Results

ROCHESTER INVITATIONAL AT M3 PARK
M3 Park- Webster, NY
May 24, 2008

Monkeyball has officially arrived in the Empire State, with a 9-person tournament held in honor of the Commissioner's visit. Now that I think about it, I believe that Andy purposefully came to visit for the sole purpose of competing in a tournament full of rookies in order to advance his world ranking prior to MB4 on August 2. We will have to see if he was able to get enough points.

It was a beautiful day in Rochester, New York; sunny and 65, with a wind chill of about 40. The conditions made it a little difficult, though everyone had a good time. The dark horse, Matt Perry, made his first tournament appearance after many months of practicing. He made a nice run, before succumbing to Andy (in the winner's bracket final) and Jason (in the loser's bracket final). He showed some skill, which he may decide to test out at MB4. We also saw perhaps the longest Monkeyball game played, with Chris Meetze and Kim Feitl playing for about 45 minutes, 2 different times, with the games being split (15-8 for Kim; 15-11 for Chris). Melanie Salmon showed some promise, though her old school traddy throwing style ultimately did her in. Zach Wert did not let a motorcycle crash keep him from competing in his first sanctioned tournament. Still not quite sure how he managed to hold a cup full of vodka in his broken and casted hand, while at the same time tossing 3-pointers. In the end, the Commish showed why he is ranked in the Top 5 globally, easily sailing through the competition, with only 1 person (Matt Perry) scoring on him.

This was a successful introduction to some new MB groupies in New York. We will look forward to holding more tournaments and spreading the truth about the beautiful game.

(Commissioner's notes: It was windy (and chilly), as I expect it will be at the Old Orchard for MB4. This tournament featured the first-ever inflatable moon walk to entertain the kids -- a definute must-have for MB4. Although Salmon was shutout/mercied/monkey-stomped in the championship match, he WILL be a contender on August 2; watch out Dean Allen.)