This year’s Royale field is starting to resemble a comedy routine. First, David St. John, the fourth seed, had to bow out because of a visit by his in-laws. First alternate Josh Heffernan wasn’t available, so second alternate Mike Morrison slid into the seventh spot, while fifth, sixth and seventh seeds Tony Prokes, John Gramila and Matt Kade each moved up.
Then Gramila realized he had double booked for the weekend. He’ll be out of town on a camping trip.
Earlier this year, Gramila completed a rare tournament sweep by winning Weasel Moot after taking CODCon. That trick had only been turned once before. Many of us wondered if he’d pull a full monty by winning the Royale, as well. Unfortunately, we’ll never know. Gramila is out.
Third alternate Chris Kelly can’t play, so fourth alternate Don Glass has been promoted from the Undercard to the Royale. He’s currently in the seventh seed, while Kade and Morrison move up to fifth and sixth, respectively.
And then yesterday, we received word that doesn’t belong in a comedy routine at all. Nate Cockerill’s health crisis took a turn for the worse. More on that later. For now, suffice to say that he won’t be joining us for the Royale.
Next in line is fifth alternate Peter Lokken, but he’s unable to commit to a full day of play, so we’ve moved on to sixth alternate, Ben DiPaola. Ben has not yet confirmed. If he won’t play, then we’ll tap Brad Harrington, who’s currently scheduled to play in the Undercard. Either way, one of them will take the seventh seed and everyone else will slide up a spot. So the new lineup will look something like this:
- Jim O’Kelley
- Matt Sundstrom
- Tony Prokes
- Matt Kade
- Mike Morrison
- Don Glass
- Ben DiPaola or Brad Harrington
Got all that?
Meanwhile, the Undercard game is in Limbo. If Ben plays in the Royale, then we’ll have five signed up for the Undercard. But if we have to tap Brad, then we’ll only have four. So, we need at least two more players and possibly three to make the Undercard happen. Who wants to play?
Undercard or not, DiPaola or Harrington, you can follow all of Saturday’s action on Twitter using the hashtags #ABullWeaselWillRise and #WeaselRoyale.
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The obvious question, with three players having to drop out of the Royale, is why not reschedule? Well, two reasons.
First, not everyone’s schedule is that flexible. We committed to Nov. 1 in mid-August. For some of us, it wasn’t easy to get a Saturday off. Rescheduling can be harder than it sounds.
Second, but more important, Matt Kade, the original seventh seed, lives in the Bay Area of California now. Once we all committed to the Nov. 1 date, he booked a flight so that he could play. His schedule sort of trumps ours.
And the field is set. Sixth alternate Ben DiPaola will play in the Royale, which leaves Brad Harrington in the Undercard.
Now, can we find the last two players for the Undercard? C’mon, Weasels. Where [i]are[/i] you?