Category: Fourre-tout

I have always believed that “it ain’t over until the fat lady sings” and one more time I was proven right. Never presume to know the outcome of an event still in progress.

Yesterday in Sonoma, at the National Men’s & Women’s Doubles World Championship Qualifier, Ed Porto and Ziggy Kessouagni faced Peter Mathis and Jack Vijit (from Chicago) in the men’s finals. Two very strong teams definitely deserving to be in the finals.

If I am not mistaken, everybody believed that it was going to be a very tight contest, all players being equally adept at shooting and pointing.

When the game started, Ziggy on one side and Jack on Mathis’ side were the appointed shooters. Both excellent marksmen.

Porto’s team scored first. Then they scored again… again and again. Very soon the scoreboard (watch picture) was showing a dismaying 10-1 in favor of Porto’s team. Unbelievable!

Everybody thought “les carottes sont cuites” (the carrots are cooked) as we say in French.

But the carrots were only “al dente”. After being extremely accurate and scoring carreaux after carreaux, both shooters started to miss. For a while, it looked like they both lost their bearings. Fatigue, stress? Understandable. They had been at it since 9:00 a.m. and it was now 6:00 p.m.

Both teams reverted roles. The pointers became the shooters and the shooters became pointers. Mathis’ team finally emerged from its comatose state and started scoring.

Little by little, they crept up until the score reached 12/12.

Any team could win. The tension was palpable!

Finally, around 6:30 p.m. Mathis delivered “ le coup de grace” and it was over. After being on life support for a good 20 minutes Peter and Jack rose from the dead and won 1st place 13/12.

The accompanying pictures clearly show their pent-up emotion.

A movie is likely in the offing. Hollywood already called!

On the women’s side, after a long battle, Juanita Celix & Angie Gleason defeated Kongback & Bissonnette and took 1st place.

Men’s finals:
1st place: Peter Mathis & Jack Vijit
2nd place: Ed Porto & Ziggy Kessouagni
3rd place: John Harris & Mickey Coughlin

Women’s finals:
1st place: Juanita Celix & Angie Gleason
2nd place: Kongback & Bissonnette
3rd place: Vang & Thao

Men’s Consolante:
1st place: J-M Poulnot &  Johnatan Dalmau

Alain

Full names and ranking will be updated as soon as I get the data.

Enjoy the pictures. Comments are always appreciated.

When I see a good-looking woman I naturally look at her… as any red-blooded man would. Similarly, when I spot a handsome man or a fancy car, I will also look appraise them. It is a natural reaction. Regardless of our native cultures, we are all attracted by beauty.

In some countries though, overtly looking or talking to a woman is not acceptable and could even be perilous. This state of affairs has a great deal to do with cultural differences.

Customs and attitudes are often molded by what I consider the biggest bugaboo of them all: organized religion. Any theocratic state is an oppressive state.

Most religions control their congregations by guilt and by fear. If you do this or fail to do that, you will be severely punished. But if you follow our dictums (obey without questioning) you will be amply rewarded… later, much later.
My first question is: how do you know that? Have you ever experienced any of those things?

“Every culture has something to be ashamed of, but every culture also has the right to change, to challenge negative traditions, and create to new ones.” Ralph Nader

Absolutely! Purge religion of its outlandish pronouncements. If something does not sound right, like honor killing and stoning for instance, get rid of it. Nothing, absolutely nothing is cast in stone.

Looking at another woman, even if you are married, should not be construed as a sin, but as beauty appreciation. The same canon applies to women. It is their prerogative to look or talk to anybody without guilt.

My Russian-born wife told me that when she came to America, she was surprised that so very few men looked at her. Did she, when stepping on American soil, suddenly lose all her appeal? An extremely worrisome thought for any woman. In Russia, she said, lots of men would try to catch her attention while In America men seemed afraid to overtly look at her.

Today we are navigating oceans full of uncharted waters. People take offense for an ever-increasing number of reasons and you have to steer your vessel very carefully. The man in the crow’s nest must remain vigilant at all times and warn you immediately about any half-submerged morality iceberg.

❤❤❤

Regardless, I will continue to look at beautiful things, even if the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice tries to crack down on my debauched lifestyle.

Alain

Yesterday la Pétanque Marinière (Marin County) hosted the NorCal Regional Select Doubles tournament and it turned out to be a great day for the ladies.

Various clubs from all the corners of the empire sent envoys and everybody had nice words for our field’s updated look. We owe this to a few good men, particularly Mark Shirkey, Henry Wessel, Mike O’Leary, Charlie Davantes and Akira Okawa. Thank you very much gents!

The Fresno club sent a strong delegation and so did Sonoma, and Sacramento. Dave Riffo came Eugene Oregon, long lost Honor Woodard from St Augustine Florida and Mickey Coughlin from Oakhurst.

Altogether, 24 doublettes (half composed of women) elected to participate in this tournament. They were:

M. Shrikey & T. Efron                         B. Rose & S. Shirkey
P. Mathis & Manu Le Bihan              J-M. Poulnot & D. Cuneo
By Vang & Fue Vang                             C. Couto & B. Lysten
A. Efron & F. Moser                               K. Evoy & C. Sarafian
M. Dang & Phominik Lee                    P. Yang & Jer Thao
E. Porto & D. Riffo                                  D. Lanter & H. Sammons
L. Toulon & K. Lee                                  S. Bowman & P. Vaslet
T. Wetzal & M. Lane                              H. Kurz & N. Sonet
P. Kos & Mike Dyar                                C. Xiong & Xua Yang
T. Lee & Chan Xiong                              L. Moran & H. Woodard
J. Harris & M. Coughlin                        T. Harris & J. Bissonette
JC Bunand & Jacques Gautier

With Mother Nature’s seeming cooperation, the day started well. It was 72° at noon and some optimistic people started sporting shorts.

After lunch, the tournament started in earnest.  The contestants found themselves assigned to 2 categories: Concours and Consolante. For some, being in the Concours was like a death penalty and for those in the Consolante it was a relief.

After a disastrous beginning, my team was quickly eliminated and I reverted to my true calling: photography. I followed one captivating team (Liza and Honor) from the beginning until their coronation at the end of the tournament.

Half of all the contestants were women and they did very well. They snatched 1st place in the Concours and 1st and 2nd place in the Consolante.

The tournament chugged along all afternoon with some games taking an inordinate amount of time. Around 5 pm, it seems that Mother Nature lost patience with the procrastinators and started blowing a cold Northerly wind to kick them off of the field.

By 6:00 pm, half of all the spectators had disappeared. Bundled up in my second jacket, I stayed until 7:00 to watch the victory of Liza Moran and Honor Woodard over Erin McTaggart and Barbara Hall in the Consolante.

By 7:00 pm, with a freezing wind, relentlessly attacking from all sides, 90% of the people (including myself) had gone home.

Very few people (six I have been told) stayed until the end (probably around 8:00 pm) to watch Tish Harris and Janice Bissonette narrowly defeat (13/12) John Harris and Mickey Coughlin in the Concours.

Bleys Rose took the final pictures of the tournament that I incorporated in my own album.

A great day for the “weaker sex.” Congratulations ladies! Well done.

Concours
1^st place: Tish Harris & Janice Bissonette ($210.00 ea)
2^nd place: John Harris & Mickey Coughlin (120.00 ea)
3^rd place: Peter Mathis & Manu Le Bihan (75.00 ea)
4^th place: Hans Kurz & Noah Sonet (75.00 ea)

Consolante
1^st place: Liza Moran & Honor Woodard (72.00 ea)
2^nd place: Erin McTaggart & Barbara Hall (48.00 ea)

Alain

I have an idea that the phrase ‘weaker sex’ was coined by some woman to disarm the man she was preparing to overwhelm. — Ogden Nash

Pictures available