The Weekly Weasel — Week of Nov. 5

Here’s the latest news from the Weasels.
 
And it’s Doc by a Nose!
For the first time since the Grand Prix started in 1999, the final event actually mattered.

Now, certainly in the past, Grand Prix hopefuls have done battle in the final event and even have had a chance–however remote–to win. Never before, though, had a pursuer actually capitalized on that chance. Until now.

The final event took place last weekend at Carnage in Fairlee, Vt. Last year, Carnage played host to DipCon. This year, it was a much quieter affair, fielding only five boards over the three rounds. Tournament Director Alex Amann has not yet published his final report, so I may have this next detail wrong. However, from what I’ve gathered, only Doc Binder of the Grand Prix’ top three racers attended the event. Going in, Doc was in third place, trailing Peter Yeargin by about 14 points and Adam Sigal by about 32.

Grand Prix tournaments are worth 10 times their total boards in the three largest rounds. The winner scores that amount. Each subsequent position earns 90 percent of the previous position, down to 5 points for just showing up. So, to catch Sigal in a five-board purse, Doc needed to finish fifth place or better. He took third, to edge Sigal by 8.34 points, the smallest margin of victory in the history of the Grand Prix.

And of special interest to us in Chicago? For the third straight year, the Grand Prix title went right through Weasel Moot. Yeargin in 2010, Chris Martin last year, and now Doc all won Weasel Moot en route to the Grand Prix title.

When I won the Grand Prix in 2006, I was the second straight person to ride a WACCon championship to the title. But I was also the vanguard of a shift in significance from Seattle to the East Coast and the venerable DixieCon (which will host WDC in 2014, by the way). I was the first of four straight DixieCon champions to win the Grand Prix. Yeargin broke that string in 2010 … but started a new one. Weasel Moot is now the launching pad for Grand Prix championships. We’ve come a long way.

A Royal(e) Letdown
After the high of the Royale and Undercard on Oct. 27, it was probably only natural that we’d suffer a letdown, and we did. We pulled the plug on both of last week’s scheduled games, as we couldn’t quite come up with seven for either.

 

Next up is the bring-a-friend event at the Red Lion on Nov. 14. We still need players, so grab a friend and come on out for a fun evening of Dip and Drinks. We’d like to field two boards–one for us, and the other for our friends–but if necessary, we’ll mix and match to make a single board.

Game Openings

 
Sign up for games at the website, on Meetup, or by emailing your faithful War Weasel (which is now Nate Cockerill, nathancockerill@yahoo.com). 
 
Important Dates

 
That’s all for this week. See you next week!
 
Jim