VITAL STATISTICS
Date: Saturday, August 7, 1997
Location: John Dower Field, Lakewood, WA
Winner: Jeff Gepner
The 1997 Champions Cup croquet tournament, held Saturday, August 9th, lived up to all of its expectations. The field of competitors grew from the inaugural edition, where six players battled, to a group of nine for the 1997 installment. The event featured classic Lakewood Croquet Club play with fierce competition, grudges, plenty of underhanded tactics, and a smattering of British accents throughout the evening.
The event kicked off about 6pm with a pre-game barbecue, which gave all of the competitors ample time to talk trash to each other, with at least half predicting victory for themselves later in the evening. Brian Johnston and Tom Carmony provided plenty of cheap beer for the occasion, with the intention of getting as many of their opponents inebriated as possible. As with most master plans though, this one didn’t work. But that would not be the end of the cutthroat tactics; in fact, it was only the beginning…
The players arrived at John Dower around 7:30pm, and the course was set up and ready to go within 15 minutes. Players lagged to determine playing order, with Johnston winning the right to open the competition. Once the match got underway, Carmony took the initial lead, jumping two wickets ahead of the next closest competitor. He wasn’t satisfied to rest on his skills to lead him to victory however; Carmony had some psychological tactics prepared to throw at his archrival Johnston. An inside source, who asked that his identity remain hidden, has informed us that Carmony apparently paid off one of the female players to distract Johnston, through the use of a few well-placed winks and smiles. Of course, this didn’t work either, as Johnston ended up finishing five spots ahead of Carmony…
By the fifth wicket, Gepner had taken over a lead that he would not relinquish for the remainder of the evening. He wasn’t quite satisfied with mere victory, though. To help ensure that he wouldn’t have too much competition to deal with, Gepner took the liberty of handicapping Carmony by removing the bulb from his flashlight. Because the match began at nearly 8pm, personal lighting was a must for all players, as darkness fell barely halfway into the event. This was an obvious hindrance to Carmony, but by the time he discovered the problem he was already out of contention.
Obviously, the 1997 Champions Cup lived up (or should we say lived down) to the expectations placed upon. The field of competitors grew from the inaugural edition, the cheating and backstabbing has grown above and beyond previous expectations, and best of all, the trash talking for 1998 has already begun…
CHAMPIONS CUP II COMPLETE RESULTS
1 – Jeff Gepner
2 – Brian Johnston
3 – Kevin Sutton
4 – Mike Corvin
5 – Erin Robertson
6 – Lisa Ballard
7 – Tom Carmony
8 – Jeremy Seuss
9 – Eric Ballard
