Week 5 was a hot sunny day, the perfect kind of day to enjoy the waterfront property we are lucky enough to have. And isn’t it seeming more and more like the only place you can go avoid rain this summer is bocce?
4th of July week is usually a make-up week for us due to so many people traveling for the holiday, but since we had to skip a week to accommodate the corporate challenge, 4th of July week this year became just another normal week.
There were a several people who could not participate due to travel plans, but on the plus side we had more scorekeepers than ever before. At least ten people without partners chose to show up anyway just to lend a helping hand, have a few drinks, and enjoy the night. This makes me happy. Partly, because more score keepers are always welcome, but mostly because it shows that Turbo Bocce is providing a fun environment that people don’t want to miss out on even when they are not playing bocce.
In on the field news, the New Bocce Order continues to run away with the regular season with yet another three win week. Jim Whipple of the New Bocce Order is also leading the league in points, and he helped his own cause by putting up a week high 21 points.
Tom Weigel of the Landlords also put up 21 points, and also helped his team to three wins.
Just behind Jim and Tom are Donna Aitken of 2 Balls On Your Ace and John Colella of Yankee Clippers who had 20 points a piece, while helping each of their teams to three win weeks.
Rounding out the 20 point club is Jim “Hammer”McCarthy of Beer United who continued his streak of excellent bocce, scoring twenty and helping his team to two wins.
Rob Calvani of Kentucky Bourbon had a week high total of 8 bocces, helping his team defeat DaVinci two times. Rob also lead the league with four aces. Way to fill up the stat sheet Rob.
The game of the week had to be the Big LaBocce vs. the Big LaBocce. If that sounds strange, the blame for it falls squarely on my shoulders. I did not realize early in the year that we had two teams who chose the same name (and a clever name too, I can see why it was in demand) so both these teams were nice enough to play each other in a grudge match for the right to use the Big LaBocce name from here on out.
You may be surprised to know that this is not the first grudge match over naming rights in Turbo Bocce history – though it is the first time it happened since 2005 when Turbo Bocce was in its infancy and getting ready for the start of our first ever season. Back then founding members Hammer McCarthy and Phil Martino had a grudge match to decide who would take the name Beer United. This took the form of a one on one game in Phil’s parents back yard (which is also where our first league match was played) at about one in the morning in the pitch black with me holding a flash light on the pallino. Hammer was able to win that match and his team still uses the name Beer United to this day.
Back to present day, the Bernard and Scott version of Big LaBocce faced off against the Ryan and Jess version of Big LaBocce, for the rights to that name. And if the stakes were not already high enough, Bernard and Scott happened to be the bounty team. So not only were Ryan and Jess playing for their team name, they were also playing for $40, which I guess makes this some kind of super grudge match.
Scott and Bernard made a early statement, by winning the first game in an 11-0 shutout. Ryan and Jess started to find their stride in the second game, but it was too late. Scott and Bernard were able to win that match 11-3 and the series, taking the Big LaBocce name for themselves. Being the troopers that they are, Ryan and Jess found their stride in the third game and were able to win the final battle 11-9 despite knowing that they had already lost the war. Scott (who was coincidentally wearing a Superman tee shirt) lead the way with a clutch performance of 17 points 5 bocces, and 2 aces. Jess racked up an impressive 6 bocces including three in the last game to help her team get the their win.
After all that we now know that the bounty total for next week will be $60, and I am sure Ryan and Jess will have another clever team name that they will like even more than the Big LaBocce. I cant wait to find out what it is.
In off the field news, we had a vote to determine how to best allocate our funds. The choice was between continuing to give out the George Christou award (which is essentially buying drinks for whoever the bartender chooses as the best drinker that night) and having a second bounty team every week from here on out.
Having a second bounty team won the vote in a bit of a landslide, so its safe to say that the George Christou award was not one of my better ideas. Although if the worst thing our league does this year is buy too many free drinks for members I’d say we are operating at a pretty high level.
So the news announcement we have is, next week there will be not one but TWO bounty teams. The first will be playing for $60, and the second will be playing for $20, and those numbers will obviously go up or down from that point on based on whether the bounty team wins or loses their game.
Of course, the death of the George Christou award meant that it would be handed out for a final time (actually we will keep handing out the award but free drinks will no longer be bought with league money). George Christou was there to personally award the final medal that will be given with his name on it. He chose to give it to Anson Zepetello (and with good reason). At that point the award was put to bed by purchasing a lemon drop shot for every bocce player still at the bar. Hopefully I didn’t miss anybody.
There are lots more pictures of this week available on our facebook page which you can see by clicking HERE.
