This week’s edition is chock full of Pyle coverage. Enjoy!
Opening Night and the Bar Room Brawl
But before we get to the Pyle coverage, here’s an important announcement. Opening Night for Season Nine will be Sept. 4 at the Red Lion in Lincoln Square. In addition, we’ll hold the Bar Room Brawl championship game that night. So far, the top six finishers in the Bar Room Brawl Series have confirmed for the championship game. We’re still waiting on Christian Kline. We’ve also got five players lined up for the first board on Opening Night, so how about signing up to help us get Season Nine off to a great start.
The Brawl championship is a premiere game and thus will not count toward the league standings. All other games played on Open Night will be league games and will count both for the Season Nine standings and for the 2014 Bar Room Brawl Series.
The championship game will begin as close to 6 p.m. as we can. The other games will start by 6:30. All games will end by 11.
Second Chances Loom Large
Nate Cockerill trailed Matt Sundstrom by just seven points in the standings when the two squared off on the featured board at Saturday’s eighth annual Weasel Pyle in bucolic Wayne. It was a golden opportunity for Cockerill to control his own fate. But he whiffed on the chance. His Turkey was eliminated in 1907.
But as we’ve seen so many times before, Cockerill snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a hard-fought board top on the second-chance board. He netted 16 points to vault past Sundstrom and win his first Weasel of the Year title.
Cockerill wasn’t the only player to redeem himself on the second-chance board. Plus a colorful character from the club’s early days made a surprise appearance. Check out the in-depth Pyle coverage.
And the Weasel Goes to…
We held our annual Weasels awards ceremony at the Pyle. As noted above, Cockerill won Weasel of the Year. The Rookie of the Year award, meanwhile, went to a player who was at Game No. 1 way back in September 2005. How could that happen, you ask, and who took home the Best Country awards? It’s all here. We’ve also updated the Den of Records.
Royale Field Set
Cockerill’s final-day surge to victory wasn’t the only shake-up in the top seven. All seven spots changed hands, and one player moved from eighth all the way to third, much to the chagrin of the player who fell from seventh to eighth. Cockerill now goes into the Royale as both the top seed and the defending champ. Joining him there will be four first-time participants, including two who learned the game within the past 19 months. Check out the qualifiers. Scores are based on best three league games.
A New Don for the Sneak
We also held an election at the Pyle. This one was an old-fashioned Iraqi-style election. We had three open seats and three candidates. Not surprisingly, all three were elected. The new face on the board is Don Glass. He was elected to a two-year term along with incumbents Jim O’Kelley and Nate Cockerill. Glass replaces Christopher M. Davis, a former Prime Weasel who stepped down after serving five years, including one as Prime Weasel.
The three join Dan Burgess, Ben DiPaola, Peter Lokken and Ulysses Peterson on the Sixth Sneak. The Sneak will meet soon to select officers for the coming year. In the Sneak era, no Prime Weasel has served more than two years. Will Burgess be elected to an unprecedented third term, or will his colleagues oust him unceremoniously? Stay tuned.
Just Dues It
Thank you to the 27 Weasels who paid dues in 2013. We appreciate your support.
If you’d like to support the Weasels but missed out on the opportunity to receive a discount at our tournaments or qualify for an annual Weasels club award or a spot in the Weasel Royale club championship, then we’ll gladly take your $25 ($10 if you’re a student) now and apply it toward the 2014 calendar-year dues.
Your dues help pay for our annual club awards, the Meetup site, our website, and other club activities. Help us out by paying your dues today. Use the PayPal link online or give your dues to a Sneak member.
Upcoming Games
- Sept. 4 at the Red Lion in Lincoln Square at 6ish until no later than 11 p.m. Have five.
Sign up for games here, on Meetup, or by emailing your faithful War Weasel (which is Nate Cockerill, nathancockerill@yahoo.com for the time being).
Important Dates
- Sept. 4: Opening Night and the Bar Room Brawl Championship.
That’s all for this week.
Jim
