Virginia States

04/08/05 in Fredericksburg, VA

OPEN Division

Thanks to Harvey Brandt for the results.

If you are lucky enough to be on the "special, I was there" VA list as 
 well as the regular Doubledisc list, you will read this twice. Lucky 
 you.
 Ah gentle folk, once again those fortunate enough to be there were 
 treated to lush fields, warm sun, and a light and variable breeze. A 
 perfect DDC day.
 Oh, I'm sorry. You were maybe expecting to hear about the Friday VA 
 States DDC tourney?
 I speak of the afterglow event, Monday DDC at Wakefield Park, South of 
 DC.
 Sadly to say, there were only 5 of us there to soak in the wonderful 
 few games before we all split for parts known.
 So, about that VA thing.
 Dave Taylor's DDC Party continues to grow and attract wonderful DDC 
 competition. Last year it drew out Conrad Damon to join the legions of 
 rough and ready overall players willing to put their bodies on the line 
 a day before the tradition laden VA Overall. This year, the pull was 
 too much for a couple more Californians willing to brave the harsh East 
 coast weather. Jon Freedman, John Kirkland, and Cody Kirkland (only a 
 passing relation) took the plunge. But only for the DDC. Maybe next 
 year they may stay for the real fun, the overall. And why not, it was 
 announced that for the first time ever (and probably the ONLY time 
 ever) DDC will be part of the overall scoring. We were also joined by 
 some of the regular Clam Eating crew from New England for the DDC day 
 only. So it goes.
 So back to the event. We have been blessed with very playable weather 
 in the 8 years of DDC in VA. This year, the forecast was ominous. Lo, 
 many folks raided REI for gobs of rain gear. Something worked as the 
 weather was about 60 degrees, overcast, and with a moderate wind. 16 
 teams total, our biggest ever?
 We went with 4 pools of 4 with a cut to the top 8 and second 8 for the 
 semis. And what a day it started out. First game, North Carolina - 15, 
 number one seed Freedman and Kirkland - 11. Yes, Stu and Jeff took out 
 the top seed in an A pool first round, forcing them to actually think 
 about life in the B Semi pool. Out there in the D pool first round, 
 Hesselberth / Priess weren't so lucky, falling twice in pool play to 
 get bumped into the B Semi. So upsets were a' happenin'.
 So first round results looked like this (I'll put initial POOL seeding 
 in front of the team name):
 A pool
 3- Stu Hubbs / Jeff Woessner            3-0
 1- Jon Freedman / John Kirkland 2-1
 2- Greg Korth / Cotter Michaels         1-2
 4- Ronnie Turner / Bryan Steffen        0-3
 B pool
 1- Harvey Brandt / Carlton Howard       3-0
 2- Jon Cohn / Jack Cooksey                      2-1
 3- Bethany Sanchez / Kraig Steffen      1-2
 4- Shahid Islam / Dave Steger           0-3
 C pool
 2- Rob Knapik / Bill Wright             2-1
 1- Conrad Damon / Jeff Lewis    2-1
 3- Eric Olsen / Eric Wooten             1-2
 4- Dave Griffin / Cody Kirkland 1-2
 D pool
 1- Randy Lahm / Dave Taylor             3-0
 3- Phil Cappa / Richard Paschal 2-1
 2- Dave Hesselberth / Drew Priess       1-2
 4- Lori Daniels / Wayne Biever  0-3
 So only two of the pool top seeds held it together, and two number two 
 seeds didn't make it to the A Semi pool. Another interesting note, IF 
 (and it wasn't THAT big an if) Big Daddy and Cody had been able to win 
 the match against the Eric twins, it would have resulted in a three way 
 tie with defending champs Damon and Lewis getting dumped to the B Semi 
 on the tie-breaker system. Wow. But it didn't happen.
 That crazy team causing all the trouble for Conrad and Jeff (that would 
 be Bill Wright and Rob Knapik) then opened the A semi with an 
 overpowering victory over the second seeded team overall, Brandt / 
 Howard. Must be something in the water in Colorado.
 And on it went in both Semi pools. Rather than make this long winded 
 (like it isn't all ready, you rat bastard!!!) I'll list the results.
 I'll put OVERALL SEEDING numbers first, teams, then pool record:
 But remember, the order shows the final pool results. And thus 
 finishing place.
 A Semi
 1- Freedman / J. Kirkland       6-0
 2- Brandt / Howard                      5-1
 (they didn't play the last pool game to save time, someone had a plane 
 to catch!!)
 3- Damon / Lewis                        5-2
 (Brandt / Howard had defeated Damon / Lewis, so a tie in record would 
 not have changed the results.)
 6- Knapik / Wright                      4-3             (Grrrr, what fighters!)
 7- Cohn / Cooksey                       3-4
 (Two of the seed busting teams.)
 4- Lahm / Taylor                                2-5
 12- Cappa / Paschal                     1-6  (Now that is seed busting!)
 9- Hubbs / Woessner                     1-6  (Tie break due to injury forfeit.)
 B Semi
 (Seems a few late in the day matches were forgotten or lost in 
 translation to the pool sheets, hence the weird records.)
 5- Hesselberth / Priess         6-0
 8- Korth / Michaels                     5-1
 11- Olsen / Wooten                      4-2
 16- Turner / B. Steffen         3-3
 14- Griffin / C. Kirkland               3-4
 10- Sanchez / K. Steffen                2-4
 15- Islam / Steger                      1-5
 13- Daniels / Biever                    1-6  (Yes, they did lose to the team about 
 them.)
 So, if this wasn't enough, it was on to the finals. We dragged it all 
 out as much as possible in the hopes that a certain team with many 
 Jo(h)ns would have to get out of there for a flight and have to 
 forfeit, but it was not to be. In a spirited, and some spectators were 
 even forced to admit, competitive final, Freedman / Kirkland prevailed 
 over the plucky and inexperienced team of Brandt / Howard. Scores were 
 remembered as 15-10, 15-10. Rumor has it there was even really good 
 DDC.
 So another year goes by. Don't forget, DDC is part of the overall in VA 
 next year. Most overall tourneys (those still operating) ALWAYS have 
 DDC in the overall. But the air is just a bit different in VA, the food 
 and the music and the beer and the friends and the atmosphere just make 
 it so.
 Your humble, and always available for consultation or carpet cleaning 
 appointments, servant
 H