Washington University – a game called Horse?
Our blog has long had a tradition of playing an annual Thanksgiving match. 2017 was no exception – Climate Change/Global Warming or just plain fate had arranged for the weather to be in the high 60’s and sunny in late November.
We decided to test our luck at the fabled Washington University Tennis Courts. The official courts of the fabled Washington University Bears Tennis Teams. These courts are among the oldest in St. Louis if not the oldest. The 1904 World’s Fair Tennis Championship was here as was the 1904 Olympics. Dwight Davis, Karl Kammann, Butch Buchholz, Ted Drewes, Wray Brown all played for Wash U’s teams.
Arthur Ashe practiced on these courts. Carol Hanks Aucamp played on the mens team in 1963. The great Pat Purcell played on these courts in her college days. These are serious courts with incredible history. On this day the men of Stlforgotten courts decided to add to this storied history…..
As you might expect these courts are in tip top shape and even include a tennis scoreboard on the east end of the courts. Since Stan has been drubbing Scott of lately Scott devised a game of racket skills instead of a traditional match to see if he could shake the Bulgarian. The game was a tennis version of the basketball game called HORSE. In a very original move we named our game TENNIS and utilized an igloo 5 gallon round cooler as our basket.
Prior to getting started we decorated the court with some owls, Thanksgiving tablecloth and our favorite festive beverages. We uncorked a couple Samuel Smith Ciders – Stan picked the apple and Scott went with the pear and began our warm up.
Scott made the first call – The cooler was placed on the service T and we stood on the opposite service T. The ball had to be hit into the bucket on the fly. After exhausting an entire hopper of balls nobody had succeeded. We moved on and Stan set up a deep cross court forehand shot with the call being you had to hit the bucket on the fly.
About halfway through the hopper we had bounced over, hit on the bounce but nobody could get it on the fly. All of the sudden Scott launched one and boom a T for Stan! The next shot by Scott was a down the line short drop shot which had to land in the bucket on the fly. This was bread and butter for Scott and he scored quickly sprinting out to a TE lead. Next shot by Stan was a cross court backhand that had to hit on the bounce.
Again after both players being all around it Scott finally scored for a TEN lead. Stan was in trouble – Scott called a short cross court forehand from service box corner to corner and Stan desperate added a caveat that in the bucket would add two letters. Scott smelled victory and started lofting for the two points while Stan did the same. Stan got nervous when Scott started closing in and unleashed a hard line drive to hit the bucket and get on the board. TEN to T. ‘
Stan then chose a wide serve to the Ad court and used a six pack container to mark it right in the corner. About a third of the way through the hopper Scott nailed it on the fly to go to TENN to T. Emboldened Scott called a short wide serve to the deuce side – a serve both players utilize and moved the six pack about halfway up the service sideline. Literally just a few balls in Scott nailed it again on the fly to TENNI to T.
Stan was really in trouble and called a down the line backhand deep with in the bucket being 2 points. Stan’s backhand is on point and this was a sure winner for him. About a third of the way through with neither player hitting anything Scott was shanking most of his wide of the target. Stan was zeroing in and then it was over as Scott not only hit the bucket but landed a backhand inside on the fly. Game over. A stunning defeat in a duel of racket skills for the Bulgarian.
Scott opened up an Urban Chestnut Stammtisch to celebrate…… Meanwhile the Bulgarian stewing over his loss threw out a challenge. The challenge was another tennis first – The 17 point tiebreaker, switching sides every two points with a shutout at 9-0. Scott enjoying his beer and feeling the exhilaration of victory of course said “Its on”
5 points into the tiebreaker Scott was in deep Kimchi. Stan was up 5-0 and on a mission to end this thing quickly. It was at that point that Stan double faulted giving Scott the point he needed to stay in the tiebreaker. This tiebreaker was just not meant to be for Scott. Stan was focused and raining deep shots to the corners and generally exploiting his better court movement.
Scott managed to get back to 5-16 with a great pick up of a drop shot but then Stan finished it with a deep down the middle shot that Scott fouled off like a baseball pitch. Victory for Stan in possibly the worlds first 17 point tiebreaker!
We loved these courts. Condition and setting are both 10’s. They are in first class shape and a great place to play when not in use by the Tennis Teams.
Stan was preparing to play in a Pat Purcell tournament later that night and needed some nourishment so we headed to the DeMun area to Seedz a great vegetarian restaurant where we downed some great stuffed peppers and an OM Marzen Beer. Not wanting the fun to end we headed next door to Pull for some espresso and a fabulous Honey Mama’s Peruvian Raw Chocolate. Fully prepared Stan continued his tennis that evening and finished second in the singles tournament!