Good Morning From Rainy Texas
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (118416)
Gainesville, Florida
May 4, 2019 6:42am CST
Good morning myLot world! It's just about 6:30 AM here in Dallas, Texas, where I will be for the weekend for a paintball tournament. I am spending a few minutes here on myLot to calm my nerves before heading to the game fields for today's preliminary rounds.
The weather here is horrible. It has been pouring down rain the entire time we've been here, and it really sucks to have to play in that mess. The forecast is for more rain again today. In fact, it's raining right now.
The fields are a huge mess, having become nothing more than giant mud pits. It has really slowed the game down, and has made everybody have to alter their playing strategy. Unfortunately for us--a speedy team--this slower format works to our disadvantage. The result is that we lost both of our preliminary rounds yesterday, falling 6-1 in the first round and 7-2 in the second round. And once again, for the second tournament in a row, we have been placed in the same bracket with one of the best teams in the world. We seem to have bad luck in the draw these days.
We play two more rounds today. If we win both of our heats, there is a slim chance we'll get to come back tomorrow for the quarter finals. I'm thinking it's not going to be very likely, but I'll keep an optimistic outlook.
The knee is holding up well, and the one good thing about all this rain and slower game play is that it favors my knee.
Depending on how we play today, I may either not be on this site much at all, or on this site quite a bit! Anyway, I'm heading out to the tournament fields in about 10 minutes, so I hope all of you have a great day!
31 people like this
31 responses
@LadyDuck (457822)
• Switzerland
5 May 19
@moffittjc 
I am so sorry, will you go anyway to Paris, or as you have been eliminated you do not go?
I am so sorry, will you go anyway to Paris, or as you have been eliminated you do not go?3 people like this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 May 19
@LadyDuck We will still go to Paris. The results of each of these tournaments doesn't affect the other tournaments, with the exception of the World Cup at the end of the season. At World Cup, only the top 20 teams in the world are invited to play in the top division. We'll drop some in the standings, but going into this tournament we were ranked #11, so very much safe in the World Cup standings.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
Thank you, but we have already been eliminated from the tournament. This is the worst we have played as a team since I've been with the organization. Very frustrating, especially since we won the last tournament. It just goes to show how tough it is to play in this league. It's hard to stay on top.
Oh, and my knee has held up well, especially considering how rainy and muddy it is here and how much sliding around we had to do on the field.
2 people like this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
4 May 19
Good luck but don't over do it with that knee!
2 people like this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
4 May 19
@moffittjc Never mind at least you took part. someone has to lose this time was your time and hopefully the weather will be kinder to you next time! Pleased about the Knee!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
Thank you! The knee held up fine. Unfortunately, our team did not. We've already been eliminated from the tournament. Goes to show that you can't rest on your laurels. We won the last tournament, and have already been eliminated from this one.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
@garymarsh6 Thanks Gary! Yes, it was our time to lose.
We seem to have the worst luck with the weather, as it seems that it has rained at every one of our tournaments except one!
2 people like this
@simone10 (54189)
• Louisville, Kentucky
13 May 19
@moffittjc I think winning is all about skill, experience and a positive attitude.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 May 19
@simone10 The positive attitude goes a lo g way in helping teams be victorious!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 May 19
A little luck never hurt! Thank you for your well wishes. We did very badly in last weekend's tournament, but we are already excited for the one next weekend! We've had several productive practices since the last tournament, and we are very upbeat about how well we bounced back at practice after our humiliating defeat in the tournament.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 May 19
It looks like we are going to get a little bit of a dry spell where I live here in north Florida. At least it looks that way for the next week.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
21 May 19
@noni1959 We're in a little bit of a heatwave right now, and it's only going to get worse over the next week, where temperatures are projected to soar into the lower 100s, shattering our records for high temperatures in May. I just hope the extreme heat doesn't start causing wildfires to break out.
1 person likes this
@noni1959 (9886)
• United States
16 May 19
@moffittjc It's been raining quite a bit today and I'm loving it. I hope we are back to normal with our rainfall. We've already had fires - way too early in the season.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 May 19
@DianneN Yes, we totally understand that ups and downs are a big part of sports. We're already excited about our next tournament, and have been putting in many extra hours on the field practicing to get better.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 May 19
The knee did well. The team did not! We got eliminated after losing three out of four of our matches. It was a new low for us, but we'll bounce back. Being eliminated so quickly from the tournament just made us eager to do so much better in our next one.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (246525)
• United States
9 May 19
@moffittjc I'm sorry, but I know your team will bounce back. Such are sports - win some, lose some.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
@just4him It's very frustrating, but we'll bounce back. In this sport, it happens quite often, which is why it's rare that any one team dominates the entire season.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
We played even worse today than we did yesterday, and have been eliminated completely from the tournament. Very frustrating and humbling experience for our team, especially coming off a win in our last tournament.
2 people like this
@just4him (305792)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
4 May 19
@moffittjc I'm sorry you lost the tournament. Better luck next time.
2 people like this
@dodo19 (47045)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
6 May 19
@moffittjc I'm sorry to hear it didn't go well. At least you were able to win one match. That's at least something.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 May 19
@dodo19 The one silver lining in our otherwise dark and stormy cloud. We actually went out on a high note, so we're going to use that as motivation to continue the momentum into our next tournament.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 May 19
It didn't go so well, we lost three out of the four matches we played in, and so we were eliminated from the tournament on the second day. But at least the one match we did win at the end, we won 6-0, so at least we went out on a high note!
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (48908)
• United States
4 May 19
We have had rain all day here too.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
We're keeping an eye on the weather for our flight back to Florida, because all this nasty weather in Texas is quickly making its way to Florida. Did you hear about the passenger jet that skidded off the runway in Jacksonville? They tried landing in a thunderstorm, and went right off the runway into the St. Johns River! Thankfully, no one was killed, and there were only a few minor injuries.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
Thank you. It was a bad tournament for us. We did not win. We have been eliminated already, and won't even advance to play in tomorrow's games.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 May 19
@rakski Once we were eliminated after losing our first three matches, we still had to go out and play the fourth match in our bracket. With nothing to lose, we just went out there and had fun, and beat our opponent 6 games to zero. We may have been eliminated from the tournament, but at least we went out on a high note.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 May 19
Well, we had two matches yesterday, and we lost our first one of the morning, meaning we lost our first three matches of the tournament. We were eliminated from contention at that point, but still had to go out and play our fourth match of the day. So we just decided to go out and have some fun, and we ended up winning that match six games to zero over our opponent. At least we went out on a high note!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 May 19
@JudyEv Yes, it was a great way to end what was a miserable tournament for us. So out of the four teams we played, three of them beat us, and it just so happens those same three teams all made it to the semi-finals, and two of them played in the finals for the championship. So it took some of the sting out of our losses knowing that the teams that beat us made it all the way to the championship.
@JudyEv (325584)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 May 19
@moffittjc Six to zero? As you say, that's a great way to end the tournament.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
8 May 19
don't see anything new since this, so how did it go?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 May 19
We were 0-2 on Friday, then we went 1-1 on Saturday, but with three losses we were eliminated from the tournament. Basically, we sucked at this tournament, there's just no way to sugarcoat that. And what was frustrating was we went from winning the last tournament to being one of the first teams eliminated in this tournament. But that's just how the sport works sometimes.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 May 19
@Courtlynn That excuse works for me, but what about the rest of my teammates? lol
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
14 May 19
@moffittjc well.. lets just blame it on the knee.. and move on to the next. lol
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (155872)
• United States
4 May 19
I'm glad to hear that your knee is better. Sorry about the rain. Good luck with the tournament.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
Knee good. Tournament bad. We played horribly, and have already been eliminated from the tournament. Which is very frustrating because we won the last tournament.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
@LindaOHio I guess that's just how luck works. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. Today just wasn't our day. But we'll bounce back. I love the guys on my team like brothers, and one of the reasons I love them so much is because of how much passion, determination and dedication they have to this sport.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 May 19
Wow, it's raining in Croatia too? It seems like it is raining all over the world this weekend! Even back home where I live (in Florida), it was raining there as well.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 May 19
@mrki444 I hope it dries up soon and the sun returns! We're starting to go into our rainy season where I live, and once rainy season hits, it rains every day throughout the entire summer.
1 person likes this
@mrki444 (15150)
• Croatia (Hrvatska)
5 May 19
@moffittjc Rain fall almost every day for last two weeks.
1 person likes this
@MommyOfEli2013 (81957)
• Rupert, Idaho
5 May 19
Sorry to hear about the rainy, messy weather! Good luck (although this was posted much earlier)...hope no matter what happened you had fun!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
6 May 19
@MommyOfEli2013 No matter how bad of circumstances I face, I always will find the good in every situation. I had lots of fun despite all the negative things that happened to our team while we were there. And besides, this was one of those tournaments we'll be talking about in the future when we're sitting around reminiscing, saying things like "Do you remember how hard it rained in Dallas that one year?" And "That Dallas tournaments was the muddiest tournament we ever played." And then we'll all laugh and nod our heads in agreement.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 May 19
It was frustrating, the weather was horrible, and we were eliminated from contention after losing our first three matches. But we still had lots of fun, and even though it didn't matter, we went out and won our last match of the day six games to zero over our opponent.
1 person likes this
@MommyOfEli2013 (81957)
• Rupert, Idaho
6 May 19
@moffittjc Sorry to hear about the weather, and being eliminated. That's good you still had lots of fun though....and that you won the last match of the day!
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (169834)
• United States
4 May 19
Paint the town red while in Dallas...HAHAHA. Good Luck!
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (169834)
• United States
4 May 19
@moffittjc Aww, well there's always next year.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
Painting the town is about all we can do right now, as we've already been eliminated from the tournament. We just couldn't catch any breaks this weekend.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
@snowy22315 Well, next year for Texas, definitely. But we have to move on quickly. We have another tournament in Orlando, FL in 2 weeks!
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
4 May 19
I've been listening to the weather reports and I know the raining and flooding is a lot worse in other parts of Texas. But the weather in Austin is terrific. Some rain but not as much as other cities are having.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
8 May 19
@moffittjc - It's about 9:45 PM right now. Good evening from rainy Texas! 
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 May 19
@cmoneyspinner Haha yes, good evening! Or in the case of when I'm responding to you, good morning! (it's 4:30 AM right now). How's life in Austin? I miss that place!
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
We usually play our Texas tournament in Austin, but the opportunity arose to play at the Texas Motor Speedway this year, and the league just couldn't pass up the invitation. Now I'm thinking we should have just stuck to Austin!
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95015)
• Marion, Ohio
4 May 19
@moffittjc Sorry about that. Hopefully better luck next time.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
@wolfgirl569 It's okay. I wasn't even supposed to play in this tournament, so win or lose I got to get in some tournament play as I continue to heal my knee. I can't complain about that.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
Thanks! As far as this weekend goes, if we didn't have bad luck, we'd have no luck at all. Things just didn't go our way, and we've already been eliminated from the tournament. It's going to be a long plane ride back to Florida tomorrow.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
We've already been eliminated from the tournament. Well, statistically speaking we have. We still have one more heat to play this afternoon, but it won't do us any good whether we win the heat or not. We will not be advancing to the quarter finals tomorrow.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 May 19
@HazySue Thanks. Today was a little rough on my knee. I work on the 3rd floor of our building, and our elevator was broken today, so I had to go up and down the stairs throughout the day. It took a toll on my knee, as I'm supposed to avoid stairs as much as possible for 6-8 weeks following my surgery (I'm only on week 5).
@HazySue (39264)
• Gouverneur, New York
6 May 19
@moffittjc That's too bad. Glad the knee is holding up anyway.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
Thanks. Our dreams of repeating as tournament champions has been crushed. We played horribly this tournament, and have already been eliminated. Time to pack our bags, lick our wounds, and get the hell out of Dodge! lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
@NJChicaa Me too, but it happens. We just got to figure out what went wrong and make some adjustments and come back strong the next time.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
It definitely was very messy out there. And thanks for the well wishes on our team, but unfortunately we didn't do so well this time. We have already been eliminated from the tournament, having lost every one of our heats we played in.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118416)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 May 19
@Janet357 My main motivation right now is our upcoming tournament in Paris!
@Janet357 (75656)
•
4 May 19
@moffittjc well there are so many next years. So this will motivate you more.
1 person likes this
