Final Week: Places and Report

It was, said some, only a matter of time.

And so it proved.

Gary "Quick Wrist" Little is crowned champion of the inaugural Table Blades League.

Champion

A haul of 45 points today marked the man's class and his domination of this sport, but, in truth, his title was all but confirmed even before today's meeting, as a glance at the overall TBL results shows. Coming into the hall this morning, the big man had already established a huge 94 point gap between himself and his nearest challenger, Greg "Maple Grief" Hemphill.

Silver Medal

And while the Canadian nailed an impressive 37 points across the games today (including two wins against Little in their series), that tally was never going to be enough to worry the champion. Indeed, the stats show that big Gary could simply have stayed at home, chilling the champagne and idly checking Twitter for results updates.

Here then, the final points and official placings in the first Table Blades League.


Gary "Quick Wrist" Little
287

Greg "Maple Grief" Hemphill
190

Chris "Thunder & Lightning" Forbes
127

Rob "Angry Wrists" Kane
124

Bruce "The Spin Doctor" Morton
104


Magnanimous in victory, the champion had this to say: "I hope my opponents, rivals and assorted haters can see this result as a lesson. It is to their credit that they kept on going even when hope was lost, skill was short and technique sadly absent." Little went on to praise his supporters: "I want to pay particular tribute to the fans in the far corner, who have brought so much pride and passion during this campaign".

And so to the runners and riders. It was going to take something exceptional to deny Greg his silver medal today, having already established a 39 point gap between him and his nearest rival, Rob Kane. The self-styled Sleeping Bear took three games from Kane, three from Forbes, two from Little and all four in his series with Morton. His 37 points today were augmented and acknowledged by quiet plaudits from the purists - many of whom have had to reassess their views as this campaign unfolded.

The purists discuss Hemphill

The eyes of many, however - particularly the housewives - were mainly on Forbes and Kane, each of whom had a chance of securing third place. Round One saw Rob take 7 points, Chris take 9. In Round Two, their respective tallies were 12 and 14. In the end and by a tiny margin, it was Thunder & Lightning Forbes who claimed the remaining place on the podium, with a league total of 127, to Kane's 124.

Bronze Medal

"Angry Wrists" will look back ruefully at his four-game series against the youngster, which saw each player win two. Had Rob managed a third win in that series, the TBL would have seen a play-off for the bronze medal.

In a fit of frustration at the end of the meeting, Kane was seen to throw his blade to the ground (see pic), resulting in damage to the blade and, no doubt, an appointment with the beaks.

Broke Bat Mountain

What of The Spin Doctor? A fine start to his campaign proved to be a false dawn, as he saw his placing and his hopes tumble week by week, a slide reflected in his results today, where his only consolations were a couple of deuce games, two narrow victories and a rare win over the champ in the final and meaningless game of their series.


Thrashing of The Day
Kane 11 - 1 Morton

Series Of The Day
Kane v Forbes (11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-6)


Table Blades League
Season One Champion
Gary "Quick Wrist" Little



Have a good week - 'til next week!