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Well, West Coast Melee XVI has gone into the books, and what an event it was!
We had agreed with the hotel this year to move over to the smaller San Clemente Room to help out our long-time hotel contact, Dave Lucey and knock a couple of bucks off the bill. I arrived at noon on Thursday, right on the heels of Matt Morocco, and we were surprised to find a luncheon being served in San Clemente. I started thinking, oh crap, something has gone very wrong already. But almost immediately Dave Lucey appeared, and informed us that after rotating various groups, they’d moved us back to our good ol’ Avalon Room. It turned out to be a very fortunate thing, because we drew a post 9-11 record 46 attendees this year, and we’d have been very pressed in the smaller room.
The troops started to assemble almost as soon as we had the doors open. At 3:00 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 a record 26 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. Later on in the afternoon we launched our first mini-tournament “A River Runs Through itâ€, which would continue throughout the weekend and wrap up on Sunday. Rob Feinstein arrived in the early afternoon with our tres cool black shirts with our sharp new logo.
By 9:00 AM Saturday we had our top 8 players paired up for the Hand-to-Hand phase of the Melee. We also launched two more mini’s: “I think I’m Turning Japanese†(love that title) and “Deluxeâ€.
On Saturday afternoon we handed out plaques to last year’s Melee winners, then moved on to our annual meeting and elections. Since our Club Officers were running unopposed, I called for a vote to reelect the current slate of victims. Suddenly, two of our Officers, Rob Feinstein and Matt Cicero interrupted the proceeding, and called for a vote to elect yours truly “President for Lifeâ€, which quickly passed. I hadn’t expected that, but there was more to come. Dr. Feinstein then shocked me further with a presentation plaque, signed by the members present, in recognition of my 11 years as Club President, followed by a rendition by Mr. Cicero of my many accomplishments, tongue in cheek of course… like how many Super Big Boy Combos I’d consumed during my tenure. Turns out the bastards had been secretly rounding up autographs for the plaque all weekend, and I never had a clue. I was surprised and touched, to say the least. Thanks guys. Really. That plaque is already up on the wall.
On Sunday morning our top 4 survivors of The Melee paired off, while games continued for the mini’s. We also launched a four-player game of the Deluxe scenario “Flame and Shell†while other guys played pick-up games. We called it a wrap at 6:00 PM.
And with no further ado, the results:
WCM Champion: Phil Seymour
2nd Place: Dave Deresinski
3rd Place: Brandon Liesemeyer
4th Place: Dan Plachta
Special congrats go to Phil. Those who have played him know he’s a great player, and he is often in the 8 finalists, but this is the first year he broke into the top 4, and he did it in a big way. Congratulations also go to Dave, Brandon and Dan for their fine performances this year.
Our mini-tournaments ran throughout the weekend, and we awarded one plaque:
“River Runs Through It†Champion: Fred Timm
Two other tournaments will be resolved by games arranged between the finalists:
“I Think I’m Turning Japaneseâ€: Hank W. vs. Ish Molnar
“Deluxeâ€: Glenn Sellar vs. Eric Visnowski
I will report those results when we have them.
That pretty much sums it up. What a weekend! Of course, among the many games that got played there was the usual assortment of group meals featuring fatty foods, endless irreverent and inappropriate jokes and ribbing, and cascades of profanity. 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, Mike Cirrincione and Dave Rosner, for putting together those great 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 this year. Steve Thorne and his wife Julie, for helping set up the hospitality suite. Dave Nicholas for handling the plaques yet again. Rob Feinstein for arranging for our excellent black tee shirts, as well as doing the very clever artwork on my plaque. Other than Rob and Matt, I don't know who else was involved in the plot to hijack the Club elections, but to those two and their co-conspirators, you have my deepest and sincerest thanks. Paul Simonsen, for serving once again as Deputy Tournament Director, in addition 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. Eric Morton, for brining everything in his ASL kit and making it available for whoever wanted to borrow something. Dan Plachta, for being a one-man ASL outreach program this year; at least 3 of the new players who walked through the door were the result of him promoting the event at various game conventions. 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.
As I mentioned, we set a post-9-11 record of 46 attendees, including several new players and walk-ins. Dave Lucey told me we once again broke our record for room bookings, which is important to the long-term financial health of the event. Matt doesn't have all the figures compiled, but between the higher attendance level, lower facility rental (the hotel only charged us for the smaller room) and sales of shirts, cups and dice, we'll easily be in the black. Probably by a fairly safe margin.
On a personal note, I want to say again how touched and flattered I am to receive the plaque. 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.
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