Au Cochonnet Marin

 

“My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who do the work, and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition there.”  Indira Gandhi

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There is a French saying that goes « Toute peine mérite salaire” which can be loosely translated as “Any type of labor deserves recognition.” I totally agree with this.

It has always been my policy to give credit whenever it is due and whenever I can. When somebody endeavors to do something that will benefits others, I want to recognize that individual and publicly acknowledge what he/she has accomplished.

In accordance with this policy, I thereby recognize and praise Mark Shirkey for creating and implementing a functional website for La Pétanque Marinière.
Congratulations for a job well done.

But keep in mind that a website is always a work in process. It needs to evolve and adapt to various kinds of situations and that’s why your suggestions are important.
If you perceive that something is missing or should be corrected, inform the Webmaster and offer creative suggestions. I am sure that it will be appreciated.

Now what is the difference between an official website and a blog like mine?
An official website keeps its adherents informed and articulates the policies of the club.
A blog on the other hand is more personal and independent. It wants to remain free to express sometimes-unorthodox ideas not always condoned by the club.
A blog also can (and should) have a sense of humor whereas a website is generally more constrained.

Recognition also means that when you make use of somebody else’s material such as writing or photographs, you have a moral (and legal) obligation to name the original authors.

It is also ethical to ask permission to use somebody’s photographs and more often than you think, that permission is denied. In our highly litigious world you can even be sued for plagiarism of for using photographs that are not your own.

This being said, I applaud Mark Shirkey again for a job well done, and to facilitate access to La Pétanque Marinière’s newly created website I just added a link to it on my own blog. Look for it.

Alain ?

Never miss an opportunity to say a word of congratulation upon anyone’s achievement.   President Lyndon Johnson

 

 

“The road to success is always under construction.”
Lily Tomlin

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Never rest on your laurels. It has widely been proven to be detrimental to your health.
Regardless of your field of expertise or your past achievements, you should never forget that success is fleeting. You need to constantly reaffirm that your success was not a fluke, a one-time wonder.

The key to sustainability is to remain open-minded and to keep an ongoing commitment to innovation. Smart people start working on a new idea the minute they launch their latest creation. What makes them successful is their ability to constantly renew themselves.
And the words “cannot be done” are never part of their thinking.

Old ways were good (for a while), but to stay ahead of the pack you need to constantly innovate.
In the 16^th century, Japanese samurais initially shunned the use of firearms that they found primitive and cumbersome.
“According to one estimate, in 16th century Japan, an archer could fire 15 arrows in the time a gunner would take to load, charge, and shoot a firearm.”
But after some reversals on the battlefield they saw the light and adopted firearms. At the end of the century Japan, continuing to innovate, was making some of the best rifles in the world.

On the other hand, the extremely successful Eastman Kodak Company (founded in 1888) due to its failure to quickly transition to digital photography, ran aground and finally filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

Not all improvements are great, but those who fail to adapt are doomed to early retirement.

Moustache Petes, (old style mafia bosses) didn’t believe in change either. Notorious Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano were unceremoniously dethroned (quickly met their maker) by the Young Turks such as Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese.

Never stick to old beliefs for fear of change. It could impair your breathing.

Last word of advice:

“Be nice to people on your way up because you’ll meet them on your way down.” Wilson Mizner

Alain

New Photo Book. Inquire for availability.

 

I hope that you didn’t forget to set your clocks one hour forward on Saturday evening and showed up on time Sunday morning. Then, when you arrived to the Marin pétanque field there is no doubt in my mind that you must have exclaimed: Leapin’ lizards, what a beautiful court!

Well compadres, you owe it all to a bunch of club volunteers who spent the best of Thursday morning toiling on your behalf.
These lovely people are (yes, yes I must name them) Charles Davantes, Liv Kraft, Christine Lemor-Drake, Henry Wessel, Calvert Barron, Sandra and Mark Shirkey, Honor Woodard, Marc Di Maio, Evan Falcone, Monique Bricca, William Lavelle, Tamara Efron and your faithful paparazzo Al.
I hope that if you played against any of these people, you were kind enough to let them have an extra point or two to show your appreciation.

After these dreadful/blessed interminable days of rain, it felt good to stomp on a dry ground and under a sunny sky.

Many people came to Marin to vie for the privilege of having their names engraved on the Commemorative Cup, but Lady Luck is notoriously capricious. Without her assistance you can forget the honor that you crave.
Personally, before a tournament I burn the sacred Nag Champa incense on her altar to seek spiritual enlightenment. It works… 50% of the time.

The contestants were:

1. Patrick Vaslet/Shannon Bowman
2. Carlos Couto/Beth Lysten
3. Le Facteur/Claudie Chourré
4. Doug Colleville/ Nancy Jencks
5. Jean-Claude Bunand/Connie Lewis
6. Hans Kurz/ Teri Sirico
7. Brendan Cohen & Lynda Evans
8. Antoine Lofaro/Eva Lofaro
9. Alain Efron/Sabine Mattei
10. Rob Houghton/Maggie Lane
11. Brigitte Moran/Herb Moran
12. Henry Wessel/Calvert Barron
13. Serge Hanne/Carolina Jones
14. Charlie Davantes/Susan Wyatt
15. Louis Toulon/Monique Bricca
16. Evan Falcone/Honor Woodard
17. Mireille Di Maio/Marc Di Maio
18. Jean-Claude Etallaz/Minette Etallaz

As usual 3 timed games were played before lunch to separate the elite from the scum. Six teams qualified for the Concours and the rest went to the Consolante.
Unsurprisingly my partner (Sabine Mattei) and I ended up in the scum category.
We started poorly but later on (thanks mainly to Sabine’s excellent pointing) we redeemed ourselves and took 1^st place in the Consolante.

There is no secret that in order to succeed a team must get along. And we should always keep in mind that a little local tournament is not like a church service. We should be respectful of the other players, but not bring this compliance to extremes.

By the way, the organizers (Christine and Liv) kept scores (along with manual scoring) through a new software application conceived by Mark and Sandra Shirkey. The system still has few bugs, but I am pretty sure that it will be fixed soon.

In the finals, Louis Toulon and Monique Bricca faced Patrick Vaslet and Shannon Bowman. All Accomplished players.
It was an evenly matched game with the final result in balance until the end.

This was not a game full of fireworks. There were no spectacular “carreaux” or unexpected moves. It was in my opinion a very technical game with a lot of excellent pointing.
Ultimately luck favored the MDT (Marin Dream Team) and the cup remained in Marin County.

Now… darkness is the enemy of photography. Toward the end of the tournament (around 7:00 p.m.) daylight dropped significantly and it became increasingly difficult to take focused pictures. You can notice this when you look at the photo album.
When the tournament ended (around 7:30 p.m.) images were becoming blurry, especially when the subjects were moving.

At award and picture taking time, despite my repeated exhortations, the winners didn’t hurry enough to have their pictures taken and the final images were definitely blurry or unprintable.
Sorry about this but I tried to warn you. Next time, listen to Uncle Al.

Concours

1^st place: Louis Toulon & Monique Bricca
2^nd place: Patrick Vaslet & Shannon Bowman
3^rd place: Doug Colleville & Nancy Jencks

Consolante

1^st place: Alain Efron & Sabine Mattei
2nd place: Henry Wessel & Calvert Barron

 Heartfelt congratulations to the winners, and thanks for keeping the Cup in Marin County.

Alain ?

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.

Feel free to download any picture, but if you use those photos in another publication, please be kind enough to give me credit.
Thank you