Every Thursday, this campus gets more Legendary. This week, the Legends took on the freshmen tennis duo of Alex de Chatellus '13 and Kevin Cox '13, Taco Thursday at Homeplate, Tennis Thursday at The D. Let the March Madness begin.
Born in the French province of Pamplemousse, de Chatellus traveled to Ellis Island by steamboat at the age of three. His name "de Chatellus" is French for "of chatting," as his ancestors invented AIM smilies.
He now resides in Tiburon, Calif., where he starred for three seasons on The Hills, even once making out with Lauren Conrad (no tongue).
De Chatellus began his tennis career on the "rouge" tennis courts of France, transitioned to the Piranha Plant court of Ellis Island and then found his stride on the hard courts of Cali.
De Chattelus committed to Dartmouth the winter of his 8th grade year, because "the library had a lot of books."
Cox grew up in Anaheim Hills, Calif., where he was inspired to compete in athletics after watching Team USA (The Mighty Ducks) upset mighty Iceland in the 1994 Goodwill Games in Anaheim.
He grew up racing in the prestigious Anaheim short track in-line skating circuit until a fateful Christmas day when his mom purchased him a Sega DreamCast, which he quickly traded with a friend for an old Nintendo 64 and two games, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Mario Tennis.
A true athlete, he focused all of his gaming energy on Mario Tennis, which he quickly conquered on N64, Gameboy, GB Color, GB Advance and Nintendo DS.
After a 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 victory over Shy Guy in the Island Cup final on GBA, Cox filled out a recruiting questionnaire for the Dartmouth College men's tennis team, listing such accomplishments as two-time Koopa Troopa champion, most return winners using Peach and a No. 1 Mushroom Forest doubles ranking as Bowser.
Cox and de Chatellus reserved court time at the Boss Tennis Center for the Legendary challenge.
Only minimal preparation was needed, because Tennis Magazine targeted Katz as "the best college tennis player who doesn't play college tennis" in an issue last month, and Ludlow has really, really soft hands.
Katz grew out his Agassi flow (chest and hair) and watched the movie Wimbledon, featuring Kirsten Dunst, with his hot girlfriend from home, Kirsten Dunst.
Ludlow had a severe stomach malady all week, but luckily Dick's House has unlimited Blue Powerade, so he was still ready to compete come game day.
The Legends arrived at the Boss, headed downstairs and were taken on a tour of the varsity lounge by de Chatellus and Cox.
Ludlow took one whiff of the D-I air and said, "This just feels right."
The Legends took to the courts and hit some warm-up strokes with the Floren-goers. Katz hit only winners and kept yelling, "I'm in a frat" successfully rattling the freshman duo.
The format of the match was a one-set battle of DC and Cox versus Katz and Ludlow, with Chi Gam rules two serves, no body and environment is good.
The Legends were given a five-game head start, and Katz opened the first service game with an ace, followed by a down-the-line winner past a stunned Bowser, err, Cox.
A run of double faults doomed Katz's service game though and the D-I stars got the early break, 5-1.
Cox, the power player, did not disappoint with his booming serve that left Katz icing his wrists and Ludlow readjusting his cup.
Ludlow's underhand serve fazed de Chatellus and Cox early, but not enough, and the Legends quickly fell to 5-3. De Chatellus, the flying Frenchman, stepped up next and showed off some foreign spins. Cinq-Quatre.
The trend repeated and the Legends lost a crushing 7-5 set. They returned to the Varsity lounge defeated but were consoled with the knowledge that they could bump these kids from table later that night. Katz and Ludlow filled their pockets with Dartmouth-monogramed tennis balls and headed home.
The Legends would like to thank de Chatellus, Cox and the men's and women's tennis teams for helping make this match happen. Come watch the men's team face off against Fairleigh Dickinson University at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Boss Tennis Center, where you'll see more spin serves than in any frat basement.
Until next week, be Legendary.
