Or the tournament that (almost) never was
Yesterday (Mother’s Day), I had made up my mind to forgo playing in the scheduled tournament and so, around 10:00 a.m. I leisurely strolled into the field just armed with my camera and my good looks.
To my surprise, instead of seeing a bunch of people actively tossing boules and wisecracks, I came across about half a dozen people sitting around and seemingly waiting for something to happen.
Que paso muchachos? I inquired in my usual amiable way.
Well señor, right now we have only 3 teams and an extra player. If you would do us the favor to team up with this person we would have 4 teams and we could get the tournament under way.
It was cold and windy and I really didn’t feel like playing, but I am an agreeable fellow and I went along with their plea.
So eventually 4 doublettes lined up for the annual Marin Mother’s Day tournament.
The steadfast players were:
- Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron
- Francois Moser and Verena Rytter
- Jean-Claude Etallaz and Mireille Di Maio
- Alain Efron and Genevieve Etallaz
Three games were scheduled to determine the outcome of the tournament.
Minette and I lost our first game 8/13 but later regained our wits and won the two next games.
Fortunate stroke of serendipity, wouldn’t you say?
Around 1:00 p.m. it was all over. It was the shortest tournament I ever played in.
The final results were as follows:
1st place: Alain Efron & Minette Etallaz
2nd place: Francois Moser & Verena Rytter
3rd place: Henry Wessel & Calvert Barron
4th place: Jean-Claude Etallaz & Mireille Di Maio
All the money collected from the tournament entries were redistributed to all the players in various amounts according to ranking.
After lunch a few more people showed up and casual games took place.
I was back home around 2:30 p.m. and contentedly counted again the pile of money I had just won.
Net profit: $6.00. Not a bad day after all.
By the way, what do you call a small mom? A minimum.
Happy Mother’s Day you all.
Alain
Mother’s Day campionissimo.
To look at photos of this event and listen to the accompanying background music, turn your computer’s sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen.