It was all MollyMac for most of the night. Jenny Jaggs was in the house for the first tourney at the Dice Center in Beijing China cheering her on.
Mac was in a jovial mood all night, seemingly powered by a J&J vaccination, the day before. Coupled with alcohol, Molly’s confidence was running as high as her rolls. Taking a 2 zip lead, Urogdy was playing behind all night. JohnnyU did win 3 straight before accepting an errant cube. It would be his only lead of the night.
At 2-2 JU taunted Molly for not accepting cube when down by only 6 pip lead. "you afraid of the ghost?" he housed, from across the board. It was coffee ill-spent. The Ghost made an appearance at 4-3 in Mac's favor, he matched 2 sets (back-to-back) of Molly’s 5-5 (Ladies), but it wasn't enough. Molly went up 5-3.
Molly’s streak continued winning the next 3 games, including a Gammon. It was 9-3 for Molly when Jennie and many of the fans headed out to beat the Beijing traffic.
Those who exited the arena early, missed some of the best action of the night. JohnnyU fought back as Molly marched into the third trifectiod. JohnnyU picked up a 2-pointer after doubling on a game where he was 50 pips behind. Mac smartly declined and soon after she recorded her second gammon of the night to make it 12-7. This was her first Double-Gammon victory in the modern era against her rival. Mac took the match to Crawford-9 putting Ju against the ropes.
Johnny fought like a champ, extinguishing Crawford to make it 14-10. Urogdy doubled on the first rolein the post-Crawford game and battled. The highlight for JohnnyU came now. On the final roll of a sure win, he landed the BOX CARS (6-6), needing at least 4-4 for a gammon. The 4-pointer tied the tourney at 14-14 and set the stage for an epic one game showdown.
But Molly had enough of the Super-Vax left in her blood stream, holding on by the skinny skin skin of her chinny chin chin. She took the final game and secured Tourney #30 as her own.
JohnnyU reflected in his press conference, "They must be putting steroids in that J&J Vax. Mac energy was super high through most of the night. We battled back and put ourselves in a position to win when we landed "The Shoes" to tie the tourney at 14. You could feel the whole building shake. But Molly had enough left in the tank to stave off our run. It was an anti-climatic ending after clawing our way back."
BNN's Chip Checker asked what went wrong, "Two decisions I'd take back if I could. Accepting the double in a race with a roll behind at 3-2 in our favor, and a risky hit with our double 3s later in the tourney. Molly nailed a 6-4 to get in and hit and we were left exposed to a Gammon. Our risks didn’t pay dividends tonight."
Chip pressed on about the performance of Pepper the Ghost, who lost both his races. "Ghost rolled 2 sets of 5s in his first appearance, can't be upset about that. But he lacked the fire power we needed in the finale. He could have used some steroids of his own." Urogdy joked.
Molly was upbeat in her interview with BNN's Betty Bearoff. "Other than Johnny’s lucky 6s, we rolled over him all night. Up 9-3, and 14-9... the tourney wasn’t as close as the final score. There was a full house at the Dice Center. The fans in China love underdogs. At times they were so loud, I couldn't hear the sound of my dice rolling. It was a magical night; the stars were aligned, and the Backgammon Gods gave me the tools to craft a win. Clearly 2021 is going to be good year."
Bearoff continued, "Some of the fans were doing some 'chicken counting', JohnnyU brought the fight to a single game, counting on his mantra 'Math over Miracles' to steal the win from you."
"Well guess what, he didn’t have math or miracles last night. We have now won 2 of the last 3. We're down just 5-3 in 2021 and our sights are set on winning the next match to close the gap."
BOX NEWS-wire - Justin Rolls reports
JohnnyU’s comeback gets "GHOSTED" - Mac wins 15-14
Ghost on the Bubble? Mac on the Juice?
Rumors are flying in the backgammon community about the future of "Pepper the Ghost" as Urogdy’s star racer. After failing twice in last night's battle, some say the Ghost may be benched or on the block. There has been no comment from Pepper or JohnnyU.
But what about the Mac? Molly Mac ... Big Mac (Mark McGwire) ... see any comparisons last night? We do! JUICE JUICE JUICE... And BOX investigators are already knocking on the doors of Johnson and Johnson to see what exactly went into that drug cocktail that Molly was injected with on Thursday.
Don't forget, "TheSecret World of Molly Mac" airs tonight on BOX. You won't want to miss it.