Wheat cent

I picked up a chocolate chip bagel this morning in West Chester, PA at Country Bagel.  My change included a 1940 “Wheat Cent.”  I remember growing up going through hundreds and hundreds of pennies with my older brother (a budding coin collector) searching for wheat cents.  I thought about the date on the coin and wondered for a second what an American must have felt like on the way to work in June of 1940.  Italy had declared war in June 1940 on England and France.  The Germans occupied Paris.  Many Americans were against getting involved in the war and our economy just couldn’t withstand more military spending less than 20 years after WW I, right? 

Today we are grappling with too much government spending and raising the debt ceiling – something the majority of Americans don’t understand.  I’ll spare you my opinion but suffice to say times are changing and there is a somber feeling in the air.  You have to do your best, do the right things and hopefully the external forces in play will leave us short of the next world catastrophe (or a Moody’s downgrade).

I do feel somber because the 4.0 team I captain will not be advancing to districts.  Hats off to Kinetix who beat us 3-2 in the last match of the season and to 7 of their 8 players who earned it on the court.  They played great, kept aggressive when the points mattered, and they thoroughly deserve to do well in post season play – go get’em guys.   I would like to point out two players who really impressed me from Kinetix.  The first is Viet Trinh.  Viet is a super person and great tennis player.  Just interacting with him the few times I’ve met him made

me like him.  The second is Nick Hasapes.  Nick was involved in a contentious doubles match and was the model of class and calm.  Nick – simply awesome tennis, a great win and well done.  Your actions are the voice of reason and I wish you the best.

My one point of contention in this match is Kinetix’s #1 singles player, a 3.5 self rated 24 year old from Gillette, NJ – David Richards.  David only played 2 singles matches at 4.0 this year and he beat our appealed 4.5 singles player Wanzell Flemming 6-2, 6-0 for the match deciding victory.  His other 4.0

singles win was 6-0, 6-0 over David Vallee.  It was a beautiful, calm, overcast day for tennis and watching David hit out and not miss was impressive.  Wanzell has been winning at 4.5 but David was too much.  David is truly a sensational player and a nice guy too.  But here are my concerns, David beat Chris Carosella 6-3, 6-3 in a tournament (that he won) one week ago.  Chris is a sectional winning 4.5 player at singles and he was rated 5.0 in 2010.  Chris’s brother Gino is another superstar on the courts and together they are as tough as it gets in Philly USTA tennis.  Furthermore, David Richards lost in a tournament final a few weeks ago to Anthony Assal  6-1, 7-6.  That’s a competitive result and get this, Anthony Assal has winnings as listed on the ATP World Tour Site and

he has been ranked in the 1100’s.  So when you combine these three amazing results – you have a ringer.  Oh well, all you can do is move on. I’d like to say “well done” to my team that his is the most talented 4.0 team I’ve been associated with and it has been a real pleasure to spend my Spring with you!

This team (Easy Killer) practiced every week and we pulled together so many times when we were short players.  When we needed help we reached out to Subba Kumpatla and via Subba came Milos Markis who is amazing.  Through pure circumstance I paired Ed Daou and Joe Sassa in our first match and they literally tore it up this year.  Ed and Joe led the team with 8 wins each, Mitch Reading (welcome to 4.5 brother) had 7 and 3rd best was Milos with 5.  Dave Freeburn was

our co-captain (thank you) and Billy McElroy was a huge help.  Tossing in 4 wins each was Rob Attman, and Randy Francis  while Subba and Dr. Geoff Chan contributed 3. Engram Lloyed, DJ Bozentka and Chris Flouris and

Anthony Phandinh joined us this year and I got to meet the Irwins this year.  Chaz is a superstar to be and his father Tim is a fantastic player and head of the USPTA.  Finally, I loved seeing Tom Faith on the courts and Justin Bussinger.  These two guys are mega-talented and if they had more time for tennis you could build a dynasty on their backs. 

My 4.5 team played our final match of the year Thursday night June 30^th and we won.  We finished 3-5 and 17-23 in individual matches.  This has been a fun season albeit devoid of any real success in terms of advancing to post season play.  Honorable mention goes to Kenny Koay who led the team with 6 total wins – many of them when he was dealing with an injured wrist (I can relate to that).  Kenny has developed through hard work into a top singles player and his progression has been impressive to witness.  Kenny was a tiebreaker away from beating Nick Gallagher as well and certainly Nick is a great 4.5 singles player.  The 2^nd most wins on the team was 4 by Dr. Dave Bozentka and myself.  Personally I felt skeptical that as a 1^st year 4.5, that I could do well at the next level but now that I have a season under my belt I have learned it’s more about your attitude and confidence and that when you are well prepared you have every opportunity to beat almost anyone at 4.5 if you can execute your game and adjust your strategy during the match.  I know I have had a lot of fun, played the best tennis of my life and hung out with some of my favorite people.