Au Cochonnet Marin

I heard a few times yesterday that if you spend 5 weeks in France practicing the fine art of pétanque, it is child’s play to win a local tournament; Jean-Michel Poulnot (aka Le Facteur) proved it conclusively Sunday in San Rafael.
He and his teammate Bernard Passemar played extremely well and delivered the goods. They thus defeated all their opponents rather easily and to Jean-Michel’s elation, they glided smoothly to victory.

Le Facteur pointed extremely well (the best I have ever seen) and Bernard did a very effective job in knocking out troublesome opposing boules. Bernard, unlike Jacques Rattaire or Kevin Evoy, is not a flashy shooter but a very convincing one. He took his time and did his enforcing job very effectively.

I have always been of the opinion that in life (as well as in pétanque) we all have good and bad days; we all go through peaks and valleys and yesterday many teams muddled miserably through deep canyons.

Jacques Rattaire and Liza Moran started the day rather well but lost their touch later on, especially against Evoy and Grace. The same can be said about Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron. The Force was not with them yesterday.

This is why pétanque can be such a frustrating seesaw of elation and frustration.

Yesterday morning after coffee and pastries, the following doublettes lined up for action:

1. Shirkey & Shirkey
2. La Torre & Knuckles
3. Marcovecchio & LaVelle
4. Rattaire & Moran
5. Evoy & Grace
6. Rose & Sirico
7. Moser & Facchini
8. Bunand & Davantes
9. Passemar & Poulnot
10. Crossley & Okawa
11. Wessel & Barron
12. Casad & Brown
13. Falcone & Drier

Eight teams made it to the Concours and five teams played in the Consolante.

In the afternoon, it was do or die time and many teams went belly up right after lunch.

In the Concours’ finals Jean-Michel and Bernard faced Kevin and Adam. Due in great part to Jean-Michel’s excellent pointing, they defeated Adam and Kevin conclusively.
Well-deserved congratulations to Le Facteur and monsieur Passemar.

At the end of the day:

Concours
1^st place: Jean-Michel Poulnot & Bernard Passemar
2^nd place: Kevin Evoy & Adam Grace
3^rd place: Jacques Rattaire & Liza Moran

Consolante:
1^st place: Bleys Rose & Teri Sirico
2^nd place: Mark Shirkey & Sandra Shirkey

And that’s the way I saw it.

Alain

 PS: As soon as I can, I will try to spend five weeks in France.

To look at photos of this event, click on the “My Photos” link located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen.

 

Batten down the hatches! Prepare for stormy weather… After a multitude of hurricanes battered the American soil insurances companies are readying to cover… themselves.

Today, you would not dream to live without insurance. Health, car, fire, flood, travel, pet insurance… Name it, there is an insurance for it. But what exactly is ”insurance”? According to various dictionaries, it is defined as follows:

“A practice or arrangement by which a company or government agency provides a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a premium.”

 Everything looks great on paper, until disaster hits. That’s when you discover the notorious “fine print” tucked at the end of a lengthy document… it tells why you won’t be compensated fairly and squarely.

No matter how long and how much you paid, the insurance company will find plenty of reasons for denying coverage or raising your premium.

I have been with the same car insurance company for 31 years. I never had an accident. Two years ago, while pulling out of our mutual parking spots, my neighbor and I rear-ended each other. A casual fender bender. Despite my long stretch of accident-free years, my premium immediately jumped up.
What about all those accident-free years? Isn’t worth something? Sorry mate, it does not count!

To me, an insurance policy is like a Ponzi scheme, where the operator constantly collects money from new investors to pay old investors.
It is a calculated gamble. The insurance company gambles that it won’t have to pay you anything for a long time (preferably forever) while pocketing your money.
But if coerced to pay, it will find be a multitude of reasons to penalize you.

My heart goes out to the residents of Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico who lost practically everything in successive storms. Despite solemn promises, it will take a very long time (if ever) for victims to be compensated.

When you look carefully at your insurance policies, you realize that what they protect best is the insurance company.

But to be able to sleep at night, you need to continually feed the hungry beast. If you dare to stop, you will lose everything. All the money that you have already paid and some eventual coverage.

But cheer up… If you are lucky, POTUS might toss you a few rolls of toilet paper.

Alain

Familiarity breeds contempt, while rarity wins admiration. Apuleius

Recently, numerous accounts of athletes refusing to stand for the National Anthem have grabbed the headlines.

I understand how this position can hurt the feelings of many Americans, especially the veterans of foreign wars. But personally, I believe that too much familiarity leads to disrespect. When the National Anthem is played too frequently, it loses its special aura.
To keep its cachet, it should only be performed on solemn occasions, not in every stadium, state fairs or rodeos.

Human beings have been conditioned to only show reverence for rarity. Playing The Star-Spangled Banner too often cheapens its value.

All objects lose by too familiar a view. John Dryden

There are many ways to voice political concern and shunning the National Anthem is not one of them. It is too divisive. It makes immediate enemies of people otherwise united by a common passion.

Politics is like religion. It does not belong at the dinner table, the bedroom or the arena. It is toxic and destructive.

If you are famous and want to express a political point of view, it is better to call a press conference. Spoiling a public event for thousands is not the way to rally people to your cause.

Politics should be excluded from sports, especially when brought to the fore by very well paid athletes. A jock is basically an actor, paid to entertain the public.

Can you image a thespian intoning:

“To be or not to be that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles…”

and kneeling for a few minutes before continuing his soliloquy? I can already hear the boos and catcalls…

Athletes should do what they are (very well) compensated for and leave the National Anthem and politics out of the entertainment sphere.

Alain