Yesterday I drove to Sonoma (in my new car, yes) to take part in the Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club’s Annual Wine Country Classic (that’s a real mouthful).
To me, and many people, it is simply remembered as the Tino Lofaro Memorial.
Twenty-four doublettes signed up for this event and they were as follows:
- Yor Lee/Poe Lee
- Phominick Lee/Teng Lee
- Bernard Passmar/Alain Efron
- Antoine Lofaro/Rene Di Maio
- Teri Sirico/?? Hall
- Ed Porto/Robert Dunn
- Carlos Couto/Etienne Rijkheer
- Steve Paulsen/Peggy Silverside
- Kevin Evoy/Frosty Sabo
- Gustave Foucher/Genevieve Etallaz
- J-C Bunand/J-C Etallaz
- Narin Garrett/Nicole Coughlin
- Joe La Torre/Mike Cooper
- Bill Millery/Patrick Vaslet
- Alain Gusella/Le Facteur
- Barbara Hall/Erin McTaggart
- Mike Menefee/Maggie Lane
- Dave Katz/John Cunnard
- Hendrik Idzerda/Marie-Anne Curley
- Carolina Jones/Beth??
- Peter Wellington/Sienna Gredske
- PJ/Holly Sammons
- Peter Mathis/Mickey Coughlin
- Steve Jones/Christina Jones
Please excuse the spelling of some names. I find it difficult to read somebody else’s handwriting, especially when it is in cursive.
The weather was sunny, but not excessively hot, and the field was dry and very dusty.
Three 11 points games were played before lunch and Concours and Consolante started in the afternoon.
The master of ceremony was always-cool Patrick Vaslet.
When I participate in a tournament it is difficult for me to keep track of the other players’ performance, so the only thing I can report accurately is how my partner (Bernard Passmar) and I fared that day.
On our first game we faced confident (overconfident?) Alain Gusella and Le Facteur.
When I play in a tournament I absolutely hate to lose the first game, and it looked like this was going to be a difficult encounter.
But no matter what the odds are, I don’t give up easily.
Bernard and I were in sync and played well.
Against all expectations we humbled Gusella and Le Facteur 11-9.
Did I show glee? No. Maybe… probably… definitely!
Winning against complacent competitors is always very gratifying and glee is difficult to suppress. Sorry about that.
On our second game we faced Hendrik Idzerda and Marie-Anne Curley.
Marie-Anne is a steady pointer and Hendrik showed some signs of brilliance.
We lost 8-11.
On our third game, we came across Peter Wellington and Siena (?) Gredske
We seemed to have lost our mojo and went down 5-11.
In the afternoon, to my surprise, I learned that we qualified to play in the Concours.
In our first elimination game we faced Narin Garrett and Nicole Coughlin.
A respectable team.
Narin is an excellent shooter and I like her odd but effective way of shooting. Her recoiled wrist weirdly reminds me of a coiled snake ready to strike.
Nicole is a very decent pointer.
The game was extremely tight and toward the end we were standing at 12-12.
Two balls were now in front of the cochonnet. One of ours and one of them.
Theirs was the closest and had to be removed for us to win the game.
They didn’t have any boules left and I had two.
From where I was standing, it looked like the boule on the right was the closest to the cochonnet and had to be dislodged.
I shot once and missed. I shot my second boule. Solid hit.
Victory was ours!
But the other team was now celebrating and my partner looked forlorn…
What had happened?
As it turned out, I had unknowingly struck our own ball.
We lost 12-13 and were out of the tournament.
Moral of the story: look carefully before you jump.
I didn’t and I take the blame for our defeat.
Since there was a car race at Sears Point, I decided to leave early in order to avoid traffic jams on my way back.
Once home, I received a phone call from Rene Di Maio.
To my surprise, I learned that Alain G. and Le Facteur had won the tournament. And 13-0 to boot!
I was absolutely stunned.
Not that they didn’t deserve it, but “fannying” their seemingly unbeatable Hmong opponents seemed outreageous..
Congratulations to the winners of course, but since they beat the best of the bests, and since we beat them in the morning, my take is that the true winners of this tournament are Bernard and myself.
Being magnanimous, we will let them keep the title (and the moolah) without any further protest.
But deep in our hearts we know who the true champions are!
The final results communicated to me by Shannon Bowman are as follows:
Concours:
1st place: Alain Gusella and Jean-Michel Poulnot
2nd place: Phominick Lee and Teng Lee
3rd place: PJ Mallette and Holly Sammons
4th place: Yor Lee and Poe Lee
Consolante:
1st place: Barbara Hall and Erin McTaggart
2nd place: Maggie Lane and Mike Meneffee
3rd place: Ed Porto and Robert Dunn
Alain
Thanks for a great reporting job on the tournament! I Wish we could have been there… Congrats to all!