Float like a butterfly, sting like bocce! Or something like that . . .
Muhammad Ali is one of the five greatest non-Turbo Bocce playing athletes of all time, and one of the 305 best total athletes of all time. In honor of his passing, lets have a Muhammad Ali themed recap. Every bocce highlight will be paired with a classic Ali quote, and maybe if you’re lucky you’ll get to watch him punch somebody.
I guess its your lucky day. Just like Wednesday was Thunderballz lucky day. Here is an Ali quote that describes the game between Thunderballz and Blowing 8 Balls.
“I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I was really the greatest.”
I chose this quote because Thunderballz are now the greatest. They won all three games against a very good Blowing 8 Balls team who were 3-0 themselves going into the week. Thunderballz are now in first place, and are pretty much the only first place team since the inception of the Wednesday League other than Balls of Fury who went 29-1 last year, and started this year 3-0.
So why are Balls of Fury not in first place anymore? Funny you should ask. Here’s an Ali quote that describes their game.
“I don’t count the sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count. That’s what makes you a champion.”
I chose this quote because Balls of Fury are champions, and they did win this week’s match up, which was also the bounty game. Nevertheless, Balls of Fury experienced a little pain. As you saw in the video they were just a little off. They are not used to losing, but they did lose a game to rookie team Gone Fishing. Balls of Fury are used to being in first place, and certainly don’t like being 5-1, but hopefully their bounty prize will help them drink the pain away.
As for Gone Fishing, they lost the bounty but they can use this win against Turbo Bocce’s best as a step towards building a dynasty that will one day crush us all.
Speaking of building a bocce dynasty that will one day crush us all . . . check this Ali quote out.
“The will must be stronger than the skill.”
Steve and Brenda had an impressive display of rolling the ball accurately over long distances on their first day together as a team. Unfortunately they were up against Greg Griffo, a bocce veteran who is playing great. He scored 22 points, bocced out another 6 of their points, and lead his team to 3 wins, with the help of his partner Elliot who also played great. However, I see a bright future for Steve and Brenda so long as they bring the same enthusiasm every week that they had for this game. That’s why I say, the will must be stronger than the skill.
“It isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you down. It’s the pebble in your shoe.”
My recounts of great bocce teams might make you feel like the road to a championship is a hard one, and it is! But you can get there by paying attention to the small details. In bocce, as Ali said, its the little things that bring you down. Patty Cerio did a great job here of showing how to overcome an obsticle in bocce. Often times a ball right in front of the pallio screws people up, but it doesn’t have to. There is more room on the side than it looks like there is. So, when the direct path is blocked just go to the side like Patty does in the video below. You’ll find success more often than not.
Oh by the way, Patty’s team, Bocce Brute, won two games against Dolce.
“Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
I chose this quote to describe the game between Mike & Autumn and Murphy’s Pour, because they learned (as we all do) that anything can happen in bocce. What happened in this series might seem strange, but I swear it happens almost every week.
Mike & Autumn came out strong winning the first game in a blow out, 11-3. In the second game Murphy’s Pour came back strong winning in a blow out themselves, 11-1. Historically whenever the first two games are both blowouts, but each team wins one, the third game always goes into overtime. This was no exception. Murphy’s Pour snuck out a win the third game with a tight 13-10 victory. No matter what the first two games look like, anything can happen in the third game because impossible is nothing in bocce.
Onto individual accomplishments.
20 Point Club (season high going into this week was 24)
Jake Alstadt – Thunderballz – 23
Greg Griffo – To Be announced – 22
Kayla – NBK – 20
Honorable Mention to Andy Tramontana who scored 19
5 Bocce Club (season high going into this week was 10)
Courtney Razzante – Tiny But Mighty – 7
Greg Griffo – To Be Announced – 6
Bethany Harrington – Dolce – 5
Multiple Ace Club (season high going into this week was 7)
Courtney Razzante – Tiny But Mighty – 2
Robb Jones – Balls of Fury – 2
Vice Briguglia – Fab & Vince – 2
Now that its week 2 we can get into some season leaders.
Top teams in BCS (we rank the teams based on our BCS formula which is wins (x2) plus opponent winning percentage).
Thunderballz – 2.500
Merica – 2.333
Balls of Fury – 2.121
Expert Ball Handlers – 2.111
Lou & Charlie – 2.000
Points Leaders
Jake Alstadt – 39
Ken Brenner – 39
John Bauman – 36
Mark Avery Claridge – 33
Sam Pascarella – 33
Vince Briguglia – 33
Bocce Leaders
John Roche – 12
Courtney Razzante – 11
Autumn Calaprico – 10
Kathy Parker – 9
Ken Brenner – 7
Ace Leader
Amy Figger – 7
5 tied with 3
Turbo Round Wins
Paige Hoffman – 3
13 tied with 1
Rookie of the Year Award (given to the rookie with the most points)
John Murphy – 31
Fab Avicolli – 30
Michaela Clark – 30
Parry Cerio – 29
Jen Powell – 28
If you don’t see your stats, you can find stats for every team and person in the league HERE.
Bocce news from around the world: Turbo Bocce’s own Kellly Edmunston and Oscar Ocampo took a vacation and couldn’t resist playing some bocce on the beach. I always assumed playing bocce outside of Syracuse would be a fate worse than death but they don’t seem to mind. Hopefully they also don’t mind me stealing their pic without permission. Looking forward to seeing them both at bocce next week.
One last bit of advice to hold you over until Wednesday, and this advice comes from Mr. Muhammad Ali himself . . . “Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”
That, in one short brilliant sentence, is what Turbo Bocce is all about.
As always, there are more pics from this week and you can see them all if you check our Facebook page HERE.
