Site news
Larson writes two more columns; dookieball documentary in the works (6/30/02)
Anders Larson has written two more columns, both available from the Anders Larson archive. "Golf Shots" describes the various and sundry duffs and shanks that he has seen on the golf course. The second, "It's Not Really My World Cup of Tea, But...," is a running diary of his experience watching the World Cup final this morning. Check the Anders Larson archive for future updates. Also, the WDL is beginning to compile footage and interviews for a dookieball documentary, which will go through the history of dookieball and look at the future of the sport.
Larson releases two new columns (6/12/02)
Anders Larson has released two more columns, both available from the Anders Larson archive. The first, A Season on the Brink, sarcastically portrays his 2002 fantasy baseball team. The second, Musings of a Man After a Game of Whiffleball, discusses various and sundry humorous topics. Larson plans on releasing 2-3 columns per week as time permits. Check the Anders Larson archive for future updates.
Anders Larson columns now featured on WDL Homepage (6/5/02)
The world-renowned humor/sports/anything columns of Anders Larson are making a comeback, this time on the WDL Dookieball Homepage. The latest column, And the Oscar goes to... Vlade!, is now available. The Golden Age of Sports Video Games, a nostalgic look back at the legendary games we all used to play, is now up. This was written a month back, but has remained unpublished until now. Hopefully, columns will be added frequently.
Movies temporarily cleared out as Tripod cracks down on disk space (5/18/02)
All movies on the WDL Dookieball website have been taken off the Tripod server, although they still exist and can be uploaded again if need be. The reason for the elimination of the movies was a recent crackdown on disk space imposed by tripod.com. The total amount of free space allotted has been reduced from 50 MB to 20 MB, meaning the largest files on the WDL site simply had to go. Depending on the resurgence of dookieball and the webmaster's interest, the site may begin to pay money to gain extra space and replace the movies. Either way, the movies should return in some form or fashion (perhaps a "Movie of the Week" feature) within the next month or so.
New record book, tournament stats, and trivia question are up (9/3/01)
Despite yesterday's unpleasant ending, the WDL has remained upbeat about prospects of crowning its 2nd ever singles and doubles champions. The stats were compiled from yesterday and are reflected in the new WDL Book of Records as well as in the tournament leaders, available on the 2001 WDL Tournament page. A new trivia question is now up, which is located below the news. Also of note, dookieball is closing in on its 250th all-time recorded game. The count is currently at 242, a fact that will certainly encourage players to continue playing the sport.
WDL Book of Records updated (8/18/01)
The latest edition of the WDL Book of Records is now available. The single season records are updated with new ones set this year, including doubles aces (5.0 by Merny). It is somewhat more in depth and is a must for any hardcore dookieball fan.
Zip file does not work, movies back up (7/31/01)
The .zip file containing all topsail tour movies was unable to be uploaded, so we have uploaded some of the movies again individually. Also, we have one movie from June 13, 2000 (I know it's a while back but it's a pretty good clip) and one from July 7, 2001 (also good). Check them out on the pictures page.
WDL Players Pages Overhauled (7/29/01)
The WDL Players each now have their own page, which includes a snapshot (if available) and season-by-season stats for their singles career. Doubles stats may be coming soon. To access the WDL Players' pages go to the Dookieball Players page and click on the name of the player you would like to view.
Massive Site Update (7/26/01)
The WDL standings, WDL league leaders, and WDL results have all been updated. The moves page has also been updated and has examples of common moves for those new to the game. The players page is now also updated with current career ratings. The latest WDL Book of Records, including all records up to the present, is now available for download. It is a .doc file that should work on Word, Works, or Lotus WordPro. The only problem we have had so far is that we are currently unable to upload the .zip file of all the topsail tour movies. It should be up somehow in the next week or so.
Increasing number of WDL movies are available (7/8/01)
There are now over 10 movies from the Topsail Tour 2001, Topsail Tour 2000, and July 6 2000 tournaments. Go to the pictures page to see them. Also, the dookieball tournament scheduled for today has been moved to Friday due to a golf tournament this week.
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Pete dominates singles tournament, wins first title (7/13/02)
Pete silenced the critics yesterday afternoon, winning his first Topsail Tour singles title 15-10 over Deez after appearing in the finals the past two years. Pete, who defeated Zak 15-12 (played to 8 and converted), stopped Deez early in the match and flustered Deez with his relentless post-up offense. Deez managed to stop Pete only once in the match, but Pete made up for the lost possession by hitting an ace on a napping Deez late in the match. Deez was able to win his second doubles title, teaming with Pete to defeat the pesky combo of Zak & Pweg 15-13. The wind played havoc in the doubles final, forcing the normally reliable Pete into 4 bens, but Deez & Pete solved Zak & Pweg's man-zone defense soon enough to rally from a 10-8 deficit. Zak finished 2nd in doubles to go along with a 3rd place singles finish, and Pete finished 3rd in doubles. Pweg ended up 4th in both singles and doubles.
Topsail Tour tournament seedings set as regular season concludes (7/11/02)
For the first time in the three-year history of the Topsail Tour singles tournament, Pete will not go in as the #1 seed. Deez stole that title this afternoon, knocking off Pete 15-14 (match actually played to 8) despite not stopping Pete. Deez came up big offensively, using a variety of offensive moves in what Zak described as "possibly the best offensive performance I have ever seen." Pete was equally unstoppable, but since Deez served first (by virtue of winning the serve-off at the start), he was able to hold on for the win. Pete will enter as the #2 seed, Zak the #3, and Pweg at his usual #4 spot. In doubles, both Zak and Deez finished at 4-2, while Pete and Pweg both ended up 2-4. Pweg shocked the dookieball world by winning two consecutive matches when teamed with Deez and Zak, respectively. Zak & Deez, clearly the most dominant and efficient combination, won both of their matches 15-4, combining for 6 team aces. A coin flip will determine the pairings for tomorrow's doubles final, but Zak and Deez will automatically be separated.
Deez & Pweg pull shocker to finish 2nd day of Topsail Tour (7/8/02)
After four rather predictable matches, the Topsail Tour doubles tournament was turned on its head as Pweg & Deez upended Zak & Pete 15-13 in the final match of the second day of the Topsail Tour. Deez & Pweg led by as much as four at 11-7, but Zak & Pete's excellent defense, including three 4-possession stops (ties record), kept them in the match. The first day of action saw three round robin doubles matches, with Pweg going 0-3 and all others finishing at 2-1. Deez & Zak tied a record with four aces (all 2-man aces) in the final match of the first day, a 15-4 blowout of Pete & Pweg. In the lone singles match of the tournament so far, Deez obliterated Pweg 16-7. Stats and standings will be updated tomorrow.
WDL returns to life (7/5/02)
The WDL, dormant for the last several months, returned to action yesterday afternoon with two matches in the sweltering heat of Larson Arena. In the opening match, which was touted as being the battle of the "BenDL" players and the WDL players, Deez and Belushi recovered from a shaky start to defeat Ben and Merny. Ben and Merny, the BenDL squad, had the lead as late as 8-7, but a couple critical bens and a textbook two-man ace from Belushi and Deez eliminated any chance of a Ben/Merny victory. In the second and final match, Deez defeated Ben in another classic singles match. Deez took a commanding lead 8-4, hitting his first 3 two pointers, but Ben rallied to tie the match at 9. The match was tied again at 12, but Deez scored on each of his final 3 possessions to hold on for the 15-14 win. According to the Larson Sports Bureau, Ben and Deez have split their last six matches, and Ben holds a 8-6 lead in the all-time series.
Two new players close to joining WDL (6/13/02)
The WDL has not seen action in over nine months, but things are looking up for the league. Craig and Steve Tutterow are close to coming to terms with the WDL on a deal that would allow both to join the league soon. The Tutterows, both Big Cats, played an exhibition match yesterday, and Craig told league sources he would be interested in joining the league. Both players showed good natural dookieball instincts, and Craig displayed a post-up game that was very polished for a newcomer.
WDL Commissioner Deez would like to have a tournament as early as this Sunday, hopefully involving as many players as possible. He also told league sources he would like to see an increased emphasis on doubles, which he referred to as "the beautiful game." Also of note, the Topsail Tour begins on July 6.
Dookieball reaches Penn. State; Six new players introduced (5/18/02)
Dookieball, which has been on a hiatus of late in the Carolinas, has emerged on the Pennsylvania State University campus recently. Zak, a Pennsylvania and Topsail Tour mainstay, is spreading the sport, and he wrote this account of the Penn. State Dookieball Challenge:
Sunday, April 21 marked an historic day in the history of Dookieball: the first event in Pennsylvania since the last Easter Sunday event back in 1997 or 1998 and the introduction of six new players to the sport. Also, it saw the first indoor dookieball games, being played on a hardwood floor in one of Rec Hall’s squash courts. The introduction of the new venue offered another alteration: the presence of walls, which were included in the field of play.
After a brief exhibition by Zak and Science (who had previously played one exhibition match), the action got underway with a doubles match pitting Science and Neilpalm against P. Ninny and Moser. Science led his team to an 8-7 victory with a strong game, despite the defensive presence of P. Ninny, who tallied eleven blocks on the game. Of P. Ninny’s amazing defensive performance, teammate Moser commented, “[He’s] got more blocks than Lego!”
The second match saw Science and Neilpalm this time fall to Kujo and EJ in another 8-7 game. Kujo and Science each scored all their team’s points, Kujo scoring on eight of nine attempts.
In the third and final matchup of the day, Zak and Moser narrowly defeated Kujo and P. Ninny, 9-7. The game featured good defense and good ball movement on both sides. At 7-7, Zak got a quick serve in transition for the day’s only ace to secure the win.
Science and Kujo led the way offensively, each averaging 6.5 points per game. Kujo was the most accurate shooter, putting 61.9% of his attempts in the zone. P. Ninny was the defensive standout, leading in both steals, with four, and blocks with eleven. Neil notched the most assists on the day, two, and Zak had the fewest Bens, recording zero.
The stats from the PSDC will be tabulated and posted on the WDL Dookieball Homepage soon. The WDL commissioners office has ruled this an officially sanctioned event, and thus the stats will count toward career totals and records.
WDL hopes to resume play soon (3/25/02)
The WDL, inactive since September 8th of 2001, says it hopes to begin play soon, possibly this week. All WDL players except Merny are on Spring Break this week, and at least four are in town (Deez, Pweg, Ben, and Belushi). The 2001 Summer Season ended prematurely after a disheartening day of tournament play on September 8th, but WDL officials feel that the time is right to begin play again. "With the school year winding down, there's nothing I'd like to do more than start another season of dookieball," WDL co-commissioner Anders Larson said today. "The key is we need to get off on the right foot, and we'll try to take a more relaxed approach to the game this year." The Topsail Tour is scheduled to be held as usual this summer as well, although a date has not yet been set.
Dookieball takes extra week off, hopes to conclude tournament this weekend (9/18/01)
In the wake of the tragic events of last Tuesday, WDL officials decided not to attempt to
finish the 2001 Tournament last weekend. The league hopes that they will be able to finish
the tournament sometime this weekend, most likely Sunday. There are only 3 singles matches (possibly
only 2 if Deez wins the finals in the first game) and 2 doubles matches left to play. Belushi will square
off against Jonathan in their first career meeting in the singles semifinal. The winner plays Deez, who has won
3 straight matches in the tournament and 5 straight overall. In doubles action, Deez & Belushi will play Merny
& Jay. The winning team will be split up for the overall finals and will each choose a partner, with the higher
seed choosing first.
Good dookieball matches marred by abrupt ending to day (9/2/01)
After 4 generally enjoyable, competitive, and exciting matches, dookieball was suddenly halted for the day, if not longer, due to disgruntled players. The tournament format unfortunately called for Jonathan to play 4 consecutive matches, 3 of which he played.
He went 2-0 in singles after being assessed a forfeit in his 2nd round match against
Belushi (he won his 1st round match by forfeit over Braveheart) and also won in doubles 11-9 when paired with Deez. But he was understandably tired and said he did not want to play his semifinal match against Belushi. The day could have easily ended there without incident, but unfortunately it did not. Belushi was angry that Jonathan was late and that he would have to wait at least another week to play him. At this point, both then acted as if they did not want to play at all. Co-league founder Anders Larson was dissappointed with the day's ending, and issued this statement: "It's unfortunate that things had to end like this. The day was going along smoothly, the matches were close and generally fair. I can understand Jonathan was tired and that's fine. The tournament is not the most important thing in the world. If we play next week, fine. Everyone claims they want to 'get it done' or whatnot. It's supposed to be fun. We decided to have a tournament in the WDL because its just a way to make the matches kind of mean something. It's just something to do on a Sunday afternoon, and dookieball in its truest form is, to me, enjoyable. I'm disappointed that people have let the tournament get in the way of that." Next Sunday is the target date for finishing the tournament. Anyone still alive in the tournament is encouraged to attend if for no other reason than it should be enjoyable.
Absences make for brief day of dookieball (8/26/01)
The conspicuous absences of Braveheart and Jonathan made a number of matches unplayable, and only one match was played this afternoon. It was however, a good one, as Belushi escaped with a 15-14 win over the #7 seed Ben. Ben found himself down 5-1 early, and fans assumed he would fall easily (he has never comeback from a deficit greater than 3). He rallied to lead 7-6 after a long 2-pointer. Belushi nailed an ace and a two pointer shortly after to lead 10-8. Ben closed the gap to 14 all, but Belushi scored on 3rd down to get the victory and advance. Belushi will play the winner of the Jonathan vs. Braveheart matchup, if that match ever takes place. Ben faces the loser of the Jonathan/Braveheart match. A game of DOOK was played as well, the first such competition since 1998. Deez won with DOO, with Merny finishing 2nd, Belushi 3rd, Ben 4th, and Pweg naturally came in last. Full tournament format and results are available on the 2001 WDL Tournament page.
Tournament begins, five matches played (8/19/01)
The 2001 WDL Tournament began today, the first WDL Tournament since 1998-99, which was not completed. There
were four singles matches and one doubles match played. Deez ended up going 2-0 today
to move into the winner's bracket finals, upending Jay 15-12 in round two of teh double-elimination
tournament. Jay dispatched of Pweg 15-8 after falling down 8-7, and Deez won his opener
15-7 over a lackluster Merny. Merny then held off Pweg 15-8, after he too fell behind,
this time 7-2. The only doubles match of the day was won by Merny & Jay in a physical
game against the underrated duo of Ben & Pweg. Ben & Pweg tied the game at 12, but they couldn't
score again and fell 15-12. The results, tournament leaders, and updated matchups are available on the 2001
WDL Tournament page.
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