Who Should Play In the Last Two Matches?

During the next week take some time to look over the matches that have been played this season and decide which players you’d like to see compete head to head. Make a post in this forum telling us who you would like to see play against who and which commentator you’d like to see doing the play-by-play. In short, create your own ideal Layer Tennis playoff match. You could win a cool prize package too. Lots more details and links to the matches are here.

...and yes, The Ref will be involved, whether you nominate him or not.

Shaun Inman versus Chris Glass!

• Both of their matches stayed well away from the stereotypical tennis / game references that LT can get lost in
• If you look at each match independant of the volley they both were part of telling an excellent visual story.
• As I find the best part of LT is the left field factor that each artists’ creativity brings, I think their great efforts should be rewarded.
• They used multiple types of media in very interesting ways
• They deconstructed their LT match on their personal blogs giving other designers some things to thinkfor future matches.
• They kick ass!

flippin’ sweet. this sounds like it’ll be tons of fun.

i’d like to see kevin cornell vs. scott hansen. they’re both extremely talented and witty, and they each have their own style. seeing these two collide would be nice

brian taylor vs trevor van metor would be interesting as well.

and as far as commentary goes, it’s tough to beat bryan bedell.

(sorry ladies)

Draplin. Glass.

BB commentary, complete with soundtrack.

Just because.

Jason Santa Maria v Shaun Inman; because we all know that, deep down, they shared unending grudge for each other’s fame. Bonus if moderated by John Gruber, who will be confused over which of his two friends should he favor/give unfair benefit of doubt to. In short: the psychological fore/inter/post-play are worth it.

• Mr. Cornell mainly uses the Brush (as in Tool), and known for being deliciously spare.
• Ms. Pieters, on the other hand, uses the Pen while bringing forward the same simple quality.
• Ms. Bantjes uses the Brush, but her result looks like a Pen (real world pen, that is.) Furthermore, she would bring the much needed ornate complexity to the table.

I originally wanted to nominate Aaron Draplin as well, being from Stumptown and all, but I have yet to find him a good opponent.

Ok.. so let it be known that I just found this site a few days ago and don’t exactly understand how everything works around here but that won’t stop me from asking a fairly naive question:

Why not let a couple noobies compete against each other this week since there is no match?

I suppose it has something to do with honor and prestige and stuff like that. How does one become worthy of becoming a participant in a layer tennis match anyway?

With that said, I have taken a look at all of the entries from this season so my choice would be:
Kevin Cornell vs Chris Glass (both are really… clever).

I’ve watched the whole season and here are my two cents. In Match #1 I’d like to see what would happen if you put Marian Bantjes’ smart, elegant designs up against someone who could bring them to life with motion, like Jason Koxvold. In Match #2, I agree with Operator, Chris Glass versus Kevin Cornell would generate some laughs I bet. As for the announcers I nominate the unrelated Baldwin brothers, Rosecrans and Matthew.

Santa Maria versus Cornell with Gruber commenting for a Philadelphia trifecta!

Santa Maria vs Inman with Bedell commentating
also
Cornell vs Glass with M.Baldwin commentating

@Operator:

The absolute truth is, we had a good match lined up, but both participants had to cancel early in the week. Our SEED conference is tomorrow and some of us (notably JC, who’s speaking of course) were busy with that (I was going to be handling the backend of the match) so we decided to cancel it and focus on getting the word out about next week.

We’d thrown around the idea of two “newbies” or “unknowns” or “contest winners” participating in a match, I’m a big fan of that idea, but it takes a fair amount of hosting resources and our (otherwise-billable) time to run the match (much of which is offset by our sponsor) and most people like to see the “big names” (ha) out there. I’ll see what I can do, maybe there’s a way we can sneak in something along those lines during what is sure to be the greatest Layer Tennis exhibition of all time, next Friday Friday Friday.

As far as my dream match… wow, there’s a lot to choose from. Also keep in mind, we’re not giving any of these folks much notice, so there are availability concerns, but we’ll see what we can do.

I love the “Philadelphia” idea.

I’d say my fave matches were (in no order)
Bantjes/Vit
Draplin/Nakamoto
Owens/Gnewikow
Glass/Hamid
Harrington/Anderson
Cornell/Inman

Yes, I know that’s half the matches. And I feel bad leaving out most of the others… this is not going to be easy. I should also point out that I don’t agree with the winner in some of those matches, I think all those were pretty close (even Naz, ha!).

How about a Draplin/Glass Beard-Off (loser has to shave?) If only there was a bearded commentator (ha).

I think/hope Kevin Cornell is six months away from being as ubiquitous as Rachael Ray. and it would be neat to see his illustration teamed up with Marian’s typography (She, by the way, is already as ubiquitous as Rachael Ray), though obviously this might not be the best format for it since they’re both so detail-oriented. Still, I like a lot of contrast in a match, I’d love to see someone more illustrative against someone more design/type-oriented. Or motion vs. static, I’d like to see that pulled off well. I prefer the matches where there’s a big difference in styles/formats.

I’ve been wanting to see an all-type battle forever, but I’m not sure who I’d pick for that. Maybe next year.

I loved the Owens/Gnewikow match, but I bet we could rematch them a hundred times and see something totally new and awesome every time.

Cornell vs. Harrington
Inman vs. Glass

oh and comentray by;
Rosecrans Baldwin and Heller!

Glass, Cornell, Bantjes, Harrington. Let them all play in one big 12 layer match, four volleys each. Let Kottke figure it all out.

I can’t pick just one!

Cornell vs Glass with commentary by Heather Armstrong
Draplin vs Nakamoto with commentary by Joshua Allen
Van Meter vs Owens AND Gnewikow with commentary by Bryan Bedell

Cornell vs. Glass, for sure—although Draplin vs. Glass would be fantastic as well. Rosencrans Baldwin & Heller for commentary…

Drapharrington v. Cornmantjes

But if I have to step up to the plate (or whatever they use in that tennis sport) I will not be shaving.

I’d been avoiding the Layer Tennis matches all season. With a soft-spot in my heart for the freeform, battle-royal days of SITO PANIC, I’ve had a stubborn reluctance to embrace the strict structure and win/lose nature of Tennis. But, with the season winding down and a Peoples’ Choice Finale in the offing, I gave in and dug through all twelve battles. 120 volleys in roughly 120 minutes. Wide lobs, slammed moments of brilliance, and general mental overload. And what did I come away with? What would I like to see?

Kevin Cornell vs Marian Bantjes

Kevin and Marian both came out strong and brought the match back to their own terms with nearly every volley, while still referencing the shot just made. Both played exceptionally impressive 9th volley parting shots, summarising the match to that point, giving their competitor something to work with, but stating confidently, “I’m taking this home.” The interplay between Kevin’s watercolour raster graphics and Marian’s hard-vector curlicues would promise some intriguing and unexpected results.

Commentary by Rosecrans Baldwin, who struck just the right balance of informed insight and humour.

(As a backup player, Chris Glass, who with a strategy that mostly involved running out into his backyard and snapping photos, managed to play a surprisingly strong game. And one that would juxtapose in weird and interesting ways against Kevin’s or especially Marian’s.)

We’re glad you’re here, Beanbag, and we’d like to subscribe to your newsletter. Good perspective.

kevin cornell vs. anyone.

and i like the idea of a doubles set. or a four-way death brawl.

if fire could incorporated, i’d appreciate it. (for the children, of course.)

oh, and commentary by beanbag amerika.

...and we’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Newsletter? The implication that I actually have something to say on a semi-regular basis? That other people would want to read? I did send my embarrassingly personal blog entries out as subscriber-only emails on two separate occasions for a couple of months each, rather than posting them online. And I did put together some equally embarrassing adolescent/angsty teenage ‘zines 15 or 20 years ago that I could probably find copies of in some box in my mom’s attic the next time I go home for a visit. Does that count?

oh, and commentary by beanbag amerika.

But, but.. I’m a designer not a commentator. Actually, come to think of it, I used precisely the opposite argument to get into architecture school. “I’m really more of a poet,” I said, “than an artist/designer.” I’m still not entirely sure how that worked out for me.

But if I have to step up to the plate (or whatever they use in that tennis sport) I will not be shaving.

Well, you just better win, then.

what if the shaven beard was donated to a worthy charity? or put it on the swap meat and donate the proceeds to charity. although if i were the united way, i’d opt for the beard vs. the cash. you can get cash anywhere, but beards have to be grown. like soybeans or alcoholism. $0.02.