estimated read time- 26 minutes
"Wow."
"Wow."
(large sigh)
"Wow."
On Saturday evening, when I finally got home, took a shower, and sat down on our bed, that was just about the only thing I could say to Alissa. What an overwhelming day for The TPL. It kicked off a series of firsts for our great league. The first two day event, the first time straying from our 3 pool play match format, and the first time hosting a TPL at The PickleShouse.
We had dreamed of this moment for years, from the first time we had a fire out on that land after Adam bought it, we envisioned hosting events like this, where all our beloved friends come to town for that special mix of competition and camaraderie. As The TPL was born, we held the first ever season 1 draft out on that land, and further envisioned the possibilities for The TPL and The PickleShouse to merge together. The timing really felt perfect for this to be our first event there. With each event that takes place, the kinks get ironed out a bit more, we finally start to understand what takes place at the coin toss, and our tight knit group gets a little tighter. It wouldn't have been right to have the first PickleShouse event feature a bunch of new players, and luckily all 24 participants in the season 6 event were repeat TPL players (aside from our two subs, who fit right in). Having our close TPL family experience this monumental event in The PickleShouse for the first time together was overwhelmingly joyous, which is why I was left speechless Saturday night when I got home.
But that was only day one. There was yet another day to come, and a champion to be crowned. Let's dive in to what went down on the courts.
Pool Play
Live Mas
Many things went right for Live Mas throughout the weekend. They showed up in an incredible ensamble of Taco Bell hot sauce themed uniforms, taco earrings for the gals, and even real packets of said hot sauce. They also brought a gong, which was a hell of an awesome move. Despite high expectations from the media before season 6, Live Mas finished 1-4 after pool play. You could see that and think they had a rough day, but the overall record doesn't tell the whole story. The taco gang lost 6 two point games! They played in thriller after thriller, and it just seemed the ball wasn't bouncing their way after their first four pool play games, leading to an 0-4 start. However, just like how Taco Bell is at its best in the late night, so was Live Mas. In their last pool play match, the nightcap against (at the time) undefeated Dink Dynasty, the taco team came alive, deep frying DD 3-1, with all three of their wins coming with at least a 7 point margin of victory. Would this be the tiny bit of hope and momentum they would need to make the famous "worst to first" playoff run, as Nicole did in Season 3?
Frosty The Sandbagger
Previously known as Dinklebells, Frosty showed up with their new name and their fresh matching green shirts ready to rip, as they were able to melt the FireBallerz in a dreambreaker in their first match. In their second round they had a slugfest with RGF, having three of the four games going to extra points, with the JJ/Adam vs Volly/JD game going to 28-26 in favor of mother JJ. If you thought the 6 two point games that Live Mas played in was impressive, Frosty managed to find themselves in 11, yes 11 two point games during pool play (winning 4, and losing 7 of them)! They were a team that just wouldn't go away, with some of the longest rallies and wildest chase down points. Corbin and Justin were a mens team to be reconded with, finishing pool play with the best men's doubles record, at 4-1. After earning another match win over Live Mas, Frosty found themselves 2-3 after pool play. It's been said that post competition on Saturday Justin had some "serial killer vibes" at the Blueline restaurant. Could he carry that killer instinct into Sunday morning's playoffs, or would Frosty find themselves without their magic tophat?
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| Frosty's youth and speed was on display all weekend |
Dink Dynasty
After a last minute injury to Emily Schadow, Dink Dynasty found themselves in unfamiliar territory without a 4th teammate. Lake planned to just play by herself, but captain Dan quickly got on the horn, and found two ladies who could make the last minute trek to St. Joseph in Jess Pollock and Liz Templin. Jess coming for Saturday's pool matches, while Liz would fill in on Sunday. Despite adjusting to the new teammates, Dink Dynasty came out flying with three straight match wins. A 3-1 win over Frosty, dreambreaker win over Orlando, and a 3-1 win over RGF. Dan and Jay were soaring, while Lake and Jess were quacking strong throughout their first three rounds. The lucky duck calls and help from the team mascot seemed to run dry, as they dropped their only match of the day on Saturday to Live Mas in the nightcap, before starting Sunday off with a loss to the Fire Ballerz in their final pool play match, ending their pool run 3-2 overall. Lake and newcomer Jess finished the day 4-1 in women's games, tied with Jenny/Missy. What an incredibly difficult spot for Jess and Liz to come into, with no prep time, and a crazy environment where we all know each other and know the TPL format. They both thoroughly impressed and were joys to have at the shed. Thank you Jess and Liz for showing up and balling out on such short notice!
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| Dink Dynasty overcame adversity and balled the heck out! |
Resting Grinch Face
RGF got the early morning 9:00am kickoff game on Saturday, and at 8:55am when they still didn't have all their players, it looked like they could be in for a long day. That sentimate proved to be incorrect, as RGF hopped out to a 3-0 pool play start, with match wins over the Fire Ballerz, Live Mas, and Frosty. They then had a two match bye, and just like our beloved Minnesota Vikings this year, they dropped their next two matches coming out of the bye. First to Dink Dynasty on Saturday night, and then in a matchup where the winner would get the #1 seed, to the Orlando Squeeze. That last match vs the Squeeze would end up as a TPL classic, going to a dreambreaker, with the Squeeze shrinking the Grinch's heart two sizes too small, 27-25. Missy and Jenny were stealing all the ladies' presents, finishing with a pool play record of 4-1 in women's doubles. Could Adam and Yang carry their weight in the playoffs, or would Cindy Lou Who steal the Grinches heart?
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| Attempting their best grinch faces? |
Fire Ballerz
I mean, did you see those matching uniforms with the red bottoms, the fire glasses, and the Fireball shots? While they showed up looking hot, the Ballerz didn't start too hot on the court, losing their first two matches to RGF and Frosty, both 3-1. But that would be a silly mistake to count the Ballerz out early, as they were just getting warmed up. They came back with two 3-1 match wins to end the day over Orlando Squeeze and Live Mas. The spark was on for their gendered teams, as both the Ballerz ladies and men won their gendered doubles games against the Squeeze and Live Mas after going winless in their first two matches. Sunday morning was off to a chillier start when the reports came in that Genna was fighting a migraine and had just puked 6 times. The 5th member of the Ballerz squad, Alissa Spaniol, was ready to fill in, but minutes before their final pool play match on Sunday morning, Genna showed up ready to rally, and she did just that, as her and Tom sealed the 3-1 match victory over Dink D with a mixed win against Liz/Dan. Finishing pool play 3-2 after an 0-2 start, with John and Tom rockin those beautiful yellow uni's, the Ballerz were looking like a dangerous team heading into the playoffs.
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| I miss my Fire Ballerz already 💔 |
Orlando Squeeze
The Squeeze were getting quite a bit of pre season hype from the media, and they came out proving everyone right in their first match, souring the taco team 4-0. The juice ran dry in their next two matches as they lost to The Ballerz and Dink Dynasty, 3-1 and 3-2. But there was more juice to drink, as the Squeeze came back and won one of the tightest matches of the day 3-1 against Frosty, where the largest margin of victory was a 21-18 women's game. To finish off pool play they met up with RGF with the #1 seed on the line. After falling down 0-2 after gendered, the squeeze rallied with two 21-18 mixed wins from Kitri/Manny and Emily/Julius, setting up a dreambreaker. This provided the shed crowd with the finest dreambreaker of the day, ending 27-25 in favor of the Squeeze, and giving them the #1 seed.
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| Gettin squeezy with it |
However, after the conclusion of that game, it was far from clear who the #1 seed would be. For the first time in TPL history, four teams had identical records, as Orlando, Fire Ballerz, RGF, and Dink Dynasty were all 3-2 after pool play. Each team had wins/losses against the others, and so math was needed to decide the final seedings, proving that every single game during pool play matters. Here's the final standings after pool play:
#1 Orlando Squeeze. 3-2, + 4 (games net)
#2 Fire Ballerz. 3-2, +3
#3 Resting Grinch Face. 3-2, +2
#4 Dink Dynasty. 3-2, +1
#5 Frosty The Sandbagger. 2-3
#6 Live Mas. 1-4
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| Always fun when it comes down to math |
Quarter Finals
With Orlando Squeeze and the Fire Ballerz earning byes into the semifinals, it setup QF matchups between Resting Grinch Face/Live Mas, and Dink Dynasty/Frosty. On the far court, Live Mas found themselves in an early 0-2 hole after gendered. RGF trotted out the dynamic due of Adam/Jenny to try and seal the deal, but St. Cloud pickleball legend Jason Krueger and two time champion Nicole Idalski decided they were not done "living more." In a great battle, Jason/Nicole came out on top 21-18, setting up Mavetz/Pomeroy with the chance to send it to a dreambreaker. What stood in their way was the long standing partnership of Missy/Yang, who've played more pickleball games together than Chris has played in his life. Their home court advantage and familiarity with each other's games proved to be too much, as they took down Chris/Nicki, sending RGF on through to the semi finals.
On court one, the magic of Frosty and his tophat returned, as they swept Dink Dynasty 3-0. Corbin and Justin continued to look strong, while Volly/Kris got their third women's win of the tournament. Upon sealing their victory, there was a great moment caught by Alissa that was featured in the video recap, as captain Justin shared an embrace with his two women superstars in Volly/Kris. It's this kind of comradery and love for your teammates that has become common at the TPL. While often rare to find elsewhere, it seems to expected here. We'll get into more sappy thoughts later, we have more playoff recapping to do, but I just sincerely appreciate everyone continuing to create an environment where everyone is loved by their teammates.
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| A Frosty embrace |
Back to business.
Semifinals
Semifinal #1 showcased the top seeded Squeeze against the red hot Frosty's. While it looked like Frosty was poised to flip the script from their extremely close pool play loss to the Squeeze, it appeared their top hat magic did officially run out this time. Reality set in, there was no Santa there to put Frosty back together, and the acidity from the Squeeze melted Frosty forever, as the Squeeze won 3-0.
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| Squeeze locking in before playoffs |
Semifinal #2 had a different story. As Genna was still trying to rally from her migraines and puking, she emerged from being under blankets and winter coats to put on a fiery show in the women's doubles game. After a back and forth game where the Ballerz had a few game points on their serve, RGF's ladies chipped away and pulled out the victory 24-22. The men's game ended up going in a similar fashion. Tom/John had the 20-18 lead over Adam/Yang, but just couldn't put it away, as Adam/Yang came back to win 22-20. RGF once again trotted out their stars in Adam/Jenny to seal the deal, while the Ballerz countered with Tom/Genna. RGF got out to an early 3-0 start when Genna/Adam locked into an epic hands battle. Genna came out on top, and with a fiery shout, released the demons that had haunted her all morning. This proved to be the tipping point of the game, as Tom/Genna went on to secure the victory 21-18. John/Sheedy came on ready to send it to a dreambreaker, coming into the game as one of the hottest mixed teams in season 6, with Yang/Missy once again looking to spoil the fun and seal the deal for RGF. After a 5-0 lead for the Ballerz, Yang called timeout, he and Missy switched sides, and the rest was history. RGF came back to get the win, and secured their spot in the TPL Season 6 championship match.
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| The Ballerz' boys in their day 2 yellows |
Championship
With the tunes pumpin, the House of Pizza buffet stocked, and the legs dangling from the mezzanine, the capacity shed crowd was ready for the season 6 finale. From the very first point of the women's game, it was a full on battle. The ladies dazzled us with every rally. There was power, speed, finesse, and angles. In the end Jenny/Missy came out on top giving RGF an early 1-0 lead. In a repeat of their pool play match earlier in the day, Yang/Adam took down Julius/Manny to put the Squeeze in an 0-2 hole. RGF put out the red hot mixed combo of Missy/Yang, and the Squeeze countered with undefeated Kitri/Manny. The pride of Wilmar high Manny and our Wisconsin gal Kitri proved they were this season's top mixed team, staying undefeated, taking down Missy/Yang, and setting up an all important game 4. The ruckus crowd was clamoring for a dreambreaker, but Adam/Jenny figured out their mishaps from earlier in the day, and took down Emily/Julius, giving Resting Grinch Face the season 6 title!
Pickleball is a game of runs, and Resting Grinch Face proved just that with their matches. After winning their first three, they lost their next two. They regrouped for the playoffs, and won their next three in a row to have their names forever inscribed upon The TPL Cup. Yang/Missy for the first time, and Jenny/Adam each for the second time. They were also unbelievably resilient, winning multiple games in the playoffs when they were hanging on to a thread, with their opponents serving on game point. The ability to hang strong and make comeback after comeback is what really did it for RGF, and is what's required for any TPL championship team with how close the games have become. It remains to be seen if RGF will choose to stay together for season 7, or re-enter the draft, as playing with new teammates each time is part of what makes the TPL fun. If they do choose to stay together, we know the rest of the league will have their work cut out for them to try and knock them off, as this team will be a tough matchup no matter how the season 7 teams shake out.
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| Season 6 champions- Resting Grinch Face |
Stats for the nerds:
Top Performing Gendered Doubles Teams:
- Corbin Bentz and Justin Dering: 5-2
- Lake Johnson and Jess/Liz: 4-2
- Missy Rosenthal and Jenny Johnson: 7-1
- Tom Spaniol and Genna Porter: 4-2
- John Michaud and Jen Sheedy: 4-2
- Manny Obregon and Kitri Boser: 7-0
- *there may have been more but we didn't really write down mixed stats this time and no one told me if they did better!
- Highest scoring game: 29-27. Sheedy/Genna over Nicki/Nicole. (Sheedy was in the highest scoring game last season too!)
- 36% (23 of 64) of pool play games were won by only a 2 point margin
- Only 4 dreambreakers total this season, but I believe more 2 point games overall??
- 6 pukes for Genna
- Only 1 shirt change for Justin?
- Jenny has won the championship both times she has stayed at my parents house. She will not be allowed to stay there for season 7 (unless their team decides to be in the draft, and she picks me, then she of course will be staying there)
- Best Dressed- Fire Ballerz. Not even close. We had two different uniform combos to wear, because we knew it was a 2 day tournament. What the heck were the rest of you doing?!?
Perhaps it was fitting for RGF to win the title, as three of their four team members are owners in the shed. But it indeed felt most fitting for RGF to win this title because of what their captain, Adam Couzens, has done to make this a reality. Most of us get to show up, enjoy the place, and leave. Many of us put money, and or hours of sweat equity into the building of the shed. But a few have done more than we'll ever know. Adam is one of those people. Since the beginning, he has had many days being there by himself for hours on end, building this place with his hands, sheet by sheet, nail by nail, creating the masterpiece you got to spend time in last weekend. Luckily I don't think anyone really noticed, but during the post championship ceremony I started to get a bit emotional when bringing this up. As someone who has been there from the start of the shed project, to look out over the weekend and see how it all came together, was almost just too much.
I was luckily saved when Adam tried to deflect the credit, and rightfully so, pointed out two other people who have been invaluable to The PickleShouse coming to life. My Ballerz teammate John and his wife Dawn. John and Dawn have really gone above and beyond to help make this project succeed. Like Adam, we'll never really truly know how much work or how many hours they've spent out there creating this space for all of us. All we know is that on behalf of everyone in The TPL family, we're so grateful to have you, for everything you've done with the shed, as well as with The TPL. Always volunteering to help with anything I need, hosting puking people, and displaying our logo forever upon your shoulder.
The championship match was supposed to be Ballerz vs RGF, with it going to a dreambreaker, ending with the guys on the court. And the score would be 100 to 100, and then Yang and I would slowly back away from the court, as John and Adam battled into the night, the PickleShed Gods not allowing either one to come out on top, until they both passed out due to exhaustion, and we called it a tie. Unfortunately things don't always work out the way we want them to, the way we think they should. But despite that quick tangent I went on, we're still really grateful for you, John, Dawn, and Adam. For giving The TPL a place to call home.
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| The real MVP's! |
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| Lots of measuring/calculating went into the scoreboard! |
Everyone at The TPL is very competetive, but it's not just the losing that hurts, it's losing and knowing that, unless some miracle happens at the next draft, your team's run together is over. That sentiment is also what makes this so special. The fact that we actually care, and care deeply, about our teammates, and want to win it with them, is unique. It's become very painful to lose out at The TPL. But the fact that we actually have something that causes pain, that makes us feel emotions, is really what being alive is all about. I think we're all lucky to have something in our life that we look forward to, that we take pride in, and that we're sad about when it's over. Credit to all of you for creating that atmosphere here at The TPL. I don't play in many tournaments outside of The TPL, but when I do, I don't feel that atmosphere at all. It's unique to us here within our little family, and I thank you all for fostering that.
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| The fellas watching the finals go down |
Alongside being sad that it's over, we're able to be grateful that it happened and reflect on the beautiful things. There seemed to be more "Let's go's," "Fu** yeah's," and "Come on's," yelled on the courts this season. But there was also more good morning/goodbye hugs, "I'll miss you's," and "When is the next one's" heard throughout the event. As we continue to get closer as a family, it feels like everyone is more comfortable with the shit talking while on court, while instantly being able to hug it out after the game. It's really been fun witnessing all of us become such good friends while also being fierce competitors.
Sharing a line from Genna's post event reflection in our group text as she was telling us about her many fun moments from this season, among her memories was "And Sheedy and I falling in love and becoming BFF's." Until reading that I didn't realize that Sheedy and Genna didn't know each other before meeting at last spring's TPL event, and that this event them being teammates really created a new amazing relationship amongst them that will hopefully last a lifetime. I probably assumed that because they're both from "the cities," or because they're both tall, that they knew each other before this. But after I read that and reflected on the rest of the rosters, I realized that a large amount of the participants this past weekend first met at a TPL event. To me, that's what it's all about, and something that makes me extremely happy and proud to play a part in this. That an idea I had a few years ago has sprouted all these lifelong friendships, and given us amazing mentors (and babysitters) for our little girl who will join us soon, is just so special.
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| Drowning our sorrows in pizza |
There was one more text in our Ballerz thread that I'll share as I wrap this up. On Monday morning Sheedy put into words what we were all thinking, "Tom, maybe in the blog you can provide some tips for how to cope with this post-TPL depression I'm currently in?"
While I still don't really have the answer, one line comes to mind. My high school baseball coach (and the winningest coach in the history of Minnesota), Bob Karn, would sign all his emails and hand written notes with the phrase, "Keep swinging."
How do we cure this post-TPL depression? Just keep swinging. Keep hitting that little plastic ball. Keep getting out on the courts, keep running around, keep practicing new shots, and most importantly, keep gathering with your TPL family. Do that, and season 7 will be here before you know it.
Just keep swinging.
I love you all so much it hurts.
-Tom Spaniol
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