Play-By-Play Commentary

I'll Show You 'Outside the Box'

Whoa. Take your browser window and stretch it wide, my friends. If you've widened it to the full width of your screen already, run out and buy a 30-inch display.

There's never been a shot like this in Layer Tennis before. Inman isn't just playing with the surrounding elements on the web page -- he's consuming them. The rules call for an image 900 x 280 pixels; Inman's magnum opus measures a whopping 1920 x 458. I questioned how Inman's original concept could fit in the box, and Inman has answered, and that answer is "Fuck the box."

Fair? I don't know. But impressive? Hell yes. At a technical level, the image is inserted as a CSS background, which provides it with precise interplay with the web page elements even when the browser window is resized. (Alas, it also prevents those of you on small displays from scrolling to see the entire image. Seriously, get a new display, cheapo.) My sideline sources tell me Inman planned this out in advance -- at least technically -- with the tacit approval of the Layer Tennis honchos.

It's not just big, though, it's fiendishly clever: Markers for volleys 9 and 10 which do align, standard size be damned. A "Ketchup" marker for the B match, mocking those laggards for having fallen, as of this writing, two volleys behind the pace of this match (get it? "catch up"?). A corresponding "Mustard" marker referring to nothing other than its own color, but which color was plucked from the Layer Tennis web page design itself. And then, literally to top it all, a pixel-perfectly-placed "I ♥" next to the "Layer Tennis Live" in the page header.

My scorecard had this match tilted toward Glass heading into the final round, but I'm calling this one the best shot of the entire Layer Tennis season.

Play by play commentary for this match is provided, as it happens, by John Gruber.

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Live Match Blog

The votes were counted and recounted. Every hanging chad was examined. In both Semi-Finals the winner prevailed by a very slight margin. The Finals are now set for Friday, July 10 at 2pm Chicago time. Lots more about the match and our expanded coverage soon. jc-07.01

Winners will be decided by your votes and will advance to the Finals on July 10th. To vote for a player simply post a Twitter message that includes #LYT and your favorite's name with the "hash" sign in front of it. Use These: #LYT plus #mrdraplin or #mrhubacek for the early match. #LYT plus #mrinman or #mrhansen for the late match. Voting is closed, winner announced later today. dw-06.26

Layer 10 is up. And that's a wrap for our second semi-final match. dw-06.26

The Ref's coin-flips and also his preview of today's first live Semi-Final featuring Aaron Draplin versus Greg Hubacek have been posted. Shaun Inman plays Scott Hansen in the nightcap and Jim Coudal's preview for that match is live too. jc-06.26

Schedule and Archive

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