Summer Pickleball Action Redux
Saturday, August 28, 2021
The 2nd annual (end of summer) Mad Dogs pickleball tourney got underway... with new teams, some new faces, and even some colour coordinated wardrobes too. Rookies Jeannie, Mike (Yammer), Jack and Hala joined the mix of retournees from our inaugural year along with other familiar weekend Mad Dogs. We introduced a new format including 7 round-robin, rally point games with an all-team-seeded medal round that got everyone involved in a minimum of 9 games on this beautiful sunny afternoon. Great to see some fans come join in the spectacle too, making for a fun social atmosphere in our enclosed 3-court arena... even garnering some applause and the odd heckle too.
After the round robin action, the top seeded Team Blue (Ian, with Walt as a late substitute for last season's partner Carlos) steamrolled to a 7-0 record while Team Grey (Dharmesh/Jack) found insta-chemistry as the second seeds having only met at the tourney moments before. Team Yellow (Sherman/Marisa) were solid with 5W 2L as early betting favourites, while Teams Black (Raymond/Mike), Green (Howie/Henry) and Orange (Jason/Jeannie) had their uninspiring 2W 5L records sorted out via tie breaker calculations. The 8th (and last) seed was Team White (Steve/Hala) but were definitely first on the fashion meter rocking knee high socks and headbands, along with an opening soundtrack entrance too. We need a best-dressed award for next year now.
The medal round got underway after a short break and photo op but was not too dramatic as the eventual champs and top seeds continued their dominance and ran the table to victory with a perfect 10-0 record. USA dream team, anyone? Meanwhile, the Cinderella sidebar story had to be the 7th seeded Team Orange, digging deep for two upset wins vs. higher seeds en route to the finals, powered by their unique strategy of chugging a beer beforehand... who knew?
To the victors go the spoils... Starbucks gift certificates to the Team Blue champs, and sleeves of golf balls (courtesy of Christina) to the 2nd place Team Orange and 3rd place Team Yellow. Thanks to all the participating teams in this event (being just a bit bigger and better than the first and collectively, we were able to devote proceeds of the entry fees towards the Mad Dogs Angels Fund too). Special thanks to that 'full patch' Mad Dog, Dharmesh Dass for (once again) assuming the co-organzing role to make this all possible. See you next year!
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