Yesterday a sizeable crowd gathered on the Pierre Joske court in Marin County to participate in La Petanque Mariniere’s first official tournament of the season. Besides the 64 players registered to play, a bunch of friends, parents, groupies, and canines also showed up to soak in the atmosphere of this silly French game called Pétanque. And they came from all over… Fresno, Sacramento, Sonoma, Petaluma, Lamorinda… Altogether, I guestimate that around noon we were between 80 to 90 people on the field.
Many came to play, but also to escape the oppressive heat of their respective areas. To put things in perspective, it was around 110 degrees at noon in Fresno while it was 72 at the same time in San Rafael. The local weather was unexpectedly cool, even cold, and caught many people by surprise. Many had to run back to their cars to retrieve some warmer garments.
The tournament started a little late (around 10 am) and lasted probably until 7:00 PM. As for myself, I left after 6:30 pm after completion of the Concours’ finals.
In the morning, shortly after Christine Cragg gave us our marching papers, Le Facteur entertained us with an enthusiastic rendition of La Marseillaise. Those who were familiar with the lyrics sang along. Applauds followed and the tournament was on.
Until the last minute, I was not sure if I would play in this tournament or not. I wanted to do it, but my back didn’t quite agree.
Hey dude, it said, don’t be foolish… don’t play, take a raincheck. Your millions of fans will understand…
They might, but I really want to play…
OK then, but don’t blame me if tomorrow morning you walk like an arthritic crab.
I overruled my whiny back and played… poorly.
Tamara and I lost our 1st game 3/13 to Jer and Janice.
We lost our 2nd game 0/13 against Eric and Paulo. A quick, merciless execution.
And to remain consistent we lost our 3rd game 3/13 to Mark and Sandra.
A perfect “triplé”
In the afternoon, we lost our Consolante game to George and Elke 12/13 and we were out.
After I was ejected from the competition, I devoted the rest of the afternoon to record this event. But this time, instead of focusing on different games and players, I chose what the military calls “Targets of opportunity”. “Targets on which attacks are unplanned and which are implemented upon favorable or unexpected circumstances.”
Keep in mind that some pictures are uneven due to the difficulty of taking balanced shots in shaded areas.
I also integrated into my photo album 2 pictures taken by Gilbert Sonnet (Noah and little old me) and 3 others, taken by Christine Cragg after I left the field.
In the Concours finals, Wolfie and Barry defeated Phomenick and Chan by the rather surprising score of 13/3.
Concours
1st place: Wolfie Kurz and Barry Serota $115.00 each
2nd place: Phominick Lee and Chan Lee $76.00 each
3rd place: Fraser Bradshaw and Ian Colon $57.00 each
Consolante A
1st place: Antoine and Max Lofaro $57.00 each
2nd place: Hans Kurz and Carlos Chavez $38.00 each
Consolante B
1st place: Jean-Michel and B. Passemar $38.00 each
It was a grand, glorious day… despite my miserable performance.
Alain
As usual, click on “My photos” to look at the pics.