It looks as though the 3.5 and 4.0 divisions have been decided. As I understand it, League Committee president Freddy Soewito and Lakeside legend Mike Spoor lent their helping hands in trying to assure that the divisions were geographically and competitively balanced.
There are six divisions, five of which have six teams and one has 5, as an effort was made to have almost every team have a ten match schedule. As I understand it, the six division winners and the four wild cards (teams with the best records) will qualify for citywides. I was not part of the process, so I may be in error on some of the details.
My only gripe is a minor (and selfish) one. In 4.0, there are five perennial powers in my opinion. Hurricanes, Lakeside, Chancellor's, Sienna Overhitters and Copperfield Shock and Awe (they're debatable I suppose). Two of those teams were placed in the same division.
My sleeper team for this year is the Good Guys (assuming Helvenson, Sherbondy, Mei and Guerrini all sign up). Keep an eye on them, somehow they avoided being decimated by bump-ups despite having some success last year.
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Also, LLTC-Yang will bear watching. They have two quality players in Yang and Arellano as well as a bunch of unknowns. If they are able to fill in their roster with quality, they will be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteIt's common knowledge that Spoor hates two teams. Hurricane's and Chancellor's. Not a surprise he put them in the same division and put the easiest teams in history in his.
ReplyDeleteFreddie managed to get himself a nice division too but I have no idea if his team is good enough to take advantage of it. Acers are terrible without Le and Romero, so he has no comp to deal with.
WTF - Isn't it a huge conflict of interest to have captains within a division influencing the team flights and scheduling?????? HTA needs to address this.
ReplyDeleteI think they're just giving their input and opinions, though I don't know how the process actually works. I don't believe they're actually making the divisions themselves. Diana and Cheryl can't possibly know all of the ins and outs and new players and rumors that well-informed captains are privy to, so it does make sense to get some input from some people "in the know", I think.
ReplyDeleteIf a couple Greg Jones types (4.0 version) show up on someone's roster, it makes sense to me that it is taken into account in scheduling. I think getting opinions from captains (and I'm making an assumption here that they can be relatively unbiased) is a good idea.
When people like Freeman and Hollis and Benzon win every year there is always jealous captains that try to make it extra hard on them. Not a shocker.
ReplyDeletePre-season ranking is only worth as much as the paper it is written on. How many times has the "perennial college football power" Notre Dame (no offense to their fans) been designated in the top 25 college football teams on the pre-season? How many times have they been totally out of it by the end of the season? Look no further from what happened to Texas last year for more example.
ReplyDeleteThe best way of performance measurement is the ATP style of "What have you done in the past year"? If I am helping with the flight and the division, I would go back for the whole one year and rank the teams to find the right balance.
But having followed this blog for over three months, I am sure that no matter how it gets sliced someone will complain about it. :-)
you new to houston haya? you playing league? what level?
ReplyDeletei think basketball a better analogy. every year you know duke and kansas and carolina and kentucky will be good. same with hurricanes and lakeside and sienna and chancelors.
Sienna sucks... all their good 4.0s got bumped to 4.5 and their 4.5s came in last place in the big boy league.
ReplyDeleteNot sure you're looking at it right - Hurricanes and Chancellors will be jumping for joy being in the same division. That means they won't be in the same bracket in city playoffs. And it's a safe bet they'll both make the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteSienna is old news... everyone can write them off for this season
ReplyDeleteNG is correct.
ReplyDeleteAssuming they finish 1, 2 in their flight then they can be in opposite brackets in city wide then the Sunday match is meaningless unless you are playing for a specific bracket in DAL.
I wish USTA Texas would not publish the sectional flights until ALL of the positions are filled.
Chris, you got that right. One of many items for the USTATx wish list. Last year in 4.0 it was better to win City and avoid Lubbock, which made for a donnybrook on Sunday. But the year before, the opposite.
ReplyDeleteBut only 4 of the second place teams make the playoffs and they put another good team in that Hurricanes and Chancelorr's division. Spoor and Soewito are dirty dealers but maybe Freeman and Lu are getting what they deserved.
ReplyDeleteIs NumbersGuy = Spoor?
NumbersGuy != Spoor.
ReplyDelete@10.33, You know you just make my point. Out of Duke, Kansas, N. Carolina, and Kentucky, which one is actually making it to Houston Final Four?
ReplyDeleteSo, the same issue, every season you think Notre Dame in College Football or Duke in College Basketball, or Cowboys in NFL, or Yankees in MLB, or Heat in NBA (this season) will make it. The keyword here is "THINK".
If that is the fact, why all captains should just mail it in. Let the Canes and Chancellor represent us. In fact, we should give them our best players. Wait, they already stole our best players. :-)
The deal is this. Captains don't "steal" players. We are all adults. Players "choose" which teams they want to play on. Why cry like bitches if your player "chooses" to leave your team for a better team. It's part of the game. Put on your big boy panties and quit whining. Why not get down on the player for leaving your team.
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ReplyDelete@3.40PM, well I am not so "lucky" to be playing in a team that has good enough players to be recruited by those legendary captains.
ReplyDeleteFor Anon @3.40PM, I would suggest that you keep your panties on, you will need it later when you are getting down on your players.
Watch out Hayabusa. Don't play with fire. Your about to get burned.
ReplyDeleteWhen do the 4.5 flights come out?
ReplyDeleteChancellor's, Sienna Overhitters
ReplyDeletethese teams are dangerous...VERY DANGEROUS