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| Sorry Brad! |
Bentleague XI: The Year-End Recap Nobody Asked For (But Everyone will Read Anyway)
Shano (Barney Rubble) and the Big Swinging Sticks II capture Bentleague XI!
Let that sink in for a bit.
Wire to Wire leaders too. Made
the last match irrelevant for everyone but Brad. Congrats on your convincing B XI Title. Time to etch BSS II to the trophy.
We also must get used to the idea of Bentley giving up
control of Bentleague next year. I’ll
believe it when I see it. Kudos to Old Knees
Harvey for a
“great run” the last ten years and for all his efforts weekly that make PAC
(Genesis) the best tennis club on the Northshore. Here’s hoping Mitch (MDB) doesn’t drop the
ball and keeps an idea that started on the way home from Palm Springs, Ca. stay
relevant. It looks like we have a lot of
new blood and talent coming up that will continue making PAC tennis and
Bentleague the premier league to test our tennis skills. Not lost on the Swami that we have a great
group of friends who enjoy each other’s company, can toast a drink here and
there, can handle a little trash talking, all the while offering up good competition
on the tennis courts. We’ll see if Old Knees
can stay out of it when MDB tries to change the name of the league!
Now onto the end of the year recap. Before we give all the well-deserved accolades
to BSS we must look at what went wrong with the other three squads. Swami should have known better than to pick
Tricky’s Tribe to win it all given that he was the only captain to not have a
previous championship (as captain) to his name.
Dan Quayle is no JFK and Nick Thompson is no Shane McCarthy. When you are happy with 2nd place
(first loser), as the Ego appeared to be, you just don’t have the right DNA to
lead a team to the title. Swami should
have recalled how the Ego fared when he was the captain before making his preseason
picks. Suggest whoever drafts the Ego
next year make him start a preseason training regimen before the league
starts. Focus on the camp and golf
usually delays rounding into tennis form until round 2. In this case…two negatives did not make a
positive. Youth in the middle did propel
them to 2nd but depth in the later rounds and age of the roster hurt
more than anticipated in the five-round league. Give Jack the Ripper the MVP of
this squad. Was dominant early with his 3.5
- line 1 doubles teammate (Think he played every match). At least it seemed that way. May be
time to grow out that hair again Max. Swami
believes he lost some of that swagger once the locks were cut. Butler Brothers held up for the Tribe most of
the year. Recorded a lot of W’s for
Tricky unless they were playing against the Mayor of Mandeville (Dave). And why did Dave only play in 5 matches? Was especially nice to see a new friendship born
between Bitter Beer Face Addi and Sundial Groeneveld. Sundial able to channel those skills a lot
better with the carefree Coonass. I know
he was on the bench most of the season but might have been wise to ask the squirrel
some advice along the way. He is a two-time
winner of Bentleague btw Tricky! I’m
sure Tricky is a little disappointed with the number of wins coming out of his 7/9
pairing. Maybe it was the detached
retina, but Swami thinks the big burrito lost focus on his tennis once he
registered for his Bumble account.
Spin Doctors 2, captained by Hairy Hal Neitzschman and Cobra
Kai, captained by Chris Kobrock battling for last place is really no surprise
in hindsight. Swami knows what you are
thinking…hindsight is 20/20! Against my
better judgement, I graded these two teams higher than they finished because of
the Championship pedigree. Who would have
guessed that these two captains came to the draft ill-prepared. This is Bentleague for goodness sakes. Most of us take it seriously and want their
name on the trophy. Like the previous
captains and champions, it was disappointing to watch these two teams collapse
during the year and not challenge BSS till the end. Did we really cancel the last week of the
season? May be time for old knees to
ride off into the sunset. Everyone else sees
that Bentley has been extra ornery lately.
May be because ND was left out of the playoffs or that he can’t come to
grips with being drafted in the 12th round. What ever happened to playing for pride? So, you may be asking yourselves…., how did
we get here? Preseason prediction about Curly
haired Russ was realized. Coming back to
the pack or 2nd tier catching up.
Wasn’t as dominant as Hal had hoped.
Hairy had a hard time finding him a complimentary partner. Sarge Schwartz doesn’t like the MPH at line
1. Rudy and Grant (unproven at those
spots) drafted too early as previously stated.
RuPaul on the rise but not there yet, especially at the 3-spot. Grant is still finding out how to win in
Bentleague. Most were glad to see him
get his first W against Fair and get that monkey off your back. Surprising number of L’s in the middle but
none more than the Mouth of Mandeville (Brad).
Has anyone’s game regressed more than Brad’s over the last three years? Did he really break Gordo’s futility mark by
going 0-10! I liked a lot of the players
rounding out Hal’s draft, but it is now clear he didn’t do his homework on the
newbies. Speaking of…not doing your
homework. Swami still dumbfounded that Chris
came to the draft with nothing written down.
At least Hal had a list. Although
he didn’t have rankings for at least 30 players. The last person I recall not having a list as
Captain was Gordo and how did that turn out?
I can’t be that tough on Captain Aloof (Kobrock) because Lil Nadal
played a big role in Cobra Kai’s demise.
Chris took a chance on the prince’s infected elbow, and it backfired. Promising 3 and 1 start thwarted by elbow
surgery mid-season. Team still looks good on paper. Maybe just a little long in the tooth. Hard to witness Ed caring more about duck
hunting and Disney, Blair battling a 3-year calf problem, Gordo’s struggles at
line 2 and 3 after being MVP last year, and McGuire pouting about not making the
line up week after week. Hell, even the captain’s
win-loss record was subpar. Phillippi’s
record was better than most predicted but lived on line 4 most of the year. A lot of curious draft picks and pairings! No
pun intended, but there were too many cooks in the kitchen at the draft. Is anyone more aloof than Chris? How about rating
the players beforehand and bringing your ratings sheets to the draft? When your 13th rounder (Ryan) is
your MVP you know your team is having a rough year. I
know some of the “old” guard may have technology challenges coordinating with
players during the year, but having someone in the lineup who is out of the
country is inexcusable. At least Cobra
Kai didn’t finish last 😊.
Now on to the Champions.
Shano did his homework, that was evident. He also paid attention to pairing successes
during the year. A true players captain. Eddie the Chief Burdette justified early round
draft spot. No one has improved more than
the Chief. Complete opposite tennis trajectory
than the Mouth of Mandeville. Candlestick
Butcher played his best Bentleague tennis since inception. Who would have guessed curing that flawed
toss would improve his ground strokes.
Playing with Shano didn’t hurt either.
Samauria Schneider sure did bounce back from his subpar year last year. Going
with DickTrain Lane and the John the Hitman Hearn from the 3.5 Local Champs
(Sectionals runner up) a no brainer now using hindsight. Seems every captain tapped into the 3.5 squad
a little but BSS’s picks proved more worthy.
Not lost on the Swami that Pouty Parnell has one every year since
joining Bentleague. Talk about smoke and
mirrors. Still can’t believe I lost to him
(after surgery) after leading 8-3 in the TSTB.
Undefeated Joey Minus 2 Dunbar a steal at eight. Hey Chris…remember me telling you to draft
Joey during the draft? Super Ray Ray
feasting on line five competition racking up W’s. Wild Wild West showing you don’t have to have
textbook strokes to win in recreational tennis.
Here that MDB? (ps. only W I got with the one hander was against
you btw) Dude is competitive and is clearly distancing himself from the other Keith’s. Sorry Smiley.
Undefeated Matt Dean may be the biggest coup of the draft. Can’t believe I just wrote that. The MVP of Bentleague XI IMO (since picking Barney
Rubble would be too obvious). What a
year from Dinosaur Deano. Will be
interesting to see if the W’s are sustainable if his draft stock improves. Potter – Very Solid. Regret not playing him more last year. Crazy Eyes Monaghan a steal at 14 with his athleticism
at the net. Definitely a Poor man’s
Shano in Swami’s opinion. Like Shane, more
athletic than he looks. Early season MVP
candidate St. Ro also played exceptionally for his captain. Went a little south once the MVP discussion
started, but can’t discount early season W’s.
Solid group rounding out BSS as a part of the 4-match club ensured no
drop once depth was needed. Must think
playing for the “players captain” propelled a lot on this team to new heights
as mentioned above. Eric the Red, Sweet
Lou, Skipper, Wayne, and Kenny B. held
the rope while picks 1-4 held steady, and 5-15 carried the load. Congrats to all. Second Captain to get a repeat
title. Time for some new blood to get
their chance at running the show.
Final Thoughts
As the Chairman steps back (allegedly), we’ll see if Mitch and Shane can take Bentleague to new heights.
Nice run, Old Knees—even if you never won your own league or captained a champion.
Bentleague XI is in the books.
Same trash talk.
Same friendships.
Same questionable lineup decisions next year.
Wouldn’t have it any other way. 🎾🍻
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