Sunday, September 23, 2007

Boules and Tiger Fans at Campus Martius Park

Cathy and Mike A. joined us at the C-Mart on Saturday. It took a round or two to get used to the different terrain - as they usually play petanque up in Royal Oak on Sundays. But after a while they were pointing in like pros. Also, Louise joined us, she was away for a time, but despite not having lifted a boule in over a year, she saved by bacon by getting two close boules at a 15 meter distance! That game ended in a 13/12 victory for us!


Nicole shows her Shooter Cred

Nicole played boule at Saturday's games in Campus Martius Park and she showed her power shooting. I'm not sure when she began shoting so well, maybe at the Detroit Tournament when she teamed up with Charlene or perhaps when she was receiving personal lessons from Mamary ("Mo") - but whenever she started becoming a petanque milieu (shooter AND pointer) she certainly has become a difficult player to beat. Good luck in New York next week Nicole!


Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Limping Jeff Widen Makes a Quick Draw!

The field of play, Cadillac Square, the two cowboys faced off: Arnold Allenic, from Ann Arbor in town to give some lectures at the Materials Conference against Jeff Widen, newly injured in a petanque battle from the previous day. The first game, a close score, with victory to the visitor, Arnold, 13/11.


The second game, the revenge match, began badly for Jeff, with Arnold getting some early points, and advancing to a 0/7 position... This ole cowpoke ain't done yet! Not in my town, even with my bum leg, I ain't gonna give up!

POW! POW! the score advanced for me, POW! POW! POW! 12/7 ... then the final... 13/7 Got yah!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

First Ever Petanque Injury Sustained by Jeff Widen

The Cadillac Square pistes, in case you don't know, are a combination of gravel stretches checkered with pave stoned areas. It is ideal for boule, but sometimes, when a boule is shot, it flies for quite a long way along the flat, hard surface. I was chasing after an errantly shot boule (a miss by the way!) when I heard a POP! and my left leg was in it's own personal hell. Limping around a bit on it, I finished up the game with my comrades (Auessa and Rob) - a squeaker, but a loss: 13/11 (victory to Tim, Pat, and Mike) and then ambled back to the office for bag of ice and some leg elevation.


Saturday, September 15, 2007

Ziggy Visits Detroit for a Day of Petanque


Social Petanque Brings in the Crowds




James Leads his Team

James uses leisure (Dog) boules and holds a 13/'12 victory.

Saturday - Boule Cool in Detroit

Dan tried out hi snew Obut shooting boules 680 Grams 76 mm diameter. They proved to be excellent for shooting.


Ziggy and April visited us from Chicago and played quite a few games of petanque at C-MART. James and Cheryl just came off a log bike ride (38 miles)

Friday, September 14, 2007

A Fine Start to the Weekend in Detroit

Today's afternoon games had Pat A.; Tim C.; Johnny; Jody; Aueesa P.G.; Wayne M.; Aaron E.; Mike D.; and Jeff W. playing a series of boule games at the ever wonderful Cadillac Square in Downtown Detroit.








Johnny has played a bit of bocce in the past and it showed in his accurate pointing today. While Jody was new to boule games in general but she, together with some excellent coaching, played extremely well, gaining the point a number of times. She'll be trying out the Sunday games in Royal Oak.



















Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Centennial Issue of the FPUSA BouleSheet


Frank Pipal, of F.P.U.S.A. put out the Centennial Issue of the Boule Sheet and it looks fantastic. Check out the special comic on pages 8 & 9 created by Marcel Uderzo, the brother of Asterix creator Albert Uderzo.
There's tons of useful information for petanquers here and abroad.
Check it out at the FPUSA Website or download it via this link: BOULESHEET

Monday, September 10, 2007

Mondays in the Park with Friends

Today our usual group was joined by Leon, who works with a new real estate company that recently moved into the First National building next to the park.

Leon is a very solid pointer, and though Pat, Tim, and Abu had to go back to work - we (Auessa, Jeff, Mike, Leon) were able to finish the game. It ended at 13/9 (Leon and Jeff) but the opposition was very tough and catching up fast!



Friday, September 07, 2007

Carreau = $25 MISS = FREE

Why not let them know that building up your skills doesn't come easy - OR CHEAP.

If they want to win - they'd better pay up!

CLICK HERE FOR SHIRT





Coupe de la Ville de Brno - Triplettes




My friend, Pavel Kral, of the Fenyx Petanque Club in the Czech Republic reports on his success last weekend at the Brno International Triplettes competition.



Fenyx ranked 24th out of 75 top teams, including players from France, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and of course the Czech Republic. Included among the participants was the Silver Medalist from the European Championship held in Turkey last month.




Pavel and his wife, Renca played along with Martin Jakes (Martin is in the middle in the three-person photo).

They won 13:6 in their first match against Team Krumsin (Czech) and lost 6:13 verses Team Slope Brno despite having the initial lead 6:2. Then they went on to beat Team Hungaria 13:2 (wow!) and then turned a 5:10 game against Team POP Praha into a victory 13:10 For their last match they went against the Czech Repre Team (with the Silver Medalist from Europe Championship) which resulted in a 1:13 loss. But it was good to get a point in on such a difficult team.

With their scores, Team Fenyx went into the B-Final qualifiers, playing Team POP Praha again with a bad start 0:8 turning into a 7:13 loss. Pavel and his team were very happy with their result: 24th out of 75 extremely good, prestige teams.