Au Cochonnet Marin

The more I play pétanque and the more I realize the importance of the “pointeur” in a game. A good pointer will win the game for his team; a mediocre or erratic pointer will definitely scuttle his team’s chances.

A round of pétanque is basically a brief firefight between two squads supplied with a limited amount of bullets. They must make each shot count.

In a pétanque game, the pointer plays first and must cast his boule as close as possible to the goal (le cochonnet).
The first boule is crucial; it will dictate what happens next.
A well-positioned first boule brings about two options for the opposing team:
It can force the opposing pointer to expend all his boules, or it will compel the “shooter” to fire and sacrifice a precious shot.
Most of the time, it is the team first running out of ammo that will lose the fight.

Pointing can be done standing or crouching.
A good pointer must know how to read the terrain, bumps, slope, and obstacles for the condition of the field dictates how a boule will be played.
If you do not point first, it is important to watch where your opponent’s boule lands and in which direction it rolls.

A quality pointer basically forces the opposite shooter to fire and in effect ultimately disarms him. A good shooter without ammo is as effective as a gunslinger armed with a baby pacifier.
It is important to remember that a team without a good pointer cannot be saved by the shooter.

At the end of a game/tournament, the shooter often gets all the glory, but when the winning team stands on the podium it should be recognized that the pointer deserves as much credit as the shooter.

Sometimes there are shooting contests. To be fair, there also ought to be pointing contests to highlight and recognize the skills of a pointer.

In my book, Holly Sammons is one of the best pointers in the Bay Area and was always instrumental in any victory that her team achieved.
I tip my hat to her and to all the often-unheralded pointers of the game.

Pointeurs, pointeuses, je vous tire mon chapeau! I take my hat off to you

Alain

I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my dog.
Emperor Charles V

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We take our ability to understand and speak the local lingo for granted, but sometimes we can suddenly find ourselves totally dumb.

It can happen for instance if you are invited to a party where most of the guests are foreign born and are mostly conversing in their native tongue.
When you start mingling, you quickly realize that socializing is going to be очень tрудно (very difficult).

It is undeniable that people feel more comfortable speaking the language of their formative years rather the language of their adopted country. It can be annoying to some people, but it can hardly be helped, especially when some individuals don’t feel at ease in their second language.

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can; there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did. – Sarah Caldwell

I speak two languages fairly well, but since I am curious I am also familiar with a multitude of foreign words, especially Italian and Spanish (Latin roots), German (my first foreign tongue) and Russian (through family ties).

I hear Russian spoken regularly, since my better half is a child of the former Soviet Union. I know scores of Russian words and while I cannot understand everything that is being said, I still can (sometimes) grasp what the conversation is about.

At first, a foreign language is like a cacophony of unfamiliar sounds. But little by little you start identifying some words and that enables you to get the gist of a conversation. And the more you learn, the more you want to know.

Different languages often mean different customs.
At a Russian diner party, guests like to get up and make flowery speeches, usually followed by a toast and a stiff drink down the hatch.
If you have three or more speakers, it can be a sobering experience.

Last Sunday I went to a Russian family get-together and after playing “bubble boy” for most of the day, some older chaps finally took me to (political) task.

I was extremely surprised to discover that these former citizens of the Soviet Union are now enthusiastic (WTF?) Trump supporters. These very people who fled an autocratic regime in their homeland seem to be whishing for the same type of government in the United States.

If Trump is elected president (perish the thought) he said that the first thing he would do is to throw Hillary Clinton in jail.
Isn’t it what’s happening in Russia right now? Regime opponents are either jailed or outright murdered… Wake up people!

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.

I like the resilience of the Russian spirit, but what Russia needs is a good shot of reality in the arm. The Russian Bear needs to come out of the taiga and learn to cohabit peacefully with different species.
So does the Trumpster, but I know that this is asking too much.

Без труда не вытащишь и рыбку из пруда.

You cannot pull a fish out of a pond without effort.
Meaning: You need to work hard if you want to get something.

Alain

“You won’t miss the cow until the barn is empty.”
(After Barack Obama leaves the White House)

With one more meet to go, the Night Fall League tournament is about to end but I have the feeling that once over it is going to be missed by many.

Started by tireless Brigitte Moran, the League surprised many (myself included) by its popularity.

 

Thirty people (10 doublettes) of all stripes and colors initially signed up to participate and entered the tournament under the following banners:

1. Les Trois Joueurs: captained by Mark Shirkey
2. Les Bons Temps: coached by Brigitte Moran
3. Oui Cheat: managed by Chris Spratt
4. Les Lezards: skipped by Alain Efron
5. The Happy Hurlers: directed by Henry Wessel
6. Team D: supervised by: led by Marc Davantes
7. The Boule Shooters: chaired by Ken Lee
8. The Originals: bossed by Charlie Davantes
9. Les Bouchons: coxswained by Shannon Tracy
10. La Provence: tutored by Mireille Di Maio

It all started on August 31^st, and ever since two games were played every Wednesday night starting at 5:30 p.m. and usually ending around 7:30 p.m.

But these last two weeks, with nightfall darkening the field around 7:00 pm, the second game had to played with the help of floodlights, graciously supplied by none other than Brigitte.

The participants ranked from total beginners to semi-pros. Games were played in a very relaxed “bon enfant” atmosphere, refreshingly different from the sometimes quarrelsome contests played by club members on weekends.
Most of the time, points were accorded simply by “eyeballing” the boules on the ground and not by measuring distances with a measuring tape.

The last session of this tournament will be played October 19, 2016 and prizes for the 1^st place and 2^nd place will be awarded to the most successful teams. I assume that the ranking will be determined first by the number of games won and second by the points accumulated.

It is hoped that the people playing in this little tournament will eventually sign up and join our organization, because to avoid sclerosis a club needs a constant flow of new blood.
I believe that they will join because Pétanque is a highly addictive activity. Once you start it is difficult to give it up, and like the locoweed it gives you incredible highs.

So, start the New Year on the right foot and join La Pétanque Marinière today.

Unlike the still uncertain outcome of our loony presidential elections, you will never regret it.

Alain

Erratum: Per Brigitte “last league night is next week and playoffs and end of league celebration will be the following week.”