Joe's 2009-10 League and Tournament
It's Time to Play the Game!
Fourteen players registered as of 2/24/10.

Player Schedule by Date and by Player.
Player Matrix

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2009-10 League Players Updated 3/05/10
A Players
Abe Pollak	Paid
Alex "The Rocket" Rtishchev	Pending
Claudio Ortiz	Paid
Chris Jacquet	Paid
Dave Pollak	Paid
Don Odgers (Head)	Paid
Erik Lopez	Paid
Ignacio Esteban	Paid
Kadri Gedelec	Paid
Joseph Delgado (Head)	Paid
Matthew Pazos	Paid
Mike Fedun	Paid
Vinny Liguori	Paid
Yigal Oren	Paid

03/05/10 Delgado vs. Jacquet (2/2)
Chris is another old friend from years back. I didn't take a picture with him since I was very scruffy. I did better than I thought running back to win trailing 7-0/1 in game one. Game two was a blood bath and when I saw Chris too far ahead to catch up. I hedged my bets on the third game. He played a pretty good game and I was too defensive most of the time. He won (9), 2, and 7. Was cool to catch up and I was grateful for the additional games afterward. My arm feels pretty good, my legs are still mush. I hit almost everything hard just to push my limits.

Chris has always been a diver and all over the place. He can get to just about anything. Think with some stronger mechanics he'll be very dangerous on the court. After our match he asked how he can get more power. Thinner strings or a lighter racquet was basically my answer. I checked his Pro Kennex racquet and the strings were pretty good but 16g. His racquet weighed about 190g+. I showed him the difference with my Head Meanstreak (175g.) and the Gearbox GB250-T (170g). He'll play out the League with his Pro Kennex, which I agreed is a smart move.

Anyway so no more half-assed preparation on my part. It's really time to make some small and pernament changes to get more court time, get more fitness, and a lot more endurance. Otherwise I'm going to wind up playing into the first seed in the Tournament and that's not a great place to be. I asked Chris afterward what he thought of our match and he said, "I got you tired."

03/05/10 Ortiz vs. Gedelec (1/2)
Claudio's win over Kadri Gedelec (6 and 5) puts him just four points shy of the top three in ELO Rankings. Claudio needs a Win VS. Mike Fedun to seal the deal. Then it gets really rough from that point on. Good Luck Claudio.

03/04/10 Vinny's a Class Act. Leads League with 6/1 (2/2)
Vinny Liguori won over Yigal Oren in straight games 5 and 0, but afterward played a few more games with Yigal offering him some advice and he commented to me about his speed and ability to get to most shots. So keeping taking your lumps Yigal and asking for advice it'll pay off for you in the future.

03/04/10 League Tournament Thoughts (1/2)
Great that we have a good group of players and thank you for playing the League thus far. Thinking about having the top ten or eleven players fill the slots in A's Draw for Trophies and then rest fall into a B or even C round robin for 1st and 2nd place medals.

I know we had an entire division disappear right before we got started, so would like to make it fair for beginners out there and give them incentive to keep going. Of course the bottom three or four need to approved by me, so if you won 1st or 2nd in a Division before or I feel you don't belong you stay in the A crowd.

03/03/10 Dave Pollak gets his "Mojo" Back (2/2)
Dave Pollak played out his game with Ignacio Esteban in straight games 13 and 7 then he goes for a non-League game vs. Claudio and "creams" him. Dave has four matches left, including vs. me, and I think has a pretty good chance to position pretty high in the draw.

03/03/10 Chris Jacquet def. Kadri Gedelec (1/2)
Chris was looking for games this week and found Kadri with a decisive win 4 and 0. His next game is against me on Friday. I'm thinking about hitting the courts at lunch time to somewhat prepare. Looking forward to playing Chris. He has great speed and can get just about anything so my game plan has to nullify those benefits or else I'm doomed.

02/28/10 Don Odgers on the Board
I had to email about the results and I get back a very casual 8 and 6...I think from Don. Anyway was getting worried about Don. He ends his 3 game losing streak with a straight game win (8 and 6) over newcomer Mike Fedun. I believe Mike is a veteran of the EBRC. As a fellow Team Head guy, good job Don keep it going.

02/25/10 Missed Match Dave Pollak vs. Yigal Oren
Dave reminded me of an email he sent he beat Oren 5 and 4. Please keep up with the Matrix and let me know about any missed matches ASAP. Dave had a 5-Win Streak going until he met Vinny.

02/24/10 Dave Pollak vs. Vinny Liguori turns into nail biter! (2/2)
Think Vinny is going to make me write some code for my database system. He probably has one of the highest come back percentages of all the players of all time. Anyway let me write the code first and see. Anyway think Vinny had the mind set to play Kadri and came with converse sneakers out pops Dave and drops a challenge since Kadri pulled a hamstring. Abe and Vinny were supposed to finish their match, but Abe is still recovering from an injury. I know, I know. No such luxuries in a tournament match, but both players agreed. Anyway back to the action.

Dave walks over Vinny in the first game 15-4. Think Vinny was at a disadvantage without racquetball shoes, but from the results and our emails I knew Vinny wasn't going to let that stop him. Not a lot of details but Dave almost walks away with two straight losing the second game 14-15. Vinny pulls out the W in the tie-breaker: (4), 14, and 8.

Vinny wrote about how much respect he has for Abe (56) and Dave (60) and there's no denying their experience and quickness make them dangerous opponents. Congrats and the Streak Achievement Vinny.

02/24/10 Fedun vs. Lopez (1/2)
Mike Fedun just joined the League. I pretty much told him it probably wasn't going to work, but he insisted and even played Erik Lopez on Sunday. So I'm not one to judge I have plenty of make up games myself. So one more shouldn't be too bad. Anyway he started off with a W against Lopez 10 and 5. Welcome to the League Mike.

02/20/10 Delgado vs. Lopez (2/2)
Erik "Black Sox" Lopez has pretty good agility and often mechanics. I let him serve first since we weren't really warmed up and I was pretty sure I could break that first serve. I varied a lot of my serves but stayed on the defensive side of the book. I wanted to see which ones I could use later and take advantage of our poor warm-up without many risks.

There were a lot of exchanges and a lot of stuff I was trying wasn't working. Out running Erik not happening. Covering a lot of his shots also wasn't happening. So game plan became to exaggerate his poor court position to either one side or the back, control center court, and either ceiling shot, pass or cross court pass-kill to put more pressure on him. Got a couple of Aces and so did he. He started to dial into my drive serve, so it became a very tactical game. He started to lead in the second game and needed to hold it to two games. I won the match 8 and 8.

Afterward, One Lee was joking that it took me too long to win. I think Erik kind of agreed with him. Well I think I'm going to have good and bad days. Still need to sharpen a lot of my tools and I used a couple of them that had a pretty good edge. Doesn't matter how long the match takes...only the result.

Later we played some cut-throat with Warren. They used some of the Gearbox demo racquets my company has. Erik was clobbering a lot of the shots with the $200 170g. He's been playing with a low-end Ektelon. Might be time to upgrade. ;-)

02/20/10 Delgado and Lopez Seven Years of Racquetball (1/2)
Last week when I first started playing again Erik dropped a challenge to play our match last night. I accepted and on Thursday I remember a picture we took back in 2003 at Busch. It was like a year after I started really playing. Erik has always been a good friend. We don't really hang out or anything but I've always enjoyed our racquetball friendship. At least, this time I had the fore-thought to take a picture before we started playing and thank God for improved clothing materials.

Racquetball at Rutgers has been great to still play with Erik and other people is also great. We're mostly different ages, backgrounds, and pass times, but when it comes to racquetball. Save to say we all love the game and the time we get to play together. I'll step off the soap-box and stop getting all mushy.

02/18/10 Alex Leads League 5-1!
Alex Rtishchev beat Yigal Oren last night 0 and 0. Rocketing him up to 5-1 and the current League leader. Yigal has had a tough League so far, he would of had more company if an entire division didn't just evaporate overnight. I'm curious to see his match with Kadri Gedelec. Anyway I know it's tough to keep getting your lumps in a League, Tournament, Robin, etc. It's like a snowball rolling down a hill eventually it'll pick up stuff.

Alex has also earned a "My House" Streak Achievement for five consecutive wins check out his profile. It's his longest so far, so who can shoot this Rocket down?

02/17/10 Alex and Vinny Lead League with 4-1.
The Rocket, Alex Rtishchev, leads the league with 4-1 record and a win over Vinny Liguori who's also at 4-1. Are they going to take off and become the top seeds in the League? They both have some obstacles left in the way.

Alex went 4-1 with a decisive win over Yigal 4 and 1. Vinny tied up with a straight game win over Claudio 10 and 9. During Vinny and Claudio's match, Vinny cut his hand during a dive. Anyway he found some sort of plastic glove and kept on going. Can't wait to see him play. He must be all over the place.

02/16/10 Dave Pollak's Streak Continues
Dave Pollak has tied Ignacio for League Leader with four wins and two loses. With one more win he unlocks another "My House" Streak Achievement in his Profile. Win #4 was against Don Odgers 13, (8), and 6. Dave's longest winning streak was 8 wins back in 2004.

02/14/10 Joseph Delgado Returns!
After almost two months of being out, I have been cleared to play racquetball again. I wrote about it in my blog, so no need to repeat myself here. Anyway looking forward to playing everyone and helping make sure everyone has fun playing. Thanks to the Rutgers players who helped keep things moving in my extended absence.

02/14/10 Oren vs. Pazos Missing Match
I had to dig around for this match and found in a different mailbox. Anyway resequenced the matches to include Matt's win over Yigal 2 and 4. Please double check the schedule and make sure all your matches are in.

02/10/10 Pollak Brothers Dominate Tuesday Night!
Oh, it was time to make the donuts last night and both Abe and Dave Pollak were baking. First, Dave Pollak hands one out to Erik Lopez game 1. Erik fights back to 10 in the second game, but Dave wins in two straight 0 and 10. Erik Lopez gets his "black socks" knocked off again vs. Abe 2 and 1. Had to ask him why he subjected himself to such a punishing night. Anyway we've all been there.

Next, Abe Pollak served up a double helping of donuts vs. Kadri Gedelec winning 0 and 0. Both Abe and Dave are showing a lot of players why they are veterans of the League. Good job guys.

Lastly, Ignacio's two game winning streak was wiped out by Vinny Liguori in another three game battle: (9), 3, and 1. Vinny wrote that Ignacio had all the answers to his shots in the first game and that he's a very tricky lefty. Aren't we all. Hehehehehe.

Thanks for making up the games guys.

02/09/10 Claudio Ortiz and Erik Lopez Chalk up Some W's
Erik "Black Sox" Lopez mixed up his game pretty well before focusing his efforts on a defensive game against Yigal Oren. Yigal started a bit of a run in the second game but Erik finished it in straight games 4 and 10.

Claudio Oritz vs. Don Odgers (Team Head) wish I had more details on the scores, but here's two guys that can run. Claudio has run multiple marathons and wears a heart rate monitor so he's in great condition. Odgers is no couch potato either. Anyway it went three games with Claudio winning in the breaker: 5, (5), and 7.

02/06/10 Ignacio Leads League with Four Wins!
Ignacio has been putting extra time on the courts and for the most part it's paying off lately. First with a win over Claudio Ortiz 10, (3), and 4 and then a win over Abe Pollak (Ranked 3rd in current ELO Rankings) also three games: 9, (9), and 8. This isn't the Ignacio that I remember from Leagues past, so watch out guys.

02/06/10 Alex vs. Vinny
One Lee and I were talking about this one at work. I was tempted to just go over and watch but the 6 PM start time was too rough to wait around for without playing. Would really suck to be on the courts and not able to play. Anyway heard from both of them afterward and both had great things to write about the other. Anyway One Lee picked Alex and I picked Vinny. One Lee picked correctly. Alex won (12), 7, and 8. Vinny admitted that he was working his way into the first game and some of his serves weren't right. Alex watched the trend in Vinny's games, but he's often one to drop the first game. I know Alex's love for racquetball and he's pretty passionate about the League, so maybe he wanted it a bit more. Anyway a lot of the results coming in are pretty mixed, so it really is anyone's League at this point.

Also Dave Pollak continues his two match winning streak over Chris Jacquet winning 10, (10), and 4.

Don Odgers and Matt Pazos could be injured, so will be checking on their status soon. Don't fall too far behind guys it's a lot to make up before the Tournament. So the best way is to get your matches in, practice and rest, and then come into the Tournament ready to play. Not sure I can follow this advice myself, since I'm still on the shelf.

02/04/10 Ignacio's Long Evening.
Ignacio played three matches on Tuesday and he won two. First going three games against Chris Jacquet (7), 7, and 10 and the other pickup match against Kadri Gedelec 0 and 4. I've known Ignacio aka Nacho for a long time and he's also a fellow lefty. So I know some weird things happen to a player facing a lefty. Either they don't know they are playing one or they just don't have a good serve to the right side to exploit the backhand. Most often players just keep going to the Lefty's forehand and we're more than ready to hit.

Then Ignacio stepped out and found Alex waiting for him for a scheduled match. Ignacio wanted to reschedule and Alex did the right thing and said no. Nobody forced Ignacio into taking that pickup match and Alex just pounced on him 3 and 4. Life Lesson? Don't bite off more than you can chew.

01/31/10 Breaking Out the Old Tools (1/2)
A lot of stuff in my Access Database still works and I thought might as well make it available to the players. The Player Matrix shows everyone in a table and offers links to other results and stats. Anyway until I write a better solution going the static HTML route isn't that bad.

01/31/10 Scheduled Until March (2/2)
Went through the schedule this evening making sure people have games lined up and notifying people about any problems. I'm pretty much unscheduled so far looking to start later next month or sooner. Please do your best to stick to the schedule so we don't drag out the League. Will be ordering trophies soon for the A's.

01/30/10 Liguori Leads the League with Two Wins!
So far Vinny has taken on some pretty good players and won against Chris Jacquet and now Team Head player Don Odgers in another three game battle: (12), 13, and 9. Seems Vinny plays a casual first game until he warms up. Anyway I feel like I'm sitting in the stands watching events unfold, but I'm already running players through my head and thinking about my game plans. Next Friday, Alex vs. Vinny should be another great match. Will Vinny keep pulling ahead or will Alex's promise about limiting people to seven points per game for a total of 14 remain in effect.

01/28/10 Battle Jacquet vs. Liguori
It's nice to see a group of players come together that are pretty close in ability. Some players have take W's and others have taken some L's, but it's when a match is a couple of points going either way that things just graduate to a whole new level. New comer, Vinny Liguori, started his match in a pretty deep hole against Chris Jacquet. Losing game 1 4-15. Game 2 and 3 were two to three points apart until Vinny closed out the match (4), 12, and 9. Great game guys.

01/28/10 Alex Rtishchev Breaks Out Old Faithful vs. Dave Pollak
Writing as a Head Player, I can see why Alex had to dump his existing Ektelon racquet and pickup his old Head Megablast 185 for that added umph against Dave Pollak. I've had players from other brands admit that Head racquets consistently "hit a ton!" Anyway wrote Alex he should see the AMP or Meanstreak and add some more tonnage. Anyway time to turn the commercial off. Alex won in straight games 8 and 3.

01/28/10 Abe Pollak Near Perfect Match vs. Claudio Ortiz
Claudio came back from vacation to square off against Abe Pollak. Abe has been in numerous A Finals, but hasn't claimed first place yet. Think last League's final was the most disappointing since it was so chaotic and mostly my fault for not keeping control. Anyway water under the bridge, He quickly dispatched Claudio saving him the trip to the Grocery store with two bread sticks 1 and 1.

01/28/10 Erik Lopez and Yigal Oren Join the League!
I know, I know. Strict Deadline, etc. But having a few more players can make the League more interesting and give me more time to get ready to play. Erik "Black Sox" Lopez is also a League veteran I've known for a long time. Yigal is brand new received the league payment but not schedule.

01/28/10 George Adjami Leave League
George withdraws from the League. Just a little too much commuting between work and the League.

01/25/10 Tom Shaughnessy Leaves League
Cook/Douglas Rec has a pretty strict rule about people being 18 and older to enter. For me, it would make playing racquetball with my son a lot easier. Anyway found out Tom was 16 and unable to continue. Hope to see him in a couple of years.

01/25/10 Chris Jacquet and Matthew Pazos Off to Good Starts
So we had a couple of matches go into the books. First, battle between two seasoned league players: Alex Rtishchev and Chris Jacquet. Alex provided one of his commentaries. Here's the last paragraph:

The second game was pretty close, until I pulled away 9-4 on three aces in a row. I expected Chris to panic and try some risky shots, but he stayed cool and worked back into the game for another win, 15-11. After the game, he explained that he hasn't played since November, so he didn't really have any grand expectations, and just stayed cool and played his game. I've gotta say that it worked... By the end of the second game, I felt like there was nothing I could do. Overall, it was a great match. This guy is definitely someone people should watch out for in the league. He has speed, accuracy, some decent shots, and the ability to step it up if the game gets close. My prediction is that Chris will surprise a lot of people this league.

Chris won the match over Alex in straight games 14 and 11.

The other match, involved newcomer Matt Pazos vs. Dave Pollak. Didn't hear much about the match, but Matt walks away with the W 7, (14), and 3.

01/21/10 League Starts Tonight and I'm still Benched!
Got some pretty good matches tonight. Rtishchev vs. Jacquet, D.Pollak vs. Pazos, and Odgers vs. Shaughnessy.

01/20/10 Schedule Posted
Still has some holes but the initial schedule is posted by date and by Player. Good Luck to all the players and thanks for playing.

01/17/10 A's Seem Good to Go. B's Evaporated.
Pretty sure I can vouch for Alex. Don't know Charlie and haven't heard from him, so...doesn't look too good. B's are no where near launching and I might roll-up Chris Jacquet and Yigal into the A's. So tomorrow will start getting things ready for the A's and getting an initial schedule out there. I'll send another email to the no-shows to thank them for their interest, but if you haven't forked over the $10 by now it just doesn't look good. It could be $1 or $100, just something about going hard on the money that always scares some people off.

01/11/10 One Week Out Or What?
Normally things are pretty tight by now, but had some real bad luck with my house, one of my boys, and even myself. Anyway starting 2010 things look a lot better for all of us and going to keep pushing this League.

To the right is the current list of players and we have two Divisions. I understand some people signed up for C's and with three people there wasn't enough to get a Division going. We might have a consolation drop down or other way to get people more games, but on second thought since you pay everyone in your division and then some...think the number of games people get is not going to be an issue.

Anyway we'll see about starting next week, Matt left me a voice mail asking if people can pay him. I have no problem with that. If you want to pay me in person then we'll need to setup a time. With my limited schedule and my downtime think sending the payment by mail will be best, but whatever gets you paid and playing.

Once we get everyone committed to the league the next step is setting up a basic schedule and getting people playing. Need to confirm the closing times of the C/D Courts and if there's any bad odors from the floor refinishing over the break. Anyway good luck in the League and remember to have fun.

11/12/09 Cast of Characters
As if I've written before it's all about the story. Think that's so ignored in Racquetball. People follow stories about other sports the players, the teams, the trades, and the games. We use them as ice-breakers, trash talking at bars, whatever the case. Stories fuel the game. It's what we talk about when the game is long over. So as with any play, here's the players involved so far and my $0.02 about them.

New players...well don't know what you got yet.

Abe Pollak. Abe has won several A League Tournaments and is always a strong player. Last league there were several problems during the final match. He remained pretty well composed despite a frustrating opponent and match. As a league organizer and friend, I feel like I let him down. I'm glad he decided to return to the League and his shot selection and toughness has brought him to the top of many leagues.

Alex Rtishchev. Has been a strong player in my leagues for a good number of years. We've been playing racquetball since about the time I started playing. He's always been passionate about racquetball and always talks about his games and progress with me. Over the past year or so he has developed his skills to another level. I look forward to his performance this league and lament that this could be his last league.

Claudio Ortiz. He ran the New York Marathon and is usually wearing a heart rate monitor when he plays racquetball. So he has great conditioning. A couple of leagues ago he played Alex at Busch and was in the finals. Past couple of leagues though he has been plagued by injuries just before the start of the tournament.

Dave Pollak. Dave has always been a good organizer and motivator of players. He's been getting people to play on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a long time. He likes to play Outdoor Racquetball and Table Tennis. He has had strong showings in Tournaments but still has failed to place in the top two spots in tournaments.

Don Odgers (Team Head). Known Don for a while now and recently tapped him to become a Head Collegiate Player. His ability to cover the court, his endurance, and strength makes him a formidable player. Still I see occasional weaknesses on his backhand (too much Tennis) and his mental toughness, but he's always thinking about strategy and how he hits the ball. So I expect him to do well and represent Team Head well.

Ignacio Esteban aka Nacho. Known Ignacio for a while and he's a pretty fiery on the court. We went to Busch for a while with the ladder so I'm sure he's brushed up on his skills. He has a son at home a little younger than Jason, so I understand his limited schedule all to well. Anyway I always follow the motto do what you can with what you got.

Joseph Delgado (Team Head). Hard to write about myself, but I have a couple of goals for racquetball and this league. With two young kids at home it's difficult to play more than once per week. Fred Letter told me I would not improve playing that way. I still struggle with both physical and mental toughness problems, but there's something to be said for hanging in there and playing your heart out.

Matthew Pazos. Joined up with me to help promote the league and get more people involved in the sport. He's a pretty strong player from Woodbridge, but can either be on fire or a wet blanket. He has pretty strong shots all over the court, a great serve, and can put away just about any setup. Coming up he was called skippy from being over aggressive. He brings some much needed enthusiasm to the League and where it can go.

Ronny Choy. Ronny is a pretty good doubles player and pretty much when he has come down to Rutgers he already has a couple of doubles games in him. Think pulling double duty hurt him in previous leagues, but he has a pretty good arm and is all around a very nice guy.

11/06/09 Friday Night
The night before vacation what better thing to do than play Racquetball. Well a Racquetball Vacation wouldn't be bad, but for right now any vacation is good. Don and I played a few games we actually went to a breaker in our pretend match. We were both playing with new strings courtesy of Joe's Racquet Stringing. I fell in love with Ashaway's Superkill XL and I think Don was pretty happy too. Even though, I think his factory strings could have taken more of a beating before replacement. Anyway happy to help him out.

Alex showed up and watched a few games and wanted to set the record straight about my comments on 10/31. He had 2 wins and 2 loses that night and didn't leave after losing as I had written below. He was also quick to mention how he dispatched Matt Pazos not once but twice. So don't mind me, I'm going off on half baked information and trying to stir the pot at the same time. If there's no story, there's no league in my book.

Wish we can get a few more people. I'm starting to work the Rutgers crowd and get more students just coming together and playing. We need some consistency and structure and that's what I hope the League helps to bring.

10/31/09 Surprise.
Matt Pazos thought I pulled a fast one on him when he played Abe and Dave Pollak on Thursday. Both Alex and him were effectively shutdown by Abe and Dave. I heard that Alex left after losing to Abe and Dave. Abe has always been a very tough competitor in the A's and last League he was closer to being robbed than anything else. Anyway looking forward to the League we should have a pretty hot one.

10/27/09 Two More Sign-Ups
Vinny Liguori and Steven Dilk have signed up for the League. Pretty much we'll start in January with optional play time until the Holidays...maybe. Need to finish up some stuff, do one more campaign to get more players, and start coding. I really appreciate the help from Matt Pazos in getting some new blood into the League and for all his help setting up.

10/17/09 Three More Players
Two more league veterans Abe Pollak and Claudio Ortiz have signed up. Michael Kelly is new to the League. So we'll make sure to give him a nice welcome. Processed a lot of player registrations and sent people from last year an email. We'll see if any bite.

10/06/09 Dave Pollak signs up.
Dave has been waiting for a league for a long time. So got his details yesterday. Matt sent an email blast to his group on Facebook and I'll be sending out something to past participants and to the listserv.

10/03/09 Alex, Don, Matt, and Myself Signed Up...So far.
So far we have four people in A's. Anyway I'll post on the Listserv early next week and let more of the regulars know. Hopefully we can boost the numbers a bit.