Visitor from Winston-Salem

Bob M. re-visited us from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Teamed up with Brian G. they proved to be a very strong doublette against Pat A. and Maury B.

Down 3 to 9; they rose to the challenge, getting point after point, resulting in an eventual 13 to 10 victory comeback. (though conspiracy advocates think that the sudden appearance of Hitesh as observer had some influence on the game).

My own game went very well, a tightly (point for point) run event with each point laid down taken by the opposing team time after time. Fred K. has been shooting very accurately and should definitely promote himself into the Tireur (shooter) spot for future games.

Have a nice weekend, see you Monday.

Abu is MVP for today's games

Sorry about the delay in crunching the ranking stats, but here we go: Pat is leading but Abu is right on his tail. Today's games really have shown to me the new and aggressive Abu who has been shooting and pointing for his team. No longer the: "No No No...just point" player, Abu will take some risks for points. Good for him!

Today, I hope, is the last of the cold days - the temperature should be ascending steadily and I will be carrying more equipment as preparation for multiple game play at Cadillac Square park.

See you there!

Latest Results from this week's Games

Great games on Thursday with two triplettes going at once. Abu was absolutely beaming from the 7 to Zero win!

Campus Martius Park in Detroit wins Urban Open Space Award

Campus Martius Park, where the Detroit Petanque Club holds its weekday games, won a very prestigious award today, the Urban Open Space Award for best urban park in the United States.

Detroit's Campus Martuis Park won first place out of the 88 entrants, quite a feat!

About two weeks ago, I met with the traveling judges: Amanda Burden (Commissioner, NYC Planning Commission) and Marty Jones (President, Corcoran Jennison (based in Boston)) who were being given a tour of Campus Martius Park by Bob Gregory (Chairman, Detroit 300 Conservancy). Mr. Gregory wanted to show the judges one of the many fun socially interactive programs going on at the park. Afterwards, I sent an e-mail to the judges to let them know of local spots in their own cities (Boston & New York) where they could play petanque.

A few days later, Ms. Burden e-mailed me that she planned to incorporate petanque courts into the new waterfront esplanade on the East River in New York.

You can find the Detroit FreePress Article: HERE

Pat is Shooting Tir au Fer

I really am impressed with Pat's shooting, always right on target - but today he has really shown how far he's come - he's shooting "tir au fer" (iron-to-iron). Where the typical shot comes in along the ground (defeated by any blocking boules) - the air shot and the more deadly "tir au fer" shot doesn't use the ground at all, thus a very dangerous weapon in the petanque player's arsenal.

I'm delighted with the large turnout today, two games going at once, and if we make doubles teams, perhaps 3 (or more!)

No surprise, Pat, TimC., and Eric top the rankings, but 1 more game (and win) for Mikey will put him up as king.

See you out there!

Opening Day for Tigers - But we've been "open" for 2 weeks!

Winter has not left Detroit - not yet - with freezing winds whipping across Cadillac Square Park freezing fingers and faces. Tim W. claims the cold weather is good for his playing and I'd have to agree - his team was laying in great points despite my attempts to sneak in a boule or two. The first game was a comeback for me for the near win, but by the second game my shooting was done done done.

Today being opening day for the Detroit Tigers (that is a baseball team to the rest of the world) it is even colder than yesterday and I have doubts about our playing today. By next week the temperatures will rise again to playable levels.

Maury is back from his Adventures

Despite the threat of rain, I checked the doppler radar and it was a nice, and dry lunch hour for petanque.

Maury B. joined us, back from his adventures all over the United States. Together with Brian, they formed quite a duo, making a swift come-back against Abu and Jeff. There were plenty of rounds where the boules were exchanged point for point.

Brian G. even knocked the cochonnet off the court to save his team from a loss (we were sitting on 13).

Big thanks to Pat A. who acted as a personal coach and advisor for Brian G. It was undoubtedly his guidance which produced the comeback and near win. Our club has many coaches, including Mikey D. (out on sabbatical) who can help you improve your game.

Kevin C. Returns to the Club

Long absent, Kevin C. stopped by the club to play a game and right from his very first throw we knew he didn't lose a thing. "His first boule throw was spot on, maybe an inch away from the cochonnet," exclaimed Jeff Widen.

We had a terrific set of rounds, with one having a point-for-point boule exchange (at a pretty far distance at that).

Have a great weekend, y'all (enjoy your Easter). See you on Monday.

Peace and Love - Peace and Love

Mark W. (sporting his new long hair look) and Hitesh P. (sporting a damaged "wing") returned to the courts at Cadillac Square Park today for some competition.

The ground surface is a bit different than that of Campus Martius Park. CMP has bare ground with sloping bits, whereas CSP has (for the moment) mounds of gravel (pity those whose boules fall into that pudding) and side-wall sloping ground.

"Rock'n" Rob showed at the very end - he'll be around tomorrow for Pat's team...

Tomorrow, by the way, is supposed to reach about 80 degrees!

I have a meeting which may take me to 12:15pm on Friday - but I'll be there at Cadillac Square - see yah!

Warm Day at Last!

Finally, after all of the snow and rain - we've reached a semi-safe place of warm sunny weather. It should get up to the 70's by week's end.

The courts located at Cadillac Square Park should be available to us for game play. Some players voiced the difficulties in the terrain at Campus Martius Park - I find it to be a bit tough - but the challenge is fun (and the ground authentic to "town square" play).

Mikey is Back!

Just goes to show you, our club is a class act 100%

....well, 90%

Pat/Deric vs. Jeff W./Mikey/Aaron in the MUD... We lost 9 to Pat/Deric's 13...

Brian and Tim C. beat out Maury B. and Fred 13 to 6...

Note: When assembling teams for game play, it is better to divide the players into two games (ideally doubles) so that new players coming to the courts can jump into a game without waiting (or making one of those lopsided 4 vs 3 player 8 boules per side games - which take 2 hours to play and litter the ground with too many boules.

I'm out until Wednesday... see you then!

Two Doublettes for a Sunny Wednesday

Tim C. joined by Pierre L. (a confirmed Frenchman and petanque player) played (and won) in a tight 13/12 match against Abu M. and Eric C. at Campus Martius. I'll have to get some feedback from them about what kind of a player Pierre is...

On court-2, Pat A. gave warning to Tim W. for cellphone-petanqueing, though I think Tim W. rolled in some decent boules despite being on the phone with his bookie (kidding). Lots of trash talking at Court-2... Fred K. and Jeff W. kept up a coordinated team effort - Fred taking some shooting throws for practice as well!

Surface at Campus Martius Park Ready for Play

My shooting was still on, but unfortunately, my shot boule knocked our own away - rats! This resulted in a 4 boule swing for our opponents (who were in 2nd-5th positions). Fred and Eric were putting in some really close pointing boules and we had some very close (back and forth for the point) rounds.

The courts at Campus Martius Park has been re-surfaced with gravel and tamped down level. Excellent for rolling points.

Pat A. Shoots the Cochonnet with a Calculated Risk

Randomly drawn teams are a good way to run a club - little room for argument when a "blind cochonnet" selection is the deciding factor. But, sometimes fate places strong players on the same team (as in today's match where we had two strong shooters on a team). The challenge of overcoming the odds is part of the fun! Sure, you might feel out-matched but perhaps you shouldn't concentrate on the win as much as decreasing the point spread. Strategy will also bring you a better game position. Pat and I were taking some calculated risks (shooting the cochonnet) - blowing up a group of boules to move the cochonnet into the open - and those risks could have fallen badly for us (they happened to work out well). Risks, however must be matched up with the score situation. If you're leading by tons of points, sure, go ahead and take those chancy glory shots... but if you're way behind in points, you may want to keep an eye towards defensive boule placements to limit the points of the opposing team. Whatever. Have fun. See you next week!

Maury's Comeback Plans Almost a Success

Today's match was a good example of "It isn't over until the last boule is thrown. Despite losing to us, Team: Maury/TimC./Fred K. made lots of headway towards a comeback. We (Pat/Jeff/Tom/Eric) had a 11 to 0 lead and looking for a shut-out, but after coordinating their efforts, the opposition ate away on our lead, until it was getting a bit.. let's say, too close for comfort.

Excellent pointing from Tom C. and Eric C. today - wow! They really kept Tim C. busy with the shooting (using up his boules early).

Hope the warm weather continues - see you soon.

Latest Results for the Season

So far we're having nice weather, excellent turnout, and closely fought games... see you soon!

2010 Season Opens with Twin Wins for Brian G. and Tim C.

A great day for a season open, we played at Campus Martius Park (until the fences around Cadillac Square Park clear).

The game play started out strong for us, taking the lead at 9 points to zip, but then our adversaries realized we weren't playing on carpet anymore and started to give a bit more umph to their throws.

The finish, 5 points for Brian & Tim came after our sole boule was struck away and the cochonnet was swept to a key spot.

The "revenge" match, brought Pat A. out to warm the benches as we played a 5-pointer. But again, Team Brian/TimC. took the day with a 5 to Zip sweep. Heck, this is getting annoying!



Anyhow, we should be playing regularly at Campus Martius Park (next to the Au bon Pain - now closed) from Noon to One. See yah there!