Fall 2009 Champions!!!

I know I haven't blogged much this season, but I can't pass up the opportunity to celebrate Joanie's 2nd Championship! Yes, Noah's dad is a bocce champion! Again!

We played Kiss My Palino in the 1st round last sunday, and then Veni Vedi Bocce in a tough 2nd round, also last Sunday. Today, we beat veterans Gowanus Iguanas 7-2, 7-2 with Kirstie and I playing at the South end and Danielle (our MVP) and Teresa playing at the North end.

In the finals we beat Bocce Brunch 0-7, 7-1, 7-3. In the 2nd game, Kirstie and Teresa came out, I moved to the North end to play with Danielle and Hugh and Eric took the South End. Bocce Brunch spanked us in the first game playing an exclusively long ball type of game. Once we got control back, we kept it, playing short, and taking advantage of every opportunity.

Congratulations Joanies!

Bocce Overdose

Way too much bocce was played yesterday. We had a double header scheduled, and then a rescheduled game from earlier in the season. Plus, I got to the bar early and subbed in for another team. So that's 4 bocce matches yesterdays. And all but one went 3 games and were fairly hard fought.

My first game was subbing in for Solid Gold who played the Little Lassos. It wasn't in compliance with league rules (we only had 3 players), but most of the summer teams don't bother with the rules. I don't remember the score precisely, since it wasn't my team, but we won in 3 long games.

My second game of the day, and Joanie's first, was against The Mo I Bocce. We lost to them earlier in the season on a day when we let them play with only 3 players. Today, they had a full compliment of teammates, but still, for some reason, didn't play two people at each end. Anyway, it didn't help them much. We won 7-6, 7-2. Lisa and Abby played at the North end in the first game, Eric and Hugh at the south end. Game one was one of those games where every round is only one point. I came in the second game for Eric and we came out had a quicker second game.

Game 3 and 4 were both against If You Want My Bocce, who also needed a substitute from Solid Gold. We split. First match they won, 7-6, 4-7, 7-6. Second game, we won 7-6, 1-7, 7-4. I think. That's a lot of bocce scores to remember.

I went home and promptly fell asleep. Looking forward to having next weekend off. Go Joanie!

Joanie Beats Count Boccula: 7-2, 7-2

We felt bad about this one, really we did. Count Boccula stepped up for us the week before, lent us our fourth player so that we could deliver to the Little Lassos the defeat they so richly deserved. We repaid them by humiliating them 7-2, 7-2.

Humiliating is the wrong term though. I mean, if it was another team that we beat that badly, it would be appropriate, especially since it just as easily could have been 7-0, 7-0. But Count Boccula took the loss with class. Lauren, their captain, recognized that she was about five years behind Joanie in terms of bocce experience and asked us for some pointers after the match. We were happy to oblige.

When I left the bar afterwards, Eric and Hugh were still there hanging out with our new bocce pals.

Looking ahead to next week's game (tomorrow--I'm writing this on Friday)... We play a triple-header. I don't know whether to be excited or worried. Our first game is against the Mo I Bocce. Last time we played them, they only brought three players, we let them play anyway, and they won. I don't expect them to win again. They seemed more lucky than good. Then we play If You Want My Bocce, and then another game against IYWMB to make-up for a game they had to cancel earlier in the season. This is the part that worries me. First, I think we'll win the first game handily. We'll be good and warmed up from beating The Mo I Bocce. But the second game will be our third of the day and I expect most of us to be a little lacking in concentration, and half of us to be drunk. I don't like to play under circumstances like that, but so be it.

And in case anyone needs a reminder, IYWMB is the team we beat in the semifinals last summer that put that awesome video on their blog. You know, the one that names me "The Fixer." Love that. I think I'll watch it now to psyche myself up.

Joanie beats The Little Lasso's: 7-4, 7-4

Today was a good day for bocce. We've had some trouble fielding a full team lately. Today, only Eric, Hugh and I were available. Luckily for us, Joanie is a likeable team. Early in the season, I made nice with one of the new teams, Count Boccula (nice name!), and when I asked their captain (I think), Lauren, if one of their teammates would be willing to be our fourth, she told me to take my pick. I picked Valerie, who seemed to be their best player. They were eager to help, since we were playing the Little Lassos, a team that has gotten a reputation for being a little obnoxious. Lauren and Val wanted to see the Lassos lose, and Joanie was just the team to make that happen.

Val and I played at the North end, Hugh and Eric at the South. For the most part we played our game, kept the bocces close, picked away at them, wore them down. It helped that the Lassos were drunk. It also helped that Val was cute and perfectly willing to flirt with the other team in order to distract. I don't know if that accomplished anything, but it was fun to watch. Personally, I just think we were just the better team today. Thanks to Val and Count Boccula, Joanie kicked some ass today.

Val -- You and the rest of Count Boccula can now count yourselves honorary Joanies.

Val even gets her own Happy Days name... Jenny Piccolo. Congrats Val! Go Joanie!

Joanie "loses" to The Mo I Bocce...

So I don't like to complain about the other bocce teams, really I don't. But sometimes, I am left with no choice. We had a double-header scheduled our last time out, both against rookie teams. The first team had only two players and forfeited. The second team, The Mo I Bocce (another bad name--honestly, there are some great named teams in this league, see, e.g. Do These Droids Speak Bocce, If You Want My Bocce, Boccelism, Veni Vedi Bocce, etc.; it doesn't take that much effort) had only three players. Since I didn't want to waste the double header, rather than make them forfeit, I agreed to play--also Eric had schlepped in from New Jersey. They won 2-7, 7-5, 7-5. Fine, I'll live with that; I agreed to play. But what really bothers me is that they didn't seem to know that they were supposed to forfeit. They also didn't seem to know some other league rules and at least one basic rule of how to play. Perhaps it wouldn't have bothered me so much if we won. But is it asking too much that the new teams acquaint themselves with the league rules? I don't think it is.

The era of the kinder gentler Fonz is over.

Joanie beats Count Boccula: 7-2, 7-5

The title says it all. Joanie bounced back from the painful season opener with a much better performance against rookie team Count Boccula. Teresa and Abby played at the North end, and Eric and I played at the South. As usual, the gang at the North end played a little looser of a game, more in the middle of the court, more hitting, more space between the balls. And Eric and I played a much tighter game, keeping the palino short, leaving less room for multiple points for either team. At least, until the middle of the second game. Count B generally controlled the second game. They were up 5-1, when Eric and I had the round of the day. As usual, we kept the balls close enough that after Count B expended all of their balls, we had two closer than their closest ball, but if we could knock away their closest ball, we'd be able to pick up 4. Eric didn't go for the hit and instead tried to just get it in closer than their ball. He laid it in short, in front of the pallino, but not close enough to add any points. I rolled our last ball intending to sneak around that ball, bump Count B's ball and stop near the pallino, in hopes of picking up 3, and maybe a 4th if their ball rolled away. I ended up bumping Eric's short ball, then carrying forward enough to bump their ball a little and land close to take all 4 points. We tied it up at 5-5. Teresa and Abby closed it out without having to roll more than 2 balls.

Doubleheader next week. Go Joanies!

A new season

I haven't blogged about the team in a while. We ended last season on a sour note. After dominating the league for most of the season, we lost our last two games again two veteran teams, Gowanus Iguanas and Old Dirty Barristers. We drew the Old Dirty in the first round of the playoffs, and lost to them again. And to make matters worse, I wasn't even there. On the bright side, I wasn't there because my employer sent me to Paris to manage a team of twenty other lawyers on a fairly important project. And then I had a week of vacation in Paris. And then I came back and got to announce that my wife is pregnant. So there were good things, just not in the bocce universe.

So today we started the summer season. And again, not in a good way. We played a very annoying team of rookies and drunks, the Little Lassos, and lost in straight games, 7-5, 7-0. I don't even want to write about.

This is probably my last season of captaining the mighty Joanies, since next season I'll have a baby right around playoff time, and the following season I'll have an infant and I'll have to focus on captaining the Trokensimons instead. So this loss doesn't really mean anything. There are lots of games ahead.