I like to think I’m a good influence on people. For the most part, I encourage people’s vices and readily celebrate them – which, by most accounts would count as a bad influence. In 2011, it was the year of self-improvement for ‘ol Dan. I went on a diet, which wasn’t even my idea. I just stuck with it more than my friends who put me up to it. I started the year at over 250, and now hover around 210. I want to lose more. Last year, I started doing yoga. It took my wife some convincing for me to join her – and her last ditch effort to get me to go was to tell me about the gender imbalance in class and the fact that there are a lot of tight pants and hot girls in whatever class I would take. I was sold. Turns out, it’s a great workout and it’s definitely contributed to my weight loss and my desire to have a photographic memory. After losing a bunch of weight, Q and Billy wanted in. They have different approaches to motivating themselves. For them – it’s about competition. I could probably get these two clowns to do just about anything if I made it into a competition.
All of us lost tons of weight… and we’re all better for it. I think Billy lost something like 40 pounds (in about a third of the time it took me to drop the same amount of weight), and Q almost as much.
But something else was motivating these two. For Billy, it was obvious. In the Vegas tourney, Billy lost to both Danny and Ehab. The loss to Ehab was particularly tough since the first 5 games were all 7-6 games. He didn’t have to wait long for a rematch. He lost again to Ehab in the winner’s bracket 4-1 (and Ehab beat him by an average of over 2 points per game, which is dominating). He then had to face Ehab again in the loser’s bracket and lost the set in game 7… another 7-6 nailbiter where the last point was scored on a flubbed in goal.
The weight loss challenge had begun, and to add to that, he had the motivation to try to gain an edge on Ehab. He also had another giant piece of the puzzle: a great sparring partner in Q. And just as importantly, both of them had understanding ladies at home. Since the beginning of October, the two played constantly. Every day. To put this in perspective, when I started – I only played once a week and it didn’t take me long before I was beating some of the regulars. It was a very large uptick in practice. They even developed a very involved warm-up routine. Snagging pucks was something Billy noted he was lagging recently and was determined to fix that… as well as drills designed to improve puck control. But mostly, practice consisted of playing… over and over again. I believe Q’s motivation is to finally beat Billy in a set – to beat one of the all-time greats and this was his chance. From the time of this writing, they’ve played over 80 recorded sets since October. And that may not even be half the sets they’ve played… and only 4 of those times did Q force a game 7. No one comes close to the amount of recorded sets played. I think I would be 3rd in the number of recorded sets played during that time – and most of them would be against Billy and Q.
In November, Q and Billy went to Houston. Billy having lost tons of weight and looking like a completely different person. Q was gunning for 3 different people: August, Syed, and Brian Accrocco. Q’s main motivation seemed to be just gaining experience against the couple people he felt he was in league with… and if he could jump up in the ranks – all the better. Playing 3 challenge matches in 3 days is pretty killer. It’s not something that’s typically done. He took the #5 spot in the world when he beat August 4 sets to 0… but then lost the remaining sets to Syed and Brian. And speaking of Brian – he was planning on coming to Chicago to challenge Billy… but with Billy’s trip to Houston, Billy agreed to play him on Brian’s home turf. Billy’s performance was like an omen. Brian… who has more top 10 finishes than I care to look up got beat 4 sets to 0… and more impressively, won 1 game out of 17. Billy then faced Ehab and got his revenge. It was no cakewalk, however. Billy got up early – taking the 1st set, and after Billy won the first game of the 2nd set – Ehab got on a roll… winning the next 6 games (and the 2nd set) – and it really didn’t look good for Billy. When Ehab went on that streak – Billy didn’t score more than 4 points in any of the games. Billy then turned the tides and then *he* won the next 6 games (and the 3rd set)… and was up 2 sets to 1. The last set was competitive, but Billy won it 4-2.
Instead of running home with their new ranks and calling it a job well done – they didn’t stop. Billy immediately challenged Danny Hynes for the #1 spot… and Q, putting up a pretty poor showing against Brian, issued a re-challenge.
Suffice to say – they didn’t stop practicing.
A little more than a week ago, they revisited Houston and brought Goran along. Goran had his sights set to Syed. Goran had been helping Billy practice and got into decent shape himself. Goran didn’t drop a set to Syed and became the new #7 (August has some voodoo against Syed as he topped him again – only to lose his #5 to Pete Lippincott). Q, again didn’t have any luck against Brian.
Danny v. Billy was quite the contest. Heading into the match nobody was sure if Billy’s practice and recent success could carry through and beat, who, without any arguing – is the best air hockey player of the past decade (and can be argued, best of all time). Danny’s recent tournament success is unparalleled. Danny, however, hasn’t had quite the success in challenge matches as he’s had in tournaments… of course, saying this – is only the tiniest chink in his armor.. and he’s only lost challenge sets to Nizzi and Davis in recent years. Danny is the best, plain and simple. Predictions ranged all over the place… but one thing that couldn’t be argued was the physical condition of both. Danny is a large man and his style of play is incredibly physical. Billy had dropped tons of weight and looks prepared to run a marathon. The comparison was stark – but this is air hockey. Typically, how in-shape you are doesn’t really have much effect on the table.
The first set was pretty grim for the visitors. Danny came out strong and won a couple very close games and looked every bit the champion he is. Billy came out and tried to establish his cut/rwu attack – one he is not known for. It wasn’t really going to work against Danny. However, Billy responded and the second set was tighter… and Billy got all the breaks.. squeaking out a close 7 game set. Set 3 was another very evenly matched set that went a full 7 games. There was a line call that seemed to bother Danny which ended with some of the hardest shots I’ve ever seen – which sank for the win. Billy then gave up his right wall attack in favor of a left wall attack and Danny started to get visibly tired. Danny wasn’t as active on offense and wasn’t snagging the pucks he won in the first couple sets. Even so… set 4 went again to the full 7 games – and Billy was able to tie things up. From here, the unthinkable happened. Continuing from the last game he won in the 4th set – he went on a winning spree the likes nobody had put on Danny… Billy then went on to win 9 games in a row… (12 out of the last 13). It was a dominating performance… and Billy became the new #1 in the world.
Right now, it seems Q and Billy are taking a break.. and by a break – going back to playing twice a week instead of every day. Billy wants to win the next Nationals… but does he need Danny to be tired before he can overcome him? Danny won the first 2 of 3 sets including the first set – which seems to be more important in winning a tournament than it does to win a challenge match.
I think it’ll come down to who is more motivated to win. Right now, I know what Billy is capable of, but I don’t know about anyone else.
