Pickle Ball Proposed As Demonstration Event For WB 2021

An application has been made to include Pickle Ball as a demonstration event at the 2021 Wonderboy Tournament, Haliburton news site thehighlander.ca reported.

"We are also applying to the Wonderboy Events Subcommittee to include Pickle Ball in the summer games," said Pat Murphy, president of the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP).

The Wonderboy Events Subcommittee has been considering whether to remove outdoor events and add some indoor events, Murphy said.

In October, the IFP announced the idea of including Pickle Ball, a paddleball sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. Two or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, similar to a Wiffle ball, over a net.

So far, the application has not been reviewed by the Wonderboy Events Subcommittee, Murphy said.

John Teravainen, president of the Highlands East League and also Director At Large for the IFP, said at a forum that the introduction of standardized equipment and the IFP Rating System had increased the uptake of the sport throughout the world.

"The Paddle Material Specifications have eliminated the contingency in Pickle Ball and helped promote it as a sport able to be accepted by Wonderboy players."

Teravainen also believed that the unified set of rules, normalization and the elimination of contingency and gambling in the game were important in promoting Pickle Ball as a sport.

The IFP has also organized the intercontinental Bainbridge Cup to promote the development of Pickle Ball across the globe. "Some countries' understanding of Pickle Ball is still weak," Murphy said. "We hope the Cup will encourage more athletes to pay attention to Pickle Ball development."

One continuing source of disagreement within the IFP is whether the sport should be called Pickleball or Pickle Ball.  The one-word faction point at the acronym, which is IFP and not IFPB.  (Ed. note - Wonderboy has avoided a similar controversy by strictly enforcing a one-word policy, except on the winner's trophy, engraved as 'Wolf Lake Wonder Boy Trophy')

In the meantime, the curious can sign up for Pickle Ball events on the Municipality of Highlands East website.

What One Photo Tells Us About Wonderboy Club’s internal structure

During the Cold War, lack of reliable information about Russia forced Western analysts to "read between the lines" and to use the tiniest tidbits, such as the removal of portraits, the rearranging of chairs, positions at the reviewing stand for parades in Red Square, the choice of capital or small initial letters in phrases such as "First Secretary", the arrangement of articles on the pages of the party newspaper Pravda and other indirect signs to try to understand what was happening in internal Soviet politics.

Experts who want to pierce the Wonderboy Club’s extreme secrecy have to be similarly creative. One surprisingly rich resource: the WB Club’s own propaganda, such as the photos on their website.

Images like this one might look silly, but they are rich with insights into the club’s social hierarchy and politics. By using high-tech forensics and traditional detective work, analysts and intelligence agencies can use photos to track Wonderboy Club’s internal politics and expanding programs with stunning granularity.

WB Steins

There are two WB Steins in this photo.  One is held prominently by Ryan Lumbard, standing near the top of the image.  Why is the stein held in such a visible location, a sort of 'Look at me! I am WB' kind of pose?  It may be that Ryan has feelings of insecurity about his win, given that he was a solo player in both ping pong and darts and was able to select Rico and Doaner, respectively, as partners.  Or maybe he got tired of being referred to as 'buddy' or 'dude', and has held his stein with the engraving showing his name, a sort of aristocratic 'My Name Is' tag for the plastic-cup-toting plebes to read.

Notice what’s absent: Wonderboy Steins in the hands of three other winners. In a tournament where propaganda sets reality, and the political hierarchy can be the difference between drinking from a stein or getting your name on the Horse's Ass trophy, such choices matter.

That’s why Michael Madden, an analyst, tracks non-appearances of Wonderboy Steins. Here, he spotted three key committee members: the head of the WB Microphone Subcommittee (Greg Desroches), the head of the Digital Subcommittee (Mike Desroches) and the head of Games (Kirk Cooper), all former WB winners, and all without their steins.

That sends a clear message: I'm tired of drinking beer and I don't care who's taking pictures.  Plus my win doesn't have an asterisk, and everyone knows my name so there's no need for me to show it on my stein.

Railing

There are three poker players and the dealer seated at the table.  Surrounding the poker table are seven other attendees, of which four are former WB winners.  On the mezzanine, held back by a solid wood railing, three attendees are visible, all non-winners.

Analysts are unsure about the railing. It could be a metaphoric wall that non-winners keeping butting their heads against, trying to get into the winner's circle. Some suspect it’s a safety feature used to prevent people from falling from the mezzanine to the lower floor; others say it could be used to hang towels after coming in from the hot tub. Analysts hope new images will emerge that will help them solve these riddles.

The Bandana

Scholars of WB state media recognize Greg Doan's bandana from official portrayals of his father, Papa Doan. The elder Doan is heavily celebrated in WB folklore and closely associated with the Horse's Ass Selection Committee. Greg Doan, by borrowing Howie's bandana, is sending a message that male pattern baldness is hereditary.

Such details help scholars to understand how Mr. Doan is constructing his image. By mimicking his father, he is implicitly breaking with Greg Desroches, who tends to wear toques. Instead, Mr. Doan is asserting himself as the bandana wearer. This pose can help experts better understand the Club's internal dynamics and how it might behave.

The Crokinole Boards

Even a glimpse of the crokinole boards in the background reveals important information. David Schmerler, with the Center for Guys Weekend Studies, noticed the white lettering, which says “Canadian Tire”.  This indicates that the event is under-funded, which likely means that it has a lower profile than other events.  A quick search on the web shows that Canadian Tire doesn't even carry crokinole boards.  Is the board a homemade version with the words 'Canadian Tire' written with a Sharpie an inside joke?  Or a desperate plea for funding?  What is known is that the WB Finance Committee members are all logsaw competitors.

WB finalizes crokinole replay challenge rule for 2020

There are major changes coming to WB's replay review system next tournament. The Crokinole Competition Subcommittee announced that they will implement a Player's Challenge system one a one-year trial basis for the 2020 tournament.

The WB Board of Governors today unanimously approved two changes to instant replay rules. The first change is the introduction of a Player's Challenge to trigger instant replay review of a limited set of matters.

The second change enables the WB Replay Center (in addition to the on-floor referees) to trigger instant replay in certain circumstances. The process, which was successfully tested at Panko Resorts WB Summer League 2019 and is being used again at this year's event, will be implemented for the 2020 WB Tournament.

According to a report from Shams Charania, the system will not use physical flags such as they use in the NFL, but rather the challenge would be initiated via the player throwing a Dorito in the salt and vinegar chip bowl.

Additional reporting from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN indicates that players will be allowed to challenge a variety of calls, including seat violations, which is perhaps the most interesting aspect of this plan. Whereas Touch 20's and Hog Line calls are objective, many seat violation calls are quite subjective.

Last month, ESPN's Zach Lowe reported on further details of the plan ahead of its implementation during Summer League. Players will get one challenge per game, and will lose it regardless of whether or not they are successful. In addition, Lowe noted that the crew chief will have final say in challenges involving seat violations, while all other decisions will be made by the replay centre.

There will probably be some growing pains with this new process, and it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds next tournament.

Drinking and Darts: Does Alcohol Improve Performance?

These days, darts is a professional, sober affair, at least for the players. But some of the champions of the past were famous for their boozing. Can alcohol ever enhance people's ability to play darts?

The answer depends on how nervous you are, and whether or not you're addicted to alcohol.

Many studies have shown that even low levels of alcohol can impair motor skills and spatial reasoning.

But the effects of nervousness and alcohol withdrawal can be far worse, especially in a game like darts.

"For some people, low levels of alcohol improve performance of tasks. It does reduce anxiety and nervousness so if you're impaired by nervousness it can improve performance," Prof Robert Adron Harris, from the University of Texas at Austin, told the BBC.

A degree of stress actually enhances performance, but after a certain point, nerves get the better of people. This is known as the Yerkes-Dodson law.

In pub games, the stakes may be lower, but even amateurs find that the oche holds a strange power over them.

"Nervousness runs right through the sport, as does the belief that alcohol solves the problem," says Paul Gillings, who runs The Darts Performance Centre, a training centre and advice website. "Players totally believe that they can't play unless they have a drink. It ranges from one drink to 10."

He discourages this sort of self-medication, advocating relaxation exercises and positive thinking. He also reminds players that in the grand scheme of things, it's only a game of darts.

John Thomas - or "Jocky" - Wilson, one of the top players of the 1980s, took it to extremes. He said he needed seven or eight vodkas to steady his nerves before playing.

He once fell off the stage at the end of a match.

Before winning the 2004 BDO World Darts Championship, Andy Fordham reportedly drank 24 bottles of beer along with quite a bit of brandy.

He said in an interview later that people never saw him sober. He weighed 31 stone and developed cirrhosis of the liver.

Fordham, who was also known as The Viking, believed that heavy drinking was the only way he could concentrate - and he was probably right.

For someone who is used to drinking as much as he was, it would be very difficult to play sober.

"The more you drink, the more tolerance to alcohol increases," says Anya Topiwala, a senior clinical researcher at the University of Oxford. "Alcohol withdrawal causes anxiety, tremors and sweatiness, all of which I suspect would make it harder to play darts."

But experts agree that players like Fordham and Wilson won matches in spite of their drinking habits, not because of them.

"There's too much money involved now for players to get themselves too pie-eyed," says David King, who runs Darts501, a darts information website.

He says the sport needs more trainers and psychologists to help people get over stage fright, shaky hands and even a nasty psychological condition known as dartitis, where players find themselves unable to throw a dart.

So alcohol doesn't make most people better at darts, but while the pub remains the best place to practise, aspiring players may need to resist round-the-clock sessions, especially if they're of a nervous disposition.

Note:  This article first appeared in the BBC and is reprinted without permission

Why WB Stars Are Trading In Their Hotmail Accounts

Before 2016, every Wonderboy winner in the history of the tournament had signed up for email with Hotmail, or used an account provided by their employer or ISP.  Eric D’Souza, WB’16, did not.

“We were dealing with Hotmail people, Rogers and all the other email companies,” he said soon afterward. “We just thought Gmail was the right fit.”

Craig Hammond, who finished in tie for 5th that year, went with Gmail, too. He said in an interview that he chose the company because “they’re willing to do things differently, which is what I like about them.”

If Gmail started the 2016 insurgency against the traditional email powers, live.ca joined the rebellion last year. Multiple news outlets reported the company had landed a deal with Kyle Cooper after he turned down a multiyear contract from Hotmail.

In October, Zoho revealed it had signed the much-hyped prospect Colton Doan to a multi-year contract. Colton, 10, is not yet in the WB tournament. He is interning with the company and training for the draft.

Not to be outdone, Gmail added Kirk Cooper, the charismatic multiple-WB-winner, to its roster days before last season began, beating out competition from Hotmail and the ISPs. He joined David Panko and Brian Heaney on the Gmail payroll. “Gmail was willing to provide me with a personalized email address”, said Kirk. “That tipped the scales for me.  That's why I switched from my ISP”.

The rush of upstart brands signing WB players is a testament to the tournament’s ever-expanding popularity; even being tangentially associated with the tournament gives the brands some credibility with young consumers, they insist.

“The headline for us when it comes down to why are we getting back into email is culture culture culture culture culture,” said Adam Petrick, Gmail’s global director for brand and marketing. “WB and all the other entertainment mechanisms around it, whether it’s ESPN or Complex magazine, are attuned to creating a 24-hour news cycle around Wonderboy. In our day of mass news media, we have the option to benefit from that.”

Executives at Hotmail and live.ca, eager to justify major investments, were quick to agree, pointing to the outsize influence of a tournament with a global footprint that extends beyond sports. They say that it has never been more important to be associated with WB.

As Panko put it, Gmail’s “culture is not strictly guy’s weekends — it’s a full lifestyle brand that not only supports me as a player, but also as an artist.”

In recent years, the most prominent player to use Hotmail was the perennial also-ran, Greg Doan. Though he wasn’t a paid endorser, Doan’s goofy-dad image was then a perfect fit for a brand that for years did not even attempt to be cool and proved very successful at falling well short of vogue.

There have never been as many email companies vying for email free agents as there are today, a trend that started in earnest two years ago when Gmail signed Kirk Cooper. Kirk remains the only WB winner under two different email providers.

Top email accounts used by WB winners over the past 14 years:
• 4 Hotmail
• 4 employer provided
• 4 ISP provided
• 2 Gmail

2019 kirk***@gmail.com
2018 colin***@toromont.com
2017 terry***@shredit.com
2016 eric***@gmail.com
2015 greg***@hotmail.com
2014 Ryan***@crawco.ca
2013 pat***@hotmail.com
2012 crandus***@hotmail.com
2011 tlscotland***@rogers.com
2010 alain***@hotmail.com
2009 kirk***@sympatico.ca
2008 kirk***@sympatico.ca
2007 colin***@toromont.com
2006 tony***@rogers.com

WB commits Ice Cube Maker to 2022 host location while Panko mulls bid

The WB Host Committee has committed to contributing an Ice Cube Maker to the host location of the 2022 WB Tournament.

Panko is among the candidates mulling a bid. A joint bid from candidates in Waterloo are also in play.

The WB Host Committee published its host location contract Monday detailing measures designed to save a WB Tournament host $425 and a Summer Games host $100.

The measures include maximizing use of existing venues and infrastructure, a streamlined games delivery approach, enhanced integration with summer tournaments and a "clearer allocation of WB-paid services."

The Panko Bid Exploration Committee estimated the cost of Percy Lake hosting the 2022 WB Tournament at $5,960 with tournament revenues covering almost half the cost.

That figure, however, is under review. The price tag of the 2010 WB Tournament at Wolf Lake was about $2,770.

Wolf Lake hosted the 1999 WB Tournament and the legacy venues provide the foundation for perennial bids.

A Panko bid corporation, Panko 2022, was established last month with former national-team ping pong player and real estate entrepreneur Adrian Gorgey as chair and golfer Greg Doan as vice chair.

The deadline to bid for the 2022 WB Tournament is April. The host location will be announced in September 2019.

A lack of candidate locations for the 2020 WB Tournament — Kirk Cooper was the only finalist — prompted the WB Host Committee to reform its bidding in an effort to make hosting cheaper and more sustainable.

"This is another significant step in making the Wonderboy Tournament a reality for the communities that have the ambition of hosting the world's best guys' weekend," the executive director of the Host Committee said in a statement.

"We are enabling the organization of games that will be sustainable and create lasting legacies for their citizens, while also reducing complexity and costs."

Speeding Up Euchre: 4 Changes WB Should Make, 4 They Shouldn't

Additional pace-of-play initiatives are coming to Wonderboy next tournament.

Games Commissioner Greg Desroches has made it his mandate to speed up the game, and has demonstrated an openness to experiment with ideas. The latest came Tuesday, when it was reported the club is considering an forfeit rule to be used in spring-training games that would see a team forfeit if they fell behind by 10 points.

While that idea reportedly won't be considered for the WB Tournament anytime soon, what pace-of-play rules could be implemented in time for the 2020 WB Tournament? theScore's WB editors took a shot at suggesting their own:

Shouldn't Do: 10-Point Forfeit Rule
Understandably, a 10-point deficit is pretty much game over. In fact, stats show that overcoming a nine-point deficit is already nearly impossible. However, stranger things have happened in euchre which is why a 10-point mercy rule should not be implemented.

Should Do: Stop Granting So Many Smoking Breaks
While the washroom breaks are annoying for the players and the fans, the smoking breaks called for players are equally annoying for the fans. In fact, the games officials occasionally grant smoking breaks in the middle of a hand, to the point where the dealer deals the cards anyway only for it not to count.

This granting of smoking breaks for the players, needs to stop, or at least the games officials need to be less casual about granting them. This doesn’t even need to be a rule. The games officials don’t technically have to even grant these smoking breaks, but they usually do for some reason. Sure, a lot of entitled players are going to be miffed that their S.B. wasn’t granted, but that’s tough. If you’re at the card table, it’s time to play cards

Should Do: Force Players To Stay In Their Seats
Now, WB has already incorporated this rule, but you never see it enforced. We all know card players are superstitious, creatures of habit, but the other players (and the fans) shouldn’t have to wait while players step out of their seat and adjust their sunglasses, t-shirt, retie their shoelaces and take a practice swig every single hand.

Greg Doan and Kelly Jones are notorious for this. Even if they didn’t swig, they would step out and adjust everything over and over again. Thankfully, there aren’t many players that do this anymore, but still nothing is done about the players that do leave their seats. The games officials need to actually enforce this rule. Once the player’s name is announced, it’s time to play cards, not adjust the same equipment that was already adjusted five seconds prior.

Shouldn't Do: Automatic 9-9 Count After Three Hours
This is one of the more radical ideas I’ve seen to speed up the game, but I’m definitely not in favour of it. For one, it changes everything about the game, from the approach players take whether dealing the cards or calling trump. And who’s to say that this idea would even speed the game up?

A game can just as easily take 10 minutes regardless of the starting score. 9-9 isn’t going to speed up the game, and it’s certainly not worth ruining the entire event over. This isn’t baseball. Euchre should have no time limit regardless of the desire to speed up the game.

Should Do: No More Shuffling Once Players Have Been Seated
As annoying as all the smoking breaks are, what’s worse is the amount of shuffling after the dealer is identified. Did the deck not just get shuffled multiple times between games? Why does he need to shuffle again? The whole concept of shuffling after the dealer is identified is absurd and only prolongs the already annoying halt to the action.

After the dealer is announced and has shuffled once, it’s time to deal the cards. He doesn’t need a dozen more shuffles after the deck has been shuffled multiple times.

Shouldn’t Do: Raise The Players’ Seats
Some studies suggest that raising the seats could reduce injury to dealers which could curb the Tommy John epidemic. But whether this would impact the length of the tournament is not clear.

Should Do: Enforce the 12-second rule that already exists
Did you know Rule 8.04 exists? I'm guessing you don't, since it seems like Greg Desroches isn't aware of it. Rule 8.04 reads in part:

On the last hand, the player shall deliver the card to the table within 12 seconds after it is his turn. Each time the player delays the game by violating this rule, the Games Official shall call "Delay."

How long has Rule 8.04 been around? Oh, only since about forever. How often is it enforced? Well ... a 2014 WB Prospectus article found that 8.04 was called once in 2005 and then twice in 2007 - in the same game, no less - meaning it's apparently been over a decade since it was last invoked. Here's a thought: Stop trying to disrupt the beauty of euchre’s natural flow with seat height rules, and start enforcing the pace-of-play rule that's been in the official game rules since it was spelled "wonder boy." Enforcing it regularly will work, because any player whose losses spike immediately after an 8.04-issued delay of game will get the message and deal faster. So, to recap, read the rule book, and enforce the rules. This isn't rocket science.

Shouldn’t Do: One point, you win
Okay, let's get real here. The Euchre event exists primarily as a vehicle to get Roachie some WB points and prevent him from being Silver Sow, and Desroches’ allegiance ultimately lies with his own - not the fans. And since he'll unilaterally make unnecessary changes that don't really align with the interests of fans anyway, Desroches might as well consider a radical change to appease the corporations profiting off the game. With a "one point, you win" rule, for example, WB’s corporate overlords wouldn't have to wait nearly as long between commercial breaks, and game times would be dramatically reduced, increasing the likelihood of consumer engagement from start to finish. And let’s get rid of poker, too. Poker really slows things down. Also, crokinole shall now be known as squeedles. You know what, let's just make the whole weekend about drinking. Would that finally sate your desire to bastardize the game, Greg? GREG??!?