The 2008 NPR Open And Shut

An all Chaos CONSOLATION!  WTF!

I may get some @#$*! from my teammates for saying so but credit must go where credit is due.  We went into the lair of our arch rivals ready to take whatever we wanted.  It’s been done before.  Not this time.  NPR - Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold.  From our perspective, this ~ahem~ healthy ~ahem~ rivalry just got a little ~ahem~ healthier.

Chris Siebert and David Bernard didn’t lose a set all weekend and won two close games in a well played and very entertaining Championship match over Ken Shults and Steve Dusablon.  I believe it was 16-14, 15-13.  They took their semi-final match over Eric and Jack 16-14, 15-8.  Chris and The Dr played more consistently than anyone in the field with stretches of CRUSH to take charge at just the right moments all weekend long.

On the other side of the bracket in semi-final no. 2 Kenny Shults and Steve Dusablon were pretty convincing taking out this weekend’s Chaos B, Tuan and Jeremy, in 2 sets.  The score was something like 15-6, 15-8.  Tuan and Jeremy showed flashes of their potential in other matches but Kenny and Steve didn’t give them any room to get going.

In singles, Kenny Shults sliced through the field like, well… sorry bout this but it’s true… a hot knife through warm butter.  Someone should check, but I don’t think enough points were scored against Shults the entire weekend to equal a single game loss.  He dominated - completely.  Mag Hughes was the head judge for my singles semi-final match against Chris Siebert and just prior to the start of the match he wanted to confirm with us what we were playing for(I think he thought it may have been a quarter-final).  Anyway, knowing Kenny had already beaten David Bernard to advance to the final I answered, “we’re playing for 2nd”.  Conan went on to beat me 20-18(nice game guys), 15-5(nice game Chris) and in hindsight I just may be happier with 3rd than 2nd. 

For the record, Dave Bernard and I will actually both get points for 4th place since we mutually agreed to scratch our bronze metal match.  No need to warm up for doubles after it’s over, eh? 

Other highlights?  It’s the weekend of legends, right?  I mentioned so many of the greats a couple posts back and I’m sure I missed some and I’m sorry for that.  But honestly, it’s hard to keep track in the fatherland of footbag.  What I’d like to do here is focus on just one as I conclude this post.  Mag Hughes.  Mag spent the entire weekend at the event donating his time and sharing his good spirit.  He wasn’t in shape to play yet since he’s recovering very nicely from cancer surgery.  He performed the duties of head judge for several matches and apparently won a fair amount of money betting… against me - wtf?!  hehe All the best to the great Mag Hughes for a continued strong recovery!

Many thanks as always to the hosts, organizers, and directors of the event.  The US Open always makes for a great weekend.  Special thanks to Chris Siebert, Red Husted, and of course… Kendall “Don’t Call Me Director” Kick who are the driving force behind The US Open Footbag Championships.

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