En attendant Foyot

I first met Marco Foyot a few days ago at a little barbecue sponsored by the Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club and organized by Shannon Bowman.
I had read about him but did not know what to expect since the man portrayed in the media is often markedly different from the real person.

When I first saw him I was surprised by the sheer size of the man. He is a big guy!
I would guestimate him to be at least a six-footer and weighing 250 pounds, probably more.
When he walks into a room he usually towers above the other people, especially me.

Unlike some snotty stars, he is approachable, friendly and eager to talk about his passion: pétanque. He is a pétanque preacher.
He is quite good at it and you can tell by his demeanor that he is used to make speeches and public appearances.

Even though he knows very little English, he is quite articulate when speaking in his native tongue, and most of the people who don’t speak French get the gist of what he is saying.
He is passionate about pétanque and makes an excellent ambassador for this unique sport.

IMG_8632 - Version 2On Sunday, in Sonoma, Marco was definitely the star of the show. His white mane and his stature set him immediately apart.
Like on all of his North American tour appearances he gave “pétanque clinics” and since I could use some advice myself, I signed up for one of his classes.

When playing pétanque, Marco stresses the right stand (crouching when pointing and standing when shooting) and extending your arm when throwing a boule.
Especially when shooting, many people have a tendency to “undershoot’ so that their ball lands in front of the target boule instead of hitting it squarely (“au fer“).
The main reason: people fail to raise their arm high enough.

Marco stressed the importance and the advantage of a “Devant de Boule” (boule in front) versus the ineffective “boule derrière” (boule behind the cochonnet).

With the help of some clever props, he demonstrated the “demi-portée” (half-lob) and the “portée”.
The “Half-Lob” is when a boule lands halfway from “Le Rond”  (the starting circle) and the cochonnet, and rolls towards the cochonnet.
“La Portée” is when the boule lands into the last third of the distance between Le Rond and the cochonnet and rolls gently toward the cochonnet.

La Plombée” is a handy shot using a high lob to land your boule close to the cochonnet. The forward momentum of the boule is deadened by its impact and the boule stops almost immediately.

Marco demonstrated his uncanny ability by throwing his boule about 12 feet in the air and landing it about three inches from the cochonnet.
He took well-deserved bows.

He also demonstrated the way to spin a ball  when opposing boules block the path to the cochonnet; the thrown boule spins either to the right or the left and stops in the close vicinity of the cochonnet.

With a few well-turned shots, Marco demonstrated why he is one of the best players in the world.

Since Marco speaks very little English, he was assisted by his friend (“mon frère”) Bernard Martin and by local Robert Dunn who (to my surprise) did an excellent translating job. Bravo Robert!

The class ended around noon and everybody gathered around the picnic tables to share sausages and sauerkraut prepared by chef Dan Fluhardy.

We were supposed to celebrate  “Oktober Fest” but I saw only one single guy wearing “lederhosen”. A pity!

At this point, I need to say how much I admire the cooperation shown by all the VOMPC members. It seemed that everybody lent a hand to make this event a success.

Patrick Vaslet whose excellent French and English made him a natural escort accompanied the awesome-twosome everywhere throughout their stay.

Frank Pipal, Peter Wellington, Mike Cooper, Joe La Torre, Shannon Bowman, Carlos Couto and Etienne Rijkheer also participated in one way or the other.

Let’s not forget the instrumental role of Ed Porto who fought hard to bring Marco Foyot to the United States.
Thank you Ed for bringing Marco to the US.

Marco’s grueling fifty-five days (September 27-November 8) tour of North America is not for the faint-hearted.
It started in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and will end in Amelia Island, Florida.
It is extremely demanding and despite the appearances extremely taxing. It takes a lot of heart and stamina to bring it to a successful conclusion

I am pretty sure that mister Foyot will be glad to return to France to take a well-deserved rest.

I think that Marco’s visit to Sonoma was a resounding success and did a lot to promote pétanque in North America.
We need more men like him to make pétanque in America as common as apple-pie.

Merci monsieur Foyot for a job well done or as the locals would say, “give me five dude!”

Alain La Foudre

PS: To look at pictures of this event, turn the sound on, click on the “Home” link at the top of the page, and click again on “My photos” located on the right side of the page.

Kudos to Tamara for taking many shots of this series. If I am in the the picture, you can be sure that Tamara took it!

 

The more laws, the less justice

I just read that Erich Priebke died in Rome (from natural causes) on October 11, 2013 at the age of 100.

legale-priebke-salma-sequestrata_82312392-370c-11e3-b877-7a22cb79602e_cougar_imageIn case that you didn’t know who this poor excuse of a man was, Priebke was an SS captain who in 1944 led the mass execution of 335 Italian civilians in the Ardeatine Caves near Rome.

The victims, with their hands tied behind their back, were led to the caves in groups of five and shot individually with a bullet in the head.
Priebke participated in the massacre and personally shot two civilians.
He never denied it and never apologized for it. He said he was just acting under orders and felt no remorse for his actions.

After the war, he escaped to Argentina where he lived freely for 50 years.
In 1996 he was put on trial but with the help of various lawyers, he was found not guilty for the reason of “acting under orders”.

I am dismayed and disgusted that such a man could be allowed to die peacefully in his bed.

50 BC Marcus Tullius Cicero correctly said “The more laws, the less justice.”

Or as somebody else put it:
“Lawyer: a professional advocate hired to bend the law on behalf of a paying client; for this reason considered the most suitable background for entry into politics.”

I am willing to bet that if Hitler were alive today and put on trial, there would be thousands of shysters willing, eager to defend him.

Personally, I have very little faith in what lawyers call “justice”.
Justice is directly proportional to the amount of money stashed in Argentina or in a Swiss numbered account. The more loot you have, the less guilty (thanks to your obliging lawyers) you will appear.

When it comes to war criminals, guilty without any doubt of heinous crimes, justice would be far better served by using the services of discreet hit men.
For a modest fee, and with the same “modus operandi” used by the Nazis at the Ardeatine Caves, these professionals could save taxpayers oodles of money and make sure that none of these evil criminals die of old age.

Since there is still a scandalous number of war criminals at large, this above described method would provide work for hundreds of men and significantly reduce the national debt.
Never mind lengthy trials, waste of public funds and mockery of justice. Let’s just put a few dedicated professionals to work.

In these austere times,  a win-win situation, wouldn’t you say?.

Alain la Foudre

http://youtu.be/pfxB5ut-KTs

Humility

I have never been a “high-five” fan and I have said so repeatedly.

After winning a few minor tournaments some players start believing their own press.
On the field, they prance, they dance, they high-five.
This is rather annoying, even offensive.

It is always good to remember that you might be a big fish in your own little pond, but a rather small fry in somebody else’s lake.

Recently, the Youth and Women’s Championship was held in Montauban (France).
Forty countries (40) sent their top players to compete, and after 3 grueling days the winners emerged.
And for many players, it was a great lesson in humility.
When facing top players your pond becomes amazingly smaller and the other guys’ pond extraordinarily larger.

According to my spies, here are the
Final results of the Women’s World Championship
.

In Quarter finals
Canada def. Tunisia: 13/5
France def. Denmark: 13/5
Thailand def. Madagascar: 13/10
Cambodge def. Belgium: 13/4

In Semi finals:
France def. Canada: 13/7
Thailand def. Cambodge: 13/9

In the finals:
Thailand def. France: 13/10

This year the Thai women are the top dogs and I very much doubt that they  “high-fived” each other on the podium.

Regardless of the circumstances, humility is far more appealing than an arrogant display of triumph.

Alain La Foudre

By the way, have you ever noticed the eerie similitude between the high-five and the Nazi salute?