We are built wrong. We have noses that run and feet that smell. Yet somehow we cope, and sometimes we even thrive. In this recap I will be focusing on those times in which people thrive, and congratulating them for it.
A perfect weather day lead to 100 people turning out to play bocce, and lots of fun times. But before I get into all that, I want to talk about a special tournament. If you are not traveling this 4th of July weekend, perhaps you want to kick your holiday weekend off right with a blind-draw, all you can drink, sand bocce tournament. We are going to be playing in the sand at Sharkey’s at 2 pm July 2nd. They are providing prizes for the winners, and, if you want to drink all day the cost is $30 for as much draft beer and jungle juice as you want.
Now how about we run a contest for free tickets . . . if you want to win you have to answer at least one question correctly in a game I just invented called “Celebrity or Other Thing.”
In this game I give you a name or phrase and you decide if its a celebrity name or some other thing. If you win you get free admittance into the July 2nd bocce tournament which I’m going to value at one million emotional rubles. Lets start.
Question: Is Jay Z?
A: An east coast rapper
B: A bird who is sleeping
C: All of the above
Before I give you the answer, lets talk bocce. Did you know that the Knickerbocces played Amerika’z Most wanted, and that it might have been the game of the day? Amerika’z Most wanted has been hot to start the season but Kickerbocces were ready for the challenge. All three games were close, and two of the three went into overtime. The scores for the series were, 12-10, 13-9 and 11-9. And that included a game where the Kickerbocces were down 9-1 and came back to win. The comeback, and 20 points from Josh Wheeler was the difference in the series, as the Kickerbocces won 2 games to 1, only losing the final game 11-9. Check out Sean Hughes of Kickerbocces just taking the pallino away with him in the highlight below!
Now back to the contest question . . .
Answer: A. Jay Z is an east coast rapper. A sleeping bird would be Jay Zzzz.
Twinning is off to a hot start, but rookies Buff Ave Babes gave them a tough game thanks to the great play of Jacque Stapleton who I gather from reading the scorecard was MVP of the game. She had nine points, five bocces, and two aces, and helped her team win a game against Twinning who is racking up the wins this year. Siobhan Christou had 12 points and 2 aces for Twinning to continue her strong season, and her partner Jess Blake managed 11 points, 5 bocces, an ace, and two Turbo Round wins, while somehow also finding time calm excited dogs.
Next question . . .
Question: Is Tailor Swift?
A: A country/pop singer
B: A quick way to fix pants.
C: All of the above
One of the very best games of the day was played between Ralph Bocce-O and Droppin Balls. Ralph Bocce-O has had a great start to the season, and Droppin Balls are perennial Turbo Bocce winners. In this game Ralph Bocce-O’s momentum held and they won the first two games 11-7, and 11-4, before losing a close third game 11-9. Rick Heffernan lead the way with 21 points, on shots like the one below (which doesn’t look like its in from the angle I shot at, but is in).
Salty Bocce Balls are off to a crazy hot start this year, which got even hotter in week 5. They managed to beat last year’s elite 8 finisher Bocce Against the Machine all three games, with two of the three going into overtime. Badger Ballon lead the way for Salty Bocce Balls with 21 points, and they needed each one; despite winning all three games, this series was about as close as it can get, with scores of 12-10, 11-8, 12-10.
Now back to the contest question . . .
Answer: B. The singer’s name is Taylor Swift.
Turbo Bocce veterans Double A’s took on Turbo Bocce Rookies Dothrookies with surprising results. The first game was close with Double A’s winning 11-8, as expected, behind a great single game effort of 7 points and two aces from Allison Bodine. In the second game, Dothrookies took the momentum and won 11-7, then kept that momentum going and won the series with a huge 11-3 game three victory. Nikki Morales had 14 points and 4 bocces, including this gem which you can watch below.
Next question . . .
Question: Is Seal?
A: A singer
B: An animal that shark’s like to eat.
C: All of the above
Black Jesus looked to hang on to first place in the league in their game against G and T’s who bet a shot on the fact that they would win at least one game. The first game was a battle with Black Jesus winning a close one 11-7. In the second game Black Jesus looked dominant, winning 11-1. But in the third game G and T’s were clearly feeling supersonic, as they managed to get the 11-8 win. The story is a happy one for both teams. G and T’s won their shots, though unfortunately the shots were black tooth gins, and Black Jesus won just enough to hold on to first place.
The bounty game was played between Ball & Chain and Rum Runners, who must be the luckiest team in bocce. Last Wednesday Rum Runners showed up to play a make up game and won the bounty; now here they are, one week later, playing for a second straight prize. The first game was all Ball & Chain, who won 11-5. Then Ball & Chain made sure there would be no drama in regards to who was going home with the prize, winning the second game 11-3 to insure we did not have back to back bounty winners for the first time in 4 years. Rum Runners took their first series loss of the season, but they took it well because they came back strong, winning the third game 12-6.
Now back to the contest questions . . .
Answer: C. It works equally well both ways.
Lets move on to individual stats now, I’m excited about this because season highs were recorded in every single category! Refreshing stuff after a week last week with no twenty point scorers.
20 Point Club (season high going into the week was 21)
Tim Maynard – Make Bocce Great Again – 23 (3 points away from the all time record)
Rick Heffernan – Ralph Bocce-O – 21
Badger Ballon – Salty Bocce Balls – 21
Kim Pomeroy – Blonde Bocce Bitches – 21
Justin McLaughlin – Blue Ballz – 20
Josh Wheeler – Knickerbocces – 20
5 Bocce Club (season high going into the week was 10)
Jayson Gray – Kiss My Ace – 13 (3 away from the all time record)
Kim Pomeroy – Blonde Bocce Bitches – 12
Dave Oliva – Schaffer BMW – 9
Dave Jankett – Ballz Deeper – 8
Patti Serro – Italian Chicks – 7
Bill LaBrake – Eazy Duz It – 7
Scott Rau – Eazy Duz It – 6
Paul Colabufo – Breakfast of Champions – 6
Katie Ives – Boccesaurus Rex – 5
Jess Blake – Twinning – 5
Jacque Stapleton – Buff Ave Babes – 5
Caity Ferrari – Buff Ave Babes – 5
Sherri Walakis – Blonde Bocce Bitches – 5
Tim Maynard – Make Bocce Great Again – 5
Multiple Ace Club (season high going into the week was 5)
Dave Oliva – Schaffer BMW – 5
Sean Hughes – Knickerbocces – 3
Justin McLaughlin – Blue Ballz – 3
Ariel Tranchell – Melissa & Ariel – 3
Allison Bodine, Derek Russell, Tina Paetow, Jacque Stapleton, Anson Zeppetello – 2 each
Multiple Turbo Round Win Club (season high going into the week was 2)
Jim Whipple – Black Jesus – 2
Jess Blake – Twinning – 2
One last contest question . . .
Is 50 Cent?
A: A rapper
B: The amount of money I have in my pocket
C: All of the above
Find out the answer after the season leader board, but I can’t wait any longer for this one. There is practically no separation for first place in the league or between any stat leaders. Exciting stuff!
BCS (we rank teams for the playoffs based on our BCS formula which is your winning percentage doubled plus your opponents winning percentage)
Black Jesus – 2.270
Ralph Bocce-O – 2.214
Dog Brothers – 2.200
Mark & Robb – 2.178
Jim Flint – 2.167
Keep an eye on this race, right now 56/thousandths of a point separate first from second.
Point Leaders (all time high is 200)
Greg Griffo – Los Moppines – 86
Scott Mead – Big LaBocce – 85
Jim Whipple – Black Jesus – 85
Robb Jones – Mark & Robb – 83
Justin McLaughlin – Blue Ballz – 82
Tom Evans – Rum Runners – 82
Only 6 points separate the top 10 in scoring!
Bocce Leaders (all time high is 82)
Kim Pomeroy – Blonde Bocce Bitches – 34
Jayson Gray – Kiss My Ace – 33
Angelo Isgro – Kiss My Ace – 30
Bobby Lupi – Bocce Against the Machine – 23
Caity Ferrarri – Buff Ave Babes – 21
Only 1 bocce separates first from second, those two had 12 and 13 bocces this week, which are the two highest totals this season, great race!
Ace Leaders (all time high is 33)
Anson Zeppetello – Amerika’z Most Wanted – 11
Dave Oliva – Schaffer BMW – 11
Monica Angelosanto – G and T’s – 9
Jaque Stapleton – Buff Ave Babes – 8
Jeff McGann – Bocce Against the Machine – 8
Jeff Williams – Jeff & Tina – 8
Tie at the top and only 5 aces (which has been reached twice this season) separates first place from nineteenth place!
Turbo Round Wins (all time high is 10)
Monica Angelosanto – G and T’s – 4
Scott Mead – Big LaBocce – 3
Angelo Isgro – Kiss My Ace – 3
7 tied with 2
Only one separates first from second and only two separate the top 10.
Rookie of the Year (given to the rookie with the most points, all time high is 173)
Caity Ferrari – Buff Ave Babes – 60
Christina Hudson – Boccesaurus Rex – 60
Jon Szewczyk – I’ll Bocce Your Mom – 59
Derek Russell – Russell – 56
Meghan Sovocool – Dothrookies – 53
Like all the others, it doesn’t get much closer than this. A tie for first, and third only one point behind.
If you didn’t see your stats you can check all the team and individual stats HERE, and you should because anybody can win a medal this year!
Now back to the contest question . . .
Answer: A. I have 50 cents, with an s, in my pocket.
So, did you get any of those right? If you did you win! Your prize is free tickets to our blind draw sand bocce tournament at Sharkey’s on July2nd. And if you didn’t get any of these right . . . you win too! There is literally no way for me to know who guessed right and who guessed wrong. Also, this is a free tournament to participate in, so this game was totally meaningless!
Don’t forget, Sharkey’s 2pm, blind draw, sand bocce tournament. If you want to drink draft beer and jungle juice all day long the cost is $30. Or you can simply buy what you want. Sharkey’s will provide prizes for the winners. See you there.
If you don’t stay after bocce and join us for a drink, you should, lots of fun stuff happens. Also there are awards to be won! For years we’ve been awarding the George Christou award after bocce ends, but for some reason going into this year everybody forgot about it. Luckily for us all, Phil Martino remembered and resurrected the tradition. For those that don’t know what the George Christou Award is, it used to be the Most Drunk award, but we polished it up, gave it a new name and now we give it out to the best drinker. That can mean many things, so make sure you find Phil Martino after bocce each night because he’s going to be the judge.
This week the George Christou award goes to Caity Ferrari who drove all the way from Rochester to Sharkey’s to play bocce with us . . . on her Birthday! Contrats Caity on being this year’s first George Christou Award winner! I can only imagine its the birthday present of your dreams.
This year we are trying to interview a different player every week to give you a perspective other than mine, which I figure can only be a good thing, but, in all the excitement after bocce this week I forgot to interview someone, so I guess I’ll answer the questions myself, which totally negates the point of doing all this in the first place. Yet here we go.
Turbo Bocce: Do you have any bocce tips you want to share with the rest of the league?
Paul: Always remember the three P’s. Practice . . . practice . . . and I forget what the third one is, maybe parachutes.
Turbo Bocce: Someone spent $50,000 on a single ticket to the game seven of the NBA finals. If you had $50,000 to blow, what would you spend it on that’s more fun than a ticket to a basketball game?
Paul: Here are my top three options. (1) End world hunger . . . for ants. I’d love to end world hunger for humans but it would cost WAY more than that. (2) Buy 50,000 $1 hookers. (3) Buy a chocolate fountain that has hamburgers flowing through it instead of chocolate.
Turbo Bocce: If you lived in the wild west, and they were about to hang you, what would you want your last words to be?
Paul: Something like “Howdy partner, fuck Y’all for hanging me. I love beer.” Yea, that sounds like a wild west version of me.
Turbo Bocce: Who is better at singing: Bruce Springsteen or MC Scat Cat (the cartoon cat that Paula Abdul once rapped with).
Paul: My two favorite bands are MC Scat Cat, and Halloween sound effects from the 1950’s, so I’ve got to go with MC Scat Cat on this one.
Turbo Bocce: Have you ever started petting a really fluffy dog and just gotten very overwhelmed by how fluffy the dog is?
Paul: Ive felt that way after petting over-ripe fruit. Its not a good feeling. I’d be better off with more fluffy dogs in my life and less fluffy fruit.
There’s the interview. I don’t think anybody was too eager to hear my opinion on stuff, but you know what they say about opinions . . . unlike buttholes, I have one.
As always there are more pictures than we can fit on this recap. If you want to see them all, check our Facebook page HERE.
