Every dog has his day

Mine was almost last night.

Came really close to winning the domino tournament last night. Made it to the finals for the first time since May 2002.

Smallest turnout we've had in a tournament since maybe 2001 but hey who am I to complain. I've been having bad tournaments since 2002. In fact I don't think I've made it past the first round of the playoffs in about 2 years. Hey never said I was good at dominos. lol

Anyway we ended up with a total of 8 teams last night down from the usual 16-18. In the prelims me and my partner didn't do too well. We lost both sets 6-3 and 6-4. That gave us a number 7 seeding for the playoffs so we played the number 2 team. Now this match was the most satisfying as we played one of the most boasy men in the history of dominos. The man so confident his nickname is "King". Now before I go on let me say that I can barely understand two words out of this bredren's mouth. I mean I really don't have a problem with Jamaican accents .......Except for the King. And don't feel is cause I bajan ya know because some of his bredren from yard have also complained that they cant understand what the man saying either. LOL

I remember once having that problem with some fellows in Barbados. They were from St Lucy or some northern parish and for a town boy like me I just couldn't figure out what they were saying......And you know you can walk from St Michael to North Point in 1/2 hr cause the island real small infact one day I throw a big rock from Bridgetown and hit a fella in Holetown. Nuh lie!

Anyway I have to pay close close attention to pick up what the King saying but all I know is the man mout full of chat. So we start the set (playoffs go to 10) and him and his partner run out to a 2-0 lead and talking away a storm most of it just registering as a mumble to me cause I cant concentrate on deciphering the man chat and play at the same time. We rally back, then went past them and led 5-2. They switch sides. We win one, they win two games so its 6-4 and we losing the momentum. All the while now the King and his partner starting to cuss one another about why King should always pose how this one a play like domino novice, how him partner shoulda switch 5s instead a bringing back the blank etc. Me and my partner just calm calm. I posing my partner running serious security for me like if him name Brinks. We end up winning 10-4 and the bwoy dem was in shock. It was jokes. The men tell the King "you nuh real Domino King you a Burger King!" Biggest joke of the night.

After that we moved on to the semis and played the team that beat us 6-4 in the prelims. They had scraped past the team who had beaten us 6-3 by a score of 10-9 in that last round. There was no real drama or big talk in this set just some steady dominos. This set they started out 2-0, then I remember we started trading games and it was tied at 5-5 and 6-6. Suddenly so we pick up the pace and hit the accelerator (ie draw nuff nice card dem!) and won the next 4 games. Talk about stress. This is serious game ya kno. Real real emotional and stressful.

So we made it to the finals. Called wifey who I was supposed ta link wid to head home and said I'm in the finals. The woman was in shock lol.Guess that says a lot for my skills.

Anyway the guys we played in the finals, beat up on us 10-6. Interesting set of guys this. Found them really difficult to read (yea like I'm a master reader of dominos right!). Plus its like the men play drunken style domino. How many Heinekin can these guys devour and still play. I swear they were getting better with each drink. Then again our luck also ran out at that stage so it didn't help much. Couple of games we get pass of the pose and had hand with so much holes it look like Swiss cheese. Oh well, they had won their semi 10-1 so 10-6 wasn't bad I think we put up a decent fight.

All in all I cant complain. It felt good to get back in the finals. Going to miss next month's tournament but I'll be back in 2005....maybe. Or maybe I should go out on a high.