"Oh What A Circus" (EVITA)

Well, Sunday's open play had a bit of a problem. It seems a few people had a problem with the line-up system we have had in place all season long. These few people only recently started coming to Brandeis, and they are excellent players even if their attitude is a little less than pleasant. I can accept losing to good competition (I'm all about playing a good game), but if they can't even display good sportsmanship then their character is clearly flawed.

Anyway, let me get back to the story. So we have had people show up earlier and earlier, and we had the line fill up faster. Remember people get a number which is their spot in the line for when we officially sign-up. So people go and "warm up" during these winter months or eat breakfast or do errands. Point is they are given a chance to do other things. So this new group is training for a tournament in April, and they wanted to play as a team. A few of them live in the city and a few in NJ. They arrive early to be able to get on the first court. They learned about the line system and followed the rules the first couple of weeks they came. I will admit that I've saved a couple of spots for people, it's not like I would fill the whole list. I mean I do this voluntarily and no one has complained in 5 months. So this new group always begs for extra numbers for their friends who haven't arrived yet but are on their way. And yes I have given them extra numbers--just a couple. They've always gotten on the first court. Well, on Sunday they questioned my running of the line list, and I got into an argument with a few of them. I told them that if they didn't like it, they could play somewhere else. They retorted that it was not my court and they would be talking to the NY Urban people. They talked to Gerald, the security guy who puts out the official list to sign-up, when he arrived and he didn't want to hear it. They didn't talk to Liam, the official NY Urban rep.

Well, when we signed up it became a little chaotic because those people rushed the line and got out of order. I tried to get the people who got there early to sign up but that group was pushing them out of the way to sign up on that first court. Then words started to fly between a few people about the line sign-up, and I knew it was going to be an ugly day. I hate when things get out of my control, but it is all the result of this new group. We had a little breathing time before we played, and Gerald wanted to be neutral and wanted no part of the situation. This is when I got the most support from the "regulars" of Brandeis. They stood up for me and backed me up.

No system is ever going to be perfect, but this seemed to be working until these people decided to mess it up. Okay enough of my venting.