Au Cochonnet Marin

“Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”  Ann Landers

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Some people seem to be unaware that there is a low-cost commodity widely available, yet too rarely used. This cheap commodity is called “humility”, a thoughtful quality that compels you to always take a modest view of your own importance.

After a few minor accomplishments, some people have a tendency to (as the French so elegantly put it) «péter plus haut que leur cul » (to fart higher than their a**hole.) In other words, some individuals are too easily inclined to believe in their own superiority. It happens to many of us, in (hopefully) brief moments of aberration.

After winning a few games of pétanque, you start feeling like you are hot stuff. You view some opponents with a mixture of mild amusement and superiority.

Almost everyone’s instinct is to be overconfident and read way too much into a hot or cold streak. Nate Silver

And then you unexpectedly lose a game 1/13. Shocking! Then shortly after, you lose your second game 0/13.
Bordel! How could that be? Fanny? ME?

But those defeats are reality-sobering reminders. They are meant to keep you grounded. They remind you that no matter how good you think you are, there is always somebody better (or luckier) than you. And it is a very good thing.

Humility is a quality (not a flaw) that serves its followers well. You prove your worth by deeds, not by words. And keeping your mouth shut is always the best policy.

« Le moi est haïssable » (ego is hateful) said Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) a long time ago. It is still true today.

Never underestimate an adversary. Custer did, to his everlasting sorrow. View each opponent with respect. If fate is kind to you, accept it with humility. If you lose, take it in stride. Win some, lose some.

Try to always sprinkle all your actions with a dash of humility. People will respect you for it.

Alain ?

If you would have people speak well of you, then do not speak well of yourself. Blaise Pascal

 

 

“The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the front of an oncoming train.” David Lee Roth

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We have right now in America all the makings of a spectacular Hollywood train wreck. The convoy is going too fast and the conductor is blithely ignoring advice and signals from railroad workers. It is a confusing situation for observers who know that something terrible is going to happen but cannot look away.

I have never witnessed a train wreck, but I have seen pictures of it. It can be horrifically spectacular.
But how could this happen in the first place? Didn’t the conductor realize he was going too fast? Did he misread the signals? Or worse, ignore the signals? Did he inhale some prohibited substance? Was he texting or twitting? Or (gasp) was he unqualified to drive that train?

No responsible grownup would behave that way… but does a grownup always reach an advanced stage of mental or emotional development? Not always it seems.

A train is only as safe as his conductor’s good judgment. Ignoring even a single signal puts the entire train and its passengers in jeopardy.

A good conductor does not scream at people to get out of his way. Neither does he threaten to run them over if they don’t move. He slows down, even stops to get a better appraisal of the situation.

But it seems that sometimes a George Custer syndrome is afflicting a train conductor. In a relentless pursuit of self-aggrandizement he disregards any warnings and forge full speed ahead toward a disaster waiting to happen.

Some lucid passengers noticing the reckless speed of train bail out as soon as they can. But it takes guts to jump off a speeding train (especially when some passengers personally vouched for that conductor) and some VIPs hesitate. They secretly hope for a divine intervention, but it is well known that God only helps those who help themselves.

Sometimes a mad train can  has to be stopped.

In Hollywood fashion gutsy stuntmen board the train (maybe by helicopter) and forcefully remove the engineer who is subsequently sent to Longwood House, St Helena to mull over his narcissistic past.

Is this going to happen to the American Mad Train? Many people are starting to lean toward this James Bondish denouement.

Alain

 

As you all know yesterday was Mother’s Day and that most probably accounted for the fairly low attendance of the Marin tournament.
In spite of this, eight select triplettes trekked to our field and they were:

1. Henry Wessel/Calvert Barron/Sandra Shirkey
2. Jean-Michel Poulnot/J-C Etallaz/Dello Cueno
3. Bob Crossley/Akira Okawa/ Stephan
4. Hans Kurz/Honor Woodard/Dave Katz
5. Patrick Vaslet/Shannon Bowman/Hallie
6. Charlie Davantes/ Brigitte Moran/Herb Moran
7. Peter Mathis/Wolfie Kurz/David Lanter
8. Teri Sirico/Nancy Jencks/ Evan Falcone

Marin fielded only 2 teams.
Personally, I declined to play due to a stubborn backache. To remain in your good graces, I endeavored to take plenty of photographs. I hope that you will like them.

Sunday morning was unusually chilly with a cold wind that persisted until late in the afternoon.
The field was impeccably groomed due I surmise to Henry Wessel and Calvert Barron, Mark and Sandra Shirkey and as always Charlie Davantes.

In the absence of our president who is at the moment gallivanting in France, Mark Shirkey (vice-president) carried the atomic football and ran the tournament with the help of Liv Kraft.

Two games were played before lunch, followed by elimination games in the afternoon. Sonoma fielded two very strong teams while Marin did its best to fight the intruders with weaker forces.

Both Sonoma teams reached the finals and ultimately the Mathis team prevailed over the Vaslet team by 13/8. A very honorable loss.
Both teams played very well, but Sonoma fielded stronger artillery.

The 3rd place was highly contested with finally the Sirico team prevailing over the Kurz team by a very slight margin.

Final scoreboard:

1^st place: Peter Mathis/Wolfie Kurz/David Lanter
2^nd place: Patrick Vaslet/Shannon Bowman/Hallie Cohen
3^rd place: Teri Sirico/Nancy Jencks/ Evan Falcone
4^th place: Hans Kurz/Honor Woodard/Dave Katz

Alain ?

 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. No more music, sorry.