Surely a better title exists for the recap of yesterday’s Undercard game at the Weasel Royale club championship, but as your faithful correspondent had his hands full trying to win the Royale, this one will have to do.
The Kevins are for the two Kevin O’Kell(e)ys, who for the first time ever played on the same board. That would have been far more enteraining for onlookers Sam Bassett and Warren "Goz" Goesle if more people referred to the other players by name instead of country. Alas.
Double alas, the game went much better for Kevin the Elder. On the car ride to Dan Burgess’ home in Downers Grove–where, for the eighth straight year, the Royale took place–Kevin the Younger confessed that he had been watching the HBO series Oz.
"The prison rape scenes are disturbing," he said.
"Yah," I retorted, "well don’t let that happen to you in the Undercard."
Triple alas, and typical of a 15-year-old, he didn’t listen.
My Kevin drew Russia, a tough country to defend, and his neighbors hammered him. I suspect some of them will spend Halloween next weekend stealing candy from kids. Kevin was out by 1903 with a line reading 4-2-0.
Karma visited one of them, the German, Amanda Baumgartner. She piled on by denying Kevin Sweden. (A feat she actually achieved diplomatically. Kevin held in the Gulf of Bothnia, conceding Sweden to her.) Amanda was at seven by the end of 1902, but that was her highwater mark. By 1907, she had joined Kevin on the sidelines.
The Austrian, Brandon Fogel, reaped most of the rewards from the rape of Russia. He finished with nine centers, sharing topping honors with the Brit, Jake Trotta.
The Undercard, our club’s 284th game, ended by draw vote in Spring 1909 in the following center counts:
Austria (Brandon Fogel): 9; 30.451 points.
England (Jake Trotta): 9; 30.451 points.
France (Kevin O’Kelly): 8; 24.060 points.
Germany (Amanda Baumgartner): 0; 0.000 points.
Italy (Chris Cantine): 2; 1.504 points.
Russia (Kevin O’Kelley): 0; 0.000 points.
Turkey (Carlos Trevino): 6; 13.534 points.
The supply center chart is here. The link also includes the Royale results, so scroll down or tab to the appropriate page.
Perhaps the players will contribute more accurate accounts of the game? And if any of you has a photo, send it to me so I can include it in the article.
