WCM XVII: President's AAR

Well West Coast Melee XVII has come and gone, and what a great time we had!

The doors opened promptly at noon on Thursday, and the troops started to assemble almost immediately. At 2:00 PM we opened the hospitality suite and started serving up soda,
beers and sandwiches. We knew we were off to a good start; by Thursday evening we had 22 guys playing warm-up games.

West Coast Melee kicked off officially Friday morning at 9:00 AM, with guys getting paired up as soon as they walked through the door. We got our first look at this year’s tee shirts; our tres cool logo centered on grey. They were very well received. That evening Matt Romey and company began setting up the giant 3D map to continue “Gavutu-Tanambogo A’ Go-Go” from the Burning Wreck Barbecue.

By 9:00 AM Saturday we had our top 8 players paired up for the Hand-to-Hand phase of the Melee and the big G-T game was underway. We also launched two mini’s: “Tiger Hunt” and “The Emperor’s Finest”. Once we had everyone paired up, we passed out plaques to last year’s winners, including one to Hank W. for “I Think I’m Turning Japanese”, the mini that was held over from last year. With that accomplished we opened the Club’s annual meeting. Mike Cirincione was stepping down as the North Regional Director, and we had a contested election between Dave Rosner and Dave Nicholas for the position. The North Region members elected Dave Nicholas and their new Director. Congrats Dave!

On Sunday morning our top 4 survivors of The Melee paired off, while games continued for the mini’s and others played pick-up games. We called it a wrap at 6:00 PM.

So who took the WCM Championship you ask? Well we’re not sure yet. The champion/runner up game scheduled for Sunday morning between Hank W. and Fred Timm had to be postponed. But the 3rd/4th place game was played. I’m pleased to announce that Dan Plachta captured 3rd place, and Jim Cotugno took 4th.

Our mini-tournaments ran throughout the weekend, and we awarded one plaque:“The Emperor’s Finest” Champion: Phil Seymour

The “Tiger Hunt” mini will be resolved by a game arranged between the finalists, Eric Visnowski v. Kevin Ryan. I will report the results when we have them.

Congratulations all!

That pretty much sums it up. What a weekend! We made group trips to Mobtown Pizza (where the Barbecue was held) on both Friday and Saturday nights. And of course, along with the many games that got played there was the usual endless irreverent and inappropriate jokes, cascades of profanity and prolific beer consumption. Just the usual stuff that makes WCM the best damn ASL event west of the Mississippi!

I want to thank everyone who helped out in so many ways. In no particular order: Eric Visnowski, for putting together the mini-tournaments. It's a lot of work to put those together, and it helped me greatly to have those off my “WCM to-do” list. Steve Thorne and his wife Julie, for helping to set up the hospitality suite. Dave Nicholas for handling the plaques yet again, and working all three days with the ‘7-0 Leaders’ program. Rob Feinstein for designing our excellent tee shirts. Paul Simonsen, for serving once again as Deputy Tournament Director, as well as working in conjunction with Sean Geraghty to getting the website set up for reservations and pre-registrations. Matt Cicero, for handling the finances, running the club store, printing the hand-outs and posters and handling the registration desk. Matt Romey and Rob Feinstein for taking the lead on the big G-T game. Phil Seymour for showing up with a case of excellent craft beer, which we enjoyed all weekend. Last, but not at all least, I want to thank everyone who came and supported the event. Whether you came for a day or all weekend, it's just great to see you. And thanks to all those I have overlooked here, for your various contributions, from moving tables to running errands. West Coast Melee is a team effort, and without exception everyone pitches in when called upon. That attitude of cooperation is our Club's most valuable asset.

Total attendance came in just over 40, putting us solidly in the black once again. For about 15% of our attendees it was their first trip to WCM; it’s good to see that continual supply of new blood into the Club. This was our first WCM without our long-time hotel contact Dave Lucey watching over us. After our initial snafu with the hotel over reservations, I was a little concerned, but I'm pleased to say that the hotel staff came through and we no appreciable glitches.

On a personal note, I want to say that WCM is one of the highpoints of my year, and I had blast. It was great to see so many good friends, and make some new ones as well. The group meals and never-ending stream of laughs and good fellowship are the best part of SoCalASL, and they were plentiful indeed.