It’s 5:07 and you have a match at 7:20. The sky is already dark and ominous. You look at your cell and check the Weather Channel and see that there is a 100% chance of rain and it looks like it’s going to hit right around your scheduled match time. So you send off an email to suggest calling off the match. Three of four go along with it, so you shrug and say, “see you next week.”
Sounds reasonable.
UNLESS THE FREAKING STORM IS A THIN LINE AND MOVES THROUGH IN ABOUT 15 MINUTES!
Some people work for a living and have meetings that extend beyond 5:07pm and haven’t seen any conspiratorial emails…. so they go to the court expecting a good match and find four guys by the firepit (who had played at 6) enjoying a few beers wondering why court 1 and 2 are completely empty. One guy does show up — so they decide to stick around and play and have a fine time — WITHOUT ANY RAIN!
The one match scheduled for 8:40 goes off without a hitch.
Makes a guy wonder what his friends are made of… blood, sweat, grit and determination?
Or perhaps something quite a bit less.
P.S. — Brad Schmieding, why don’t you bump your own ranking by 100 points, along with Dan Swarthout, Mike Showalter and Steve Klafke for sticking around in the “pouring” rain.
As for the 7 of 8 who skipped their 7:20 match… how about minus 200 for the trouble?
Notice the time stamp on this screen capture of the storm that wiped out these matches >
Don’t forget Zoro and Lipski, who played fearlessly at 6 and then had to go home to drown their sorrows alone after a staggering defeat to Klafke and Laser Eye Schowalter. “OUT”.