Saturday, July 12, 2008

Help! I think I am becoming addicted to pétanque! I would like to stop but the lure of the cochonnet is too strong and always pulls me back in this infernal merry go round.

Yesterday for instance I didn’t really want to play in the LPM tournament, but when it was made clear to me that two more players were needed to form another doublette, the pull of cochonnet became too strong and I agreed to lend my talents to the game.

It turned out to be a good decision. Even though the crowd was small, the atmosphere was cozier than in larger tournaments. Every participant was from the Marin club (Hello Sonoma, where were you?) and everybody knew everybody. It was strictly a family affair, but unlike some family affairs it turned out to be very pleasant.

The small attendance also gave me a rare opportunity to take a group photo of all the players to commemorate the event.

Our club president also managed to entice two unsuspecting people to join our club and I think that they won’t regret their decision. So Mina and Monte, without further ado, welcome to the Bay Area’s best pétanque club (I like to talk trash once in while).

The weather turned out to be perfect, almost made to order. Not too warm and cooled periodically by a pleasant little northern breeze.

The tournament itself was straight forward. Doublettes a la mêlée. Two games before lunch and two games after lunch. The teams were fairly balanced but the final results were no great surprise. The Lofaro brothers dominated the game and took 1st and 2nd prize. Tamara Simionovna (paired with Antoine) also came on top and brought back home the money I lost on my own.

1st Place	Antoine Lofaro/Tamara Efron	$20.00 ea
2nd Place	Tino Lofaro/Jean Etcheverry	$15.00 ea
3rd Place	David Render/Mireille Di Maio	$10.00 ea

The tournament ended around 4:00 p.m. and gave me (I am not as young as I look) the time to recharge my batteries for tomorrow’s Bastille Day tournament in Sonoma.

By the way, did you know that Bastille Day, simply known in France as Le Quatorze Juillet, was cancelled by Napoleon and only came back in 1880, almost one hundred years after the start of the 1789 Revolution?

This column (read I was told by school children) strives to be educational as well as entertaining.

So that’s all for today. I’ll see you all in Sonoma tomorrow.

*******

Sunday, July 13

What can I say about July in Sonoma? Simply put, it is hot. I know that some like it hot, but I don’t. The love of the game though and my curiosity about how different clubs handle tournaments drew me to this oven like inferno.

The tournament was very well organized thanks to the obvious cooperation and team spirit of Mike Cooper, Ed Porto, Frank Pipal, Patrick Vaslet, David Riffo and Bill Thomson. Congratulations to you all guys for a job well done.

The format of the tournament was random triplettes.

Fourteen triplettes or 42 competitors (mainly from Sonoma I believe) signed up for this event. La Pétanque Marinière fielded only 6 players but I am proud to say that they did very well (see all the results below).

The tournament was basically divided in two parts: the Concours and the Consolante.

Two games were played before lunch to determine who would play in the Concours and who would play in the Consolante.

The lunch prepared by Chef Marco Ilaria (I was wondering what it would take to entice him to defect to La Pétanque Marinière) consisted of a bouillabaisse, salad, cheese and strawberries for dessert. I forgot to mention that this tournament was sponsored by the Ravenswood winery and that they provided an ample supply of their products to wash down this pleasant interlude.

After lunch, we were regaled by a very personal and enthusiastic rendition of La Marseillaise performed by the one and only Mailman Wonder of Santa Rosa, Jean-Michel Poulnot.

The games resumed around two o’clock and as I mentioned it earlier it was “mucho caliente”, not the type of environment in which I perform best.

My team (which qualified for the Concours) consisted of Mike Cooper, Joanie Robertson and I, faced Hans Kurz, John Byrne and Peter Schlereth in the quarter finals. We started very well. By midgame we were leading 12 to 6 I believe. But through a series of heartbreaking plays we ended up losing 13 to 12. I could have cried!

In the Concours finals, the team of Hans Kurz (which very narrowly defeated us) faced Patrick Sammons, our own Christine Cragg and John Wright. Thanks to the outstanding pointing of John Byrne, the Kurz team prevailed and took first place.

In the Consolante finals, Ed Porto, Holly Sammons and Tamara (her again) were to face Tom Bricca, Bill Hansen and Jean Behse. Inexplicably, Jean Behse left before the end of the tournament and Tom Bricca tried to replace her with another player. Tino Lofaro cried foul, and after a heated argument with Patrick Vaslet, Tom Bricca reluctantly agreed to play the final game with his single remaining partner. Four boules against six! The Bricca team lost of course and the Ed Porto team took a still well deserved 1st place. Excellent shooting for a lefty Ed!

After witnessing my wife’s third straight victory in less than a month, I have decided to leave my high paying job as Secretary/Treasurer of our club, and become her manager in her new promising professional pétanque playing career.

	Concours	Consolante
1st Place	Hans Kurz John Byrne Peter Schlereth	Ed Porto Holly Sammons Tamara Efron
2nd Place	Patrick Sammons Christine Cragg John Wright	Tom Bricca Bill Hansen
3rd Place	Jean-Michel Poulnot Jean Etcheverry Lynn Boyd	Bernard Passmar Emily Etcheverry Bill Boyd

They were no cash prizes and the first 3 winning teams in each category received bottles of wine supplied again by the Ravenswood winery. We have got to find a winery or a salami factory to sponsor our own club damnit!

Alain Efron

PS: Additional pictures of this event can be seen by clicking on the "Web Album II" below