饺子 is one of my favored and I could never get enough of it. Last night I had little extra time on hand unexpectedly, so my mind was wandering toward food. Not that I wasn’t hungry .. how about having few dumplings before the match?
Great idea.
So I went down to the Golden Mall – a good place to go when you’re alone. I feel uncomfortable dining alone in a restaurant.
For a grand US$3 you could get 12 fat juicy dumplings.
One order was enough to fill an empty belly
But Irene ordered the second one after polishing off 12.
I was really stuffed, totally bloated. Lack of self-restrain.
My second match (my team’s third) was rather uneventful and dull. The lady won’t shake our hands before the match, claiming that she had cold .. but palmed us after the match was over. During the match, I often found myself watching my teammates. At one point Kai was serving and I was so into watching that I didn’t know the point had started and Kai was asking me …
“Could you please cover the other side of the court??”
I was like .. huuuuuh? OMG the point was in session ..
Thought if I was so involved with other two courts, I should have some idea as how did they fare?
No way. I had no clue.
One court won 6-0 and 6-1 .. really?
I’m not a believer in dishing out bagels (ok .. I’m a lousy player to boot ..) bec I felt its really uncalled for. But what could one do in a competitive match, with a team to consider? The first set was gone so quickly that I didn’t know what was happening then, it just ended abruptly.
Anyway .. our first doubles after winning the first set at 4, eventually lost 7-10 at the super tiebreak.
As we were leaving the parking lot, I still could feel the dumplings in my pork belly.
Posts Tagged usta
Dumplings and bagels ..
Ibuprofen
Ibuprofen (400mg) must be a powerful pain killer: it almost knocked me out after the surgery. Dr. Moss also prescribed Lodine but I didn’t get it. I probably could go without it.
My team won tonight. Well done kids, Way to Go!
1st: 7-6, 4-2
2nd: 5-7, 1-6
3rd: 6-1, 6-3
Early this week our captain – primary school 中关村二小 cap singed me up to their forum on QQ. Can you image? They just had a reunion on Oct 30 after 35 years. That’s sweet. I’ve been hanging out there often – my Chinese typing is improving. So much catch up to do .. maybe a trip to Beijing is called for? Hmmmmmm…
A MathWizard is needed
We were able to join the Manhattan 2011 mixed doubles league at last second only because a team was problematic and had to drop out. The three clubs we’ll be playing are all out side of the city limit (not the wall tho .. like those medieval cities with thick walls .. )
Randall’s Island Tennis
Westside Tennis Club
Roosevelt Island Racquet Club
Parking won’t be an issue. Last year in Queens, we played at Westside Tennis Club few times and the match fee was $27 for two hours. However, this year, the Manhattan league’s match fee at the same club is $30 but only for 1.5 hours. I don’t know how the math works here (I don’t know how the league negotiates with all the clubs either..). The city slickers are different from you and me – “the very rich are different from you and me,” said F. Scott Fitzgerald. It reminds of my travel in Egypt, the locals instantly jack up the price whenever they saw an foreigner. China was indeed like that too. Very third world mentality.... Ok, probably other clubs (RIT and RIRC) cost more.
Kai and I lost the first doubles, 6:4, 6:4. #2 doubles team came from behind in the super tie break to win that court 6-3, 3-6, 1-0. #3 doubles was a timed match 7-6 and 2-3: our pair was up a break (not on serve). So we split the point. The opponent was the home team so they get the win.
The warm up allows 15 minutes and there is this 5-minute rule (the last 5 min of the match), so the actual playing time is only 1:10. There will be a lot of timed matches in the Manhattan league, so winning the first set becomes paramount.
My first taste of it wasn’t a good one: after we lost the first set at 4, suddenly our opponents (the same player would do it again ..) began to procrastinating. They conferred on every single point with their backs to the net, either on their own serve or on ours – beyond the reasonable time. This is NOT a good faith sportsmanship. After the match I asked the coordinator who recommends that the players remind the other team that there is only 20 seconds allowed between points. (page 4 of the rules document). Other than that, there really isn’t much we can do.
Maybe wear a watch with the second arm .. and use it as a watch, not as a bracelet?
Day 2 at NIIC
The two Yalies are lost to two Alabamas, and the two Clemson Josipa Bek and Keri Wong advance (9-8[2]) to quarter final. Patrick McEnroe was around both days – cuter than his bro.
Girls’ outfits at the NTC ..
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Day 1: two Yalies won their first round match at NIIC
Volunteer at the 2010 USTA/ITA .. National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships – NCAA I guess? – is fun. Columbia University hosts the tourney. Reportedly it’s the first time in NY. It’s about time for a change. Why not give Noo Yawk a chance?
As soon I arrived at the NTC, I got a big bear hug from my weekday AM gangs: they were able to sneak in a game before the kids arrived, and were talking about playing again tomorrow at the same time.
“Join us ..” they told me.
Margaret promised me that with our combined beauty and brains we would work at the hospitality table. Guess one look at Irene they had second thought. We ended up doing scores.
“You play tennis?” the head asked us.
“Oh ya we do.” M replied.
So they equipped us with the walkie talkie. Don’t I look very professional and important, ha ha ha?
Each of us would cover two courts. At end of each game, we’d call it in so the score keeper would enter into her laptop.
NTC’s lobby where the players linger long after the game ..
Honestly, it wasn’t easy: if you’re engulfed in one match which you have to, to keep track of the scores you’d miss the other court. Well that’s my senior moment dilemma. Then my little machine didn’t cooperate, decided to go on strike. After the first match we got demoted to take care of the score board: stick the names of winner. If you thinking calling in score is low tech, this is has to be the bottom of an well. With all the available means – the land of Microsoft and Google, I mean, we have to find the name in the envelope, and peel it and stick it to the board. Some complicated process, ha ha ha, just happy to be there .,., to be of any help.
The Thiemann boys: Chris and Marcel of Mississippi. The second coming of the Bryan brothers? There’s this independent coach from Port Washington who complains that US sport systems are being taken advantage of by foreign players: pro tennis players would come to play the college circuit and 19 years old Dominican boy/man posting as 15 years old playing in little league.
“I told my son don’t mention to anyone that you speak Spanish .. ” so he could often ear dropping on those foreign imports.
“He told me they often laughed at how stupid the Americans are .. ”
There are ways to check those players, and there are many politics and there are cost of doing investigations.
Clemson’s Josipa Bek and Keri Wong oust Virginia’s Maria Fuccillo and Rashmi Teltumbde, and Ohio State’s Matt Allare n Peter Kobelt beat Nathaniel Gery and Kevin Kung.
Vicky Brook and Lindsay Clark from Yale came from behind to win 8:4 (first round doubles are 8 games for men and women) over Barbora Krtickova and Alida Muller-Wehlau of Armstrong Atlantic St. – wherever/whatever that is.
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Remington Steele
At my first captain’s meeting, among few antidotes, the coordinator told us few stories about players under rate themselves. Couple of famous cases: to evade the league, one female player changed her names: using different spelling, married name etc. Another player from the west coast who played for Division I or II, rated himself a meager 4.0. As a rule, college players should be rated at least 4.5. The league went as far as hiring a PI. Yes, a private investigator. All those trouble. All in the name of a fair game.
This season I have a player who hadn’t played in the league for a decade. So he’s to self-rate to join. By completing the questionnaire, he got a 4.5. He appealed immediately and was granted a 4.0. The coordinator has said enough times: answer the questions truthfully and IF you feel you’re under rated or over rated by the system, write up your explanation and appeal.
Timed match
Rules for unfinished matches – not completed within allotted time; usually happens with Manhattan league because it’s only 1.5 hours (at 2014 captains meeting, league is asking if we’d like to pay more for 2-hr play time):
FIVE MINUTE RULE: if 5 minutes or more remain before the end of the match, you MUST start and attempt to complete the next game. If less than 5 minutes remain, do NOT start a new game.
A game in progress at the end of the time period is stopped and not counted. A tie-break in progress should be completed unless circumstances make it impossible to do so (players are waiting to use the courts, club maintenance staff is waiting for the courts or the club turns off the lights).
You could chew up the clock with 90 second change over allowance: i.e. 6 minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock on your change over, you can shorten the change over and start next game if your opponents agree (if you’re losing by one game..) or call it night (if you’re leading..) – the reasons are – see below.
For Unfinished Matches, if the match ends under the following circumstances, the scoring is as follows:
- In the 3rd set 10 pt tiebreak (also counts as a game and a set): Every attempt should be made to finish the 3rd set tie break unless impractical (see above). If the tiebreak is not completed, then the match is a tie with split sets. An incomplete 3rd set tie break does not count. i.e. 6-4, 2-3, 9-3
- Split sets, with no time left to start the 3rd set tiebreak: The points for that court are split. i.e. 5-7 and 6-1
- If the 2nd set is unfinished: Only completed games count.
- The team that won the first set, and the score is a tie or on serve in 2nd set, wins all the points.
- The team that won the first set and is ahead in the 2nd set by 1 break or more, wins all the points.
- The team that won the first set but is losing the 2nd set by 1 break or more, points are split.
- A game in progress at the end of the time period is not counted.
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___________________
- A similar situation, Jan 18, 2013
- Cheat, is always an option, Jan 3, 2013
- A situation, Dec 10, 2012
- Court of appeals, Oct 2011
- The 7th match on Jan 14, 2011
- My first timed match, Nov 7, 2010
B and D
Words of the day: bumped and disqualified.
Two little words that maybe affect a team in terms of advancing to the Nationals or not:
The league allows self rate if player did not play for (I think 2 or 3 years). Self raters can get DQ easier than computer rated. Computer rated people can also get DQ in mid season. I know a guy who was rated (by a verifier) back several years as a 3.0. The player insisted that he was a 3.5 [sounds a lot like Irene :)] and the verifier said NO. Well, he went to Sectionals (upstate) and got DQ!!! Now you see how fair that was. I also know another guy recently that appealed his rating down to a 3.5 after he got bumped up to 4.0. The team went to sectionals, won and would have gone to Nationals and this guy got DQ and all the points taken away from the team and they did not go to Nationals.
You can play at any level that you want, however, when the stakes are high, and you go further on to regional, sectionals, anyone can get DQ. At those competition, your performance is visual as well as the scores.
