I write this on the happy side of the knowledge that “all things are possible.” When the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2006 I felt that there were no dominant teams that year, that the Steelers were on a roll and that they got a lot of turnovers and breaks that went their way. The bottom line is that the Steelers were world champions in 2006 – enough said.
The Eagles on the other hand seem to be able to snatch defeat from the jaws of 
victory. They never seem to get their mojo going for a sustained period and in recent years when they were at their best they still didn’t impress people as the best team in the NFL – only a real good team with something to prove. This year at 5-5-1 coming off of a loss to Baltimore and a tie to Cincinnati it didn’t look too promising for them. And then the Eagles beat the Giants on Sunday…
The moral of the story is that this axiom applies to tennis too. After a successful season we find ourselves rebuilding and facing the toughest competition I can ever remember. We won the championships of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware in 2008 and this year we might not be the best team at our own tennis facility.
The Pirates, Krushers and TST are probably all better squads than us simply because they didn’t have to disband like we had to and they have all made key additions to their rosters (including picking up our players). It makes me humble and concerns me that we have an extremely difficult path just to get to Districts with no expectations of getting any further. To put this in perspective, this is our 5th year and we’ve never not made districts and traditionally success was measured solely by our performance at Districts.
It’s all good fortunately and I have to remember that it’s just tennis and it’s supposed to be fun. I like the idea of being the underdog and having an opportunity to over-perform in our matches. I don’t like the idea of relaxing in my easy chair watching Districts.
We played the Boomers Saturday night at Tennis Addiction. We won all 3 courts in straight sets. At #1 dubs Chris Pesta and Canh Ho played Tom Mead and Barb Heck. This was the closest 6&3 win I have ever witnessed. It was 2 hours long and the tiebreaker in the first set was 13-11. Canh was in the hospital all afternoon with his 2 year old niece who was running a 107 degree fever (she’s doing better now). Canh barely made it to the match and I’m sure it was hard for him to focus on tennis. Chris Pesta on the other hand hadn’t played a USTA mixed match in years and it’s not easy being thrown into the fire at #1 dubs facing solid opponents. Well done – way to battle.
At #2 doubles, Lynn Dickson teamed with her new partner Tony Sciscione. Tony is a rapidly improving player (our favorite type) and we weren’t sure how’d he’d play with Lynn after just one practice with her. In his first USTA Mixed match ever he faced Ruth Portonovo (a very top of level 4.0) and Gary McGeehan. Ruth & Gary were 2-0 on the season coming in to the match and they recently notched a sweet 6&1 victory against the Pirates who are possibly the best team in our flight now. Lynn & Tony won 4&1 and played very well together. Welcome Tony and a great win for the duo.
At #3 dubs yours truly partnered with newcomer Irene Acosta. Irene recently moved to the area and has fast made inroads with the tennis community. She’s already played six matches this year because she plays for a team in Delaware and she will play a lot more for us too including some 9.0 matches. We played Engram Lloyd and Debbie Pincar and won 1&2. Great start Irene and here’s your official welcome!
Up next is Kinetix 1 on January 30th. We are now 2-0 on the season but we have 3 big obstacles in our path to overcome (TST, Krushers & Pirates) if we are to finish in the top 2. If we keep our heads down and keep fighting then who knows, this just might be our year after all.
