Matt Joyce and Jim Mercurio Take the "Billy O" C Draw

The C Draw tourney set a blazing pace on Sunday afternoon, finishing well in time to see the Bears and Patriots game. Matt and Jim won the final round over Greg Donnelly and Kevin Parks.

Hinsdale Women Take to the Zone and D'Alise and Doolas Win the War

Not a moment of Saturday afternoon's beautiful weather went to waste as the women of Hinsdale took to the Red Zone.

A full draw of competitors turned out, and at the end of the day, Missy D'Alise and Patty Doolas had prevailed.

The winners fought in their first round match with Jackie Nelson and JoAnn Williams and in the second round with team Maria Mohl and Pam Pierce.

Meanwhile in the other half of the draw, Molly Hughes and Sarah Opler battled with Leslie Keegan and Kathleen Mulligan in round one and Susan MacDonnell and Cindy Zender in the semi-final match.

Those experiences prepared D'Alise and Doolas well for the finals and the rights to all of the prize money. Missy and Patty are pictured with tournament co-director Mary Doten, Molly, and Sarah.

Triumph in the Red Zone for Martin and Usher (which Usher, you ask?)

Wade Martin and Ed Usher edged out Clay Leonard and Bob Schultz in a three-set match Saturday to take the A Draw at "The Billy O Tourney". Tournament co-director Gary Doten is pictured here with the eponym himself (great word, isn't that? Still, not half as great as the Great Billy O).

With half of the draw filled with Ushers, sportsbook.com had Martin/Usher as "even" odds and gave the "trifecta" as 3:1 -- that's the odds against a winning team lacking one of the Usher boys. Before the big day, it seemed to only be a question of whether it'd be Charlie, Ed, or Pat that had to sit out the finals.

Ed ("three-time tourney winner") Usher and Wade ("making the impossible seem easy") Martin toyed with their opponents in the opening and semi-finals, taking both to a third-set breaker before destroying their spirit.

Clay ("stepping in, but not a substitute for Sam Hart") Leonard and the Great Bob Schultz had a much tougher time of it in early round matches. The pair became distracted as Natalya Sagdiyev served the first point, revealing her limited use of undergarments.

Their luck got worse as brother Borat insisted that Schultz serve from the red, but the match turned around for our local heroes once they decided to go along with Borat's insistence about singing Kazakh tunes through the second and third sets.

After that challenge, Eddie Dunphy and James Goldman couldn't throw anything at the duo they weren't going to handle. Ultimately, however, the odds were against Clay and Bob going all the way once those Kazakh folk songs entered their repertoire.

Hershman and King Undefeated at "The Billy O Tourney" B Draw

The B Draw was played on a sunny Friday morning as a round robin among six teams. The format for each round was an 8-game pro set, with a tiebreaker played at 7-7.

Graham Hershman and Corky King prevailed in one such tiebreaker during their first round match against Jim Mercurio and Ed Opler. From there on, it was smooth sailing for Hershman/King through the B Draw. The dynamic duo toppled four other teams and then Mercurio and Opler for a second time in the Finals.

The winners are pictured here with Tournament Director Gary Doten and the tournament eponym himself. And "no", a sailor isn't ever in the wrong, Bill!

Paddle Tournament Dates to Note

Chicagoland Juniors Tournament on December 9: There will be as many as four age brackets for boys and girls in the juniors tourney: U10, U12, U14, and U18. The tournament will be held at Winnetka Park District and in nearby clubs.

A fun bunch of guys in our state capital (that's Springfield, IL) put on a terrific little tournament over the December 2-3 weekend. Highly recommended.

Men's "Series" Tournamets: 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15 on January 13-14

Illinois State Men's and Women's Tournaments from February 9-11

Hinsdale Year-End Tournament on March 17-18

Work Off Thanksgiving Dinner -- The Entry Deadline for "The Billy O" Extended

There are still a few spaces open in the draws for "The Billy O" tournaments which take place as follows:

B Draw (total 10 "pts") - Friday 8 AM to Noon
A Draw (4 pts) - Saturday 8 AM to Noon
Women's - Saturday 1 PM to 5 PM
C Draw (20 pts) - Sunday 1 PM to 5 PM

E-mail mhdoten@sbcglobal.net. The $50 entry fee goes entirely to charity Common Hope

Paddle Man Law (Update 4)

Men of the Square Court:

Your partner has faulted twice and put you behind in a must-win game. Is it permissable to hand him the ball and tell him to just get the damn serve in?

No, my child. This game is about joy, not about winning. You are all about being a good partner, not the match score. A well-schooled partner returns the ball to his partner with kind confidence and tells the server in a gentle voice (sounding like Ben Kingsley in Gandhi) ... "You must be the paddler you want to see in the world".

Is it permissable for a man to wear corduroys for paddle?

Being a high-styling retro dummy can be in the realm of manly, but never ever, is it permissable for that same paddle man to scream watered-down epithets on the square court after a missed shot. No "Fiddlefarts!" and other goofy-goober phrases. Keep it to yourself, like a real man.

Man law.

Where All the Women are Strong ...

Five weeks into their inaugural season, the women's teams from Hinsdale Park District are showing their series 8 and series 11 opponents, just how strong the women of Hinsdale are. Both HPD Women's teams are 5-0 so far this season. Wow! What a start!

Welcome to Hinsdale ... where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

Well-Dressed Visitor from Kazakhstan enters Red Zone

Perhaps he misunderstood the idea of the "red zone", but it looks as though the Billy O Tourney over Thanksgiving weekend is filling up. Contact mhdoten@sbcglobal.net before it's too late!

On the entry form, Borat says: "My name Borat. I journalism for Kazakhs. I go to U, S, and A to help my country. My have 20/20 clear vision and a sound execution, just like your Hinzdales, by hanging. I grate parks, drinking publicly, entrying the red zones, and build the infrared structure. My sister services policies. Hinzdales platform saids soluting, exploring, and the grouping will valuate a remedies to apartment complexes and municipality tissues. I anticipated problems, facitious challenges, and interdependencies with my brothers and sisters in Kazakhstan. Giving you the well-researched principals you dessert. My strategic direction enough for million tenge $ spended for Village 20/25 plans. Community will be adopted by neighboring, just like my country by Soviets. "


It has come to our attention that Borat was following the adage "When in Kazakhstan, do as the Kazakhs do". Borat had come across some text from the Village of Hinsdale's million dollar project to "strategize" and mistaken it for English. That statement goes as follows:

"Platform Statement: Hinsdale 2025 will help integrate the land use, zoning, community character, transportation, parking, housing, environmental issues, economic development, public infrastructure and public service policies of the community. The Solution Exploration Groups will evaluate a range of remedies to complex municipal issues and anticipate new problems, challenges and interdependencies. A well-researched and principled strategic direction respecting the goals, values and community character of the Village will then be adopted for implementation."

"Clearly a Lack of Trust of This Particular Village Board" says President Woerner

Really? Now, why wouldn't we all trust this board?

The rejection of a referendum which would have provided the Village of Hinsdale the right to an additional 1 percent sales tax, and with cash to spend on infrastructure improvements, was seen as a clear signal to Village President Mike Woerner. "There is clearly a lack of trust in this community of this particular Village Board," he said to The Doings (November 9, 2006 edition -- page 5H).


Hinsdale voted down the sales tax increase on November 7 by more than a two-to-one margin:

Yes ...1,720 votes .... 31%
No ....3,830 votes .... 69%

Perhaps as Woerner was relating his disappointment he was really thinking -- given all of his moves to appease a few breakfast buddies in a nearby town -- that he should have run the sales tax referendum on Burr Ridge's ballot instead of Hinsdale's.


The November 12, 2006 edition of Suburban Life quoted Woerner, after learning about the overwelming defeat, as concerned about the board's plans for the village to become a public electric utility. "It will be expensive, and we'd better have our ducks in a line, or this will go down in flames, too."

Apparently being "strategic" in Hinsdale has come to mean favoring public ownership over private enterprise. It makes one wonder. ComEd may not be doing a great job keeping the power on, but is their infrastructure anywhere as neglected as the Village of Hinsdale's roads?

HPTA Board Elections End in Landslide

With all precincts counted, five HPTA board members were elected unanimously in the 2006 election which closed November 7th. The winners were:

President: Bill O'Brien (term 2006-08)
Vice-President, Instruction: Charlie Usher (term 2006-08)
Vice-President, Membership: Nancy Ballantine (term 2006-08)
Vice-President, Treasurer: Jay Pollitt (term 2006-08)
Vice-President, Women's Programs: Margaret Hawn (term 2006-08)

Burr Ridge Berm Construction Begins

The Village of Hinsdale recently received a scale model of the Burr Ridge berm and made it available for public view. Artisans constructed the model berm for far less than had been originally imagined by the trustees -- only a mere $60,000 of taxpayer money was spent on the entire design. Construction at KLM has just begun. No doubt the village is making Hinsdale paddle a better neighbor to the maintenance garages at KB.

Doten/Keane Finalists at the Chicago Charities Tourney

The Women's Open at the Chicago Charities was won for the first time by Delmonico/Main in a (Nationals Final Rematch) hard fought 3 setter over Doten/Keane. The Men's 95+ event was, once again won by the father/son Estes team over Rick Johnston and Mike Sullivan. The 110+ event was won by Scott Estes Sr. and Chicago's own Hall of Fame paddle guru Howard Sipe. The Men's Open was played in perfect weather in front of a couple hundred witnesses on Sunday afternoon. Gambino/Ohlmuller defeated Cochrane/Estes in a tough and entertaining 2 set match.