes down to the individual/captain to make sure they are adhering to the rules.
ReplyDeleteI am asking the question about whether an local HTA rule can and will be enforced at a state level.
There are two case studies here to challenge this situation.
Does anybody really know how the "red flag" system really works. Just how many wipe outs does it take to get a player red flagged?
ReplyDeleteI remember a couple years ago a guy played only three matches and won in the range of 6-2, 6-1 in all three matches, and he was promptly red flagged. (I am not going to mention names here. The point of this discussion is to not focus on the player, but the inequality of the system and what needs to be done to fix it.)
This weekend, I noticed after looking at the record of one player for a winning team, that this player consistantly is involved in winning convincingly against benchmark players. Here are his match results this year alone, and all are wins including the playoffs:
6-2, 6-4
6-3, 6-0
6-1, 6-1
6-1, 6-1
6-0, 6-2
6-4, 6-2
6-3, 6-1
7-5, 6-2.
Except for the last score, I think all would agree that almost all these results are not competitive based on how Cheryl describes the "computer" red flag system. So why has this person not been red flagged a long time ago? And the guy a few years ago got red flagged only after three matches.
Again, I am leaving names off this so maybe we can focus on the problems with the process and not the player. If you looked at all the players on the winning teams this weekend, you could figure out who the player I am talking about is anyway.
Anyway, my question is, just how does the "red flag" system work anyway and why does it seem to be so unfair?
looksing at those scores even if the players has a computer rating, he/she could be dynamically DQ'ed. It happened I believe at least 2x last year at Sectionals where Computer Rated players were DQ'ed. Those scores should definately raise some eyebrows. Of course this player will get and ESR I am sure, at least this year they can not just auto-appeal, they actually will have to play at a level up or sit out 3 years.
ReplyDeleteThe scores are only one small piece of the puzzle. The most important aspect in answering your question is "who" the wins were against and which leagues the matches were played in.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, there are only a handful of people who truly understand how the system works. Most information you hear is incorrect althought AR Hacker is most likely one of those knowledgable people.
The first few scores listed there were results from this weekend where those wins are against both computer and benchmark rated players. In other words, this person was beating players that have winning records themselves coming from other playoff teams.
ReplyDeleteBenchmark doesn't mean a thing. The League the match is played in doesn't mean a thing. Benchmark JUST means they were on a TEAM that played at the Championship level which includes City Playoffs. Doesn't mean your at the high end of your level. Also, computer has no idea the level the match is. You could be playing a 4.5 match against a 4.0 player - that's all the computer cares about. Red Flags are generated everytime your computer rating exceeds a certain threashold. This is done if you have convincing win against a high-end player. The computer considers a match to not be competitive if your opponent does not win more than 3 games against you.
ReplyDeleteI guess the answer for us would be how to know what the actual rating of a player is, such as 3.9, or 4.4 etc... But I guess if we knew the exact level of a player, then those players would know who to tank against etc...
ReplyDeleteAll us humans can observe, is that certain players kick ass on people on a consistant basis, and that raises some eyebrows. The computer apparently knows better.
Us humans just want to play people on our level, which is what levels tennis is all about. The matches are competitive and fun to play. It is no fun to get your ass kicked and frankly it is boring to be on the other side of that kicking others asses all the time as well.
By the way. I am not one to criticize a system without offering some ideas on how to fix the system. The problem is, I can't recommend a positive idea until I can understand the current system. And it appears here, that nobody really understands this "computer rating system".
ReplyDeleteOther questions I have about this system, is how some people get lowered in their ratings at the end of the year when, as this human observes, there is no justification for it. What is that all about. I am sure everyone knows someone who got rated down, and that person can only laugh about it and not know how it happened.
Kudos & thanks to Cheryl and Diana for a well run city playoff tournament!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the MPTC Kingwood Crush & LLTC Mob Squad for their victory this weekend. Houston is well represented at Sectional. Good luck in Dallas!
Also thanks and accolades to all the other 4.5 captains and players that I met this weekend and throughout the season.
Our team looks forward to seeing everyone next season.
Best regards,
Mike Salinas
Captain, Copperfield Lobsters
Salinas,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on a great season and I am sure that your team will be just as competitive next year. You have a nice group of players that I enjoyed watching and playing against.
P.S. We all appreciate and need support, but your team has a supporter that may be a little over the top. High whistling and continuous yelling does not reflect well on your group of nice guys. Just my observation...
So for honors does it go like this?
ReplyDelete1st MPTC Kingwood Crush
2nd LLTC Mob Squad
3rd Copperfield Lobsters
4th Westside Black Sheep
Copperfield fans are a bunch of drunks, so the whistling and yelling is expected out of them.
ReplyDelete:)
The league you are playing in ABSOLUTELY makes a difference. For example, the Fall and Spring HTA leagues are not considered USTA league matches are do not count towards your rating score. If you beat someone 6-0, 6-0 in the Spring it is meaningless for red flag purposes.
ReplyDeletei personally like the cheers from the copperfield fans. they make the matches more interesting. give them a break, they took the time off to sit and watch the matches in the heat. we definitely need more fans like that.
ReplyDeleteYou should have heard the Sienna crowd. They were crazy.
ReplyDeleteCheering is great, and the support feels good to player on the court. But the drunk obnoxious guy from Copperfield's cheering section, needs to be a little more respectful of the other courts that are playing. It is a bit of a distraction to others.
ReplyDeleteHey ronnie, what happened to the bon bons on Sunday. Too hot for bon bons?
ReplyDeleteThe comment was directed only to the ONE obnoxious supporter, the remaining Copperfield fans should be lauded for their team support.
ReplyDeleteLet's throw out the obvious - the poster who listed the scores of the "player consistantly is involved in winning convincingly against benchmark players." Gary Armstrong anyone? I know for a fact the first two scores this weekend were 3,0 and 2,4. Not sure about you guys but most 5.0 players don't have a serve like his. He's got to be close to being DQ'd.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to know who the "anonymous" person is crying about the loud Copperfield supporter. I'd hope that if anyone ever had a problem with me they'd be man enough to confront me (or at least not hide behind anonymous). We could either grab a beer, kiss and make up or take it to the alley. Either way it gets resolved. haha
ReplyDeleteThanks to the teams we played this weekend. I met a lot of new players and had a few really fun matches. Everyone we played were good players and very cool people.
Good luck to everyone representing Houston in Dallas.
This is the problem with a blog such as this -- Lots of character assassination from behind 'anonymous' with zero accountability.
ReplyDeleteI suppose there are pros/cons on this.
has it been decided which bracket Kingwood goes into and which bracket Mob Squad goes into for 4.5 sectionals?
ReplyDeletethey probably will not make a decision on the WC Dallas/Houston until after the Dallas Playoffs next weekend.
ReplyDeleteThere was upset yesterday in that Feldman's team lost. I expected them to be the 2nd team at least from Dallas.
Regarding the Bon Bons, our captain ate them all during the commute to the tennis center. As a result, he could not play all weekend.
ReplyDeleteWhich is a harder divison for tournaments mens 4.0 or mens 30's?
ReplyDeleteMen's 30s by a thousand miles.
ReplyDeleteMens 30s will include teaching pros, former college players etc. that do not want to play large divisions at the Open level.
ReplyDelete