Probably wind up long so bow out now if you are not into those.
Our qualifer for hawaii was held this weekend and several days ago i contacted my lo about possibly forfeiting my team out of it. Due to several factors all happening at the same time i only had 4 players available for a 5 man team tournament.
Well i wound up getting a 5 th player and was not enthused about our chances since i would not have 2 of my better players.
We went with 5...5...3...3...3. Two of those 3's are very weak 3' s and the other one is decent....decent enough to be raised to a 4 during the tournament. She is the player i managed to get the night before the tournament started and due to her outstanding play in the last match beating a 6 by 2-0 we won our first round.
Next round we faced what i thought was a tougher team ....on paper anyways than our first opponent. Again ...surprisingly the underdogs " us " won that round.
We move on and then last night we again face the team that we beat in our first round. Now here is where the sportsmanship part of my title comes into play. The opposing captain selects his player for the first match....unaware he was in the middle of a match on their other team.
Now i am in a delimna....do i take an easy win by forfeit with a trip to hawaii on the line against a team i thought we were lucky to beat the first time.....or do i allow him to select another player ? In a decision like this i decided to talk it over with the team and also the lo...we decided to win it on the table.
Tight match all the way to the last match where it becomes sudden death due to time limits. Sudden death in 8 ball comes down to one rack. Winner moves on and loser goes home. So i am up and call out their captain ...a 6 and i am a 5. I was not surprised when he declined to throw himself and threw his stronger 6 instead lol.
Well .....bottom line is i missed my last ball on a thin cut in the side pocket hitting the tip leaving me a straight in shot on the 8...then watch my opponent run out. I honestly did not think we would have done as well as we did considering 2 of my better players could not make it. Damn proud of the effort of my whole team.
Also want to give a shout out to the lo's for a well ran tournament ....keeping it on schedule with around 36 teams in it i believe. Awesome job by them.
Our qualifer for hawaii was held this weekend and several days ago i contacted my lo about possibly forfeiting my team out of it. Due to several factors all happening at the same time i only had 4 players available for a 5 man team tournament.
Well i wound up getting a 5 th player and was not enthused about our chances since i would not have 2 of my better players.
We went with 5...5...3...3...3. Two of those 3's are very weak 3' s and the other one is decent....decent enough to be raised to a 4 during the tournament. She is the player i managed to get the night before the tournament started and due to her outstanding play in the last match beating a 6 by 2-0 we won our first round.
Next round we faced what i thought was a tougher team ....on paper anyways than our first opponent. Again ...surprisingly the underdogs " us " won that round.
We move on and then last night we again face the team that we beat in our first round. Now here is where the sportsmanship part of my title comes into play. The opposing captain selects his player for the first match....unaware he was in the middle of a match on their other team.
Now i am in a delimna....do i take an easy win by forfeit with a trip to hawaii on the line against a team i thought we were lucky to beat the first time.....or do i allow him to select another player ? In a decision like this i decided to talk it over with the team and also the lo...we decided to win it on the table.
Tight match all the way to the last match where it becomes sudden death due to time limits. Sudden death in 8 ball comes down to one rack. Winner moves on and loser goes home. So i am up and call out their captain ...a 6 and i am a 5. I was not surprised when he declined to throw himself and threw his stronger 6 instead lol.
Well .....bottom line is i missed my last ball on a thin cut in the side pocket hitting the tip leaving me a straight in shot on the 8...then watch my opponent run out. I honestly did not think we would have done as well as we did considering 2 of my better players could not make it. Damn proud of the effort of my whole team.
Also want to give a shout out to the lo's for a well ran tournament ....keeping it on schedule with around 36 teams in it i believe. Awesome job by them.
