East Coast DDC Championships

08/20/10 - 08/21/10 in Raleigh, NC

OPEN Division

Thanks to Harvey Brandt for the results.

It was HOT!!
 And this refers not only to the weather (though some of us were  
 adapted) but to the overall level of DDC action throughout the  
 weekend. Carlton Howard hosted, in the true meaning of hosted, his  
 fourth iteration of this wonderful event. Due to scheduling tightness,  
 this year we played in late August. A week ago and yes, it has taken  
 me a bit of time to recover so that I could write this.
 But the action was well worth any minor inconveniences, like getting  
 your butt kicked. More on that later.
 11 solid teams made their merry way to Cary or Apex, NC, or wherever  
 they claimed these fields to be. And what fields. Picture a putting  
 green on a very nice golf course just before they really mow it short.  
 The only problem was that most of us are used to longish grass with  
 sort of scrappy conditions. Everyone had to make some adjustments.  
 Again, well worth it.
 With only 11 teams, the powers that were decided to go with a double  
 round robin of games to 11 points. You could argue for many other  
 formats but this is what it was. Interesting to note that the position  
 of the teams did not change significantly from the end of the first  
 round to the end of the second round. Therefore, you could also argue  
 for all rounds to be played to 11, but where would the fun be in that?
 Not to say there were no upsets. Like I said, the field was very  
 competitive - including 10 of the top 11 world ranked players.
 I won't go into excessive details about the results as I have just  
 posted the actual final pool sheets on the web (along with the pool  
 sheets for many other events over the years) and you can survey them  
 at your leisure. (Look for 2010 East Coast DDC.)
 http://web.mac.com/tmbanzai/iWeb/DDC%20/Results_Stats.html
 Most notable from the first round is that the 4th seeded team of Dave  
 Hesselberth / Mark Horn came through with the best record, followed by  
 the top three teams in a tie. The fifth seeded team of Jon Freedman /  
 Carlton Howard had upset 2nd seeded Harvey Brandt / John Kirkland and  
 were one loss back of the group, waiting to bust a seed.
 The second round did not change much, fortunately for some and  
 unfortunately for others. Dave and Mark slipped to 4th, the tied bunch  
 STAYED tied, and Jon and Carlton could not sustain their momentum. The  
 other six teams did give plenty of challenges to the top rung but no  
 one could break through the log jam. As for that tie, all the teams  
 had the same record against each other. Rick LeBeau / John Greensage  
 had wasted Brandt / J. Kirkland twice. Brandt / J. Kirkland had wasted  
 Conrad Damon / C. Kirkland twice. And of course, Damon / C. Kirkland  
 had wasted LeBeau / Greensage twice. So who gets the top seed and thus  
 the pick for the semis. Easy, we go to points amongst the tied teams.  
 With the final game yet to be played, it was determined that Brandt /  
 J. Kirkland needed to get wasted by LeBeau / Greensage by no more 5  
 points, or they could just win the game but why bother with that.  
 (Kirkland was maybe feeling his age at that point and had some  
 irregular breathing so he just wanted to get to the pick-up action.)  
 And the needed loss by 5 points is exactly what happened. After  
 reconfirming, Brandt / J. Kirkland had a point margin of +1, Damon /  
 C. Kirkland had a point margin of 0, and LeBeau / Greensage had a  
 point margin or -1. Brandt / Kirkland then chose to play Hesselberth /  
 Horn the next day in the semis, setting the other match to be LeBeau /  
 Greensage vs Damon / Kirkland.
 For the rest of Saturday, tons of pick-up action took place. Folks  
 might be playing still if rain hadn't slowed things on Sunday  
 afternoon!!!
 That night, we had a wonderful party / dinner at Carlton and Anne's  
 place. With plenty of home made food, deserts, and breads provided by  
 the Double Trouble DDC folks and plenty of drinks. You should go to  
 this event just for that. Can't say enough about the hospitality this  
 group puts out each year.
 Now for the butt kicking part. Suffice it to say that the number 1  
 seeded LeBeau / Greensage lost to number 3 seeded Damon / C. Kirkland  
 in two straight and the number 2 seeded Brandt / J. Kirkland were  
 thrashed (in my humble opinion) by number 4 seeded Hesselberth / Horn.  
 Must have been something Dave put in the eggs that morning.
 In the finals, youthful exuberance (Conrad and Cody added together  
 were just slightly older than Mark alone, if I recall correctly) did  
 win out over the crafty experience of Dave and Mark. But they didn't  
 go down easily, winning one game and pushing each game to the limits.  
 As I said earlier, check out the PDF files for the full stats run down.
 Of interesting note is the rise of Cody Kirkland on the DDC scene.  
 Blessed with great genes for the game, his mom (the very much missed G  
 Kirkland) was one of the greatest Women's players in any disc event.  
 And dad wasn't isn't too bad either. Cody has been in the winner's  
 circle for two East Coast DDC events in a row, as well as taking the  
 VA States title in 2008. He has moved up to a number 7 world ranking,  
 just a hair behind dad. Word is out that John has tied Cody down for  
 the next 85 DDC tourneys in a row so that they will receive the same  
 ranking points every time, thus allowing dad to stay just ahead of the  
 son in the rankings. Just what I hear. They are listed as a team for  
 the upcoming WFDF World DDC event in Arizona, so maybe there is some  
 truth to that?
 http://web.mac.com/tmbanzai/iWeb/2010AZStates/DDC.html
 The other note is the rise of Dave Hesselberth to a strong world  
 ranking of number 4. Word is also out that if the rankings used only  
 the results from the past three years instead of the past five, Dave  
 would ascend to the number 2 ranking. Again, just what I hear.  
 Certainly worthy, Dave has won two events this year (US Overall and VA  
 States) and then been in the finals for East Coast. Over the past  
 three years, he has won the 2008 US Open, and the 2009 VA States. An  
 impressive resume. At publication time, Dave has not committed to the  
 WFDF DDC event.
 Lastly, a reminder that PDF files of all the results I have  
 accumulated are now posted on the previously listed web site. And I  
 have reformulated all the pool sheets and posted them on the DDC web  
 site as well. If you have an event of almost any number of teams  
 (round robins of 3 to 15), you will find the pool sheets there, ready  
 for printing.
 See you at the next DDC gathering in AZ, still time to make your plans.
 your dutiful scribe