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!

The first draft of the OFFICIAL MB7 BRACKETS are available.  The brackets will change a little bit Saturday morning based on who else shows up and who punks us by bailing at the last minute.  Download these brackets and keep them handy while watching the videos throughout the week.

MB7 Previews: Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs

FINAL PREDICTIONS
Osters and Frushour have been full of a lot of hot air this week, but now they have a chance to totally redeem themselves.  A & A tell us all their final 16 players left standing in the afternoon, and then work their way down through the quarters, semis, finals and then give us a championship pick.  It should be noted that the Commish has only picked the correct winner once (MB3), and Osters has been shutout. So you can pretty much take these predictions with a grain of salt.

WE FORGOT TO COVER…
Abby noticed some unanswered questions this week…and she was dying to get back on camera.

TIGHT QUARTERS IN THE TREE HOUSE
I don’t know if you noticed, but that “Tree House” wasn’t built for adults.  And shooting the videos was no simple chore.  We thought we’d give you a glimpse of just how tight those quarters were.

A SHORT INTERVIEW WITH ABIGAIL FRUSHOUR

Our videographer this week was six-year-old Abby Frushour, and she did a great job (and learned some new words and terms to boot…oops).  Note: Emily wants me to add that this video was taken post-shower, right before bed — Abby is usually a lot cuter.

The first draft of the OFFICIAL MB7 BRACKETS are available.  The brackets will change a little bit Saturday morning based on who else shows up and who punks us by bailing at the last minute.  Download these brackets and keep them handy while watching the videos throughout the week.

MB7 Previews: Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs

FRUSHOUR THEORY
Although we’ve had the same champion four times, there really does seem to be a lot of parity.  In a one-game match, anyone can beat anyone. And while this is true, the Commish believes there are only seven people that have a legitimate shot to wear the gold at the end of the day.

SLEEPERS
There’s always a lot of talk about the Top 16, but we should also be talking about some of those folks outside of the Top 16.  While some of these guys are household names (well, at least in my house), many of the guys are flying below the radar?  Who could be this year’s sleepers?  A & A make their predictions.  (NOTE: no host or hostesses were hurt during the filming of this video.  These two knuckleheads are like brother and sister — there’s no need to call the police.)

MONKEY-BOROUGHS
First, there was a group of ballers from Logansport, Ind.  Then came the Tony Olds-led crew from Pennine Ridge in Grand Ledge, Mich.  Next was the biggest of them all — the Southern Monkeyball Conference –  hailing mostly from Alabama. And now a new faction has popped up.  Over the last year no group has played more tournaments than the Prison City Bandits of Jackson, Mich.  We’ve affectionately dubbed these cliques the Monkey-boroughs.

SPOTLIGHT ON ANDI
If you didn’t know it already, Andi likes to talk.  She’s also quick on her feet.  So her partner-in-crime decided to come up with some off-topic Monkeyball questions to see what is going on in that little, blonde head.

OHIO MONKEYBALL
We’ve all been there before.  Bored.  Living in middle-of-nowhere-Ohio.  Nothing to do.  “Hey, let’s make a Monkeyball video.”  Why not? We’ll see these three Kubackis (Dan, Dave & Jillian) on Saturday. Ohio representin’. (And, yes, a Monkeyball rope was lost in the making of this video.)

OLD ORCHARD (circa 2003)
People often ask, why do you call it the “Old Orchard?” Well, because it actually used to be a functioning orchard. A few years ago the orchard was closed, I think in order to make room for our Monkeyball grounds. One fall evening when Jim Blair and Co. were making their unbelievable cider, I decided to film a little and then play around with some Mac video editing software.  The following video was my masterpiece. This video still makes me thirst for Witte’s Orchard cider, and I’m pretty sure JB still watches this video once a week.  (Umm, just so you know, that is ground-up apple mush coming out of the tube.)

The first draft of the OFFICIAL MB7 BRACKETS are available.  The brackets will change a little bit Saturday morning based on who else shows up and who punks us by bailing at the last minute.  Download these brackets and keep them handy while watching the videos throughout the week.

MB7 Previews: Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs

GROUP A
Monkeyball TV spends its Tuesday talking about Groups A through D.  Who are Andi and Andy’s Top 4? Who else might be in their verbal jab cross hairs?

GROUP B

GROUP C

GROUP D

INTERVIEW WITH DEAN ALLEN
The Commissioner catches up with the four-time champ before a recent round on links.  Dean will no doubt be at the top of many prediction lists.

INTERVIEW WITH KEITH HAGEN
Hagen took the Monkeyball world by storm with a fourth place finish in his rookie season (MB5).  He’s no stranger now, and comes into the tournament with the #9 world ranking.

INTERVIEW WITH DAN RENNER
This Worlds vet took a few minutes from saving the lives of East Lansing residents to talk a little Monkeyball.  Renner has the game to advance deep into the tournament.  Will this be his year?

The first draft of the OFFICIAL MB7 BRACKETS are available.  The brackets will change a little bit Saturday morning based on who else shows up and who punks us by bailing at the last minute.  Download these brackets and keep them handy while watching the videos throughout the week.

MB7 Previews: Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs

TOP 16
The featured morning qualifying games always happen on the Old Orchard’s center courts.  That’s where the best ballers in the land battle it out to advance to the afternoon.  A few of the top 16 players in the world are missing this year, but when the “worst” player of this bunch is #24 Rex Danely, you know the talent level is still very, very high.  Osters and Frushour preview the players you’ll see center stage at MB7.

WHAT’S IT TAKE?
What’s it take to win the World Championship?  Really, only three players know the answer to this question — Jim Blair, Dean Allen & Chuck Trinoskey — but A & A are here to talk about what they think it takes to take home the gold.

A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE TREE HOUSE
This video has little to nothing to do with Monkeyball.  Its purpose is threefold: 1) to break up the monotony of four-straight “tree house” screenshots; 2) to show just how small and camped those tree house quarters were for us; and 3) because I think it’s very funny.  You’ll have to believe when I say Kate really was having a good time, and she went on the water slide many more times that day (please don’t call Child Protective Services).

BIG RACK CHALLENGE
New in 2010 was the Big Rack Challenge — a mini-tournament featuring games consisting of only four tosses per player.  The $1 entry fee netted a $40 winner-take-all pot at MB6.  And at MB7, our friends at the American Tailgating League are going to double whatever we put in the pot.  Be on the lookout Saturday for the ATL’s Stacey & Bernie who are coming from Charlotte, NC, to see what our little game is all about.

WHO’S NOT COMING
One of these years all of our MB Worlds alumni will be in the same place at the same time.  This year, like others, we’ll be missing a few of our MB friends.  So let’s put them on blast. Here’s a small sampling of who won’t be at the Old Orchard.

GUEST PREDICTIONS: Dan Kidle & Matt Young
Throughout the week we’ll be hearing from some Monkeyballers, talking about MB7 in their own words.  Today, Dan Kidle & Matt Young give us their take on Monkeyball TV.  I gotta say, these guys have set the bar very high for the rest of you.  Nice work, boys — enjoy!

The first draft of the OFFICIAL MB7 BRACKETS are available.  The brackets will change a little bit Saturday morning based on who else shows up and who punks us by bailing at the last minute.  Download these brackets and keep them handy while watching the videos throughout the week.

MB7 Previews: Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs

THE OPENER
A preview for the previews.  MB TV hosts Andi Osters and Andy Frushour are together again to walk you through the plot lines and players headlining MB7 festivities.

MB6 IN REVIEW
The 2010 World Championships seem like they happened so long ago.  Our hosts are here to help remind us of what happened at MB6.  We all know Dean Allen won, of course, but what else went down at the Old Orchard that fateful August day?

FROM THE ARCHIVES: MB6 CHAMPIONSHIP POINT
I’m sure Dan Kidle has been replaying this rack over-and-over in his head since this time last year.  Dean Allen (red) leads Dan Kidle (yellow) 14-8 in game two of the 2010 Worlds championship game.  Dean needs only one point to win his fourth world title.

A STATEMENT FOR SOMOCO
In 2010 Osters was ruthless toward SoMoCo, and her comments generated some unnecessary ill feelings and bad blood.  She wishes to send a heart-felt message to our friends in the South. I’m not sure she accomplished her goal.

GRACE’S GANG
The only time we get serious this week, hear me out… All proceeds from our BBQ lunch go to Grace’s Gang — a non-profit run by one of the Commish’s best friends, Aaron Gurley.  The aim of the group is to provide insulin pumps to kids suffering from juvenile diabetes, a disease that little 6-year old Grace Gurley has been fighting since before her first birthday.  You can skip the first video if you’re short on time, but don’t miss the second video which was used to promote Grace’s Gangs fundraising efforts before the Oct. 2010 JDRF Walk For the Cure in Tempe, Ariz.

One week until the big event, so it’s about time to unveil our traditional series of Monkeyball Worlds preview videos. Starting tomorrow morning on PlayMonkeyball.com, you can watch Andi Osters and I discuss all aspects of the big tournament while likely putting our proverbial foot-in-mouth for the whole world to see. New videos will be added every day through Thursday. We hope you have some fun with them, as we had fun shooting them. (Also tomorrow, updated rankings and the official MB7 brackets will be posted on the website.)

Please arrive no later than 9:45 next Saturday. Practice courts will be available starting at 8:30. Also, there are spots available if you want to invite friends to join us. It’s helpful if I know names in advance, but there should be room for walk-ups, too.

STORY – The MB7 first round opponent for the four-time champ has been announced. Read his opponent’s reaction.

Andy

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1. PLAYERS: Right now we have 90 players, so there’s still plenty of room to add more.  Please spread the word (even if it means having friends show up on game day). And if you know you’re no longer coming, please give me a heads up.

2. VIDEOS: Yes, Osters and I will again be airing our infamous preview videos.  Check back to the MB website starting next Sunday (July 31) for 5 straight days of Monkeyball TV.  And if you want to participate, grab a camera, press record, tell us your final four (or any other MB thoughts), post to YouTube and send me the link – I’ll post all of your at-home videos right next to ours.

3. FOOD: Instead of pizza we will have a smoker/grill whipping up some awesome BBQ pork sandwiches, burgers and dogs.  You won’t be paying more than $5 for a combo meal.  MORE IMPORTANTLY, all proceeds will benefit Grace’s Gang and its JDRF walk.  I look forward to telling you more about Grace and her daily battle in the coming weeks.

4. SHIRTS: T-shirts have been ordered, including a few extra of each size.  If you did not pre-order, but want to claim one of the extra shirts, let me know right now.  I’m sure there will be a lot of unhappy and shirtless people at MB7.

5. RANKINGS: For those who care (and there are plenty of you), final pre-MB7 rankings will be posted next Saturday.

As always visit this page for up-to-the-minute MB7 info — http://playmonkeyball.com/upcoming-events/8611-worlds-mb7/. The countdown is on.  See you on Aug 6!

Frush

The logo release also always coincides with my brain clicking over to Monkeyball promotion & planning overdrive.  We’re still 7 weeks out, but the buildup to the big day is already reaching exciting levels.  As of today 76 players are signed up, so there’s plenty of room for you to invite your friends, family and neighbors.

As always, huge props to Casey at CaseysHead.com for coming up with a unique MB7 design.  And if you have any ideas on making our annual ladder golf festival even more fun, please send them my way.

More 2011 World Championships info >>>

Commish

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