tennis, life and a few things in between

I left home early to do some work with Jen at St Johns. but as I made a right turn into their Gate #2 on Utopia Parkway I must have hit something because I got a flat tire.
Call Golfer
Call Joe Vee
Call my captain because we have 8pm match at Westside. He casually mentioned if I have AAA. No I don’t but I have Roadside Assistance.
Call.
They were very nice and helpful, scheduled to send some one near by immediately, estimate arrival time: 7:36pm. I kid you not.
A teammate who lives nearby St Johns gave me a ride on her way to a bar to watch Linsanity. Pumpkin would be watching with her friends too.
Jeromy Lin is bit too hot, don’t you think?
Anyway. The match was a nice relief. It was more of opponents losing then we were winning.

1D: 6-3, 7-6
2D: 3-6, 6-3, 0-1
3D: 6-3, 6-2

The rules and the schedules of March 3.

The residency rule seems to mess up thing a bit: the top team is out. I am shocked that they failed to organize the team within the rule. There must be a lot of extra works/emails/angst involved. I got an email for my team’s residency too and thank lord everyone moved quickly within the city limited during the season. OK, JK. Guess someone does go to that extra miles getting a talent or two to form a winning team. When I first heard about this residency rule I thought: there is no way that a team would fail it. Guest I’m till too green.

As for “Once a player participates in these playoff’s, they may not play a playoff match in another region until all of their Metro teams at that level have been eliminated. (Please see Eastern Regulations for additional details).”

Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn are districts, not regions. Metro (including Manhattan, queens, and Brooklyn) is our region and LI is another region so is Westchester (called Southern region).

So if Joe is on a Man team and a Q team, both of which are in district playoffs, he can play for both team in respective district playoffs. however, if he is also on a LI team at the same level, he cannot play for LI team in its LI playoffs until his Man and Q teams have lost.

Within Metro region, if both his Man team and Q team win in each district, he has to choose which team to play for in Metro regional playoffs.

Lost 3 and 4 as 2D. There were many long rallies and deuces but ultimately we or more of I came up short. The pair wasn’t friendly which made the match dull and bore. I’d to make mental note to stop commenting on their good plays when there wasn’t a slight recognition. The guy by the second set, did offer one or two comments on a good shot. There was a down the line from her which was just out. They both disagree. He stuck up three fingers and said,
“You called three times.”
Hmmmm .. that’s not right becasue I hardly made any line calls last night.
She said,
“I saw it.” Then came over to our side and pointed to A mark and exclaimed,
“This it is.”
You know what? I didn’t remember which spot the ball landed because I’m not a trained line person and the court didn’t get swipe, all lines were messy. SO, how could she be so certain from the baseline on the other end? Maybe she saw the shadow of the ball hover the line? That’s out in my book.
“Sorry it’s my court and my call.” I told them curtly. I was in no mood of any arguing and didn’t appreciated the fact that she came over without being invited. The half balding guy is bit chubby and they took their sweet time between point. I urged them twice but felt on deaf ears.
Funny enough, the 3D finished and the foursome engaged in a long heated discussion. The reason? Our girl took too much time in between.
The second set we were 0-4 but we played some really good tennis and were 4-4. Ah well. Better luck next time.
1D: 6-4, 6-2
2D: 3-6, 4-6
3D: 1-6, 5-7

My Captain! Each skipper runs his or her team differently.

A former mate who moved to Plano said his current captain drills them weekly. Maybe the Texans are just endowed with natural skills for I can’t hit the ball right without my partner consistently nagging at me, like keep your feet on the ground or stay behind the baseline.

There is an Asian woman who’s being nicknamed the Dragon Lady, she has 10 or 20+ teams and provides sushi at practice. Some rich New Yorker. She got suspended for illegal dealing but now is back in force.

A Long Island captain was also being suspended for illegality but he ran the team anyway. A note pad/pen in hand he scouted the courts and opponents like screening his futures son or daughter-in-laws.

My 8.0 team captain is fun loving drug dealer. Ops, I think an explanation is needed here before the rumor runs wild: because he signs Tennis is my cocaine in all his emails,  so I feel a druggie is appropriated nickname. Anyway I finally made to his practice last night, 7-9pm. Six courts – no wonder we often have difficulty reserving courts at NTC. There was wine before the start and a party afterward. We watched Whitney Houston’s passing and Jeremy Lin’s 5th win for the Knicks. Soft drinks, nuts, dips, breads, wine, Black Label and Grey Goose .. at 11:12pm they wrapped up the party and headed out to Red Bull in Flushing for dinner. I was about to turn into a pumpkin or Cinderella, so I declined. Actually I had no energy to keep up with the Joneses. More pix on FB – Saturday Night Live from New York

In conclusion: I think my teammates get a lousy deal. Oh well. My 7.0’s 3rd match on Feb 10. It looked like someone felt asleep after an esay first set -:)
D1: 6-2, 6-3
D2: 6-3, 6-3
D3: 6-3, 3-6, 10-4

Congrtulations to my teammates who carried us to the semi final of Manhatan league.

The match took place at the Westside Tennis Club. Upon enter, the receptionist directed us to the main lounge instead the second floor one we usually used. There were four teams from our Divsion I. I had brief conversation with Stephanie Vogt regarding the impending match:

As previously indicated, this playoff will be played as an extension of the local season. The winner of each quarter-final will advance to the District Playoff’s on March 3rd.

PAYMENT: All playoff teams must pay $180 into match pay by Monday at 3pm.
BALLS: Home team is responsible for providing the balls
POINTS: The standard point system will be in effect for these matches

Unlike other playoff matches, this one would follow the format of the flight: 1.5 hours instead playing to the completion. My next question was

What about the split set? Who’s the home team?

The answer:

The home team is listed first. This will also be indicated on the score card.

Points are handled exactly as they have been during the season. This is an extension of the local season, so all of the rules that you have been following all season apply to this match also.

Hmmm .. who would be the winner should the two teams split all 3 courts, each earns 6.5 points? This has never happened before but possible statistically.

Watching your teammates play can be gut wrenching and nail biting. I left the courts for a little while. When I came back, a Div II captain was there and we talked about the confusion. As usual, no one in the league expected such short season, 8 matches only. Why didn’t the league tell us before hand: all we need was an extra team to make it 10 or 12-match season. There are teams with 18 or 20+ players and they certainly didn’t mind to shed few players to form the extra team. .. .. As for playoff points, here is the reply from our league coordinator:

The points earned during the Quarter-Final will be added to the season’s points to determine seeding.
So if team #4 had 60 points during the season, and earn 13 — they are at 73.
If team #3 had 61 points and earn 10 at playoff’s, they have 71.
Then team 4 would be #1 and team 3 would be #2 seed.

Huh? Since when the points-continuation is mentioned? IF I knew this, we would have played hard for our last match instead goofing around. I was bit dumbfounded.

Then it’s 9:30pm, the matches were over. The mates on the courts found out other courts scores and began to high five each other.

All timed match
1D: 6-4, 4-4
2D: 6-4, 4-1
3D: 3-6, 3-4

I felt guilty and .. .. sick. Hey, the late night light dinner at Asian Cafe on Main Street was great. [To pay for the dinner I took out a Benjamin Franklin thinking it’s Alexander Hamilton. Man I’m old and senile. Ya, I’m loaded in the winter time because my teammates like to tip me in 100. Good to be their captain!]

“As previously indicated, this playoff will be played as an extension of the local season. The winner of each quarter-final will advance to the District Playoff’s on March 3rd.”

So kids, we’re going to Washington after all.

Lesson learnt: Golfer always tells me, read it myself. I guess I was swayed by previous conversations without really reading.

Deb put me on a diet:
no more dumb questions from me for 3 months.

A good night out with 2 super tie breaks: two tight matches!! The opposing team is pretty friendly. Our opponents are good players but somehow they got very tight. I had to ask them to open the can of balls to warm up. This is not the first time that the opposing team would rather use the old balls to warm up – couldn’t figure out the thinking behind it.

1D: 3-6, 6-2, 10-4
2D: 6-0, 6-3
3D: 5-7, 6-4, 12-14

I seldom watch Aussie Open, not because timing isn’t good: ESPN would have it in the early morning. This morning I stared watching from the 4th set when Joker lead 4-0. The long rallies were plenty, nearly all from the baseline. There were little dramas when Rafael Nadal seemed was out and about, then came back, and was on the cusp to win it .. but it’s Novak Djokovic’s 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory. 5 hour, 53-minute endurance contest, a record in grand slam final. Both guys were spent. What’s amusing, the court got little wet when the roof was closing. So the Open had humans getting down on their knees to dry the court. Through the camera, they looked like little worms, funny and so high tech (ya right ..). Then the award ceremony. Maybe the down under just like the slow pace. The non sense just went on and on. The Asian guy (Thomas Oh ??) perhaps from Kia auto, who went on and on, as if reciting a speech, like he’s the star. No no no, dude, hand out the dough and get off the stage. No one cares what you have to say. Title sponsor is just a title sponsor, you’re a side dish, supporting cast. Nadal began to sit on the net behind him. I do NOT blame him. 6 hours of hard fought tennis, and you ask him to stand for this non sense??? So two considerate staff brought over two blue chairs for the boys to sit. Are you kidding???? When it’s Nadal’s turn, he started his prolong speech (did the Aussie Open require the athletes fill certain length of time rather than what they have to say?) by saying Good morning. Joker seconded that too. The match ended at 1:37 a.m. Monday morning in Melbourne.
I was thinking, did American dollar at work for the final started so late? Also, why the heck Aussie Open needs a title sponsor? The gov or tennis couldn’t cough up the $$? Aren’t the Aussies also in the G-7 group? Guess this G-7er is different than the other three G-7 members?