EK downs Healthplex 4-1

Easy Killer improved to 2-1 on the season after taking 4 out of 5 courts from the Healthplex on Saturday. The Healthplex is in our flight every year and they are always fun to play. They are not the powerhouse in our flight (nor are we it seems) but they do have a good group of guys who enjoy themselves when they play. (I enjoy myself too… as long as I win).

 A thank you for this past match goes out to Joe Sassa who had a great fight at #1 singles, to Mitch Reading for his 2nd straight win of this young season, to Tom Faith/Ed Daou for their 2nd win together and to Hap Phouthavongsa & Mel Navea for combining and playing well.

We have our next match against Great Valley on Saturday, May 23rd (Memorial Day weekend) at 9am at Great Valley HS. GV advanced to districts last June after avenging their loss to us earlier in the 2008 season. We owe them but I won’t exactly be taunting them as they look on paper to be the team to beat yet again. But, that’s why they play the matches.

I am happy that our team has responded from a mid-Spring slumber. We have started to make some noise and practice attendance is improving (we had 14 last night).  Another comment on our flight, The Drunken Fools and us used to compete for Districts. Then came GV. This year the West Chester Aces and Kinetix have certainly announced their presence with some nice wins. We have to be well prepared to win each week and there is no room for undedicated play. The season is short and commitment is paramount. I have long realized that the key to Mixed doubles is fixed partners. I have come to learn that axiom applies to Men’s doubles too. With the level of parity in the league today, two players who are a little better than their two opponents who play regularly together will lose. It used to be true (or seemed so) that two great doubles players made a great doubles team. Now, if you don’t match up deuce & ad players, have a steady and an aggressive partner, a workable strategy for coming to net and the ability to communicate and signal – then you will probably lose to a team that has addressed these fundamentals. What separates the good teams from the best teams is the ability to analyze during the match and adjust to cover your weaknesses and attack your opponent’s vulnerabilities. A big part of this is mental ability to stay focused and never give up. In years past I saw lots of doubles teams discouraged and frustrated after a bad first set. Now it seems like most teams are ready for a fight and they don’t go away easily.

It’s on to GV. We will fight – we promise that. The important thing is to have fun and the rest comes down to the work we’ve done to prepare. Lets see if we can give GV a good match.

Special report – Adoption – how I found my birth parents

I am adopted.  I found my birth parents one week ago and was fortunate enough to meet them for the first time this past weekend.  I want to share with you my experience in an effort to provide a little insight into this situation and so many others just like it.  I have received questions from parents who have adopted, are thinking of adopting, from other adopted children and interested parties.  Many are curious about the emotions, conflicts, grudges and potential hurt feelings that may be part of this experience for the individuals and families involved.  There are many possible scenarios but fortunately for me this has been an entirely positive experience.  I will also go out on a limb and say that I expect that it’s mostly a positive event for everyone involved despite the fear, anxiety and trepidation.  This does not imply a happy ending to a successful search.  However, meeting your birth parents/family certainly comes with a sense of “grounding” or perhaps “completeness.”

First things first, I love my Dad and family.  My father (Joseph Chamberlin) is my best friend, was my best man at my wedding and we talk every day.  He adopted me and raised me in the most selfless and generous way possible.  My hope is that if I can become 1/10 of the man he is, I will be on the right path.  He is my role model, mentor and rock.  He supported me all my life in good times and bad.  He helped me with my search and put me at ease about the entire process.  Thank you Pops.

The search started soon after my Dad handed me casually my adoption records out of the blue when I was visiting one weekend in 1995.  I knew I was adopted from the earliest age but I had never seen the actual paperwork. In fact, I had never thought any paperwork existed.  The legal documents were of no use as there is no identifiable information.  The only useful information came from my father’s handwritten notes on a small piece of paper in the packet that said that my father was a 26 year old, Italian, and an attorney practicing in Syracuse, NY.  He was 5’8” and 205 lbs.  My birth name was Stephen Patrick Howe and that my mother was early 20’s and of German and English ancestry.   That’s all I had except for the fact that baby Stephen liked cereal and slept through the night.  I assumed that they were not married and that Howe was my mother’s name.

So to take a step back, what do you think I felt about being adopted?  The answer is very little.  I had at the time a mother (she passed last year due to breast cancer), father, brother and sister so I wasn’t missing out on having a family.  It was an idle curiosity – nothing more.  I never got my hopes up and the scenarios I imagined were that my parents were injured at the time of my birth or something far worse like they were in jail or deceased.  I also thought that they probably weren’t looking for me and clearly my father being an attorney would know how not to be found if he didn’t want to.  My two questions that I most wanted answered were; why was I given up for adoption and did I have siblings?

My original search consisted of paying the State of NY for a list of practicing attorneys in Syracuse in 1967.  I looked for Italian surnames (ending in a vowel of course) and then called the 70 names I identified.  I had some potential hits but after many, many calls I gave up. It turns out that the name I was looking for was not on my list.  Howe is a common name and if my birth mother had married and thus changed her last name, it would be difficult to locate her.  In 1995 I registered with the New York State adoption information registry and the international registry.  Both work on the premise that if the parents register and the children register then they will be matched by the agency.  Outside of a medical emergency that would compel the courts to open the adoption records to determine the medical history – there was little else I thought I could do.

The Private Investigator (PI) that I hired is amazing.  He has a natural talent for this and his rates are low.  He is friends with my sister (Beverly Chamberlin) who is also adopted (from different parents) and he found her parents in two weeks.  When I learned about that I asked him to search for mine and he found my parents in two months.  Please contact me if you’d like a referral.  He is exceptional, affordable and quick.  He explained that parents essentially can’t find children they put up for adoption because they have no identifiable information.  You get nothing when you give your child up and then you have nothing to go on except a baby picture perhaps – good luck with that.  This was a major realization for me  because I had always assumed that if my parents wanted to find me or to be found they would have or the adoption registries would have paired us.

There are several fallacies about searching for parents and children involved in adoption.  The biggest one is the pairing agencies.  They lull you into a false sense of security in that you feel like you are doing everything that can be done be registering with them.  My sister and her birth family both registered.  My birth family and I both registered.  We were never matched.  The reason is simple.  These are government agencies who have limited funding and resources.  They are not on the leading edge of technology nor do they have modern applications that have reasonable data quality and the ability to generate actionable information.

How I found my birth family was by retaining a PI and giving him all of the information I had.  He sent me a 4 page report replete with potential fathers and theories about my mother’s occupation and the potential situations.  None of the pictures of potential fathers that fit our criteria resembled me.  There were some far flung theories about my mother but I mostly ignored that section and I really didn’t follow his line of thinking.  I asked him to follow up on the ideas he had for my birth father and to cold call all of the Howe’s in the Syracuse phonebook.  As it turns out, he actually listed by name my mother in his first report.  In the second report my PI listed only five potential fathers for me – 3 deceased, one in Florida with no contact info and one in Rochester, NY.  I googled the Rochester name and found a picture in a law directory.  My body literally “buzzed” when I viewed the picture of my birth father; like I was set on vibrate.  The physical resemblance was unbelievable.  The eyes, the nose, ears, chin, full head of hair etc. were all the same.  I showed it to a few friends and they all agreed that I was on to something.  The law directory that listed my birth father also provided me with the email address so I sent him an email.  He called me in an hour and said, “I think I am your father.”

The answers to my questions were ones that I had never, ever imagined.  My birth parents conceived me early on in their relationship.  As marriage was not certain, they gave me up for adoption (phew!)  They ended up getting married a year later and had my sister Meredith and my brother Jerry.  They have been missing me and wanting to find me for 40 years.

My first visit with my birth family went great.  Everyone I met was amazing and very nice.  They greeted me with open arms, trust and acceptance.  I was given a picture of my sister and her family, my father and one of my mother (who has remarried after 20 years with my birth father) with her husband Larry (my step-father).  I showed this to my boys when I got home and the immediate comment was, “Gee Dad, you have a lot of new parents.”  During the weekend I was able to get some 1:1 time with just about everyone.  I have to say I was extremely taken with my sister’s kids.  Jack is absolutely amazing.  He trusted me instantly and called me Uncle Russ.  Since I have no other nephews or nieces and one of my best friends who passed from lung cancer 2 years ago used to call me that – I was very happy to hear him say it. When he asked me what I do for a living; he listened patiently and then politely stated, “now put it it terms I can understand.” Jack, 12,  is one of many new delights I discovered.  A second delight was his sister Ashley.  She’s a great kid who works hard at school and dance.  She’s grounded and filled with enthusiasm and determination.  In the time between finding my birth family and meeting we each talked on the phone some.  I can’t tell you how excited I was to get a LinkedIN invite from my brother before we spoke on the phone (he lives in Seattle).  I was also friended by my sister on Facebook.  After the first night I  traveled with my birth sister to meet my birth mother (Kathleen) and her husband Larry.  This was wonderful too.  We ate, had some wine and my sister beat me at Scrabble on the last turn of the game.  It was so nice to feel such positive energy in the room.

So what determines who you become – environment or genetics? Clearly the answer is both.  I found numerous similar traits.  My father was a long time wrestler as am I.  My father has the same allergies that I do.  He likes strong water pressure in the shower which is something that’s important to me too.  We have so many seemingly irrelevant similarities that it’s crystal clear we are related. Environment is also a major factor but my assumption is that being raised in either family would have been a comparable experience as both families have similar socio-economic standings.

So where do we go from here?  To the family reunion on July 4^th of course!  I can’t wait to meet more of the extended family.  My sister’s (Meredith’s) family may come visit for a trip to Hershey Park and to see a Phillies game.  My brother (Jerry) is coming to Lake Placid to compete in a triathlon in July so that will be our first meeting.  My best summation is that I have found an open door.  What happens next only time will tell.  Having lost a parent I understand what that parent did for me and my love for them.  This all means a lot to me including my brother Joseph, my sister Beverly and my Dad and all of my birth family.   I think this next statement is the best thing I can clear up with this post.  It’s all good.  Everyone is supportive and you don’t have to feel shy or embarrassed to have additional relatives or worry about hurting others feelings.  You do need to be sensitive and aware that you are in unchartered ground so cautious steps are necessary and wise.  Nevertheless, It’s better than “all good.”  It’s great!

Aces upset Easy Killer

We lost to the West Chester Aces on Saturday 2-3. We consider this an upset and a wakeup call. A shot across our bow if you will. We now need to win almost all of our matches to advance to Districts. If we have any chance to make waves at Districts we must be able to do this. If we do win out, we’re in no matter what. We still control our own destiny.

In the league, what has changed is the commitment level that many teams bring to the table. I know of several teams that practice twice a week and the majority of the team attends the practices. This means that they have played with their partners in practice and they have figured out a few things about their partnership options. Also, many of these players prioritize practice dates and matches above most of their other activities.  With the monsoon Spring season and these tough economic times, it has been difficult to practice as much as we have in the past. The teams that are dedicated are giving themselves a great opportunity to do well.  Case in point, we practiced last night and two teams in our own flight had more players practicing then we did at the courts.

For our Saturday match, we had limited availability and none of our doubles teams had ever met their partner. It showed. What also showed is a solid performance by our opponents. Kudos to the Ace’s – good job fellas – can’t wait to play you again.

What can be done?

This is a team and we win or lose as a team. What I’m asking each of our teammates is embrace the team, put it on their own shoulders and get it done. We can take it if we want it – we have the talent. Our flight is very competitive and Great Valley sets a high bar for the minimum level we must attain. We need positive, can-do attitudes. We have to keep moving forward and start dictating play.  We need to be proud of our team.

Time is short. If we don’t advance, come July 1, USTA men’s tennis in our district is done – that’s only the next 7 weekends.  Would the real Easy Killer team please stand up.

Easy Killer starts the season

And so it begins, our 2009 Men’s tennis adult season.  We are enjoying the changing weather and have actually been able to play outdoors a little bit. We had a good start to the season on Saturday, April 25^th and out beautiful new home courts at Rustin High School in West Chester, PA. We pulled out a victory 4-1 against Kinetix and we are now 1-0 in a six-team flight.  We play everyone twice and only the winner of the flight will advance to Districts. 

At 1^st singles, our ace Canh Ho pulled a hammy and very cautiously finished the match.  This is a classy thing to do instead of defaulting and we hope Canh will heal this week in time to play our match on Saturday against the Drunken Fools!  Congrats to Jimmy Riggs, Canh’s opponent – I wish I could say I beat Canh in straight sets!

At #2 singles, Mitch Reading stepped up and won a nail biter 7-6 in the 3rd set.  Way to go Mitch!  Mitch was definitely thrown off by his opponent’s unorthodox style and hed almost did not come away with the victory.  It was 6-2 Mitchy-poo in the tiebreaker at match point and fortunately Mitch was able to close it out for a nice win. The sky is the limit for Mitch and this is a good confidence builder to start the season.

At #1 doubles we played Tom Ramsay and newcomer Hap Phouthavongsa. They introduced themselves to each other and then won their match in 3 sets.   Tom’s long time partner Bob Cohen, a.k.a. the Rodney Dangerfield or our team, got bumped up so we are experimenting with some new options, Their opponents were John Keefrider and Peangelo Miranda (wonder what his friends call him for short?)  I have to say that John played very steady tennis and I didn’t see him miss a shot.  Peangelo is a sensational player and we were fortunate to win this court.  Well done guys and welcome Hap!  Hap is a big hit already as he brought refreshments that we all enjoyed in the 90 degree weather after the match.  Thanks Hap!

At #2 doubles, another recruit Ed Daou and long time veteran Tom “Killer” Faith smoked what I thought was our opponent’s best dubs team 3&1 – Wow!  They played Dr. Dana Burkholder and Jim Vesci, Jr.  Dana and Jim are solid and experienced so all I can say is well done.  Welcome Ed and I’m sure our opponents had their fill of lefties for a while.

At 3rd doubles, Ron Rubenstein and myself won in straight sets.  We played together some in the Winter and we had a modicum of chemistry for our first official match together – nice playing Ron!

We are 1-0 and play the Drunken Fools 5/11 at our home courts at 9am May 2nd.  Great Valley beat the Fools so right away it’s clear that it’s us and GV (and the Fools if we don’t win in Saturday) in contention for Districts. The Fools are our favorite type of opponents – good tennis and the same after match philosophy as us. Life is too short – enjoy every moment.

The Englunds Main Line Tennis Classic is coming up next week – we have some of our team in this. This should be a fun event at the Great Valley Racquet club. And, just a note on our new name, the meaning is akin to “Lighten up Francis” – you remember, “and I don’t like anyone touching me, any of you homos put your meat hooks on me, and I’ll kill you…”

Mixed is done – here comes Summer!

And so another season has passed us by. Thank you to the team for the exceptional spirit and dedication to our practices, tournament and matches. Everything is possible when we work together. We finished 6-2, tied for 1^st but ultimately we finished in 3^rd with the tiebreakers.

Unfortunately we did not advance to post season play this year. We had a very talented team and the blame lies squarely on my shoulders. I goofed with some of our lineups and didn’t pull out a few necessary wins. Oh well, if this season has taught me anything it’s how to keep things in perspective. We have had such success from the very beginning and we haven’t had to deal with the mental anguish of not living up to expectations. Another lesson learned (again) is to keep the team size more manageable. We had such talent and so few matches to see what each member could contribute.

What is important is family, work and having fun with your spare time. We have dealt with a few out of the ordinary situations this year but it’s fruitless to devote an ounce of energy to things you can’t control. As Oscar Wilde said, “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.” The USTA caterwaulers will continue on doing what it is they do. Our goal is to win and have fun doing so. That’s it. Nothing changes and I appreciate those around me more and more.

Highlights of the season start with our first team match with the individual matches split 1-1. Margie Hamilton and Canh Ho survived match points, broke their opponent for the first time after being down 30-0 – two points from the match and pulled out the match in a dramatic 7-6 3^rd set win. Practices were great and we got a nice mixture of 4.0, 4.5 and guests that played with us often. Thank you to Kathy Joy Hammer, Dave Chow, Ed Daou, Karen Loomis, Cindy Basile, Irene Acosta, Ron Rubenstein and Chris Kyper, Eric Markowitz, Chris Flouris and Liz Henkin for making Fridays so enjoyable. The Kings & Queens tournament is wrapping up. Canh & Liz will play the winner of KJ/Dave vs. Jackie/Russell. Can anyone knock them off?

So in conclusion of the Mixed 2008 from this amateur wordsmith, we tried and came up short. I know my tennis game is improving and I hope that most of our teammates enhanced their game this season, made some new friends and had fun. Perhaps next year we’ll be on top again because as Ben Franklin said, “Well done is better than well said.”

Pork chops cooked

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill. We have not lost our enthusiasm but then again I wouldn’t say we are successful either. The Pork chops got left in the oven a little too long as we lost 2-1 to Kinetix on Friday night. But don’t stick a fork in us just yet, our playoff hopes ride on winning the individual matches won/lost record as the first tiebreaker with Kinetix. We are both 13-8 in individual matches. We play the Rally Cats and they play Boomers2 in the final regular season match on 4/4/09. If we sweep and they lose one court we’re in. Goooo Boomers – here’s to Al Ortega rolling out a strong lineup against Kinetix like they did when they played us. Al’s team was in first place early in the season and can certainly be competitive with Kinetix.

In the match on Friday we were outplayed on 2 of the 3 courts. It isn’t something that happens often but sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug. The important point to remember is that what’s really important is certainly not winning every match although we try to do so. This season more than ever before in my memory I have seen conflict and strife over benign issues. And, to reiterate, when tennis is not fun then it’s time to examine your priorities to see if you have spending your time wisely. It’s fun to learn and grow as a player and person. It’s fun to confront challenges and weaknesses. We’ve had a few good runs and all we can do is keep our heads up, be gracious to our opponents and get as much enjoyment from our limited time available for tennis.

Regarding our match, I will skip the highlights except for congratulating Jackie Shaw and Eric Markowitz for a nice win on Friday against us. They are both ex-teammates and they played well. Eric gutted out a tough mid-match calf injury and together they sealed the win for our opponents. Well done Jackie and Eric (*&$%#*&$)!

We have made progress on the Kings & Queens tournament. We are in the quarter finals. Please try to get your matches in. Fortunately or unfortunately we have more time on our hands to get this tournament completed if we don’t make districts but we welcome the challenge if we are fortunate enough to squeak into the post season.

It’s good to have passion in your life

And to quote Tracy Chapman – I lose my head, from time to time. I make a fool out of myself, in matters of the Tennis errr heart, heart, heart.

Where to begin? We lost to TST on Saturday 2-1 in a very bad way. It was sloppy play with no focus. There are two sides to every match and I must start with Kudos to TST and especially Ezra Felker. They have heart. Despite everything that happened, we had a sitter on match point in the final court that was hit into the net. It was really an impossible thing to have happen. I had already jumped up thinking the match was over because it was a miracle that the ball even came back over the net. Ezra essentially threw a racket at it and it somehow went over. We lost five match points in that final tiebreaker – unreal. I’m still grimacing from this set back. However, if we make Districts; it was a positive thing to have happen.

Next, we are dealing with a huge distraction which is making tennis not fun. Once this distraction is resolved I will give my readers full disclosure on what happened, my opinion and the result. Bottom line, I am not a happy camper and this is an unwelcome distraction.

I have learned that I may take tennis too seriously? Nah! I know that must be everyone’s immediate reaction. What is important is my family and my job. So as this episode comes full circle perhaps it’s a good thing because tennis is supposed to be fun and when it’s not it’s time to reevaluate.

So where are we going from here? We have to win Friday against the Kinetix Krushers or we don’t make districts. We will give it a full effort and I am confident we’ll give ourselves every opportunity to succeed in this match.

On the positive side, my Central PA (CPD) team played the Central team we defeated in Sectionals last year and this time I got to play. They have essentially the exact same team again except which is very impressive.  I was scheduled to play #1 doubles which would have had me play their best team of Nicole Nickolaus and Ben Smith. I was informed as I walked on to the court that I was being switched to 3^rd doubles because one of my teammates decided to adjust the lineup. I already lost to Nicole this year in 7.0 and I was thinking I would have some tough sledding ahead of me. I believe that Nicole/Ben is the best individual Mixed Doubles team in all of Middle States. Nicole is closer to 4.5 than 3.5 and Ben is just about the most talented athlete I’ve seen on a tennis court. Nicole/Ben won their court but we took the other two.  My partner is Lesley Agnew and she is a great player too. She has a better serve and a better overhead than me and it’s a real pleasure to have the opportunity to play with her. She is also great at adjusting strategy. I played well for once and I was happy to win our court in a 3^rd set tiebreaker against a super nice and very talented team.  I learned after the match that the other team wanted my captain to play me on #1.

It’s crunch time. Time for our team to pull it together and come out on top. I believe in us. Adversity as long as it doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Enough talking… Bring it Krushers.

Pork chops prevail

Phew! We won over the TA Pirates 2-1 on Sunday night. The match was as anticipated and hotly contested. We improved to 5-0 on the season with 3 matches remaining. The top two teams make Districts and as of now we have a 1 game lead over the Pirates and the Krushers. 

 

Team Standings 

Team Name	Team Wins	Team Losses	Ind. Wins	Ind. Losses	Games Lost
Pork Chops & Apple Sauce	5	0	11	4	132
Kinetix Krushers	4	1	11	4	115
8Pirates	4	1	11	4	136
TST	3	2	8	7	156
Kinetix Second String	3	3	9	9	205
Boomers 2	2	3	6	9	162
Kinetix I	2	4	7	11	178
Lakeside	1	5	6	12	187
Rally cats	0	5	3	12	179

 

At #1 doubles, Liz Henkin made her USTA debut with Canh Ho facing off against Val Mead and Brian Zansitis. This was a 2+ hour war that lasted over 2 hours. It was very competitive and we were extremely fortunate to win this difficult court. This was a match that was much close than 6&3.

 

On court 2, Cindy Basile and Kim Zahan lost to Anthony DeCecco and Megan Faunce. This is an incredibly difficult pair to play. I have never seen Anthony play better and he’s very steady on court. This is a great combination for the Pirates and I doubt anyone will beat them this year.

 

Finally, on court 3, Irene Acosta and yours truly fought to a draw against Margie Wentz and Ron Siggs. We actually won the match but it was really close. Essentially, either side could have won and it was nice to play a close match against a good team. AWESOME playing Irene – you da best!

In this caldron of uncertainty we call Middle States, I have no idea what is brewing. This is an unusual year to say the least but there’s a lot to be said for keeping your head down and your knees crossed.

And speaking about keeping your head down, at practice last Friday, our very own “Tina Fondueit “ (the name has been changed to protect the innocent) swung at a wide ball with spin on it and broke her nose with her follow through requiring 4 stitches. We were all very shocked. What is Billy McElroy teaching her? “Tina” asked me to thank Irene Acosta who stayed with her, took her to the hospital and was a great friend to her. And I’m a great friend too, I specifically told Tina not to get any blood on the court – sheese, some people – do they listen??

Ahead for us next is TST – our nemesis. They like ourselves are not the powerhouse they once were but it will be good tennis and we are more than ready for the challenge. TST is captained by Tom James and anytime we get the opportunity to mix it up with a class act team like TST it’s a great thing.

Here’s the latest on the K&Q tournament. The following teams have all advanced to the quarterfinals. Liz& Canh will play Gina/Ron the Bobby Brady division. Marie/Kim play Kathy Joy/Dave in the Alice division. Irene/Tom R play a TBD team in the Cindy division and Jackie/Russell play another TBD team in the Sam the Butcher division. The other two first round matches will be completed by Sunday, March 15^th, Things are starting to get interesting.

So that’s the recap – onward and upward. Great team win. A special thank you to those who were able to come out and support the team!

Pork Chops remain unbeaten; showdown for 1st place 3/8/09

On Friday, February 20^th, PCA faced off against a solid lineup from Lakeside captained by Jeanne Fields.  Lakeside has some nice players on their roster and they brought their best to play us.  At #1 Janet Lippincott (of Harambees Heroes fame) and Jonathan Burke faced off against Celes Panicelli and Tony Sciscione.  We didn’t win this one and our court 1 opponents have not lost this year.  Tough match.

At #2 doubles, we had some serious protection for preserving our win.  Chow and Hammer protection is what I’m talking about.  Coming off of their first round Kings & Queens tournament victory in straight sets, Kathy Joy Hammer and Dave Chow won 3&1 vs. Jane Bulman and Jeff Carroll.  This was an exciting match to watch as we played aggressively, closed the net and dictated the tempo of the match.  This was a nice win against a good opponent. Afterwards I heard Dave singing while listening to his iPod in the locker room, something about his many aces that night – “This is a serve you just can’t touch,  can’t touch this,  can’t touch this,  my my my,   your return is a sitter??    Hammer Time!

At 3^rd doubles, Margie Hamilton and Victor Munoz played very well against Jeanne Fields and newcomer Jason Fingerman.  Jason self rated a few days prior to the match and published at 5.0 so we were a little concerned having a very strong player on court 3 – especially with what we knew would be a rough court 1.  But alas, Margie and Victor played great and won 6 & 2.  It was nice to see Victor on the court because he has a busy work schedule and has overcome some nagging injuries.  Come to think about it – that might be a good new team name, “Nagging injuries” or “The Nags.”  This thought should resonate with any of you who regularly read my musings – if you do you certainly know that I am “team name” challenged. 

Ok, on to the competitive landscape for 8.0 MXD in PATD.  The top 2 in the standings are the TA Pirates and us.  The next match is a showdown Sunday, March 8^th at 6:30pm at Tennis Addiction for essentially an automatic berth in the playoffs come April.  Tickets are available at Ticket Master and StubHub.  The Pirates will start Anthony Dececco and Brian Zansitis against us as they are the best 4.0 guy in PATD and 4.5 guy in PATD respectively.  They are really 4.5 and 5.0 but I’m not going to complain about it (especially since they are both on my 9.0 team) – I’m just going to figure out a way to beat them. 

 The other beast in the flight is our nemesis, TST, a.k.a. The Springton Team.  TST lost 0-3 to the Krushers earlier in the season and dropped a tough match 2-1 to the Pirates last Saturday.  2 losses is not the end for them but the rotund woman is warming up.   For the record, this is a super team and it just goes to show you how competitive things have gotten in our little corner of the world. 

The good news is that the Kinetix Second String knocked off the Kinetix Krushers in the upset of the season to date.  This puts the Krushers a game back fighting for a playoff berth and they have still yet to play the top two teams in the flight.  This was a stunning upset.  Well done to their captain Liz Eukers! 

Now on to the fun stuff, the Kings & Queens tournament.  The first round matches are underway.  In impressive fashion, KJ & Dave defeated Veronica Loch and Chris Kyper.  This was the lower seed advancing and not surprising because we all anticipated a slew of upsets because the teams are so evenly matched.  On Friday, 3/6 at 6pm two awesome parings face of at TA, Irene Acosta/Tom Ramsay play Cindy Basile/Chris Flouris.  The winner of this war should at least make the semi finals.  Most of the first round matches are scheduled at this point.  Thank you everyone for being so proactive scheduling your matches.  It’s hard to find convenient times and available courts to get these matches played.  

 That’s it for today – we have TST & the Krushers coming up after the Pirates but first things first.  Just one note, yours truly has been playing in CPD this year.  That is a competitive group out there.  Virtually every team is competitive and it’s solid tennis.  I am very impressed with the District, good people and good fun.  This is definitely  a sport that is growing. 

Pork Chops improve to 3-0

There’s a grumble in my humble stead.  I think someone is headed for a tumble.  Be assured it’s not us that will stumble but rather our foes that will mumble after playing us.  What’s changed you ask form this prognosticator of tennis?  Hmmm, everything has changed hasn’t it?  Bottom line, we’re ready to rumble and we are taking no prisoners.   Our team looked like it would crumble after we had to break up last year and we kind of fumbled and bumbled our way through the first half of the season.  But, as any 8 year old Rudolph fan will tell you – Bumble’s bounce!

The Chops upped our record to 3-0 with a victory over Kinetix 1 on Friday, January 30th.  Lynn Dickson & Tony Sciscione overwhelmed their opponents at first doubles 0&1.   At #2 doubles, Al Goodrich, a.k.a. the nicest man in USTA tennis, and Anne Maxwell showed what it means to be savvy veterans.  They won 4&4 over our doubles team of Beth Lelii and Mike Weidinger.  This was a chess match and we needed a few more bounces to go our way to win this court.  No shame – just a good performance from our opponents.

At #3 doubles, Veronica Loch & Chris Kyper won 1&2 over Antonia Tripp & Ravi Pillutla.  Veronica raises her lifetime Komet/Pork Chops record to 4-1 after last notching a victory in 2006.  Veronica played on a different mixed team for the last 2 years so welcome back V.  Chris Kyper has been playing in Central PA (CPD) and recently moved back to the area.  He and Veronica have paired up to make a nice team.

Next up for us is Lakeside.  They are 1-3 on the season but they have some solid players so as usual we’ll have to play a strong lineup to get past this team. 

It’s tournament time (and thank you Canh for the reminder.)  We are running the 2nd annual Kings & Queens tournament.  This was awesome last year and it was won by Amanda Leigh Player Hall and Canh Ho.  We’ll seed every individual team on our team and play it out.  I expect we will have 12 teams so it will take 3 wins just to get to the finals.  We will wrap this up right before Districts.  Last year the inter-team competition was brutal and I’m certain that it will be again.  Good luck!

We have four matches remaining after Lakeside: Pirates, Krushers, TST & Rally Cats.  It should be an exciting finish as only the top two teams advance to Districts.