There are only two things in this world that I love, bocce and everybody, so opening day of bocce is a pretty special time for me. Just setting up all the bocce balls, mats, and scorecards got me jazzed.
The calm before the storm.
We have a lot to look forward to this year. Plenty of lights so games can continue past dark when necessary. Our own sound system (don’t be afraid to make music requests). A brand new field full of healthy grass thanks to Turf Magic. But the best thing of all is simply seeing everybody back in the same place at the same time again.
Warm up the bright lights, bocce season has started!
Yesterday morning you probably woke up thinking your life had no meaning, and now its bocce season! Don’t get me wrong your life is still meaningless, but now you get to play bocce!
Jim Lowrey of DaVinci gets us started with the first shot of the year!
Speaking of meaningless lets go over some notable week 1 results. We had some games that were notable because of how closely contested they were, and other games that were notable because they were not very close at all.
Its not too often that two intact championship winning teams meet. In fact there are only two such teams in our league, so it can only happen once . . . and its already happened . . . hope you didn’t miss it, the season is all downhill from here.
Andy Ingalls and Anson Zeppetello won a championship in 2007, then broke up in 2013. This year they decided to get the old championship winning band back together and they started off with a bang, playing last year’s champs Black Jesus.
Some teams are already in mid-season form.
The game was as good as you’d think with scores of 11-9, 11-8, and 12-10. In the end Amerika’z Most Wanted upset the reigning champs 2 games to 1 with a total aggregate win of 31-30. It doesn’t get much closer than that.
Brothers Tom and Kevin Evans, team Rum Runners, are also coming back from a hiatus and getting a taste of how things have changed. For example, Ralph Bocce-O was not a team the last time the Rum Runners played, and now they are a very good team, as the Rum Runners learned. This incredibly close match-up included two games that required extra bocce to resolve. The first going to Ralph Bocce-O 12-10, the second going to Rum Runners 13-11. Somewhere around this point, these teams learned they were the bounty game, and this evenly matched contest would result in a prize. Ralph Bocce-O won the third game 11-6, and won the prize. A a hard fought $20 gift certificate to Sharkey’s that I’m sure will make the drinks they buy with it taste extra good.
Bounty winners!
Unfortunately not every game was quite this close.
The other bounty game, for instance, between Lover Boys and Little Big league. By the time the bounty was announced Lover Boys was already up 2 games to 0, thus insuring a bounty win in their first ever Turbo Bocce contest. One game later they added a 3-0 week to their bounty prize. I’d call that a near perfect start to a Turbo Bocce career if there ever was one.
My game was also not very close. My team, Breakfast of Champions went up against 2 ½ Kittens, who won all three games 11-7, 12-10, 13-10. Both Andrew Dougherty and Steve Henry played great, scoring 18 points a piece. My partner Andy Thompson tried his best, but its hard to succeed when your partner’s play can best be compared to a sleeping dog farting itself awake.
Another game that was not close was Eazy Duz It vs. Blue Balls. Blue Balls is a good team, that has last year’s Rookie of the Year Justin McLaughlin on it, but Eazy Duz It, last year’s second place regular season team, and Bill LaBrake, last year’s point leader, were just too much to handle. Bill scored 25 points – one shy of an all time single day record. Needless to say his team won all three games.
I’ll drink to that performance!
This will make a perfect segue into talking about individual accomplishments.
20 Point Club
Bill Labrake of Eazy Does it lead the way with 25 points – a darn good start towards breaking the all time scoring record he himself set last year.
Bernard LeVine of Big LeBocce had 23.
Brett Okon of Mission Imbocceball II had 21.
Chirstos Christou of Schaffer BMW had 21.
Christos Christou scores 21 points in his Scheffer BMW uniform.
5 Bocce Club
Chris Devins of Let the Big Dogs Eat had 6.
Don Adamczyk of Omnipotence had 6.
Jeff Weiner of Boccelism had 6.
Kim Pomeroy of Blonde Bocce Bitches had 6.
Scotti Francescotti of DaVinci had 6.
Ashleigh Green of The Dicks Who Steal Balls had 5.
Joe La Celle of Feel the Bang had 5.
Sherri Walakis of Blonde Bocce Bitches had 5.
3 Ace Club
Only one person made this club, Angelo Isgro of Kiss My Ace with 3, but several people had 2.
Including Angela Morosini in her attempt to retain her Ace title, Anson Zeppetello, Christos Christou (to go with his 21 points), Heather Cleveland, Jeff Williams, Kate Kelly, Kate Gillen, Phil Martino, and Scotti Francescotti.
Multiple Turbo Winner Club
Jeff Weiner of team Boccelism is the early season leader with 3.
Don Adamczyk of Omnipotence had 2.
Rick Heffernan of Ralph Bocce-O had 2.
Rookie of the Year Standings (we give this award out to the first year player who scores the most points).
Ashleigh Green – The Dicks Who Steal Balls – 18
Dan Parsons – Lover Boys – 18
Jess Chiavara – Bocce Like its Hot – 18
Sean Kelsey – Lover Boys – 17
Jeff Williams – Bocce Like its Hot – 16
Rookie of the Year candidate Ashleigh Green.
As you can see, this is shaping up to be a great race!
There are plenty more pictures on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/turbobocce, go there to check it out, and be sure to “like” us if you haven’t yet.
