3-0

I'm off to a good start, but I am not playing as well as my last season.



I consider myself to be in a solid position as I head into the toughest part of my schedule. Obviously, if I go undefeated over my next three games, then I will be in great shape to win the division and possibly go 11-0. However, I will be quite happy taking 2 of 3.



One opponent that is busting up the league and is 4-0 thus far. He is certainly placed wrong according to those that have played and lost to him. Let me explain what I mean in saying placed wrong. New players are tried out by various players during trials to determine thier skill level at the start of the season. Based on the account of those that played him so far, he is too good for purple. I think this is a blessing. I have asked if they think I could beat him and most have said, not sure but I would like to watch the game. He has a playing style like mine - powershots and good tactics. Even though I have played a level below my normal game intensity and all my matches lasted longer than they needed to, I am looking forward to the contest with Mr. 4-0 and in the next three weeks we will see where I stand versus him.



I played a lefty last night and it was very interesting. We had opposite strengths and weaknesses. His back hand was strong. I kept busting him to his forehand and saw no reason to stop. He busted my back hand I did a better job of compensating, but the big difference was the service line.



I had a total of 17 aces. That is just killer. I can't recall a game where that many of my points came off serve. With that said, it also should highlight just how poorly I was playing if the matches came out like this:

15-5

9-15

11-6

in my favor.



I hit this guy with 7 shots as he crowded the middle a great deal. By the looks of him, one would think he could crush the ball. Seriously, he had the biggest chest I have seen on a racquetball player - ever. He could probably bench press 400 pounds without sweating much. My sense is all that muscle gets in the way of his swing - just like female golfers and their obstacles to a perfect swing. Several times during the match we got awfully close, due to this lack of movement and my poor game play and he just moved me around the court. This is not easy to do, I must confess. I am not in athletic shape despite my active lifestyle. I am usually the one conducting how my opponent moves and to be more specific move around my court presence. I felt a bit uneasy most of the game as I was pushed around the court. I certainly did not want to hit this fellow once let alone seven times! I laughed out loud several times, as did the audience that happen to see me beam his most holy of areas twice with 35-37 foot shots off the back wall. After those very nice gifts, you would think one would make an adjustment... you think?



My opponent certainly made an adjustment... instead of moving and giving me the required straight shot and one of the corners, he simply put his hand behind him to block his most sacred of regions... I messed several shots up laughing out loud about those nifty moves. As I turned to the audience, I could see several people pointing and laughing... it was quite the comic show. Now when I say audience, I really mean other players passing by, waiting for a match, or people that just happen to be there whenever one looks outside the court. I doubt very much they were watching the match. My games are rarely that exciting. I watch several matches a week at the Gold level (5 above my current level) to pick up shots and tactics in a game.



One last note on the match from yesterday, for the fourth time in my recent racquetball revival I have failed to stop the hemraging and come back to take the game from a lesser opponent. Yesterday I fell down 8-0 in the second game. I successfully implemented my time out strategy and took two of my three TO's over the next couple of service breaks and stop his momentum. I climbed back in the game down 8-6, but could not sustain it. I eventually fell down 11-9, 12-9, several service exchanges (no aces - which would have been useful) and no points and lost 9-15. Even though I lost the game I figured out what I would do in the tie breaker... slam his forehand and make him beat me with quality shots. That task was not equaled by my opponent.

Purple

Yes, I have been moved up to the purple division. I am excited about this division, but I am eager to actually get started. We just completed week three, yes I know that was fast, but I will explain.

So many new players have joined the league, the directors did not want to turn anyone away. I like this since I prefer more players anyway. I do not like the gaps between season as it is, so a longer season is okay with me.

Week Zero was a flex week and my opponent was not available to play. That will be completed in the near future.
Week One was cancelled. My opponent contacted me to let me know he could not make it.
Week Two was cancelled. Again, my opponent was not able to play.
Week Three, Four, and Five I am playing people from my last division. Since there were so many new people more people with good records moved up. I went 3-0 vs these competitors for a combined score of 118-26, so I am not busting at the seems to play them, but I am going to be comfortable.

In addition, since I always look at the numbers, my week zero through two opponents are a combined 1-3... so again not to read too much into it... I may be off to a good start. The major assumption is that I start - soon!

To purple I also bring a new serve. It is not new to racquetball by any means, but it is new to my playing style. I have added a pretty effective lob serve to my array of shots to mix things up at the service line. As I have communicated in previous posts, my money maker is a low fast drive serve to their backhand. I make it more difficult by shifting over to the extreme left side of the court, but not too far to make it an illegal serve. This does many good things for my overall service effectiveness, but I benefit mostly from the weak return serve offered by opponents.

To review, I do not serve the ball to the other side of the court until I have them at the breaking point. Here is my outlook for this approach. If I am constantly busting you with drive serve after drive serve to your backhand, rarely if not ever giving you anything else to hit, then people end up cheating, which means they start to move over to cut that option off. Since I am so far over already, opponents really need to cheat to negate my aggressive stance. Once more, for most of the match even if they are blatantly moving over, I will maintain serve. Luckily for me, the shot is still pretty hard to hit or the return shot is so weak or calculated I end up getting more points. So, if I get and hold a lead pushing the score to specific break points, opponents will get very aggressive and basically move to cut the serve off altogether. That is when I simply switch sides with an obvious weaker serve, but they are so far out of position it does not really matter how hard I hit it... it will go without return. The best part is after getting burned on a weak shot I completely get them out of their cheat and then I go back to the grind all over again. In practice matches, as well as prior league play, it has worked almost like clock work. There are a few players that can return this shot very well, however, they do not have much of an angle to hit their shot. The return must be perfect, so I can live with that shot percentage!!

As I stated, for purple I have added the lob serve and this will have immediate impact. Number one and the most important, I do not have to exert as much energy in volley and volley of drive serves. It takes a good amount of energy to hit those drive serves and I am thankful we only play to 15 twice! Purple level players will undoubtedly push me to play harder and for longer periods of time, so energy conservation is not important. Another big benefit in store for me is the change in speed. After a few low hard shots, it does take an adjustment to be patient and wait for the lob shot to develop. It is a high arching shot that just barely misses the ceiling and hugs the wall without hitting it directly to the corner. The effective return shot is to wait for it to bounce off the back wall and take your best low shot possible. In the purple division, players just do not have this shot in their array at a high percentage. This includes me as well! The hardest serve for me is a high slow lob serve to my backhand. I put up a defensive shot every time, which is exactly what the opponent wants. The lob serve is also called the error maker. More self made errors come off trying to hit a great shot instead of a high percentage or defensive shot.

I can't wait to see how it plays out this season. I'll keep my 1 and a half loyal readers posted!! (P.S. My oldest child reads this, so her plus me is 1 and a half.)

Pictures

Here is a half ass attempt to catch up with all of you regarding my pictures. I have said to many of you... I will put them up. Well, I have finally done this.

You will see our little ones and some other stuff that will be removed and replaced with more of our little ones.

Pay attention to the house shots, especially the outside ones because the outside is finished and I will reveal that in a later edition of this cool picture display.

Thanks to Backwards Attraction for bringing this tool to my attention.

Backwards...

How do I get this darn flicker thing to display like on your site?

My next trip...

I am currently debating where to go on my next trip. Here are possible locations... in no particular order or preference.

NY, NY
Phx, AZ
Costa Rica
WC, CA
Charlotte, NC
Minneapolis, MN

For obvious reasons, I really should be thinking of Costa Rica. Sun, fun, family, and eco-tourism are all good reasons to start off with. The reason I am not still even thinking about CR is I will be going alone or possibly with Michael. I really enjoy Costa Rica more with SAC (supreme allied commander)... for obvious reasons yes, but I enjoy the cultural aspects so easily handles. It really makes travelling in an area with a language barrier a breeze.

NY, NY is high on my list because I miss NY. Plain and simple, there is no getting around that point. Besides, I miss my friends and family in the region. NY also would allow me to finally terminate my NY insurance. Geico has forced me to carry NY insurance since I turned in my plates eons ago, yet they need a receipt. Short of cancelling my insurance and going with another company, I need to once and for all deal with that. (Public transportation is another big plus.)

WC, CA - that is the place we just left... in a hurry I might add. Depending on PTC schedule though... I would not want to invade the home of Mrs. Prego! I mean that with all courtesy and respect...!

Charlotte, NC - now this trip would be fun. I was in Charlotte a couple of times, but never for very long. I would enjoy being in the South... (wait as second... I live in the South... but Charlotte is old South... so it is a differentiation I can hang my hat on.) I have friends there and a good amount of Intel on the local history. I would enjoy that very much.

MN, MN - Well thank the lord... it is not winter. I could stand to visit under that condition.

Phx, AZ - my beloved and I feel we will be there soon enough... so travelling there for the fun of it seems a bit severe. We will see.

My money is not on travelling at all - since I really really have too much work on the honey do list... and if I want to continue gaming and playing racquetball as much as I do... I better put sometime into SAC management.

Chromehounds gets dusted off...

Last night was the first time in a very long time I played this game and really enjoyed the experience. The only bad aspect of the night was playing late, which consequently forced me to end my fun early and get some sleep.

Many months ago when I played this game with my new 360, the crew (Twiki / Bubba (field Generals) and myself) played mostly humans but occasionally computers. Chromehounds, for those that do not know, is a live xbox 360 game based on mechanized or robotic like machines in total war scenarios. To achieve victory a team, or a solo mech, only needs to defeat the opponents or their base. In addition, a team could win if time runs out and control of the communications network was in your favor. The strategy and time needed to be proficient at this game is considerable, but if one puts in the time the game play is very good.

In recent weeks, Bubba and Twiki have been doing considerable homework increasing our squad size. Recruiting players that will put the time needed to be successful is easier said then done, but results are tangible at this point. We have six players in our squad and if we can get some people off the fence, then we could have as many as nine. Another aspect of what it takes to be a field General (FG) is also focused on creating a Chromehound or mech that will be durable, fast, and when put to the test accurately lethal! It could also be effective to build a squad with specific strengths that fights well as a team. A team full of M1A1 US tanks, for example would be pretty lethal until a team with an Apache tank killer came along. You get my drift, since a team blended in a host of capabilities should prevail - as long as you can kill effectively. The last part is actually not as important as you would think. FG's role in addition to getting the game going is battle tactics and strategy. Within that aspect, FG's need soldiers to do their job, hence the challenge of this game. I am not a very good soldier, but if needed I can execute orders. I like to play fast and loose, which sometimes means I am caught in an isolated battle without advantage. Sometimes I do my thing and get the kills needed to make the game easy to win, but more often I get crippled or worse killed turning the momentum over to our opponents. Such is life when you role with Grizzley, but a FG usually can count on me doing the power move successfully.

Getting back on point, last night we played, like I said, for the first time in a while. We had four mechs rolling, which was a first for me, and it was a lot of fun. I almost like my support role as much as my wild and wreck less solo approach. If we blend our capabilities and fight as a team, I do not think we will have too much trouble winning the war on our terms. With that said, we do have a bunch of newbies... so Bubba - Twiki and I just can't miss that often until these noobs get up and running.

I think I may put SCDA on the shelf for the time being... that or get my copy of SC II as soon as it comes out.

Work Place Conflict

I recall this topic is unavoidable. Since I was in Management all these years, I was accustom to a certain level of professionalism.

Well, I am not in management, so the conflict is more primal. Essentially, I sit next to an indecisive buffoon that cannot make a clear decision unless it is an easy one. Mr. indecisive does not bother me on this topic, thankfully, since we are not on speaking terms, but that does not stop him from running the old mouth.

The few times I chose not to be a door mat, he shouts to whomever is listening stop making comments under your breath. Recently, today in fact, when he did this for like the third time in two weeks I needed to put my foot down. Actually, I would prefer to put my foot elsewhere, but that is a horror story of the future. So, I stand up and say in the same level voice I had initially commented on... "Joe - I do not feel the need to have social support of statements of truth. You need to shout out whenever I or anyone for that matter challenges your behavior and comments. I am simply reflecting back what you are saying is totally unprofessional. The shouting out to co-workers just makes my point that much easier to understand." If I know this clown well enough, I will be needing to defend myself aggressively if the issue comes to a head. I would rather diffuse the issue and just avoid all confrontation... that is until he decides to treat me like a door mat again.

I will label this post as venting. I wish I could solve this just like SCDA.