Beware

I actually made it to my first team practice yesterday at LLTC. My weekly doubles game with Pumma, Benzon and Pham had been cancelled this week.

My tennis during practice was as bad as ever, but even worse was the surprise that awaited me afterwards. A smashed window, and a missing wallet which had been barely visible in a compartment inside.

I don't know if those cameras in the parking lot are just for show, but the police didn't even bother to come down to the courts.

The thieves apparently hit every gas station in the area before I got home and cancelled the credit cards.

Only Nerds Will Care, But...

So, I had a bunch of free time today and I was looking at the Austin 4.5 league again and I got to thinking: Is it harder to get disqualified from 4.5 this year?

Obviously, here in Houston we had Troy Toole but I keep coming back to  Kevin Serwatka, Tim Klitch and Conrad Ramirez in Austin, all of whom are self-rates or appeals. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't their records look a lot more impressive than Toole's? I was assured by people in the know that Toole's DQ was 3 strikes related and not a result of self rating too low based on his previous play. Maybe I was misinformed?

Austin did well at Sectionals in 4.5 last year, going a combined 6-2. Since ratings filter down, you would think they'd be fairly high overall in the capital city.

Anyway, I looked at every other 4.5 league in the state, and unless I missed something, there hasn't been another 4.5 disqualification other than Troy Toole. Strange.

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

As you know, I'm frantically trying to change the topic from Sydney Jim so that maybe you'll forget about him, so let's take a look at what's remaining in the regular season.

The Deucebags and Good-er Guys reported their 5/30 match score yesterday: a 3-2 Good-er Guys win. The Dbags also reported a 3-2 win over the not-so-incredible Hulks.They have a one game lead with their 4/18 match against Copperfield still to be entered. The Good-er Guys also have a match remaining with Copperfield.

With just one Wild Card in 4.5, the loser of the Dbags/GG division race will have to get past the second place team in the Old School/Hurricanes division. Old School sits at 8-1 and has a big edge with a 34-11 record. If they are swept in their last match and both the Dbags and GG sweep their Copperfield finales, that puts OS at 34-16 and GG at 27-13. Hmmm...I'm figuring this out even as we speak, so I probably have made an error or am not understanding the situation properly, but that would give OS a .680 winning percentage and leave GG at .675.

Has Old School clinched? Of course, the other possibility, unlikely as it may seem, is that Old School beats the Hurricanes in their rematch and also the Hurricanes drop a bunch of other lines in their matches with the Gautamizers and Gypsies, opening the door for the DBags or GG.

The third possibility is that somebody somewhere gets DQ'd and it changes the standings around for one of the aforementioned teams. Again, not very likely.

Somebody correct me if I've made any errors here.

Troy Toole

We had a 4.5 DQ.

Troy Toole, of the Good-er Guys, who was a self rate and had played 4 matches, 3 at line 3 doubles and one at line 2 doubles. Not exactly a high risk DQ, one would think. But as you know, the computer sometimes has a mind of its own.

I quickly looked him up on that ratings website I mentioned last week, and he was listed at 4.48 (through matches of 5/17), so he was in the danger zone. It adds some credence to the algorithm being used by that website, in my opinion.

The DQ moves the Deucebags into first place, and drops the Good-er Guys to 5-1. I'm guessing that he was playing in the rain interrupted match between the two teams, but I have no knowledge of that. It definitely makes the Wild Card race interesting. The Good-er Guys may end up on the outside looking in, despite a talented roster.

Wow, What a Slow Week

A quick perusal of the schedule shows only two matches that are marginally interesting. The 4.5 battle between the Hurricanes and Nottingham Forest has playoff implications. The first matchup between the two teams was not all that competitive: a 4-1 win for the Canes with all four wins in straight sets. Still, number one singles between Antoine Ford and Jorge Cuesta was 7-6, 7-5 and Old School did not use Quack Bui in singles, so there is some hope for a closer outcome. Barring a blowout, Nottingham Forest should be in good position to secure the Wild Card spot, unless the Deucebags close like a freight train. The DBags still have 4 matches whose scores have not been reported.

In 4.0, the Unicorns battle the JCC Dudes. While the Dudes will not catch the Unicorns (barring an unlikely DQ), they are still in contention for a Wild Card, but will definitely need a win to stay in the hunt. Calculations for Wild Card spots may have to take into account the fact that the MD Anderson Tigers dropped out of the league, allegedly in response to a perceived threat from the Unicorns. I'm really not sure of all the details there, as I had been out of the loop. The Unicorns did add unknown Sheldon Henderson this week. Late season adds are always worth extra scrutiny, as many cagey captains try to supplement their rosters right before playoff time.