Merry Christmas 2008!

Happy Holidays to all, 3.0 to Open. I hope you all get massive forehands and deadly kickspin second serves under your trees. To some I wish modesty, to others the confidence they lack. To some a bit better eyesight when it comes to line calls, to others a bit more focus when it comes to external distractions (you know who you are). Here's hoping that lower gas prices can offset the bad economy and keep everyone showing up at tournaments in 2009. I would wish "kindness onto others" for all the posters at this blog, but even though you get mean spirited quite often, you are never boring so I guess we can all live with you just the way you are...for now.

Oh yeah, and there is a tournament in Dallas this weekend for the one guy who cares. Good luck.

HTTS Tourney, League, Challenge Ladder, etc.

Hey, I will throw this at you guys here in Houston and see what you think. Would anyone be interested in any form of organized competition associated with this website to let some of you guys basically put your money where your mouth is? Especially since there will not be much other organized tennis between here and the Spring. Just a thought. I don't know how committed I am to the idea anyway cause it would require me to come out from behind my veil of secrecy. If we did anything I can tell you this, no entries submitted in the name of Anonymous would be accepted. Stew it over, let me know what you think. Honestly, I really just needed something to talk about to justify a new discussion stream and this is all I could come up with.

Countdown to 2009...I can already here those Abilene winds a blowing.

Well, 2008 is all but in the bag now. Interesting to see if the weak economy has any impact on tournament draw sizes next year. Perhaps the cheaper price of gasoline will more than offset the continued upward spiral in entry fees. To me, it seemed that the tournament scene lost a lot of steam around the time that Ike came through and screwed up Sectionals. The Sectionals makeup was largely a joke with so many players not being able to make it, but I still am glad USTA rescheduled and did not cancel. I also think it was the right thing to postpone it instead of playing it as scheduled and giving a big F U to all of the Houston and coastal players who had much bigger things to be worrying about that weekend.

Maybe its because I did not personally play in many tournaments this year, but I felt that this was one of the less exciting years we have had here in Texas as far as tournaments tennis is concerned. Please feel free to disagree if you felt otherwise. I think not having the Master's Cup count towards qualifying next year may help since that will open it up a bit and give more people a chance at getting the needed points. Plus I think USTA needs to consider 2 more things: 1) instituting ranking point penalties for no-shows, and 2) a reworking of consolation in major zones to make them more meaningful and increase consolation participation in the smaller draws so as 5.0. In terms of penalties for no-shows, I think each player should be given 1 major zone no show without penalty and after that, each major you sign up for and do not show up, the 0 points from that event will count as one of your five countable results for the year. That would likely prevent a few of the guys we know have a history of signing up and never showing up from screwing up seeding at tournaments, etc. For instance, sign up for all 8 majors and only bother going to 4 of them, well guess what you will end up with three 0's and two other results for your final total. As far as consolation, I think that, there should also be a penalty such as points being deducted from qualifying (for master's cup and year end ranking) totals for not bothering to play consolation. For instance, whatever the point value of a consolation match (30 in majors? maybe its 25, I can't remember right now) could be deducted for every tournament in which you are in consolation but decide not to stick around and play. Loss in the 1st round of 3 major zones and decide not to play consolation, well guess what, you will have 90 ranking points deducted from your total ranking points (best 5 total). This would force the top guys and anyone else who cares about their ranking from thinking that consolation is a waste of their time so they will just go home. Open, 5.0 and to a lesser extent, 4.5 are horrible in terms of consolation participation. This could fix that. Anyway, those are just some thoughts I have, it's not like I am exactly commissioner of tennis or anything.

The Great Valdez Trajedy...and I don't mean an oil spill in Alaska.

Discussion stream quite long, so time to refresh. Masters Cup predictions not too far off, feel free to share your's now. As far as Adrian, my two cents is that as long as he did not have a history of late entry the USTA should have let him in and they had plenty of time to do it before posting the invitees or sending out invitations. The argument that some other deserving player would get bumped and it would not be fair does not hold water. The lowest ranked player should be knocked back to alternate status to make room for the current and defending #1 player. How can anyone else be deemed more deserving for the chance to play than the #1 guy? If they had let him in late but before posting entrants or sending invitations, then no one but Adrian and the USTA would have even known and none of this discussion would even have to happen.

Lost Ghetto....I mean Forest.

The title is probably not very polite but you know what I'm talking about. It's a shame too because the club is actually a really nice little club, the owners are good people, and the tennis pros are actually quite talented, especially Hernan. I also hear they have a new guy from Chili who is quite the talented instructor and has worked with top guys down in that country. I digress. Anyway, there is actually a few pretty good players and a few early round match ups that will be interesting to see. I personally do not think either of the top 2 seeds, Kallus & Schmucker, will make it past their 1st matches. That said, I included Kallus in the 4.5 poll out of courtesy since he did get seeded #1. Plus, I thought it might deflect some attention away from Arya. Does that make me a bad guy?

Enuff.....Yes, Arya is a nice guy....and he can play whatever level he want to.

I can't take another Arya post. My email box is full of them, with a new one hitting every 10 seconds it seems. Let's get back to other tournament happenings post Fall Fest 1st round. How about some sectionals wrap-up.

Right off the bat, Men's 4.5 singles was a joke, with some of the best players never signing up (Aflonso), several others pulling out of the rescheduled event, and yet others losing early and unexpectedly (Alejandro, Casas). Congrats to Zhieng on winning. Unfortunately, when it sorts out there will be some guys at Master's Cup who don't deserve it. But I am sure that will always be the case.

At least 5.0 played out to form with Smith beating Garg in semis and taking down Reader yet again in the finals. I would say congrats but you are not a 5.0 so yeah you won, but anything less than that would have been a joke if you ask me. Congrats Reader, aka Lord of the Strings, aka #8 (my opinion), you have had a great year this year. It must be karma that after playing down and beating up all the 4.5s last year, you would get it dealt to you repeatedly this year by a guy who is well above the 5.0 level. You are still one of the most fun guys in Texas Tennis.

I think Schmucker broke his personal record for pulling out of tournaments this year. A couple hundred dollars well spent.

Lost Forest this weekend. Not a big event but keep an eye on the continued ascent of newly returned German Madman Jochen Moser. He could be the guy to take it all in 4.5 next year. You heard it here first.

Sectionals...Take Two.

You want a new sectionals blog, you got it. I am not going to comment this time around. Feel free to look at my comments from a couple posts ago. I am not sure who will still even be there this time around and I believe some of the draw match ups have already changed as well. In any case, I wish everyone a great tournament.

Fall Fest

Sorry for scarcity of postings over recent weeks. There was not much going on and I have been out of town for a good bulk of the time anyway. If I get chance I will make my usual useless predictions. If not, I leave it to you guys to let it fly as I know you are more than capable.

Sights Set On Sectionals....Maybe

It is hard to be very excited about the prospect of Sectionals with a hurricane forecast to hit the coast and more than likely drop rain down on Alamo Town but like it or not, sectionals will take place this weekend. Let's start off with the 4.5s. I had to blink a couple of times to make sure I was seeing the right draw because you would think Sectionals would boast the strongest or at least 2nd strongest draw (next to Gallery, aka "The Coke") of the year but that will not be the case. No Alfonso is pretty much the equivalent of no Nadal at the French Open....meaning someone will win this tournament who really doesn't deserve to be Sectional's Champion. And it does look to be a rather wide open draw, especially in the top half. There is probably a dark horse in there I have not heard of, but from the names I know, I do not see a winner coming from this half. From the players listed in this half, I would have to go with Yien Zheng to steady, backboard his way to the finals. Bottom half at least has some degree of fire power with #2 Alejandro Sanches joined by non-seeds Jason Kern, Juan Dekruyff (righty or lefty this time?, who knows), Greg Schmucker (if he has been hitting and if he bothers to show) and Guillermo Del Campo (who is in a rather tough quarter). Haven't seen much of Casas this year so don't know how he has been hitting but I have no doubt he will show up with his usual abundance of flair, gamemanship, and outright bad line calls, so he could always be a factor up to the semis. Taking a wild stab at it, I will go with Alejandro to win over Yien in straight sets in the finals. Though I think this tournament rightfully belongs to Alfonso Rodriguez so I hope he has a good reason for missing it.

5.0s - Wow. Another massive draw. 13 guys this time. I hope the winner can still walk on Monday after all that tennis. How about Brian Smith over Reader in the finals in a repeat of the "The Coke" finals. Also, look for an exciting semi between Amit Garg and Smith in another repeated matchup from "The Coke". Where are you Dibuas? A Dibua or two thrown in the mix would have added a little extra excitement, but oh well, it is what it is. At this point, I am starting to develop more of an interest in 4.0 than 5.0....

But not enough to bother looking at the draw and make a prediction or two. 128 Draw and probably 120 names I have never heard of. Outside my comfort zone to comment.

Open - I wish I knew these guys well enought to comment. Adrian Valdez is always a favorite, as are the Jejede ( I am sure that is misspelled) brothers and that Brian Wooten guy if he plays. Of course, Brian Smith could have also been a factor in Open. Maybe next year he will decide to give these guys a run for their money and let Reader have control of the 5.0s, with a still solid Tim Green nipping at his heels.

Here's to hoping all you guys get the chance to play, and play real tennis at that, not the 2-2, No-add BS that I am sure is already being planned.

Is there anybody out there?

I think that comes from a Pink Floyd song on the great album The Wall. More importantly, it seems a fair question in regard to this weekend's tournaments. Where the hell is everyone? 5.0 draw in Austin, a joke. 4.5, not much better, 14 guys is the smallest I can remember it ever being. Beaumont, hell 4.5 didn't even make last I checked, let alone 5.0. Where the hell are Kallus and Schmucker and the usual cast of guys who run like made to lesser tournaments (200 pointers) in search of the easy points? At least the 4.0 draws are still well populated....by a cast of guys I know absolutely nothing about so I can't even comment on the draws. I know Sectionals will be the normal draw sizes but I am really surprised by the vacuum of tennis right now. I would love to hear your thoughts on whether you think it is just a fluke or if tournaments other than the 8 major zones and the Master's Cup are the casualty of the point system that really only recognizes results from those bigger events unlike the old system where head-to-heads mattered regardless of the size of tourney and players were also required to play at least 2 OTHER tournaments to qualify for a ranking.

2008 4.0 Major Zone Winners & Finalists

Abiline - Winner: Tuyen Nguyen Runner Up: Bo Bassett
SAPTA - Winner: Fernando Ontiveros Runner Up: James Murray
Gallery - Winner: Roberto Narajos Runner Up: Matthew Schlensker
Corpus - Winner: Ismael Dutchover Runner Up: Scott Flores
Waco - Winner: Forrest Feuille Runner Up: William McKinney
Tyler - Winner: Ismael Dutchover Runner Up: Tuyen Nguyen
Alamo - Winner: Anthony Jones Runner Up: James Murray
FW - Winner: Forrest Feuille Runner Up: James Murray

Two things: #1 Obviously a bit more diversity on the winners list without Jason Kern running all over the 4.0's like he did last year

#2 Where the hell is Foad? Protest to stay down at 4.0 and not make one final? What is up with that?

2008 4.5 Major Zone Winners and Finalists

Abiline - Winner: John Trautmann Runner Up: Adam Cherry
SAPTA - Winner: Alfonso Rodriguez Runner Up: Jacob Casas
Gallery - Winner: Alfonso Rodriguez Runner Up: Leonardo Solis
Corpus - Winner: Alfonso Rodriguez Runner Up: Alejandro Sanchez
Waco - Winner: Alfonso Rodriguez Runner Up: Alejandro Sanchez
Tyler - Winner: Ben Sticker Runner Up: Dustin Viktorin
Alamo - Winner: Brent Gruno Runner Up: Ben Hawkins
FW - Winner: Wesley Longacre Runner Up: Dustin Viktorin

Is it just me, or is it pretty obvious that Alfonso did not play Tyler, Alamo City, or Fort Worth. Ben Sticker? Wesley Longacre? Who the hell are these guys? I am sure they are great players, but not exactly fixtures in the Texas tournament scene. As far as Alfonso, he has not lost a match this year at 4.5 and beat Tim Green rather easily in 5.0 at Alamo City. I would have to put him right behind Brian Smith and Thomas Reader as third best LEVELS (not open) player in the state as I would go with him to have won the four 5.0 majors that Green won had Alfonso played those tournaments at 5.0. Again, just my opinion and not meant as a slight to Tim who is a really strong player. Alfonso is just better. Just imagine how it must feel for Federer to deal with the fact that Nadal is just better than him now.

2008 5.0 Major Zone Winners & Finalists

With only Sectionals and Master's Cup left to go, I thought I would provide a rundown of winners and finalists at the 5.0, 4.5, and 4.0 levels, starting with the 5.0's.

Abilene - Winner: Tim Green Runner Up: Jason Gound
SAPTA - Winner: Thomas Reader Runner Up: Reggie Black
Gallery - Winner: Brian Smith Runner Up: Thomas Reader
Corpus - Winner: Tim Green Runner Up: Joe Schornick
Waco - Winner: Thomas Reader Runner Up: Jason Gound
Tyler - Winner: Tim Green Runner Up: Jason Gound
Alamo - Winner: Brian Smith Runner Up: Thomas Reader
FW - Winner: Tim Green Runner Up: Reggie Black

Of interest, only Brian Smith has beaten Thomas Reader this year and Tim Green has not won any major zone in which either Reader or Smith has played, so though he has won 4 major zones, he would rightfully have to be place third behind Smith and Reader even though he has them on points. Just my opinion.

Yee-Hawhhhh! Round 'em up for Fort Worth.

You wanted a new thread, you got a new thread. Much like the Tyler draw, the Fort Worth 4.5 draw lacks alot of the star fire power. I would honestly have to say at this point I would think the winner will be an unseeded, unknown player. I can't see JD winning and I haven't seen enough of Yien to be convinced he can take a major either, though his backboard style can definitely wear an opponent down in the Fort Worth heat, if the Heat Index rule is not in effect. I hate that rule, and honestly it is the reason that I do not play Fort Worth anymore. If you can't play 3 regular sets in the heat, then stick to your cozy Thursday night league if you ask me. The only seed that I could actually see winning this thing would be Adam Cherry. He is a poor man's Jason Gound and can stay out there all day with his consistent round house shots and "gladiator" never say die attitude.

5.0 should be easy. If Tim Green does not win this one, then he probably is tanking. I hope he does win this, I know he has done well there in the past, though he is not much of a heat warrior. Doesn't really matter when you can count a draw size on your hands and have 2 fingers left over (long way of saying 8 man draw).

Further south, Conroe actually has one of the strongest 4.5 draws it has had in quite some time. Schmucker and Leach should both be at the top of the favorites list. Not sure why Chris picked this drive for 100 points instead of Fort Worth's 400, but to each his own. Good luck to both of those guys at Conroe and to everyone else playing this weekend. Remember to wear lots of sunscreen and try to enjoy the cramping.

I almost forgot, the 4.0 draws....nah, I didn't forget.

Ready to Sweat?

Alamo City just a few days away. A bit of a shift this time around as Master of 4.5 Alfonso Rodriguez steps up to take on the 5.0 crowd, followed by fellow 4.5 Yien Zheng. Zheng will probably make it to the 2nd round and then get a rude send off by Brian Smith. Rodriguez will get a chance to prove his 3 set victory over Tim in 2005 (?) was not a fluke. I think he takes it but I do not see him as a sure thing in that match. I hope he does win the match because a Reader/Rodriguez match up would be extremely compelling. That one I would have to call a push as I have no idea who would emerge as both are very strong players. If you look at how Rodriguez has dominated Trautman this year it is hard to believe that he will not be able to hang with Reader, but I do not mind being wrong as Reader is also a tremendous player. Dibua should face Smith in the other semi and I would definitely have to go with Smith unless he has a problem playing in hot conditions. He seems fit, so probably not. After taking that one, I would assume he then wins the tournament. I wonder how shocked everyone would be, if Alfonso would somehow emerge champion. I can't say that it cannot happen.

4.5s, no Alfonso means that Trautman will have no reason not to show up and play, especially since he lives in San Antonio. Either Juan Dekruyff or Ben Hawkins might be able to give him trouble in the top half, especially Juan, but I think there is just a great a chance that Juan doesn't even show up for the tournament. If he does, watch out for him, he is a very interesting player. I do not know this Gruno guy that is being highly touted. If he can beat Alejandro in the 1st round then he definitely has the potential to take the tournament. If Alejandro takes it, I would pick him to win the entire tournament. A 2nd round match up between Anthony Tatu and Kris Knutson would be an interesting one to witness, especially 2nd match of the day. Should be a war of attrition, though not likely an exhibition of strong fundamental tennis strokes.

As always, I have no opinion on either Open or 4.0. Please fill in the blanks in those draws if you would be so kind.

To all the players with a shot at winner their draws, please don't go crazy on the free beer...you know who you are.

Remember The Alamo!....City MZ Deadline.

Last string was getting really long (120+), so time to start fresh. Congrats to Tyler Champs, you know who you are, even if I haven't heard of some of you. To those participating in Al Edwards, have fun, but not much too talk about given the small draws. Reggie wins 5.0 and either Halm or Morales win 4.5. Done.

More importantly, deadline for Alamo City is Sunday, June 29, so remember to sign up. Please feel free to take the Dinker Challenge and sign up for the 5.0 draw. If you are a glutton for the punishment that 12 man singles and 3 team doubles draws represent (sarcastic), sign up for both events. More seriously and Dinker's comments aside, it would be great to see more guys playing 5.0, thus producing more interesting draws and the prospect of a true weekend's worth of tennis. Even better, if you do sign up for 5.0 and lose, why not actually stick around and play your consolation match for a change. That might also inspire some of the guys from 4.5 who are willing to give 5.0 a try, but know they may very well lose in the 1st round, the prospect of getting at least a couple of matches under their belt.

Finally, only 2nd round of Wimbledon and both Djokovic and Roddick are already gone. Time to pull for Safin. Maybe Alfonso will end up dropping a match here in Texas before the season is done....though I dont' see who could pull it off.

Stumped on Tyler.

Well, with the draws out, the only thing I feel confident on predicting is that it will likely rain at least once over the 3 days. Other than that, 4.5 is about as open of a field as I have seen this year with no Rodriguez, Sanchez, Trautman, etc. and Schmucker having already pre-announced the customary no-show default. Zheng is solid and can stand the heat. Leach has to be the hometown favorite and has won this event before. Griggs has won major zones in the past. Luedtke is a pomposs a** but he is a very crafty, solid player. Knuston can definitely annoy his way to the finals. JD Miles can go far if his game is on. Goldberg, never say never, he tries harder than anyone else on the court. All these guys are solid but I would have to think Jason Cooney actually has the best shot if he has been playing recently. Let's go with Cooney vs. Zheng in the finals, with Cooney winning. With Leach as honorable mention as the 2nd favorite from the bottom half. Kallus, sorry you did not draw Bye as your 1st round opponent this time. Hopefully Chris will go easy on you and good luck in consolation, it is your's to lose.

5.0 - Well, at least the draw made. You got your Jason Gound and you got your Tim Green, in opposite halves respectively. Lets go with Jason over Tim in a tough 3 setter. If it goes the other way, it will not be a shock either. Of course, there could definitely be a guest champion among the couple of unknown guys in the draw.

4.0 - ZZZZZZZZ. I'm sorry, I dozed off. What were we talking about?

Anyway, good luck to everyone and here's hoping you get your $80 in gas money's worth of tennis out of the weekend.

Time for Tyler Talk

I will wait for the draws to come out before making any of my worthless Tyler predictions. I can say that I am confident that Alfonso Rodriguez will not win 4.5 this time around. Remember back in early spring, when every other post was "Sarosh this" and "Sarosh that"? The guy is all but forgotten and Alfonso seems to have emerged as the new 4.5 focal point. Not much else to add right now, but it was time for a new discussion string anyway as the other one had gotten quite lenghtly and had way too much talk of Knutson vs. X. I am obviously to blame as well since I was the one who put up the polls. Someone asked for a Knutson vs. Reader poll but I won't even waste the time on that one cause a poll result of Knutson 1, Reader 39 just seems mean.

Unleash the Waco Heat....

Wow, lots of good matchups in 4.5 and 5.0. A few 5.0 predictions to start it off. Dibua beats Gound. Dibua beats Green. Reader beats Schornick. Reader beats Manalo. Reader beats Dibua. 5.0 is done.

4.5s - Looks like David Guy decided he is 4.5 to stay, good for you I guess. He will have a tough one early against the mean spirited David Luedkte, ex-coach of the Baylor womens tennis team, who made it to the finals against Dibua last year. If he wins that one, I don't see David beating Alfonso Rodriguez who has been red hot this year. Trautman should actually be thrilled with his draw on paper as he will not have to face Alfonso til the finals so perhaps there will be no sudden early round shoulder injuries this time. He does have Sanchez in the quarters and that should be tough if it happens. I would not expect Knutson to have a chance against Sanchez but Sanchez hates junk and Knutson hits it like he is Fred Sanford himself, plus Knutson has the confidence of beating Solis which I still cannot believe happened.

The real possible upsetter to all this in the 4.5 draw is Juan Dekruyff who is a very, very strong righty who has played ages, 5.0, and Open but also likes dabble in 4.5 as a lefty and still makes it to the finals at Austin tournaments with his off hand. Will be interesting to see how he plays this one. If he really tries and sticks around to the end, he could definitely emerge as the dark horse from the bottom and give Alfonso a run for his money. Otherwise, I would say this tournament will go the way of the last 3 major zones and end up in the hands of Alfonso.

4.0 - There's Foad and a whole bunch of other guys. My guess is that the winner will be someone from the whole bunch of other guys, but if Foad and can somehow pull it off, I guess that is good for Houston, even if a bunch of you guys keep hating on him for some reason.

Good luck to everyone, lets have some fun this week and here hoping you don't cramp!

Next Up, Wacko Waco.

Congrats to winners of Copperfield, especially last minute sneak-in David Guy, who ended up winning the 4.5 singles. I would have had Guy in my poll and voted for him if he had been in the draw AT THE SAME TIME AS EVERYONE ELSE. But no worries.

Next up Waco, site of the best tennis facility for a major zone in the entire state. Always good tennis up in Waco, and usually good weather to go with it, so let's hope for the best. Call out to all you 5.0 guys to answer lord of the strings and show up so that he doesn't get to take home the 5.0 title as the result of winning a measly 2 matches. Here's hoping for a 16 draw.

Will Alfonso and the valley crew make the drive? It would be a first, but Alfonso might like the idea of running away with all the majors with the exception of Abilene, which really only qualifies on the basis of points not level of competition anyway.

Will this year's crop of 4.0 graduates show up again and do some damage to the 4.5 veterans?

Will Greg Schmucker show up for his 1st non-Houston tournament of the year?

Will Foad's resurgence in 4.0 continue?

Will Brian Smith make the drive, and if so will he play 5.0 or Open?

Just a few of exciting topics to discuss on DAYS OF OUR RECREATIONAL, WANNABE TENNIS LIVES.

Countdown to the Magic Show (Weak David Copperfield Reference)

You guys are getting chatty again. Yesterday was the biggest post day since the day before the Gallery Furniture (1st time I have not called it the Coke). And really, no is even be that mean either. So good job. It is quite a strong tourney this weekend, especially the 4.5 draw. 4.0 would have been impressive as well if Foad Ansari and Eddie Janek had played this one instead of the exhibition event going on on the other side of town. There should definitely be some good matches this weekend. Not to discount Mike Salinas cause he is a solid player, but if Greg Schmucker wins that match I certainly hope he does show up to play Knutson, assuming again that Knutson wins. Listen to me, I sound like Dinker with all my matter of fact predictions. That being said, I do agree with the poll that Red Benzon should be the favorite to win. I am surprised that he is playing a 4.5 tournament. Guess he wanted to shut some of the people up who are always attacking him on the league blog. Anyway, good luck to him, if the weather cooperates and he can take the wear and tear of multiple matches, he definitely has the game to beat this weekend. 5.0 is what it is and none of the guys who signed up for it should be spoken of poorly. Several of the 4.5 entrants should have joined them in the 5.0 draw. Red Benzon, Herb Morton, Greg Schmucker, David McMullan, to name an obvious few. Like I said, it is what it is. Everyone enjoy and try to lay off the beer until after your singles matches. Doubles players, feel free to drink up all you like cause no one cares. Just joking.

Not Quite Mid-Year Review

Well someone posted today about how boring the blog has been and I agree. The blog has gotten very boring over the last week or so. See what happens when everyone is kind to each other. Yawn. No surprises in the winners of the 4.5 and 5.0 singles down in Corpus. Never heard of the guy who won the 4.os. Next Major Zone a little more than 3 weeks away up in Waco, home of the best tennis facility of any of the Texas Major Zones. Before that, there is Copperfield locally for those interested. Deadline is May 9. Usually a fun tournament if for no other reason than John Kutrick keeps the keg of beer flowing all weekend long, which is great for those who lose early as well as those who care more about free beer than how they play. With 4 Major Zones come and gone, have there been any major surprises to you guys? Players you would have thought would have a great year in 2008 who so far have not? Players who seem to be on the fade? Players you never heard of that have emerged as forces? Newly bumped 4.5s who have either exceeded or disappointed since moving up from 4.0? Players who seem to have disappeared from the scene? Alfonso Rodgriquez coming back looking like he has spent the last couple of years on the tour? Players you have completely grown tired of talking about?

Can Ya Feel The Wind Already?

Yep, only a couple of days away from Corpus so time to fire up the discussion again. Starting with 4.5s, you don't have to go far down the draw to find the first compelling potential matchup and that would be a possible 2nd round showdown between Houston's own Greg Schmucker and Kris Knutson. Kris's unique style could be quite a handful if the conditions are on the windy side. If Greg shows I would think he should be able to come out on top if he stays patient. I am aware that Kris has had his number in the past but I believe it has been quite a while since they have last played. Brian Goldberg also will have his hands full with a tough 1st round draw against Leonardo Solis. Hopefully Brian can give him a tough fight but I would have to go with Leonardo. As someone pointed out, Kallus should be able to come out the victor against his 1st round opponent BYE but then will have to face the winner of two local Corpus guys. If there is even a hint of breeze, I am going with the Corpus guy. Bradley Nash, John Griffin, Ruben Vargas, and Richard Patton round out the Houston contigent and all would appear to have winnable 1st round matchups. Not saying they should win, just that the opponent's names should not inspire fear either. I know there will probably be at least 1 unknown and unseeded player who makes his way very deep but looking at the draw as it stands, I would go with Solis and Rodriguez in 1 semis & Sanchez and Casas in the other with Rodriguez taking home his 3rd Major Zone of the Year.

In 5.0, all but 1 of the 7 players are Houston area guys. The only compelling 1st round match up will be between Tim Green and Reggie Black as they both play well in the typical Corpus Conditions. Tim should come through in this one and should then win the tournament over the winner of the match between Herb Morton and Joe Schornick. From what I have heard, Tim has pretty much owned the Corpus tournament in the past at 4.0s, 4.5s, and 5.0s. Look for the domination to continue.

And finally, yes there will be some 4.0s going at it as well. Will Foad be able to break the streak of 1st round Major Zone exits? Will he fight his way through the consolation draw? Will anyone else try to comment on 4.0s since I obviously cant'? We shall see.

What's it take to get a seed these days?

Looks like final competitor list are up now for Corpus since the seeds are already posted. Right off the bat it stands out that the 5.0s are once again getting screwed because of the small draw sizes. Herb Morton & Reggie Black get the only 2 seeds since there are only 7 players, leaving Tim Green and Joe Schornick out in the cold. Based on his history, Tim Green should be the top seed though I know he does not currently have the points. Does anyone know how many seeds the computer spits out per 8 spots in the draw? Based on the 5.0s it is 2. Based on the 4.5 and 4.0 draws it is only 1 per 8. I think tournament directors need to either be willing to add additional seeds based on knowledge of players or perhaps go to masters-cup round robin format for Major Zone draws of 8 or less. 5.0 tournament tennis is doomed to never grow in terms of draw sizes as long as the draws keep working out this way. 4.5 is a bit better as there are 26 guys signed up and thus 4 seeds. Even here I would say the seeds should be extended to at least 6 to catch a couple of other guys that are ranked right around the top 10 and basically one or two spots behind the #4 seed. This way, those guys at least get one of the 1st round byes and perhaps don't have to waste a full day of vacation to get down to Corpus for a Friday morning match. Maybe I am wrong but it seemed to me that in the past, tournament directors had discretion to increase the number of seeds regardless of the draw size. I don't see what is wrong with having 2 seeds for every 8 spots, meaning there should be 8 seeds for the 4.5s and up to 16 seeds for the 4.0s. In the atp, there are 32 seeds in the Grand Slam draws of 128 so 1 for every 4. Even here at River Oaks, there were 8 seeds for a 32 draw. That is the fair ratio if you ask me.

New Week, New Discussion Thread, Same old crap....

Since we were past 100 posts again on the last thread I went ahead and started a new one. Still nothing new to talk about other than the approaching deadline for registering for the Corpus Christi Hurricane Tennis Challenge (or Buc Days Major Zone as it is also known). With nothing more to add at the moment, I will turn it over to you guys for a new round of bashing each other...well, more like bashing the same 2 or 3 people over and over again but you know what I mean. Have at it.

You guys bored or what? I am...as you will soon read.

These are dark times in deed when the talk turns to the rumored outcome of a practice match. Perhaps the start of a new discussion stream can turn the tide. Still nothing to talk of on the tourney scene specifically but it is interesting that it seems we now have some valley guys coming to this blog to supplement the out-of-towners that drop in from Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio. All are welcome of course, though only Houston-based opinions should be viewed as having any relevance (Joking...kind of...).

Had the opportunity to catch some of the golf tourney at Redstone this weekend and it amazes me that professional golfers out-earn professional tennis players by something like 5X. There will be well over a 100 golfers between the US and European golf tours that make over $1 million in prize money this year. There will probably be around 10 ATP players that make more than that this year. The 15th place finisher at the Shell golf tournament pocketed $97,000. The WINNER of next week's River Oaks tennis tournament will pocket $63,000. The winner of the Nationwide minor league golf circuit event this weekend won $108,000. The winner of the typical challenger-level tennis event pockets well under $10,000. What makes this so sad to me is that the average professional tennis player probably practice 3 or 4 hours per day (when not in a tournament) and spend 1 - 2 additional hours in the gym. A professional golfer spends his time between tournaments eating and fattening up before the next event. None of them other than Tiger Woods even remotely resembles an athlete. Is it fair to call them athletes? I guess, in the most generous use of the term. Just a random thought but it just really struck me how as a general rule they just look like any other average fat guy off the street wearing a pair of slacks and a short sleeve polo shirt. When you see a professional tennis player at a tournament it is usually pretty damn easy to tell them apart from the average guys there as spectators, even if you have never seen them before or even heard of them. I am thankful that I am not a golfer.

Line Finally Crossed. One of you has just been sent to time-out, so go sit in the corner.

I didn't think it would ever come to this, but I was finally forced to remove a post because of of someone going a bit too far with their comments. To this point, I have not thought it would be necessary to police everyone's comments before letting them hit the blog but I guess from now on I will have to select the option that allows me to review them first. It's ok to joke around, even to extremes if you ask me, but there have to be limits as to the degree that we take personal attacks. I don't want you guys to start holding back compared to the normal tone of comments but to whoever it was that decided to go that extra step in an effort to be cruel, that was definitely a bit too much, so please try to show some restraint going forward.

Back to the tennis, the discussion was about Alfonso Rodriguez probably taking 4.5 this year and whether or not Freeman would be putting together a 4.5 super-squad and if so will he finally start receiving the abuse that Green/Benson & other uber-captains receive on the Houston League Blog. And we now pick up where we left off.....

Breaking News!....No Sarosh, ticket sales now in jeopardy.

Chris Leach just posted that Sarosh has pulled out with an ankle injury. A real injury or an unwillness to face up to all the pressure the never-ending hype has likely created? I don't know the answer to that but my guess is it is a combination of both. Congrats to Chris for scaring Sarosh by sounding confident and unafraid. Congrats to those in the top half who now only have Trautman, Sanchez, Rodriguez, Leach, etc. to worry about. Sadly, Dennis Hilsmeier's chances did not improve one bit despite this development.

And the countdown stands at two....

Time to reload with a fresh discussion stream, especially since that last one just deteriorated into a battle of "yo momma" insults. Poll currently indicates that Quack is the non-seed with the best shot at going far. If you haven't voted, please do, it's about as close as we can come to seeing how many people are visiting the site. Back in December, the polls were usually topping out at around 10 total votes, so 50+ shows that we are starting to get some traction on this blog. I have been blasted in the past for not commenting more on 4.0 or Open, two levels I have admitted I do not know much about. However, there must be someone coming to this site who does. So please feel free and share your opinion on these draws as well.

4 days and counting to Gallery Open

Time for a new discussion stream. I still have not seen the actual draws but I have read everything you guys have posted. There was no way the seeding in 5.0 would make everyone happy considering how strong the field is so I would not fault the committee too much. There would be just as much bitching if they had seeded Reggie Black and not Amit Garg. Based on skill and reputation, Amit is far more the more deservant player. It may not be fair that Black has to play Reader in the 1st round but would it be any more fair if Reader had to play Amit? Kallus and Leach are just as much victims of the draw in 4.5 having to face Phi Hunyh and Sarosh Ahmed. I don't see Kallus pulling that one off but Chris just might have a chance cause he has nothing to lose and without all of the hoopla anything less than making the finals will be a disappointment for you Sarosh fans. He just might feel that pressure against a strong opponent like Chris in the 1st round. If he were to pull it off, I would not be suprised to see Chris be the victim of fatigue in his second match. 5.0s, Green has got it pretty bad for a self-rationalized 4.0 player like he claims to be. That would be an impressive run. His matchup with Dibua would be quite a match to see. Having had the opportunity to hit with Brian Smith a few years back I would also agree that he could emerge as the dark horse and take the whole thing. 4.0, the big question will be whether or not Ansari can bring an end to his 4 match major zone losing streak.

Anyone feel slighted?

Seeds are out and as in years past, the seeding does not necessarily follow the rankings. I personally do not have a problem with this because I would rather see a known player get the seeding that is appropriate instead of seeing him facing a top seed in the first round or two, especially in the case where the ranking-based seeds care about the points and the unranked known player (usually a local ringer) just wants to win that local event and doesn't care about rankings and probably won't be playing other tournaments out of town. From what I understand, the HTA usually spends a lot of time trying to get the seeding right. Doesn't mean they usually succeed but they do try. Sarosh should probably be seeded higher, but #16 at least keeps him from facing another seeded player until the round of 16, so anyone he take out at that point will still get 150 points for the tournament. I am surprised that Chris Leach did not get a seed within the top 16 based on the same criteria HTA seems to usually use. Regarding the 5.0s, I agree that this will be a pretty exciting draw as there are 5 or 6 people who have a legitimate shot at winning. I also wouldn't be surprised to see at least 1 completely unheard guy in the 4.5 draw do some damage. It has happened quite a bit over the years. Sorry to those offended that I don't talk about Open or 4.0s. I just really don't know any of the key people to keep an eye on at those levels.

Counting Down to the Cok.....make that Gallery Furniture Open.

Still too early for me to make predictions about the Houston Major Zone, but since talk will likely stay focused on this tournament for the foreseeable future I thought I would go ahead and start a new discussion stream since the last one was into the 130's. I also want to officially apologize to all the players who will be coming from out of town and forced to play at the far from impressive facilities at Lee Leclear, Memorial Park, and Homer Ford. It is sad that you can go to Waco and play at the kick-ass Waco Regional Tennis Center or go to San Antonio last month and play at the "hoity-toity" country clubs Fair Oaks, Dominion, and Sunterra. Come to Houston and you get homeless people, cracked and horribly sloped courts, torn nets, and crappy lights. No wonder we only get 1 Major Zone while San Antonio gets 3. With that I will bid you all Sarosh and here's hoping that all your Sarosh's may be Sarosh. Come to think of it, I am suprised that Jimmy Kimmel has not done a "I'm f&cking Sarosh" video yet. That would definitely top the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck videos for #1 on youtube. (You know I couldn't go a whole post without keeping the whole Sarosh thing stirred up and by the way, Lord of Strings, where have you disappeared to?)

By popular demand....Sarosh....Sorry, I mean San Antonio Major Zone....

For my part I will already step in and agree with the fact that Trautman should take the 4.5 singles and Reader should take 5.0 if he will refrain from getting drunk the night before the finals like he seemed to do last year during this tourney. Trautman's opponent in final? Is Schmucker in the other half? Did Casas sign up? Sanchez warrants a few votes. In other words, I haven't really looked at the draw but I saw from the last string that you guys were ready to start a new one. The Schmucker/Kern poll has been a lot closer than I would have thought. I won't say which direction I lean in. Finally, I agree that whoever keeps posting that Sarosh can't make it past the round of 16 at a major zone is either dilusional or just trying to stir things up. I haven't even seen the guy but I can tell by the tone of most the comments on this blog that he must be the real deal. If that is not enough, the fact that he played successful line 1 league tennis on a 4.0 league that went to nationals should validate the fact that he is at minimum a strong 4.5. If he really was a top junior in India and was playing 3.5s two years ago then I agree that the guy is a joke as a person even if he is quite skilled as a player. Be a man and limit your sandbagging to one level down if you please. Anyway back to San Antonio. Any takers that Schmucker doesn't make the trip? He is 1 for 1 in Major Zone no shows so far this year. Though in his defense I don't believe that not showing in Abilene had anything to do with facing Cox or Kern. Schmucker won 2 major zones last year so I find it hard to believe that he would be ducking away from 4.0 players. Anyway, if I get the chance to look at the draws perhaps I will be back with more comments (as if anyone cares) if not, please start blasting away, there are plenty of egos that need to be either stroked or deflated by the community of "anonymous". You guys do realize that the majority of people post on here anonymously and that it is not just one or two people (even in the case of Sarosh bashing) as some of you seem to be alluding to. But again it is all in good fun....until someone cries. Then I guess we will have to shut this thing down so that no tries to call my mom and tell on me.

Abilene Draws Out.

The Abilene draws came out yesterday evening. Instead of given my initial comments, I provided a link to the draw, I think it should go straight to the 4.5 draw since that is the one that will likely generate the most comments. I would envision Trautman being the favorite in addition to being the top seed. Oops, I guess I lied because that was in fact an initial comment. One more and I will be done. I think this is the first time that the 4.5 draw starts on Friday instead of Saturday since the draws are usually pretty small. Not sure why they are forcing everyone to drive up there on a Thursday since there is plenty of time to play 4 matches on Sat. and Sun. But then again, this is Abilene we are talking about. Nuff Said.