There has been no more dominant player at The Cedar Club than Brett “Duke” Smith.  His TCC Club and Fall Classic Championships are testimony to his ability to take over a match, regardless of the strength of his paddle partner.  But nagging injuries hampered his mobility and the powers-that-be demoted him to the number two slot at the start of this Men’s League season.

It took a month, but in the latest paddle ranking, Duke was once again in his familiar number 1 ranked spot, just ahead of Eric Arvold.  All is right within the TCC kingdom.  Right?

WRONG!  The unthinkable has happened.  Duke has lost two successive paddle matches.  Unheard of.  Unprecedented.

Blasphemy, you say!

“I have no one to blame other than myself…” Duke was heard muttering at the TCC bar, as Dan Einhorn kept ’em coming.

Curt Lundeen, master of the Lundeen 3000, was quick to add, “This will quickly drop him back to number 2 in the rankings… you should put it in a blog.”

My, how the mighty have fallen.