I really wanted to get on here day by day and write up recaps for those who couldn't be there and etc, BUT with Ian and Lexi I found my time at the club to be very limited. This year was a lot easier than last year for a variety of factors. One, Lexi is older. We are no longer nursing, she's actually the correct age to use the childrens center, and the amount of time she can watch racquetball sitting down in a chair has gone up from 1 minute to 3 ha. Two, the childrens center didn't charge us like last year. We were able to put the kids in the center for 3 hours at a time, then we had to pay. We only left them in their long enough to have to pay once, and that was mostly cause they both fell asleep in there. Third, we hired a great, trustworthy individual to babysit. Mandy from the Media staff who wasn't helping this year, stepped up to the plate when I inquired about anyone she might know in Memphis who could use the extra Holiday cash. At first she had to bow out as a family emergency had arisen, but then, she informed us she would in fact be able to cover Friday and Saturday! YES!
Tuesday: Well, Willie thought we could leave around 5:30 a.m. to get to the airport by 6:00 (the cut off time for checking in our bags and essentially making the flight). Well Willie forgot to count on the o'so unpredictable element of California traffic. Brian P's mom dropped him off, we took care of a few last minute things, and were out the door. Traffic that early, whose ever heard of that?? Not Brian the California Native who informed us he had never seen it this bad that early in the a.m.! So needless to say, we made it there at 6:15, and they wouldn't let us check our bags. They were extremely unhelpful, and unknowledgable. This Man at the counter wanted us to check in for our flight, I told him I'd go get our bags and he said "I can't take your bags now thats a security violation." HUUUH?? You check in for your flight, but dont check your bags in, are you kidding me?? So somehow Willie ended up working with a woman who get us all checked in for our Standby flight at 12:41.
We hung out at Brian P's house until it was time to leave. He made us a nice breakfast and the kids got to run around and play with the toys that they have for Mr. and Mrs. P's Grandchildren. We made sure to get to the airport extra early, and left around 10:00 a.m. Made it to the airport, got to our gate, and sat for two hours lol. We were really sweating whether we'd make this flight. Flying standby isn't exactly the most ideal situation with the two kids because if we dont make that flight, we have to wait longer. I went to the bathroom as it would be my last chance if we did in fact make this flight, and when I came back, Willie had boarding passes. I *seriously* almost cried. I was so frustrated at having the kids in the airport, so EXHAUSTED from staying up until 2 a.m. the night before with the kids, and waking up at 4:15. Just physically and mentally beat down, and this was the last thing I wanted was to not get on that flight. So the day was perking up again!
The bad thing about Willie missing the flight was he didn't get to play in the St. Jude Pro Am Doubles. Something I've wanted to do for years, but the 300 price tag for us every year is too high. I was very excited that Willie would get to play (gulp of envy lol), and was just as bummed that he wouldn't. We also missed our Corky's MNP party, and unfortunately never rescheduled. Another year of never getting around to that, BUT, there were about 10 (I think) individuals who did make it to the MNP gathering. I know quite a few individuals who wanted to be there but were in similiar situations with their flights.
We get to the club and begin to set up. I was actually pretty proud of myself with my limited computer knowledge, when I was able to find out that the machines Doug had gathered for us DID NOT have a firewire port. What did this mean? It meant that we would be stuck using the web cam all week long, unless someone else donated a laptop, etc. Our laptop also doesn't have one. We were counting on the computers. This realy stunk. EVERY SINGLE YEAR, we improve upon the last year. We had Radio for three years before we had the still shot live picture from the web cam, then the next year we had live video streaming for the FIRST TIME EVER at any racquetball event (2005). That was such a huge success. Doug Ganim even told us at the Staff party that for the after watching the US Open on our stream, "Suday was getting a gym membership." So I'd like to think our stream had something to do with him coming back. We had just let him watch his favorite tournament live..
No such luck this year presenting it in HD. That was Willies hopes. We also had hoped to be able to get cameras at every one of the back courts, but that didn't happen either, score boards at each court was another wishful thought as you would need volunteers to do that...(note to self, the refs could do it.). But, theirs always next year. Needless to say, we had high hopes, and this little set back was going to be the first of many.
Wednesday:
Everything at the club was getting started. Willie had a round of 64 match at 8:40 p.m., against who I believe was someone with the last name Herrera. I didnt start until Thursday.
The matches were pretty fun to watch, but nothing too exciting happened IMO. The best part of Wednesday was getting to meet some new MNP faces. I met Jeff (prbofficer), which yes I know, I already knew him, but he was eager and ready and willing to help out in any way that he could, and truly made good on his "let me know if I can help" that he offered to us before the tournament started. I also met PaulK, and he was eager to get us our lobster lol. I met Guvner (I know I buchered that screen name lol) and his lovely wife. Bryan Shaw, you punk. I know you were there, and you sat in your little spot on the bleachers and laughed at us as we tried to find you lol. And never said hi. I'll get you next time! A familiar face at the lawler sports booth with Manny always there. And Penn who I met at the staff meeting just last night. OH, Elaine, I met Elaine. Elaine was very sweet!, and very nice to talk to. I know I'm forgetting people, but you get the idea.
Willies match went very well. I think he won in three if I can remember right. That fed him into Ruben Gonazales the next day.
Thursday:
My match was at 11:00 a.m. Willies was at 12:30. I went to my match which was at the Baptist Rec Center, with the Racquetball bag. They were running a 45 minutes behind. A leak on one of the courts kept it from being played on so instead of 4 courts, they were down to three. No biggie..at least I thought. I get off on a good foot in my first match. I am up 10-2. Then, what happens in my usual fashion I lose. GREAT! Second game comes up. In the 2 minute time out I have had a chance to pin down exactly what my problem is. I'm nervous, want to play well, and instead I'm "show boating". Only this time, I'm doing it without actually doing it. For me, show boating is when I play but I'm hitting the ball as hard as I possibly can. This just leads to shots not going where they are supposed to. I also tend to over run, and not think. So before game two starts I have a good idea of what I need to do.
I calm down, and I ease up on my swing quite a bit. I start hitting the shots a lot better. She however has a lot of confidence from the first game now, and it ends up being quite close again. But I squeek it out to head into the tie breaker. This is when I get a call from Willie. "you on your way?". No why? "you have the gear". OMG. I didn't even think of it when I left that morning. I surely thought that my match would be a distant memory when Willie started his. I spend the entire tie breaker looking out the window of the court trying to see anyone headed for the exit that could possibly take the bag back to Willie. I feel so dumb. Willie tells me to play and not worry about it, but thats all I could think of . I loose 11-5. I run out of the club. Call Willie and he's like "oh well I just told them to put me on as late as possible, the Ektelon booth gave me some gear, I'm good, dont worry, how's your match going." eerrr uhhh. its done, I lost miserably lol
Willies match vs. Ruben. Man, how amazing is Ruben. He can still ball with the best of them. It was an absolute honor for Willie to be on the court with him. It was an honor for me as well. Class all the way. Willing to overturn decisions if when he asks the crowd they dont agree with the Ref (Willie did a few of those as well - why dont those refs stand up??). Willie lost in three, but PRBOfficer Jeff and I have Willie as the victor in the third game when at 10-9 Willie on the forehand side makes a beautiful splat get. The Ref called it a skip. The whole crowd went nuts. I will be looking at the tape later to see if it did in fact skip or not. I still say no. Ruben went up to serve and there were several side outs before ruben went on to win 12-10. Willie made some FANTASTIC...oh wait, fantastic shouldn't be caps here, DIVES. Yes DIVES. Not his usual fall down like a tree gets, but actual DIVES (sorry I still can't belive it). He played very well, and after the first game came off the court and said "He has to have talked to someone. He knows my game perfectly. Who talked to him?!". I laughed, and said "hon he's been doing this a long time, he probably knows EVERYONES game." lol
With Willie being out, he now had a green light to the beer lol. He hung out with Chuck that night and filmed some of the short ball or whatever competition they had going on. Then headed to the fox and the hound. I instinctively slept in the other bed, cause I knew he would come back all stinky like smoke, which was a good idea, cause he also decided to have a cigar lol.
Friday:
Our Video feed was really having problems. Despite having a dedicated server, there are still rules to what we can use the server for. Video Streaming is NO NO. We have always done it anyway, well the problem became that our one server couldn't handle it. People were complaigning that it was always buffering, the screen was too small, and yada yada yada. It was just not expected. The previous year we only had it up for Saturday and Sunday. Well give the people an inch they'll take a mile, now they expect it all week. Because last year it was only two days, the amount of individuals who even knew about it was considerably smaller. This year everyone knows about it, and wants it, and we just weren't prepared for the kind of response. When we approached Doug about throwing some money our way to get another server for the weekend, he said no. So, what could we do? We just got to sit back and take the heat., because it all comes our direction because individuals dont know what is actually going on. . oh well.
Then the complaint came about the score board. Also a new feature that we unveiled at last years event, and another feature we only used last year for the quarters on I believe. Well, again, we want it all week long. Willie had it up Friday, but not before someone could complain.
The pictures and the articles. Well it was of absolutely no surprise when Willie tells everyone where to put the articles, and pictures so we dont have to go digging around the network to find new articles, and it was of absolutely no surprise when just like the years past, it didn't happen. This is true mostly for the articles, as we usually dont get all the photos that Geoff takes up until the next week, he takes A LOT of pictures, and it requries time to edit/etc. Again, this part of the "lack of coverage" is not our fault, but sure, lay it on us anyway.
I had to write a final article to put up on the home page about who won. I'm sure that this week or next week we will have our usual email correspondance between Doug and the others about how to get the pictures/articles online lol. It happens every year.
Not much new on the courts. The usual suspects on the mens and womens side advanced. However, Angela Grisar had a very tough time defeating her Japanese opponent. The Japanese connection sure is throwing some great players into the IRT, and WPRO. Its really great to see the tours becoming truly international. IMO, its just those type of things like that that might get the sport into the Olympics. I'm sure I'm missing some matches here, but I'm also sure several trips to the kids club are part of that reason lol
Friday was also the day that Jack Huczek defeated Cliff Swain. This was a very emotional match for a lot of people in the stands. Cliff has decided to retire from racquetball, and his family was even there to support him throughout this tournament. Willie and I watched the last few rallies together and though Cliff went down in three, I told Willie I was really wanting him to pull out a win and take the event. "I'm kind of choked up" I said, and Willie, who was already at choked up said "Yeah me too" as we listened to cliff giving his final words and tossed a signed racquetball out into the crowds, and one specifically to his mom.
Saturday:
What a fantastic day for Racquetball. It started nice and early with the women. Cheryl Gudinas vs. Kerri Wachtel. Honestly, despite how she's been playing the tour so far this season, I expected it to be a quick 3 game match. WOW was I wrong. Kerri looks Freaking awesome after giving birth to twins. I seriously hate her. In a good way :) And she just has not missed a beat in her racquetball game. Cheryl was visiably frustrated at her play at times, and Kerri remained calm and cool the entire time. It was a great pleasure to watch these two players compete, as they are both so accomplished.
I had to go back to the room for the mens match, but considering the turn of events that later followed, I was glad I decided to sit this one out. Willie called me and asked if I wanted to watch the Kyzer Van Hees match, and I was sooo glad he asked, cause I was SOOOO bummed I was going to miss it. I left for the club, and was super duper stoaked getting to watch Brenda.
I have seen her tearing it up on the draw sheets of the events this year, and I've heard the rumor of her weight loss and how it helped her play. I'm telling you, she's freakin awesome! I know she lost, but I also knew it was because of first time stadium court WOW jitters! I even said on the radio during the third match, if this Brenda had shown up in the first game instead of the third, we'd be in for a huge difference. DESPITE the loss, this woman is awesome. You could see the potential just spewing out of her lol. With a great "hit me" mentality, though I'm not sure she really felt htat way after the fourth time Christie hit her, she covered the court extremely well, played very close to Christie, and ...well I'm sounding stupid now, so ill just leave it at: Watch out for this one.
Saturday also had what I felt to be an epic occurance. Yeah yeah yeah, the play was great between Mannino and Huczek with something like 96 dives from Jason. But Willie and I have been at this event for the last six years, and I have NEVER EVER NEVER EVER seen the crowd get this pumped, and this involved. They at times had their clear cut favorites, but I'll tell you what they wanted, they wanted a five game 12-10 finish, and thats exactly what their cheering and rallying got them. Jason bantered with the crowd quite a bit in the first match, I think he seriously got into Jacks head, but the second game he was all business. Jack was able to over come the bantering and was able to take game two. I'm not even going to get into the play because the crowd is what stole show.
They cheered for whoever was down. When it was time for Jason to get the third game, they all came together and cheered Jack into his victory. That last give gamer though, they seriously went so many different directions. Royster was on the podium swinging his coat around, Jason was raising and lowering his hands to get the crowd to cheer, it was absolute pandemonium (sp?). Fantastic. I can't say that the level of play exceded the sudsy and jason match that went down in history, but the crowd. . wow the crowd.
Sunday:
In the Kyzer Van Hees match, you didn't get to see too much of a glimpse of the Christie that was definately there. I of course had on my fan goggles for Brenda, and knew she was nervous. She definately turned it up in the third game, but I believe that the same Kristie was there Saturday and Sunday again vs. Cheryl. (BTW, Brenda did better against her than Cheryl lol). Now Cheryl is nothing short of amazing herself, but I can't even go on to describe what happened here. It was ultimate innialation. That's all I can really say to describe it. Christie went down in History as the first woman to win three times. She credited Cheryl for being the one to do everything first, and was happy she was finally able to get to something before Cheryl could.
Mannino vs. Rocky. Again, the crowd really was involved in this match, and started cheering for four games. Jason didn't deliver lol. He finished this out in 3. I got the impression the first two games that Rocky was somewhat taking it easy, light hearted this is for fun mentality. He came back into the third game and was totally serious, but it was too late. Jason was not letting this guy into the elite club. Elite because only four names are on that trophy. Sudsy, Cliff, Kane and Jason. Jason also joined the elite group of 2 time champions.
OMG. I failed to mention that Friday and Saturday we used our great babysitter lol. I was so into the racquetball recap I forgot to Mention how I was able to go to the party with the pros, and then the fox and the hound (where I was the mint bitch lol) and watch the way into it dancer try to give herself a concusion lol. Then Saturday, I was all for it when we headed to beale street. We spent the majority fo the night at b.b. kings. I loved the singer there. Her name was Zita, and man was she fantastic. We also met up with PaulK and the Canadian crew Usher, Jenn Saunders and some others who I dont know lol We ran into Kris Odegard out on the street with Lori Jane Powell, not sure where they eneded up though.
and thats it. I'm sitting here in my hotel on Mondya Morning. Check out time is in half an hour, and then were on our way to the airport. Heres to happy traveling, and another super fun us open :)