Champion: Andy Frushour (DeWitt, MI)
Runner-Up: Dean Allen (Redford, MI)
Third Place: Jason Salmon (Marietta, GA)
# of Players: 101

Complete MB7 Brackets (PDF)

HEADLINES

Although we were missing a few Top 20 players, it was the deepest Worlds field ever.  The play on our 18 courts was worthy of the world class moniker – especially the quarterfinals and beyond.  Rain may have been an issue prior to MB5, but after the MB5 deluge a little rain storm here or there doesn’t faze us.  We had about an hour’s worth of showers at MB7, but no one even batted an eye.  Thanks in large part to some amazing Jim Blair BBQ, we raised $1,000 for Grace’s Gang.  That money bought an insulin pump for a needy child – how amazing is that?  (If you want your tears jerked, watch Grace’s video again.)  And in the end, the Commissioner finally won the World title by beating the most decorated player in the game. Here are some clips from MB7.

PREVIEW VIDEOS

In case you missed it, Andi and Andy once again filmed a weeks-worth of video previews for MB7.  This year they put over 80 minutes of HD video onto YouTube, and they had some additional videos on top of that (kudos, again, Dan and Matt).  You can watch all the videos here: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Or, you can spend five minutes watching the highlights in this week in review.

MORNING QUALIFYING: TOP 16

It’s always hard to recap the Top 16 morning matches.  There is so much high quality Monkeyball on the courts, but really, it’s without the pressure of the afternoon knockout stage.  With that said, some items did stand out.  For the second year-in-a-row top-ranked Jason Salmon won the morning session, and for the second year-in-a-row he beat Andy Frushour in the Top 16 championship.  Chuck Trinoskey rolled over four-time champ Dean Allen en route to the #3 seed.  Dan Renner won his first matches again in 2011, highlighted by many runs while wiping away the competition – he was rarely #2 on the MB courts in the morning.  Eric Trinoskey has a history of hot starts at Worlds.  Last year he threw a 12 Monkeys on his first rack of his first match.  This year he skunked the highly-touted Keith Hagen in game one.   Speaking of Hagen, he may have provided the most excitement on the Center Courts.  After dropping three 3s on Kevin Gunns, he pulled off his shirt revealing a Hagen-sized Union Jack undershirt, and then he promptly hung another triple for the day’s first 12 Monkeys. (The picture at the right has been blurcled to protect whatever dignity he has left.)

There are actually four Top 16 players who felt the pressure of the morning – the four players who lost their first two games and were forced into a play-in game to make the afternoon.  Andi Osters was just terrible.  She said it, and so did everyone else.   Rex Danely actually had an excuse – he couldn’t see.  He was a little late to the Old Orchard after a morning trip to Urgent Care to take care of the Poison Ivy in his eyes.  Brent Morrow was a surprise recipient of two-straight losses, but everyone knew he’d pick up the pace in the afternoon.  And poor Sean Dameron; the guy just can’t catch a break at Worlds.  One of these years he’s going to sweep the competition – because he IS very good – but it hasn’t yet happened in Dimondale.  For the first time, though, all four Top 16 won their play-in games to make the afternoon.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP A

After taking MB6 off, Andrew Alexander came back on fire.  Alexander won his first three games by a combined score of 45-0, and then only gave up three in the Group A championship when beating Brett Boden.  Boden made the afternoon in 2010, only to get shutout in the Round of 32.  He must’ve practiced a lot with his boy Hagen in the past year, because he came to play at MB7.  Big brother got all the pre-Worlds attention, but little Joey Wenzel proved he’s got game of his own, finishing third in Group A.  I wonder if ‘lil Little Joey will also be a baller?  Todd Byers was in the Top 16 at MB5, so it’s no surprise this member of the Grand Ledge crew qualified fourth from Group A.  Sheri is the overlooked Gunns baller (husband Kevin is a former semifinalist) but she made it to her second straight afternoon session with a fifth place finish.  Sheri’s co-worker Amanda Wenzel continued MB’s streak of a pregnant woman making the afternoon.  Wenzel battled her baby’s daddy at one point, prompting many to ask me to never again put husband and wife in the same group.  The final Group A qualifier is a professional Cornholer who would no doubt kick all of our asses if we were throwing bags instead of ropes.  Bernie Nabors traveled with his American Tailgating League cohort from North Carolina, and after a night in the D, we were just happy they found their way to the Old Orchard.

Melissa Baldwin was oh-so-close.  Under the tutelage of Andi Osters (this may have been her problem) she’s come a long way since MB6.  She just needed just one more win to make the afternoon, but that one win would be tough.  Byers and Nabors bear her, and it came down to a play-in match against the Top 16’s Rex Danely.  Fighting poison ivy in the eyes and a kicking in the ass, Danely took out his aggression on poor Baldwin and advanced to the afternoon.

Matt Anderson advanced to the Big Rack Challenge championship, but his luck wasn’t as hot during Group A qualifying as he failed to reach the afternoon. Jim Ziehmer and his wife-to-be Megan Carmody (on 9/10/11 – see MC, I won’t forget) put up valiant rookie efforts.  I’m sure the Pennine Ridge crew in Grand Ledge will whip them into shape before MB8.  Shannon Nobles was back for a second year at the Orchard, and if she sticks to a practice regimen with Baldwin, she could win a few matches in 2012.  J?  I love J Mankowski’s enthusiasm for MB.  One of these years it will pay off with a trip to the afternoon.  Speaking of J:  J, Amanda and Erin Hagen were all essentially playing doubles at MB7 – it can’t be easy playing pregnant (and good luck with the babies!).

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP B

Carl Swan is the lovable loser of Monkeyball.  He’s always on the verge of doing something big at Worlds, but never quite gets there.  At MB7, though, Carl swept through Group B to take the #1 seed.  It should also be noted that Carl is a wife beater, besting his wife in the winners bracket, 15-1.  Adam Schrauben is always ready for playing sports while drinking (I saw him and his tight-ass coaches shorts dominate a wiffleball tournament this summer, all while downing numerous PBRs), so it’s no surprise he’s advanced to the afternoon in multiple trips to the Worlds.  Although her husband gave her a whoopin’, Misty Swan otherwise went undefeated in locking up the #3 seed (and a 10-1 morning record for the Swan couple).  Matt Wright followed up his 4th place morning finish from a year ago with another 4th place qualifying performance.  A semifinalist at MB1 and member of the Top 16 last year, Andy Kidle was out to show his poor MB6 performance was a fluke.  He finished 5th in Group B, but advanced to the afternoon.  Manuel Tello of the Prison City Bandits helped show the MB community that Jackson ballin’ is no joke.  Jo Kidle advanced to the afternoon yet again, this time toping newcomer, but heralded, Bobbi Duchene to get the 7th seed.

Unfortunately for Bobbi, she was matched up against MB TV’s Andi Osters in a play-in match to reach the afternoon.  AO had been horseshit all day, but finally woke up long enough to win the match going away, 15-5.  I’m sure we’ll hear more from Bobbi in the coming years.

Dawn Jenkins had the best entrance to the Old Orchard for MB7.  Seeing Osters unload her car, Dawn stopped in the middle of driveway and gave AO a double finger salute (I’m guessing she was delivering that message from her aunt. Elaine: I kid, I kid.).  Jamie Price flew in from Brooklyn for MB7 festivities, hoping to see the afternoon like he did at MB6; but like his mom Bobbi, he was unable to advance.  The cutest high school couple at the Orchard also didn’t advance, but Clare McFadden and Casey Binder are already talking about hosting a tournament of their own this fall.  Although Joe Zimmerman, Liz Stomski, and Kate McPherson didn’t make the afternoon, their grilled breakfast sandwiches competed with the smoker for the best smells of the morning.  And although 6th-grader Emma Hintz was 0-2 BBQ, her help in the food tent did not go unnoticed.  Thanks for all the help, Emma!

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP C

So who’s the best from the Prison City Bandit crew?  Joe Pudil made a case for himself in Group C qualifying.  Morning wins over the highly-touted Matt Young and Jackson brethren Ned Huestis led Pudil to the #1 seed.  Pudil topped Jon Ross to win the group, but only after Ross led 9-0 in the winners bracket final.  We’ll talk more about Ross’s collapse a little later.  The aforementioned Huestis took the three seed, although A & A still haven’t figured out how to say his last name.  The Godfather of Monkeyball, Joe Frushour, made it to the afternoon with his fourth place finish.  Matt Young had an up-and-down morning, but advanced with a #5 seed.  After being dubbed the biggest disappointment at MB6, Tony Olds got his groove back and received the six seed.  After her coach ordered 100-throws-per-night the week of MB7, Katie Kidle was more than prepared for her time at the Orchard; three morning wins got her to the afternoon.

Mary Ann Thayer didn’t catch any breaks with her play-in game opponent – Brent Morrow.  Morrow had reached the quarterfinals in each of the last five years, and even Thayer’s trash talk couldn’t keep him from going for a sixth-straight appearance in quarters.  Morrow won handily, 15-3.

A pregnant Maggie Olds was fantastic at MB6, but the un-pregnant Maggie couldn’t get it together in 2011. Jillian Kubacki won three games, and she won those by a combined score of 45-3, but she fell one W short of reaching the afternoon.  Her partners-in-crime, Dave and Dan Kubacki, also went home early.  The Kubacki Bros. drove all the way from Ohio, only to face each other in an elimination game (sorry guys, you figure the Commish would match you up with one of the other 99 ballers you’d never played before).  After a breakout tournament at MIS last fall, Jason Quaine couldn’t keep up the momentum and once again failed to advance to the afternoon.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP D

At MB6 Matt Danely was a win away from the afternoon, losing to Top 16 Scott Salmon in the play-in game.  Danely didn’t sweat it this year in winning group D.  Brett Thiel had to work his way through the losers bracket in 2010 before qualifying for the afternoon, but this year he took the easy route in taking the #2 seed.  Josh Whitfield survived a winners bracket game against his brother Matt to make the afternoon, and then topped big bro a second time to get the #3 seed while Matt finished #4.  By my count, there were seven members of the Price/Duchene/Schultz clan at the Old Orchard, and all eyes were on Mike & Jamie Price and Bobbi Duchene to make the afternoon.  Who would’ve guessed all three with be trunk-slamming before the afternoon?  Christy Price, though, represented for the fam in taking the #5 seed.  A & A had their eyes on Jedidiah “Not a Duggar” Blanton to make the afternoon (which he didn’t) – but we should have been watching his girlfriend Annie Kirk.  Annie won five morning matches to take the six seed.  Battling for the seven seed were two of mid-Michigan’s most connected people – John Hill and Mike Price.  Hill, still stinging from that crazy loss to Kevin Singleton at MB6 made short work of Price to qualify for the afternoon for the second year-in-a-row.

The loss to John Hill dropped Price into the dreaded play-in game against Top 16 Sean Dameron.  The #3 ranked Dameron doesn’t have a good history at the Orchard, and it continued with his 0-2 record leading into the Price match.  With an afternoon berth on the line, though, Dameron beat Price 15-5.

I think Al Schrauben was still resting on his laurels after beating Chuck Trinoskey in a game at MB6.  Or maybe he was just tired as he was spotted taking a nap during the afternoon rain showers.  Heather Hill had a chance to show who’s the best of the Hills, but unfortunately she finished one win away from the afternoon (but she’s always good for MB  love on Facebook and Twitter).  Aimee Trinoskey drove the Commish, Casey and MBJ to Founders and Bells on Thursday, so nothing of ill repute will be written about her.  Megan McCool is another one of Monkeyball’s biggest supporters, but yet again, it was a quick day for her at the Old Orchard.  And Stacey, Stacey, Stacey – I was pulling for you.  Stacey Moore is the brains behind the American Tailgating League and last winter’s MegaGate event in Vegas.  I was hoping Stacey could get at least one win in his Worlds debut, but it wasn’t meant to be.  Look for MegaGate 2012 info coming soon, right Stacey?

BIG RACK CHALLENGE

The Big Rack Challenge made its debut at MB6 to rave reviews, so we brought it back for year two.   This quick competition simply pits one baller against another, with each getting only four throws at the rack.  Whoever scores the most points wins.  64 players paid the $1 entry fee for the winner-take all tournament, and as an added bonus, the American Tailgating League doubled the pot to give the winner a $128 payday.  Casey Frushour beat Jamie Price in one semi, while Matt Anderson knocked off Andy Kidle in the other.  In the final, Casey threw a six-point big rack to take down Matt.  And almost immediately, Casey announced Grace’s Gang would receive all of his $128 winnings.  Classy move, C-Frush.  (At right, Casey, Jim Blair, Stacey Moore from the ATL, Andy Frushour and Bernie Nabors for the ATL.)

AFTERNOON CHAMPIONSHIP SESSION

The afternoon really heats up in the Quarterfinals, but there plenty of storylines before reaching the final eight.  After bailing on MB6, Matt Young came to the Orchard with high expectations.  He beat world #1 Jason Salmon in the game one before falling in three.  Salmon then went on to beat Gunns to reach the Sweet 16.   Quoting Hagen: “Put Gunns in the same category as Scott Salmon – a good player and a riot”.

Lots of story lines helped determine our second quarterfinalist.  Sean Dameron had another early exodus from Worlds, losing to Ned H.  Ned dropped a 12 Monkeys on Andrew Alexander, but still only scored 8 points in the game and fell in straight sets.  On the side other of the bracket, two of our pre-tournament sleepers battled in a three-game match with Jo Kidle besting Matt Whitfield.  Jo followed up that win with a huge three-game win over Casey Frushour.  Andrew then made quick work of Jo to make the quarters, but it has to be asked: is Jo now the top female MBaller in the world?  The Commish says yes.

Remember when Jon Ross was up 9-0 in the Group C championship, only to lose 15-9?  He followed that loss up with a 15-0 Monkeystomp from Ryan LePeak, and then he was down 9-0 in game two before ultimately losing 15-4.  Quoting Jon Ross: “I lost 42 points in a row. Forty-f***ing-two.”  (And don’t forget that first-round loss in the BRC. Hehehe.) Dan Renner continued his hot hand beating Andy Kidle and advancing to face LePeak with a quarterfinal spot on the line.  LePeak unveiled a new throwing technique on the day, and for the most part it was a success – until it rained.  And then nothing stuck, but it did for Renner, and Renner advanced to the quarters for the first time.

Dean Allen didn’t have a problem making the quarterfinals again.  It’s no surprise since he’s been in the final 8 at EVERY World Championship.  To get to the afternoon, Dean handily beat Poison Ivy Face Rex Danely.  But for Rex to make it that far he had to beat his daughter and son in succession (Misty Swan and Matt Danely).  Finally, props again to Katie Kidle for making the afternoon – all that work paid off.

Tony Olds wasn’t a disappointment this year, but he did lose in the afternoon’s first round to Sheri Gunns.  Gunns and Andy Frushour then battled in the rain, and they were aided by two naked 2-year-olds helping to retrieve ropes at the end of each rack (it’s no surprise that they were the kids of Gunns and Morrow, right?).  Dan Kidle advanced to face Frushour, but it was no contest.  Kidle hung on early, but Frushour overpowered his opponent with what may have been his highest-scoring match of the tournament.

John Hill couldn’t get back his magic from MB6 and fell to Matt Wright in three games.  And playing Jesus is never easy, as Wright succumbed to Eric Trinoskey in three.  Osters and Joe Wenzel battled in a three-set opening rounder, but Wenzel finished off the voice of Monkeyball TV in three games.  I’ll say it again, it was an awful day for Osters – and we won’t be seeing her on the Center Courts in ‘12.  Jackson’s Joe Pudil was the second member of the Prison City Bandits to make the Sweet 16, but he, too, fell to His Holiness.  For Trinoskey, this made his third-straight trip to the quarters (with no semifinal appearances).

We all expected a Price or two to reach the afternoon, but surprisingly, Christy was the only Price rep left standing after morning qualifying.  Jackson’s Manuel Tello took care of her in the opening round before falling to former World Champ, Chuck Trinoskey.  The other side of the bracket featured a grudge match between practice partners Keith Hagen and Brett Boden.  Boden has had nightmares for the past year after his 15-0, 15-0 dismissal at MB6, and Hagen came into MB7 as THE hot pick (which was backed up by many purported 12 Monkeys in practice). It was the perfect setup for Hagen to roll into a match against Chuck T.  Boden wanted nothing to do with that, going on a four-game tear and dropping mad racks on both Hagen and Chuck to make the quarters.

The final quarterfinal spot was anybody’s guess, but those with the smart money would’ve opted for Brent Morrow since he reached the quarters in the five preceding years (and yet, somehow, always comes in under the radar).  Morrow swept Josh Whitfield and a survived a three-game match against Carl Swan to set up a match with Joe “Carp” Frushour.  Carp had beaten everyone’s favorite Cornholer Bernie Nabors, and another pre-tournament favorite Jim Wenzel, to get to the Morrow match.  Morrow takes a lot of unnecessary abuse because of his deliberate style, but the guy is good, and he beat Carp to get to the quarters.  Again.

QUARTERFINALS

The first quarterfinal pitted a couple guys who had been there before.  Andrew Alexander finished second at MB2, and he was back after a one-year hiatus from Worlds.  Jason Salmon also has a silver medal in his trophy case (MB5), and he finished 4th at MB6.  In the end the lopsided score line of 15-10, 15-6 wasn’t nearly indicative of the dogfight between these vets, but Jason Salmon moved on to his third-straight semifinal appearance.

Everything was going right for Dan Renner in the second quarterfinal.  He was dumping big racks on four-time Champ Dean Allen, and led 10-2 early in the match.  Renner got the match to game point (up 14-11) and then the momentum shifted.  With Renner already +8 on the rack, Dean dropped a three and knocked Renner’s three off (a 6 point swing) .  After Renner missed on is final toss, Dean landed another triple to keep the game alive – it was a real stomach punch.  You could feel Renner deflating, and it was over.  Dean went on to win game one 16-14 before coasting through game two and back to the semis.

For the third time in three years, cousins Eric Trinoskey and Andy Frushour met late in the afternoon.  For the second time, it was for the right to play in the semis.  Monkeyball vets know that nothing fazes MBJ, he just keeps throwing…and drinking.  His MB balance with red party cup in hand is impeccable.  Game one saw Frushour get out to a big lead, before MBJ fought back to make the game respectable.  Both players threw haymakers in game two, and Eric topped Andy 15-12.  Game three was quick and painless, as the Commish stayed undefeated against cuz and reached the semis for the third time in four years.

You couldn’t ask for two nicer guys in the last quarterfinal matchup – Brent Morrow vs. Brett Boden.  But what you could ask for is a quicker pace!  In a three-game match that seemingly took forever, Morrow outlasted the preschool teacher and reached the semis for the third time in his Monkeyball career.  Boden has a goal of playing in the Top 16 next year, and his skills at this year’s tournament proved he belongs with the big dogs.

SEMIFINALS

All four members of the final four had been there at least two times before.  The first semifinal was a rematch of a 2009 quarterfinal game between Jason Salmon and Dean Allen.  SoMoCo’s Salmon won a back and forth first game, 15-13, and was surely thinking he had the four-time champ on the ropes.  But like all great champs, Allen came back swinging and taking the last two games by identical 15-6 scores.

On the other Center Court, Frushour continued his hot Monkeyballin’ with a quick 15-7 win over Morrow.  Morrow will tell you (and Frushour will agree) that the Commish always seems to get some lucky slop when playing Morrow.  The luck stopped in game two as Morrow jumped out to a 14-2 lead.  On his heels, Frushour started dropping bombs, and just like that, he scored the next 14 points to advance to his second Monkeyball World Championship match.

While the Commish was in the porta-john listening to “Lose Yourself,” Jason Salmon won the bronze medal match and Brent Morrow was sent home without any hardware for the third time in as many tries.

CHAMPIONSHIP

So it came down to the Commish and the Champ.  Some years the championship doesn’t live up to the billing of the best versus the best – this time, though, the crowd got its money’s worth.  It was back and forth, huge rack after huge rack, triple after triple, crazy breaks and oohs & aahs from the crowd.  This match had it all, but unfortunately I don’t remember much of the whirlwind.  Thanks to some great video work from Jason Salmon, though, you can all relive the last two racks of game one and the last three of game two.  It was some world class Monkeyball from two of the game’s best.

Game 1: Frushour (blue) leads 11-9
Game 1: Allen (green) leads 14-11
Game 2: Allen leads 11-8
Game 2: Frushour leads 12-11
Game 2: Allen leads 13-12

The 16-14, 15-13 win gave Frushour his 20th tournament title, but more importantly his first world championship.

For 4,000 words I’ve been trying not to gloat, but in the interest of keeping an accurate history of this event I feel it necessary to say “screw the modesty” and let loose for 100 words… I was effing on fire almost the entire day.  When it first started raining (against Sheri Gunns) things went cold for a few racks; otherwise, it was easily my highest scoring day of Monkeyball ever.  Even in my two losses (Salmon and MBJ) my opponents just happened to be more on fire.  It was ridiculous, and it felt awesome.  And it happened in crunch time, too.  In the five racks shown above, Dean scorched the ladders with 24 points – but I dropped 30! Damn, that felt good.

FINAL WORDS

Ok, back to being humble…

By most accounts it was the best Worlds yet.  We had 101 players, including 15 rookies, play 294 games on 18 courts.  We raised $1,000 for Grace’s Gang.  We ate some ridiculous meat from the smoker.  And, once again, we didn’t let the rain keep us down.  I can’t wait for MB8.

One last thing… lots of thank yous to go around… to the Blairs for hosting us yet again, and to Jim for cooking up the meat… to my extended family for all the help setting up the Old Orchard… to mom, Nancy and Emma for serving lunch… to AO for her brilliance in the preview videos… and to by my bride of 10 years (!) who has let me/us have a lot of fun with our fake sport.  See you all in 2012!

So without further adieu, here are 4,000 words describing my memories of the 2010 World Monkeyball Championships.

MB6 PREVIEWS: Sat | Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs

Champion: Dean Allen (Redford, MI)
Runner-Up: Dan Kidle (Indianapolis, IN)
Third Place: Kevin Singleton (Birmingham, AL)
# of Players: 96

Final Bracket/Results (PDF)

HEADLINES

For whatever reason, it seems the 2010 World Championships brought us many more storylines than usual.  We had a number of top 25 fail to sign up, and many more people bail on the tournament at the last minute (not cool).  We had a record 29 rookies in the field, and many made the afternoon.  We had gorgeous weather – a stark contrast to the year before.  We had a new lunchtime event – the Big Rack Challenge – won by 12 year-old Ryan Hintz.  We had people begging to trade for one of the American Apparel blue shirts.  And we had some post-event controversy when the new world rankings were announced.

And even after all of that, there are three other headlines that I’ll remember most.  First, after getting called out all week by Monkeyball TV co-host Andi Osters, SoMoCo came to play.  Specifically, Kevin Singleton (third) and Jason Salmon (fourth) proved that the quality of play in those Alabama tournaments really are up to snuff.  Second, this prognosticator thought Dan Kidle would struggle.  I thought a wedding three weeks prior and then a week in Maui would throw young Kidle of his game.  Turns out Hawaii is a great place to get your mind right, and a Monkeyball tournament on your 23rd birthday equates to a runner-up finish.  Finally, and most importantly, Dean Allen is setting standards that will be hard to top.  Four World Championships in six years?  He’s ridiculously good.

MORNING QUALIFYING: TOP 16

The Top 16 on the Center Courts is always a fun focus in the morning.  Where else can you watch so many world class ballers face off game after game after game?  And there’s big-time pressure to boot – four players will go 0-and-2 and be forced to win a play-in game to make the afternoon.  In 2010, that quartet was Andy Kidle, Jim Blair, Scott Salmon, and for the second time, Casey Frushour.  We’ll talk more about these guys later, but for now, let’s revisit some of the fun stories that came from the morning Center Courts.

Everyone’s favorite baller, Monkeyball Jesus (aka Eric Trinoskey), had himself a morning.  He 12-Monkeyed the opening rack of the day (the day’s only 12 Monkeys?) while beating eventual runner-up Dan Kidle.  Jesus had two other wins in qualifying – against the eventual champ and against the eventual 3rd place finisher.  It’s no wonder SoMoCo wanted to acquire him – his transfer from Florida’s Coconut League makes him an official SoMoCoNut.

The first-round games in the bottom half of the bracket featured SoMoCo vs Michigan matches.  The two groups split the four matches, but the most anticipated opening match pitted the mouth of Monkeyball TV, Andi Osters, against MB’s greatest southern ambassador, Sean Dameron.  Osters had talked lots of MB smack leading up to this match, and somehow, pulled off a sober 15-0 monkey-stomp over Sean.  Ouch.

Other highlights…. Morrow showed up with an arm in a sling – I never got the story behind the injury.  Defending champ Chuck Trinoskey won game one in skunk fashion, but lost three straight to end qualifying.  Dan Renner started hot, but 5s and 6s won’t beat a hot Dean Allen.  The lone Traddy Kevin Gunns won two games before the Old Orchard got streaked…again.  It first happened during the final match at MB4, and then a naked baby ran across the Center Courts to the waiting arms of Gunns.  I don’t think it was Gunns’ kid, but I’m pretty sure she learned the move from him.

Oh, and Jason Salmon won the #1 seed in the morning qualifying session.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP A

Keith Hagen sent me a ton of notes for Group A, so I plan on doing some liberal plagiarism of his notes in this section.

Group A was led by Keith Hagen, MB5’s 4th place finisher.  Hagen didn’t disappoint rolling through undefeated, giving up only 11 points in four games and grabbing the #1 seed.  MB vet Jason Tooker lost to Hagen to get the #2 seed, and proved once again that he’s legit.  The battle for the #3 seed featured two ballers who lost the first game of the day but battled back through the losers bracket to advance.  Ryan LePeak won 6 straight games to get the three seed, while Brett Thiel reeled off five straight Ws to get the #4 seed.  Carl Swan made another trip through the morning q-fying, and Dan Kubacki had the best showing from the Perrysburg, Ohio crew.  Chrissy Lane was the top XX chromosome carrier in Group A, taking the 7th seed.

The Group A play-in game featured Corey Fulton against Top 16 member, Andy Kidle.  Fulton came in highly touted, but he arrived at the Old Orchard on only a few hours sleep.  No one strung together more big racks all day than Fulton; unfortunately no one strung together more empty racks than Fulton.  In the end, the Zombie-esque Fulton battled back from a 12-3 deficit to take the final Group A qualifying spot and knocking Kidle out of the tournament.  In the second year of the Top 16 play-in game, Kidle became the 2nd Top 16-er to fall victim to this unique tournament quirk.  At MB5, Todd Byers was the first to wear the unfortunate crown.

Dawn Jenkins was not happy to lose to a guy with lobster shorts, 70s headband, and I heart Dave Kubacki shirt (ironically, worn by Dave Kubacki).  I keep expecting my cousins to reach the afternoon, but Jill Hintz and husband Troy didn’t do it, neither did Misty Swan (yea for Carl, though!).  And one of these years, little Ryan and Emma Hintz will do some damage – they’ve got a lot time, though, considering they’re 12 and 10 years old.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP B

Group B featured a weird mix of no-shows and walk-ups.  I love walk-ups – you never know what to expect, adding an extra layer of mystery to the event.  What’s not mysterious is the skill level of sweatervest-wearing John Hill.  Hill has played in numerous MB events (many times finishing behind wife Heather), but Osters had predicted a semifinal appearance for this Spartan fan.  Hill was on fire all morning, taking the #1 seed over SoMoCo sage Chuck Salmon. Walk-up Ron Ostrander battled through a series of rookies to take the #3 seed, while Matt Wright (an all-star fastpitch softball pitcher) took 4th.  Bill Makosey’s been around for a while now, so he knows some of the MB tricks of the trade.  Makosey took 5th topping rookie John Miller who finished 6th.  Jo Kidle finished as the top lady in Group B while taking the 7th seed, knocking walk-up/rookie/stranger Matt Sharrow to the play-in game.  In that game, Sharrow faced MB1 champ Jim Blair.  But after two quick Top 16 losses, Blair came to play beating Sharrow handily and qualifying for the afternoon.

Sam Gustafson proudly repped the Springbrook Association in Dewitt, and I’m sure will bring some old neighbors with him to MB7.  Jo Kidle knocked out another veteran lady in J Mankowski.  J loves MB – I hope she makes the afternoon next year.  Sean Hill was the youngest player in the field – he’ll get his first MB win next year.  And Nate VanWylen?  If he doesn’t get his first W next year, Dutch heads will roll.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP C

After a one year hiatus, the very tall and very skilled Jim Wenzel was back at the Old Orchard.  Wenzel bested the godfather of Monkeyball, Joe Frushour, to claim Group C’s #1 seed.  The very pregnant Maggie Olds (with a shirt that read “I’m pregnant, what’s your excuse”) kept up her winning ways at Worlds, claiming the #3 seed.  In 4th was our second participant from the greater Tampa area, Mike Forsythe.  Mike and MB Jesus may be teaming this winter for a few Coconut League events.  Practice partner of Kevin Singleton, Scott Herron, took the fifth seed beating everyone’s favorite preschool teacher, Brett Boden (Boden was also affectionately called “Mixed Prints” for his striped shirt and plaid short combo – somehow, though, he pulled it off).  Jon Ross might claim his day’s highlight was beating the Commish in the Big Rack Challenge, but what he should remember is how, facing elimination, he fought back from a 9-0 deficit, and clawed his way through the loser’s bracket, and ultimately gained the #7 seed.

The Group C play-in game featured a vet of five World Championships, Joe Zimmerman, and a former World #1, Casey Frushour.  Zimmerman had won three games on the day, his most ever at Worlds, and Casey was in the play-in game for the second-straight year.  In this match, though, the big-game experience of Frushour won out; Zimmerman will have to wait another year to make the afternoon.

In other Group C action, Tony Olds lived up to the Commish’s billing as the “Most Likely to Disappoint.”  It should be noted, however, that T-Nuts’ DJ skillz received rave reviews (even if we need to go with the PG version of Big Pimpin’ at MB7).  Our first-ever keg stand competition also took place with members of Group C.  I’m pretty sure Olds and Boden were instigators, but Bridgett “Hot Mess” Stallings stole the show with a performance that would make a frat guy blush.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP D

What to say about the infamous Group D/Douche?  It’s funny how a passing comment by Osters on a bonus webisode (Ep 3.1, 2:10 mark) becomes the rallying cry for a group of Monkeyballers.  What’s worse is Osters called out the #1 seed in Group D as her most likely to disappoint – Rex Danely.  So what did Danely do?  He went out and swept through the competition and win Group D.  With only one previous Monkeyball win, Alex Schrauben was an unlikely 2nd place finisher.  No doubt his Mid-Michigan Mustache Club t-shirt and matching mustache intimidated the competition (did anyone take the free mustache ride?).  A lot was expected out of rookie Mike Price, and he didn’t disappoint in getting the #3 seed.  Another Schrauben – Al – has also had little success at Worlds, but MB6 was a different story as he won five morning matches on his way to the four seed.  Jamie Price also had a good rookie performance taking the Group D five seed, while Gena Danely advanced to her first ever Worlds afternoon session with the 6th seed.  Rex and Gena’s son, postman Matt Danely, claimed to be hot all morning – but then the wheels must have fallen off.  Sheri Gunns beat him to get the seven seed, and then SoMoCo’s Scott Salmon beat Matt in the play-in game.

As predicted, the woman with the “The Nastiest Trash Talking Biggest Disappointment of Group Douche!”” t-shirt, Mary Ann Thayer, did in fact become the biggest disappointment.  But she totally redeemed herself with a semifinal appearance in the Big Rack Challenge.  Dustin West literally read about our little tournament in Friday’s newspaper, signed up overnight, showed up at the Old Orchard and won only one game, but he’ll be back – he’s hooked, just like the rest of us.  Tina Allen was also a late addition to the field, but she ain’t no rookie.  She won two games before bowing out of Group D (and Joe Frushour didn’t get his chance to beat Tina).  Big Thanks to Bev Frushour and Nancy Trinoskey for running registration and collecting the money.  I wish that would equate to good karma for you, Bev, but unfortunately it netted you two 15-0 losses.

BIG RACK CHALLENGE

What started as way to kill time around the lunch hour turned into one of the highlights of the day.  The contest – formally dubbed the Big Rack Challenge – pitted baller against baller in a one-rack match.  Whoever scored the most on the four throws moved on.  Buy in was $1, and with 40 participants in this single-elimination event, $40 was slated for the winner.  Nearly all the big seeds lost early – most of them in the first round.  But in the end it was the eventual #2 Dan Kidle and #6 world-ranked Sean Dameron in one semifinal, while the other semi featured the unheralded fan-favorites: 12 year-old Ryan Hintz and the aforementioned NTTBDOGD.  Kidle and Hintz both won, and in a final with the crowd almost all behind Hintz, the youngster came through with a big rack to top the birthday boy for the championship.

AFTERNOON CHAMPIONSHIP SESSION

Before a more lengthy discussion of the Quarterfinals and beyond, there are a few things worth noting in the early afternoon rounds.  Sean Dameron drove 700 miles to lose in the first round to a guy that live 7 miles down the road from him in Birmingham, Chuck Salmon.  And then Chuck turned around and lost to his son Jason in the Sweet 16.

Al Schrauben’s career MB highlight was beating MB5 champ Chuck Trinoskey in one game before losing his match.  Keith Hagen pulled off one of the shots of the tournament (down to game point and his last throw, he knocked Scott Salmon’s 2 off while his landed on the 3 to get 1 point on the round – a 5-point swing to stay alive), ultimately beating Scott, and then earning his MB stripes with a Sweet 16 win over the defending champ.

The Sweet 16 matchup between Dan Kidle and Andi Osters was a dogfight.  The first two games went 15-13, 13-15 with bunches of big racks and back-and-forth before Kidle pulled away.

Monkeyball Jesus continued another run to the quarterfinals, topping Corey Fulton who finally woke up.  Fulton has a number of 300 rings on his fingers, and it’s not a stretch to think he could add a MB World Championship ring to one of his digits.

Andy Frushour monkey-stomped his daughter’s pre-school teacher, Brett Boden.  All the Talent Juice (Gatorade, Monster and vodka…yummy?) in the world couldn’t help Boden in this one.  And then Frushour went back-and-forth with Renner before finally pulling away.

Did Jim Blair underestimate rookie Ryan LePeak?  Did he fall victim to some chatting?  Was he distracted by pretty ladies?  LePeak won, but then was defeated by the silky smooth 6’7” Jim Wenzel.  Wenzel, in turn, lost to Dean Allen, pushing Allen to 16-14 in the final game.

Brent Morrow beat Kevin Gunns in a game that could have taken much longer than it did.  There have been many calls for a shot-clock to be added the Official MB Rules Book.

In the most controversial match since the Blair/Allen quarterfinal of MB1, Kevin Singleton beat John Hill to grab the last quarterfinal spot.  In game two, Hill had two triples wrapped tightly on the bar, when all the sudden, the bar fell to the ground.  I’ve NEVER seen this happen before.  The heartbreaking ruling: those six points are no good.  Even though the call was right, Hill was pissed at the situation (I’d be pissed, too).  The kicker to this story, later in game two it happened AGAIN.  Hill lost two more triples.  He ultimately lost the game.  As you might guess, he was not a happy camper.  I hope he doesn’t boycott MB7 (I’m sure he won’t cuz he’s one competitive SOB and he’ll back to win the whole thing next year).

QUARTERFINALS

The quarterfinals featured the #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 18 players in the world.  Although there was some post-Worlds argument over the computer rankings, the computer seemed to do pretty good job predicting the quarterfinalists.  The computer’s #1 seeded players in the four qualifying groups also reached the winners bracket finals – another positive mark for the ranking system.

In QF #1, MB5 fourth place finisher Keith Hagen (East Lansing, MI) ran into the MB5 silver medalist Jason Salmon (Marietta, GA).  After winning the Top 16 qualifying session, Salmon had been hot all day.  Hagen and Salmon threw three huge opening racks, but Hagen clung to a 4-3 lead which could have easily been a 7-0 Hagen advantage.  But after that, it was all Salmon.  Hagen later commented, “Salmon may be the prototype for a MB player.  In my opinion his height tied to his low release are tailor made for MB.  I had no problem losing to Jason, but man, it sucks losing.  And Renner trying to interview me after my loss?  Come on.  Who wants to chat after losing a battle?  I guess I am not ready for the post game interviews.”

In the opening rack of the opening game of the tournament, Monkeyball Jesus (birth name: Eric Trinoskey, St Petersburg, FL) dropped a 12-Monkeys on Dan Kidle (Indianapolis, IN) en route to a quick 15-0 win.  But since that opening round loss Dan Kidle had been hot.  Celebrating his 23rd birthday, Kidle rolled to the finals of the Big Rack Challenge, and lost only one other game on the day – an epic 15-13 game to Osters in the Sweet 16.  This time, it was all Dan Kidle, and the newlywed advanced to the semis.

Quarterfinal #3 was a perfect match for the Center Courts, but instead was relegated to the Group C area.  Three-time champ Dean Allen (Redford, MI) was facing the Commissioner and World #1 Andy Frushour (DeWitt, MI).  In hindsight, this match was definitely not Center Court worthy.  Allen dropped 11 points on the opening rack on his way to giving Frushour his first ever 15-0 loss.  Game two didn’t start much better as Allen stormed out to a 9-0 lead – Allen scored the FIRST 24 POINTS of the match (yes, I’m yelling).  Frushour fought back, but the hole was just too deep, and Frushour lost game two 15-13.  Maybe next year the Commish can get the Worlds monkey off his back.

The final QF pitted the one-armed, slow rocker Brent Morrow (Howell, MI), against the new most hated man in Monkeyball, Kevin Singleton (Birmingham, AL).  Like Chuck T in previous Worlds events, Singleton liked to rock the music and earbuds; the difference, though, is Singleton kept them in during his matches.  PA announcer Osters wondered aloud if he was listening to Tony Robbins or Suze Orman.  Whichever master motivator it was, it worked as Singleton advanced 15-10, 15-3.

SEMIFINALS

The semis featured two SoMoCo ballers (Salmon & Singleton), the three-time champ (Allen), and a guy who had lots of previous bad luck at Worlds (Kidle).  In the series of preview videos (Ep. 4.0) before Worlds, two questions were asked: first, who would advance further, Chuck T or Jason Salmon.  Salmon ended up the answer to question one.  But a second question asked who do fans want eliminated first: Dean Allen or Kevin Singleton?  The second semifinal would help answer that question.

In the first semifinal, Jason Salmon came in with the championship experience of MB5 (and some sweet pants) while Dan Kidle came in a bit under the radar.  Kidle took the first game 15-7, but fell behind 13-0 in game two.  Kidle dropped a two on his last throw of the next rack just to stay alive, and go down 14-0.  From there, though, it was all Birthday Boy as Kidle stormed back to take game two and advance to the championship 16-14.

No one really watched the second semifinal since that winner would certainly be the fan un-favorite in the championship.  The match, however, was entertaining at the start.  Kevin Singleton gave Dean Allen his first loss since morning qualifying in game one, but then Allen turned it on again.  Just like the Frushour bloodbath in the quarters, Dean-o took the last two games from Singleton, 15-0, 15-1.

While people filled their beers and hit the port-a-john, Singleton beat Salmon in the consolation match.

FINALS

In some years the championship match is a let-down.  In others the match has been pretty good.  At MB6 it was VERY good – we saw some World Championship level Monkeyball from both Dan Kidle and Dean Allen.  Dean again started hot, taking a 7-0 lead after the first rack.  Kidle fought back with 7 straight to tie it up, but Dean made a run of his own scoring the last eight points of the game.

The first round of game two saw two impressive 9-point racks.  But as he’d done all afternoon long, Allen kept throwing the big racks and took a 14-8 lead.  Against the ropes, Dan threw a late triple to tie Dean’s 6-point rack and stay alive.  On the last round, Dean was +2 (7-5) and Dan had one last throw.  And although the match was likely finished regardless of what happened on this toss (Dean just couldn’t be beat), it was still a little heartbreaking to see Kidle’s final shot slowly fall off the 2-Limb to the ground (see video below).

Dean Allen is a deserving champ.  No doubt about it.  But there’s also no doubt that the field of competitive ballers keeps getting deeper and deeper.  I’m looking forward to see who will be in the Top 16 at MB7, and more looking forward to seeing if anyone can take down the now FOUR-time champ when he starts his title defense in 2011.

FINAL MB6 NOTES

By the numbers: 3 kegs, 18 courts, 29 rookies, and 283 games played.

The roving Monkeyball officials wore blue American Apparel shirts which everyone seemed to love.  They’re very soft and very comfortable (and very expensive).  The consensus seems to be that the Commish should order AA shirts for everyone next year – even if the shirts come with a $15 price tag.

The top three were awarded a new medal this year.  We also made medals for the top three from all previous World Championships.  The medals seemed to be a hit.

Next year I hope not as many people bail on us.  I’m looking at you Tony Fuller, Andy & Kari Dressler, Jeremy Foco, Andrew Alexander, Bill Mills, Matt Young and too many others to name.  Not cool.

A HUGE thank you goes out to many folks.  Jim and Deb Blair for hosting us on their property.  Casey Frushour for all of his design work.  Joe Frushour for building all the sets.  Becky Frushour for hosting and feeding 20+ ballers at her house.  Emily Frushour for putting up with all the MB talk for the last few months (years, really.  Abby Frushour for singing the National Anthem.  Andi Osters for doing the videos with me, and Jordan Cobb for filming said videos.  The Blue Shirts for helping me officiate.  T-Nuts for playing all the music.  And thanks to the entire crew who helped set up before the event and tear down after the event.  This is not a one man show, and I thank you for the assists.

MB MEDIA

Lansing NOISE article
Lansing Collective blog post
Dan Renner’s videos

MB6 FACEBOOK ALBUMS

Liz Stomski
Sean Dameron

Sorry Monkeyball fans

Champion: Chuck Trinoskey
Runner-Up: Jason Salmon
Third Place: Andy Frushour
# of Players: 110

Results/Bracket (PDF)

HEADLINES

The way I see it, three stories highlighted the day’s festivities. Chuck Trinoskey (Logansport, IN) capped off a dominating summer with his first World Championship. He was prepared, focused and no one could keep his hands off the (gold) balls. Not even Jason Salmon, the featured baller of our second headline of the day. Salmon (Marrieta, GA) knocked off three-time defending champ Dean Allen in the quarterfinals. As Dean said, even if you’re scoring 6s and 7s, it doesn’t matter if your opponent is dropping 8s and 9s. And not to brag (but I will), I did predict this outcome in my MB4 recap: “don’t be surprised if this baller knocks off Dean Allen at MB5 (yes, this is my first prediction for the 2009 Words).”

Finally, and maybe this should have been number one on the list, the rain was unforgettable. Two and one-quarter inches fell while we were at the Old Orchard. It was a fairly consistent drizzle with waves of heavier stuff all morning long, but during the first games of the afternoon session the skies opened up. In fact, according to a number of iPhone radars, we were directly underneath what meteorologists likely call a “dark red shit storm”. Photos can’t really do justice to just how wet we all were. And, somehow, it was the most fun I’ve ever had at the World Championships. Thanks to a lot of positive attitudes and four barrels of Miller Lite, we powered on and finished the event. It was awesome. I can’t tell you how many messages I’ve received that said something to the effect of “what a testament to the game of Monkeyball that 100+ people showed up, stayed for the duration of the events, and had big smiles are their faces.” Big thanks to all of you for taking this weather lemon and turning it into 150 proof lemonade.

MORNING QUALIFYING: TOP 16

The format for MB5 had a few twists and modifications from previous World Championships. Besides playing all morning session games to 11 (due to the aforementioned weather), all ballers currently ranked in the World’s Top 16 were placed in one group. And as expected, Dean Allen picked up where he left off at MB2-3-4 and rolled through morning qualifying. Allen topped Brent Morrow for the “championship” of the Top 16. Of course, Brent was quick to remind Andi and Andy of their inaccurate morning predictions (Brent: our afternoon predictions for you were much more accurate). In another surprise to the Monkeyball TV hosts, Dan Renner dropped three top 10 players on his way to the 3rd seed, topping Andy Kidle in the consolation. Kidle had earlier defeated World #1 Andy Frushour to claim his spot near the top of morning qualifying.

Four of the Top 16 lost their first two matches and were forced into a pressure-packed play-in game to qualify for the afternoon session. Alabama’s #16 Kevin Singleton worked hard this summer to squeak into the Top 16, but after a long Winnebago road trip to the Old Orchard and two quick losses, he was staring at an early exit and even longer trip home. Former World #1 Casey Frushour also lost his first two, but someone had to get the short end of the stick in a Group of Death that featured Chuck Trinoskey, Brent Morrow and Dan Kidle. Todd Byers scored 4 lonely points in his two losses, but hoped for more in his play-in game. And Andrew Alexander’s lack of summer practice caught up to him as he went 0-2 in the All-Star morning session.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP A

For years we’ve been talking about Kari Dressler being a sleeper to do well, and for years Kari has gotten the shaft on some unlucky draws. MB5 finally proved to be her breakout event, dominating Group A and taking the #1 seed. Rex Danely, fresh off his shift at the Logansport (IN) Fire Department, used his intimidating presence to shutout/monkey-stomp his first three opponents before succumbing to Dressler. Rookie Pete Grostic lost his first match of the day, but fought through the losers brackets to take the 3rd seed (and build a rabid-base of Albion College support). Katie Merritt, another rookie, qualified 4th – but word on the street is she better learn how to play from both sides of the ladder if she wants to make a splash at MB6. Don Roberts won his first three matches of the day en route to the Group #5 seed. Matt Danely seems to always be a little hit-or-miss at sanctioned events (see 2009 Green Acres Open vs. the Green Acres Open After Party), but he was hitting enough to come out of Group A with the sixth seed. Rookie Dylan Holland did enough in the morning to get to the afternoon as a 7 seed, sending the Best Dressed Alabaman Monkeyballer — Bill Mills – to the 8th seed and a play-in game.

Other Group A notes… Chuck Salmon: what happened? I understand the L to Kari, but Pete Grostic? C’mon. (No offense, Pete.) You’re the official leader of the SoMoCo ballers, so I expect you put together a few more of your famous large MB tournaments to get you better prepared for MB6. I also expected Ryan Portenga, Dan Smith and Jimmy Cullen to do a little more damage. Three wins among the three of you would certainly have been Under the Vegas line. And Dan – how’d you like that weather? Thanks to you, I hear Meijer has three less parkas and 50 more dollars.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP B

Tony Fuller is not happy with the World Rankings. He claims to be better than Dan Renner, and his 8-4 head-to-head record against Renner along with his two championships over Renner, would suggest he might be right. At MB4, however, Fuller did not have a good showing and the result is bringing down his World Ranking. The first step in recovering his ranking was his morning qualifying effort at MB5. He did not dominate Group B, but he did win all of his matches and earn the #1 seed. Davis Feldman was not the youngest competitor, but he was close. This 11-year-old had a dominating run through the winner’s bracket, defeating Joe Frushour along the way, and finishing with the #2 seed. No doubt Davis’s success was due to practice with his old man, Dave Feldman, the eventual #3 seed. The elder Feldman defeated Gayelord Mankowski in the finals of the loser’s bracket. G Mankowski topped J Mankowski in one of the battle of the spouses. (Mankowskis: again, I apologize).  J ended up with the #6 seed after losing to #5 Adam Schrauben. Schrauben has made it a yearly tradition of quietly advancing to the afternoon session, and this year was no different. Speaking of quiet, the self-proclaimed “Nastiest Monkeyballer In the Land”, Mary Ann Thayer didn’t disappoint with either her MB skillz or her never-ending trash talk. She was one loss away from playing Casey Frushour in a play-in match (dang, I was begging to see that match), but she topped late addition Nick Costello forcing Nick to take on Casey for the right to advance to the afternoon.

Other Group B Notes… Joe Frushour had another disappointing Worlds. But what do you expect from the guy that spent the rain-soaked morning running around the Old Orchard with a drill, an oversized Monkeyball ladder and other handy man accoutrements? Thanks, dad, for all you did to get the Old Orchard playable – and maybe next year your opponents will roll over for you so you can advance to the afternoon. Since Jay “Sofa” Lomenick drives 12 hours to this event and always gets knocked out early, he’s volunteered to run a sports book at MB6. How much do you think he’ll bet on himself? A special shout out to the Kubackis and Jill Kindler for seeing our preview videos on Facebook and signing up 48 hours before kickoff. I’m guessing you’ve already set high expectations for next year.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP C

I anticipated this to be a group dominated by females. Instead, the rookies took over the four Group C courts. The biggest splash was made by newcomer Keith Hagen. Rumor has it Hagen played 3 hours of non-stop MBall, by himself, the day before MB5.  Maybe this should be the training regimen for future ballers as Hagen won Group C’s #1 seed and made a deep, deep run into the afternoon. Hagen’s winner’s bracket championship opponent was another rookie, Dave Sprague. No doubt Sprague spent some time honing his skills with buddy Matt Young, who surprisingly failed to make the afternoon. The battle for the third seed was less about Monkeyball and more about patience. And knowing Andi Osters penchant for impatience, newcomer Mike Connell’s slow play ploy was sure to work to perfection. Connell knocked Osters off twice in the morning, and along the way filled her beer multiple times, offered her warm clothes and inquired as to which EL bars she frequented. From what I hear, it was the most entertaining match of the day – nice work, Mike! Brett Thiel survived the sophomore slump and took the 5th seed in his group. Apparently Chris Gates was intimidated by Brett, cuz Gates left the Old Orchard before he could finish the morning session, becoming the first player to ever forfeit a spot in the afternoon session. Jo Kidle represented for the ladies, taking the 7th seed and sending Troy Brya to the play-in game.

Other Group C Notes… I thought for sure Jason Tooker, John Kidle and Jim Shelley would make the afternoon session. This was Tooker’s first Worlds since MB2, and I’m guessing he noticed a marked improvement in the field’s skill level between MB2 and MB5. After a quarterfinal appearance at MB3, the eldest Kidle had his second-straight one-win day in 2009. Jim Shelley was a star in the once-heralded Grand Ledge Meadow Woods Monkeyball crew, but this Comet followed the pattern of all but one of their group (yea for Maggie!) in bowing out before the afternoon.

MORNING QUALIFYING: GROUP D

Outside of Andy and Andi, there may be no bigger fan of Monkeyball than Birmingham, Alabama’s Sean Dameron. Dameron arrived at the Old Orchard still stewing over his early ouster at MB4. But after getting a taste of the MB festival that is the World Championships, Dameron was ready to prove 2008 a fluke. In four morning matches, the short-arming lefty gave up only four points in securing Group D’s #1 seed. The #2 seed belonged to host and MB1 champion, Jim Blair. Looking back, I’m amazed Blair could keep his focus since he was surely thinking about his liability should lightning strike one of our Monkeyballers. As previously mentioned, Maggie Olds was the lone advancer out of the Grand Ledge crew – she claims to be better in the rain – and topped her husband in the winner’s bracket quarters. (Hey Tony, whatever happened to “Maggie says we’re mud wrestling at noon”?) And Maggie wasn’t the only Group D female reaching the afternoon. Heather Hill also knocked off her husband in morning qualifying and ultimately ended up with the 4th seed. Dawn Jenkins was the third female qualifier from Group D, fighting back through the loser’s bracket from an opening game loss to Aimee Trinoskey and taking seed #6. Shawn Johnson found us online a year ago and took a weekend away from Horseshoes tournaments to make his way to Dimondale with a few friends. For his efforts, Shawn was able to nab the 5th seed. Cory Fulton, yet another rookie, handed Paul Ford a loss in the battle for the 7th spot and forcing Paul to prove himself in the play-in game.

Other Group D Notes… After picking Tony Olds to reach the quarters in MB4 and watching him go 0-2 BBQ, I’m glad I didn’t take him again in 2009. I thought John Hill could make another run to the afternoon, but couldn’t get past some tough females in his wife and Dawn Jenkins. And Dr. James Peters – you were so close. A tough first-round match-up with the Olympic gymnast and third match against vet Carl Swan took you out of the tournament. I hope you come back next year, and I hope you take it easy on my teeth the next time I’m in your dental chair. Speaking of Carl Swan, this e-bay item posted by Carl was hilarious.

MORNING QUALIFYING: PLAY-IN GAMES

The last four afternoon spots were determined by four play-in games featuring the 8th place finishers from Groups A-D against the bottom four from the Top 16. These single-game matches were billed as a fight to the Monkeyball death – or simply, lose and you go home. I’m sure the pundits thought the dudes from the Top 16 would be the four advancing to the afternoon – Kevin Singleton, Casey Frushour, Todd Byers and Andrew Alexander. Three of the four made it happen, but Todd Byers became our first-ever Top 16 to fail to advance when Troy Brya took him out for the day. The silver lining for Byers? Most people would go home and cry in their beer. Todd may have actually done that since he brews and kegs his own beer — so he’s got that going for him, which is nice.

AFTERNOON CHAMPIONSHIP SESSION

We started the afternoon with 44 players.  And the opening round of the championship session was highlighted by the nastiest, wettest, densest, most sideways rain you can imagine. It was wet before, but this rain got us soaked-to-the-bone wet. We even had some folks take a short rain delay (I’m surprised more didn’t do so).

Nine ladies made it to the afternoon. Thirteen rookies joined the final 44.  And of the Sweet 16, only 11 of the Top 16 in the world were left. Games were still shortened to 11 points, and eventually we got down to the Final Eight.

QUARTERFINALISTS

#1 morning seed Dean continued to make quick work of opponents to reach the quarters, especially when blind-siding Andy Dressler, 11-0, 11-1. Dre didn’t even see it coming. (What, you can’t poke fun at friends with one eye?). After a rough morning session, Jason Salmon fought back to reach the quarters, knocking off MB3 runner-up Andrew Alexander in the Sweet 16. It’s no longer miracle when the Monkeyball Jesus, St Pete, FLA’s Eric Trinoskey, makes a run toward the Golden Monkeyballs. This year ET topped Andy Kidle to get to the Final 8, setting up a meeting with his cousin and MB Commish, Andy Frushour. Frushour was the definition of “survive and advance” knocking out sis-in-law Jo Kidle and fellow MB nerd Sean Dameron in a pair of long three-game matches. Brent Morrow made his fourth straight appearance in the quarterfinals by taking out host Jim Blair – only Dean Allen can claim a better Monkeyball history than Morrow. Although I did pick Morrow to make it this far, I should have never have picked him to lose his first 2 matches of the day. Bad prognosticating by me. Rookie Keith Hagen continued his surprisingly staggering run to the quarters, knocking off MB stalwarts Casey Frushour and Dan Kidle along the way. Hagen is for real. After a long and wet afternoon opening match against Rex Danely, Chuck Trinoskey started to find his groove and pounding the 3-Bar. Dan Renner should have just stay out of his way. (Renner, BTW, had one of only two reported 12 Monkeys on the day. Nice work , Dan and MB Jesus.)  The last q-final spot was taken by Tony Fuller, who I am sure is not going to be happy with the new rankings (since D-Ren is still well ahead). Fuller faced a still-reeling-from-the-Mike-Connell -Experience Andi Osters, but he took out the MB3 bronze medalist to reach the quarters.

In the quarterfinals, there is only one match really worth mentioning. Sure, Andy Frushour made the semis for the second consecutive year by beating Eric Trinoskey, and the rookie Hagen knocked out the seasoned veteran Morrow, and Chuck made quick work of Tony Fuller – but no one will ever remember those three matches. The one folks are still talking about was the world class MB exhibition put on by SoMoCo’s Jason Salmon and our three-time defending champ, Dean Allen. The high-scoring affair featured two uber-focused ballers and a liquored up crowd that had been whipped into a frenzy. It was an anything you can do, I can do better kind of match. And in the end, Jason Salmon was just too hot and brought Dean Allen’s three-year reign to a close. (Have a mentioned I predicted this in my MB4 recap article?) Unfortunately for the rest of us, I’ll bet Dean comes back even more prepared to take home his fourth championship at MB6.

SEMIS & FINALS

In semi #1, Chuck T faced newbie Keith Hagen. Chuck rolled to an easy game one win, but game two was a little different. Poker players always talk about their “bad beats” when everything seems to going right and then the unexpected happens and you’re done. As Keith wrote to me after the event:

“I had him down 10-7 and I was hanging plus 2 with just my last throw to go. So a triple would have won. Anyway my throw goes perfect but it just hits one of his balls and it falls down to three. At the same time that moves one of mine completely off. So instead of being up at least 12-7 he cuts the margin to 10-9. He then hangs a +6 on me and I am out. Those two racks have kept me up the past two nights.”

This is what will keep you coming back to the World Championships, Keith – the mere chance that you could knock off a highly-ranked player and wear the Golden Monkeyballs. We’ll see you at MB6.

In the other semifinal, ASU grad school buddies Frushour and Salmon faced off. Frushour – the defending silver medalist — had been struggling and Salmon was coming off his historic quarterfinal win. Frushour won a quick first game, 15-2, but lost the second almost as quickly 15-7, setting up game three with the winner advancing to the World Championship match. And this is where things get very hazy for me and I’m not really sure how it all went down. What I do know is Salmon was down 13-12 heading into the last rack, and for the second time in the match he owned the last throw and had the opportunity to win. This time he capitalized, sending Frushour home and himself to the championship.

(Side note that no one will ever remember: Frushour beat Hagen for third place. What is memorable, though, is that even though Keith didn’t get the bronze balls, he did get a tasty Monkey Bread courtesy of Mike’s Village Restaurant in beautiful downtown Dimondale.)

I just realized the championship match between Salmon and Trinoskey was rematch of a Sweet 16 meeting at MB4. Trinoskey won that battle in 2008, and he did it again in 2009. I don’t have much of a written report about the championship (I must have still been woozy from my semifinal exit), but we do have a lot of photos and a little video. I do know the Jason lost game one but had a good grip on game two before Chuck dropped three straight 3s to take the title. Both finalists were deserving of their place in the championship, and they will both surely walk into MB6 with huge targets on their backs.

FINAL MB5 NOTES

Two Eaton county sheriff deputies showed up at the Old Orchard in a squad car. I have to admit, I was a little nervous for a minute. When Jim Blair asked, “What can I help you with officers?”, the man with the gun responded, “Just checking to see if there are any sober people here.” JB quipped, “Yeah, good luck with that.” Turns out the men in uniform were there to visit a number of EL firemen and cops that were in the MB5 field. Unknowingly, their car also ended up in a picture or two.

MB5 By the Numbers: 110 players (one less than MB4, even with all the rain), 4 kegs consumed, 312 games played by ballers from 8 states (MI, IN, OH, KY, GA, AL, FL and TX).

Thanks again to everyone that helped to make MB5 a HUGE success. Thanks to all the players for making a wet day a lot of fun. Thanks to the gold shirts for keeping things rolling. Thanks to the extended Frushour clan for setting up in the rain and tearing down at the end of a long and wet day. And thanks to the Blairs for once again letting us invade their private property for a day of Monkeyball, beer and fun.

The countdown to MB6 has begun.

Champion: Dean Allen
Runner-Up: Andy Frushour
Third Place: Joe Guzowski
# of Players: 111

Results/Bracket (PDF)

FINAL FOUR

Let’s start at the end to begin this review. Dean Allen did it again. For the third straight year, Dean earned the Golden Monkeyballs. He didn’t dominate like he did in 2006, but he didn’t scrape by like he did at MB3 either – he was consistent, workmanlike and didn’t lose a single game all day, quite an impressive feat. The Commish, Andy Frushour , had himself an afternoon.   After a so-so morning session, Frushour caught fire when it mattered and swept his way to the championship match. There’s no doubt that the Top Rookie Award goes to Joe Guzowski. Qualifying seventh from Group D, Cinderalla fought his way to the semis. After racing to a 12-0 semifinal lead on Dean, reality set in and Dean raced to the Finals in two straight games. The other semifinal was never in doubt, but Kevin Gunns made it entertaining nonetheless with his siren entrance and bathroom exit.

AFTERNOON QUALIFIERS

Joe Frushour capped his best-ever Worlds appearance with a loss to Dean in the Quarterfinals. That match was highlighted by a rack of Dean’s 12 Monkeys and Joe’s 3-threes – 21 points on one Limb! Casey Frushour debuted his pinch and won Group D before falling to former U-M housemate Guzowski in the quarters. It’s been quite a run for Brent Morrow. After finishing fourth in ‘06 and ‘07, Brent Morrow had another great day in the ‘08 World Championships. Morrow won Group A before falling in the Quarterfinals to a hot Andy Frushour. In the quarter few knew was happening (they played in virtual obscurity on the Group C courts), Kevin Gunns topped Chuck Trinoskey in a three-game match. Chuck finished second in the inaugural World Championship, and this was his best result since. I think the earphones helped him focus throughout the day (I hear the Eagles were the music of choice).

The Jonker brothers, Zach and Travis, had a great first trip to the Old Orchard, both losing in the Sweet 16. 2005 champ Jim Blair was knocked out in the Sweet 16, as was Jeremy Foco who had made the Quarterfinals at MB3. Dan Kidle FINALLY lived up to his expectations after consecutive poor Worlds performances, taking Brent Morrow to three games in the final 16. The Monkeyball Jesus, Eric Trinoskey, made the Sweet 16 after beating ordained minister Josh Vis – I swear to God that match happened. (While on this topic, I received this text from a hungry Monkeyballer minutes after the completion of the event:  ”The cashier at burger king asked me about my shirt. I spread the gospel like john or paul or one of the others”.) Andy Kidle continues to excel at Worlds using his unique Traddy-style toss – fast, low and lefty. The last member of this year’s Sweet 16 is also the top Southern Monkeyball Conference performer, Jason Salmon. Salmon won Group C in the morning, and I’ll bet he makes an even deeper run next year; don’t be surprised if this baller knocks off Dean Allen at MB5 (yes, this is my first prediction for the 2009 Words).

We’ve been hearing for over a year that Snoop Wenzel was a stud “Horseball” player; apparently those skills are transferable to M-Ball. Scott Salmon reached the afternoon session by winning successive Group C Losers bracket games 16-14, 16-14, 16-14 and 15-13. (Ironically, Scott’s SoMoCo buddy and Doppleganger, Jay “Sofa” Lomenick, lost his only two games of the day, 16-14 and 16-14.) Jordan Cobb proved that IT guys can play MB, too, making a surprise run into the afternoon (Jordan: live stat streaming next year, OK?). Lost in the Dean Allen spotlight was the performance of his wife, Tina Allen.   Tina won 5 matches in the morning en route to a #5 seed. One of her two morning losses was to Dean. Andy Dressler finished 2nd in Group C, but fell one match short of playing his potential brother-in-law in the Sweet 16. Andrew Alexander continues a three-year run of the defending Worlds Runner-Up crapping out early: Chuck T lost early in 2006 after winning silver in ‘05; Curtis McFall was out early at MB3 after his second place finish at MB2; and now Andrew Alexander loses earlier than expected after his epic three-game final loss to Dean Allen last year. Chuck Giller and Todd Byers carried the flag for the Meadow Woods (Grand Ledge, Mich.) contingent of ballers by making it to the afternoon. Dan Renner survived a nasty hangover (the same can’t be said for wife, Julie – she didn’t die or anything, but I’m sure she felt like it) and made the afternoon session for the second straight year. Props to Matt Young for making it to the afternoon, and more importantly, inventing new MB hand gestures – make it rain, Matt. Finally, the championship forecast for Andi Osters wasn’t quite accurate. The top seed in Group D, Osters was pushed in every match and finished the day by losing five-straight games, including the MB3 rematch with Andy Frushour to start MB4’s afternoon. Osters will certainly be back with a vengeance at MB5.

MORE PLAYERS

Four players fell one game short of reaching the afternoon: Chuck Salmon, Scott Engelsman, John Griffith and Curtis McFall. This should feed their fire in preparation for MB5. The Biggest Trash Talker award goes to Mary Ann Thayer. Here’s a sampling: after knocking off Zach Jonker in her first match of the day, she was pitted against Zach’s wife Sara. She greeted Sara by saying, “I already bagged your husband this morning. He was quick and he was easy.”   Hilarious. Remember how we said rules officials may cut some long matches to 11 points, or you could voluntarily play to 11. I didn’t think it would actually happen, but it did. Two of SoMoCo’s finest opted to play the day’s only shortened game, with Michelle Salmon beating sister-in-law Melanie Salmon, 11-0. The Wenzel crew was led by Snoop, but Joe and Amanda Person-Wenzel represented as well – a great first-time showing for this new Monkeyball family. Add Tony Bihn and Tony Fuller to the not-feeling-so-hot participants. Both were expected to challenge for a spot in the afternoon. I understand Mike Roy had the intimidation factor working in his favor, but the big guy fell just short of the afternoon session.  Sean Dameron may have given Dean a run for his money in terms of time spent preparing for MB4. The Dameron family took a week to drive from Alabama on the way to Michigan, stopping at a number of attractions along the way – and Sean busted out his M-Ball ladders at their resting place every night. What happened to Tony Olds? Thanks for the music, buddy, but your two-and-out day made my quarterfinal prediction look really bad. Bill Mills didn’t last long in Group C, but he has invited us down to Birmingham, Alab., in May for a SoMoCo Derby Day tournament and party. Kari Dressler finally got a favorable draw and won three games, while Paul Mountain again just missed the afternoon with two tight losses. Carl Swan and Rex Danely are masterful car parkers, but both were eliminated in the morning. The Schrauben family disappointed: Kyle got one win, while Al and Adam were both 0-fers.

A POST-MB4 STORY

As we were about to leave the Old Orchard, I was walking to my car with arms full of stuff. My mom was next to a cooler of bottled ice water. I said, “Mom, can you put a water in my pocket?” She looked at me like I was crazy and said, “In your pocket?” I said, “Yes, my arms are full. Just put it in my shorts.” I made it to my car and emptied my arms. I was hot and I was parched. I reached into my pocket to grab the water, but it was full of freaking ICE. She thought I asked for ice in my pocket – who would want that? My shorts were soaked, my phone was sitting in a pool of cold water, and I didn’t get to have my bottle of water on the way home.

OTHER NOTES

• Biggby Coffee and Casey’s Head were Monkeyball’s first corporate partners. Thanks for helping make this year event another great success.
• Many people changed to the pinch for the first time. Kevin Gunns even switched to the pinch during his semifinal – that doesn’t mean much though as he ultimately opted for the dangerous and unsuccessful overhand traddy.
• The top three competitors – Allen, Frushour and Guzowski – all utilized the pinch.
• The red SoMoCo shirts featuring the mullet wearing Monkey were awesome, too bad they didn’t get the memo that the rules committee were supposed to stand out with their own red shirts.
• There were numerous reports of Obama’s bus passing by the Old Orchard at 9:30. Did you see it? I’m thinking it was just his advance team preparing for Monday’s campaign stop. It’s probably not a good sign for the Obama campaign that his message of “change” did not reach MB4 – we have had the same winner three years running.
• Of the 111 players, approximately a third of the competitors were from the Lansing area, another third from elsewhere in Michigan and the last third from out of state. In addition to Michigan, the eight other states represented at MB4 included Indiana, Illinois, New York, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and 15 players from Alabama.
• Only two females reached the afternoon – Andi Osters and Tina Allen. Where were you Chrissy Lane, Jo Kidle, Maggie Olds, Jill Salmon, Kari Dressler, Amanda Person, Sara Jonker, Katy Hinz and Mary Ann Thayer? I’m expecting many more qualifiers next summer.
• I predicted two of the final four, and more impressively (pat on the back) I predicted two of the four 8th place finishers in the morning session. I also correctly prognosticated 21 of the final 28.
• How did Group D get so far behind in the morning? The group featured two red shirts and a former red shirt, one high school athletic director, one major youth soccer tournament director and the assistant to the Monkeyball Commissioner.
• A Team Monkeyball match was played at Carp National after MB4. Team SoMoCo won quite handily. Embarrassing.
• By the numbers: 5.5 hours of Monkeyball, 277 games played, 111 participants, 18 courts, 40 pizzas consumed,132 ice cream sandwiches devoured and 3 kegs cashed.

THANK YOU

Thank you again to Jim and Deb Blair for hosting us again at the Old Orchard. Thanks, too, to all of the folks who stayed at Carp National and arrived early to help park cars, run registration, construct tents and everything else you did to get the grounds ready for the event. Thanks to Joe Frushour for leading all the construction projects, Becky Frushour for leading all hospitality projects, and to Casey Frushour for leading all the design projects. Finally, the biggest thank you goes to my wife Emily Frushour for dealing with me and all this Monkeyball nonsense for the last few months.

Champion: Dean Allen
Runner-Up: Andrew Alexander
Third Place: Andi Osters
# of Players: 81

Results/Brackets (PDF)
Preview/Predictions Article

MB3 photos

The day started rough for reigning World Champ, Dean Allen. He fell in his opening qualifying round game to rookie Andrew Alexander. Determined, Allen fought back through the losers bracket to take the third seed, knocking off Alexander in a rematch later in the morning session. Those two would meet again in the world championship match, where Alexander dominated game one, but couldn’t put him away and ultimately fell victim to Allen in the best-of-three match 7-15, 15-11, 15-6.

Allen was also tested in the quarterfinals and semis, going three games in each match. In the semifinal he topped Brent Morrow, who was making his second straight appearance in the semis. Morrow, too, had Allen on the ropes, but Dean fought back from match point in game three to earn the spot in the Finals 15-5, 11-15, 16-14. In the other semifinal, practice partners Alexander and Andi Osters dueled like they had done so many times over the past three months – this time without as much salty language as usually heard in their poolside matches. Like Morrow, Osters took game one, but could not fend off her opponent in games two and three losing 9-15, 15-10, 15-11. In the consolation match, Osters earned the bronze monkeyballs with a 15-12 win over Morrow.

In the morning qualifying sessions, four ballers topped their group to grab #1 seeds in the afternoon.  Andy Frushour won group A, but ran into the Osters buzzsaw in the quarterfinals.  Andy Dressler won 2007’s version of the “Group of Death” (six of the seven qualifiers from Group B made the quarterfinals), knocking off Alexander and Osters along the way. Dressler fell to Brent Morrow in the quarterfinals. If it wasn’t for Alexander’s breakout performance, people likely would have been talking about the top seed out of Group C, Katy Hinz. Hinz came out of nowhere to win group C, but lost in the Sweet Sixteen to Group B’s Jeremy Foco. And for the third straight year, Eric Trinoskey won his group (D), but failed to win an afternoon match falling to another from the deathly B group, John Kidle (he’s a pincher, although he technically calls it the “modified pinch”.)

Foco, Kidle and Hinz headlined the group of players that outplayed the pundits’ predictions, but a few others also make list.  Renee Dutcher proved that her quarterfinal appearance in ‘06 was no fluke, falling to Dean Allen in the Sweet 16 (and raising her world ranking to #5).  Kadi Pojeta finished second to Hinz in Group C, while Tony Olds just made to the afternoon as the 7th seed from Group D. Olds topped Pojeta in the first round of the championship session before falling to Alexander in the Sweet 16. Olds’ neighbor, Todd Byers, enjoyed his inaugural appearance at Worlds, knocking off last year’s runner-up Curtis McFall in Group D action and 2005 World Champ Jim Blair in the opening round of the afternoon. Byers’ day ended in a tough three-game back-and-forth match to Andy Frushour. Buddies Dan Renner and Tony Fuller snatched the 3 and 4 seeds from Group D, and both won one match in the afternoon before bailing in the Sweet 16. A semifinalist in 2005, Andy Kidle improved on his ‘06 performance by finishing second in Group A and making the Sweet 16.

Dean Allen wasn’t the only M-baller to lose in the first rounds of the winners bracket, yet still make the afternoon session. Also making the long and very impressive journey all the way from the far side of the losers bracket were Kevin Gunns, Grant Wesson and Jo Kidle in Group A, Jeremy Foco in B, Rex Danely in Group C and Dan Renner in Group D.

Four M-ballers were oh-so-close to making the afternoon session, but lost the 7th seed playoff in their respective groups. Surely Carl Swan, Tony Bihn, Scott Clark and Paul Mountain lost some sleep Saturday night, and now have some added incentive for their off-season training regimen.

A few others went home disappointed. #1 world ranked Casey Frushour finished sixth in Group A, and was the first to fall to Dean Allen in the afternoon. But at least he made it to the afternoon session – others weren’t so lucky. #5 Curtis McFall and #6 Chuck Trinoskey failed to advance from Group D. #7 Joe Frushour couldn’t hold onto a 13-4 lead in the Group C winners bracket, and then lost a second game to Morrow keeping him out of the afternoon. And for the second year in a row, #11 Dan Kidle was in the middle of the Group of Death carnage. Last year Brent Morrow got him twice before the championship session, this year it was Papa John Kidle and Dean Allen taking him out.

Other newsworthy notes include…

• John Kidle and Andi Osters scored the only reported “12 Monkeys” (putting all 4 Monkeyballs on the 3-Bar). Kidle used his to jump out to a 10-0 lead on Dean Allen before falling in the losers bracket finals. Osters used hers to beat Dan Renner in the Sweet 16.
• Joining Osters, Dutcher, Hinz, Jo Kidle, and Pojeta as the female representatives in the afternoon was 2006 afternoon qualifier Chrissy Blair. Osters, Dutcher and Kidle also made the afternoon session in ‘06.
• Out of the 81 contestants, 21 failed to win a game. In contrast, Dean Allen’s game record on the day was 16-4, Osters 11-3, Alexander 12-7 and Morrow 12-6.
• How many games were played on Saturday? By my math, 222.

When the dust settled, I think most would agree it was a great (but very hot!) day for Monkeyball. It was the deepest field ever, and it was quite an accomplishment to make it into the afternoon session. There were no softies in the final four – all of them certainly earned his/her way into the semis. And Dean Allen, the New York Yankees of Monkeyball (a good guy, but just wins way too damn much), is once again a deserved champion.

Finally, a special thanks go out to our hosts, Jim & Debbie Blair, and the unofficial planning committee of Joe & Becky Frushour, for all their behind-the-scenes work. And mad props also go out to Casey Frushour for another fine t-shirt and Tony Olds for hooking us up with the PA system. Finally, thanks to Emily for putting up with my non-stop M-ball talk for the last 6 months (is it too early to start talking about MB4?).

Champion: Dean Allen
Runner-Up: Curtis McFall
Third Place: Casey Frushour
# of Players: 60

Results/Brackets (PDF)

MB2 Photos

The twelve things I’ll remember most from the 2006 Worlds include:

1. Carp National going above and beyond – the GIANT ladder, the painted Monkeyball logos on the lawn, the banner, the club box desk seating – what a host!

2. Brent Morrow celebrated his birthday with a 4th place finish and the Most Improved Monkeyballer Award. Birthday wishes also went out to Andi Osters.

3. Local television coverage on WILX-TV 10. Our little game on TV?   Now that’s funny. Here’s a bootleg version of the 6 o’clock coverage.

4. Group C made me say this – 3 of the 4 semifinalists were from Group C (Allen, McFall, Morrow). There, I said it – Group C dominated.

5. Jason Tooker’s tandem bicycle. If you ever need a tandem, just call Tooker – (734) 476-1486.

6. Beer in one hand, monkeyballs in the other – Casey Frushour reached the final four…again. (And a few byes don’t hurt either.)

7. You’re not going to believe this…Ian Pleasant thought the tournament was on Sunday, not Saturday. He showed up at Carp National on Sunday morning, realized he was a day late, and then was invited in for breakfast with my parents. Hospitality – yet another feather in Carp National’s cap.

8. Chrissy Blair came out of nowhere to blow by #3 Chuck Trinoskey and #7 Joe Frushour on her way to her #2 seed in Group D. And let’s not forget JoAnna Kidle’s performance in qualifying #1 in Group A.

9. The sweet trophies.

10. Five females in the Final 16. Nice showing Andi, JoAnna, Renee, Chrissy and Maggie!

11. Nine-year-old Ryan Hintz wins his first two games to become the first ever player under 18 to win a game at the World Champiosnhips. He fell one win shy of the Final 16.

12. Gunns pitched a tent, fired up a grill (the burgers smelled great), and as expected, ran his trap. Love him or hate him, a Monkeyball World Championship just isn’t the same without him.

8 FREAKING courts…60 FREAKING players…141 FREAKING matches.   Can we be bigger and better next year?   You better believe it – see you next summer.

The 78-match tournament was held at the corner of Rockford & Strathmore in Lansing. In addition to the exciting championship round held at the McFall Monkeyball Arena, the tournament also featured: the youngest participant ever (7 year-old Ryan Hintz), a contestant who flew in from Florida, and a day-long 80th birthday party for Grandma Frushour.

Champion: Jim Blair
Runner-Up: Chuck Trinoskey
Third Place: Casey Frushour
# of Players: 30

Results/Bracket (PDF)