Coffee Flats Terrors

after a scheduling "quirk" that resulted in the Terrors having almost the entire month of February off, we made our triumphant return to the court last Tuesday to take on the venerable Watch Your Balls. the time off had only augmented our powers, however, and we took them down in straight sets. i seem to recall Kat shooting well (and winning the possibly discontinued "Hot Hand of the Day") to take our record to 3-0 on the year. other than that the details have gotten a little fuzzy.

our powers eroded during the short 6-day layoff before last night's match with nemeses If You Want My Bocce, however. despite having no female representation due to meetings and illness, the boys started strong to take the first game with relative ease, 7-2. then i put myself into the game and the whole thing went down the shitter. we didn't really make any terrible shots, just not any really good ones, while they started making just about everything. the 2nd game finished at 3-7 and the rubber game was barely as close as the 1-7 score would indicate. frankly, i don't even want to dwell on this one bit longer. i think our losing streak to the Rodders has reached 5 consecutive matches including at least 2 in which we won the 1st game only to succumb in the end. this must stop.

next week we get defending champs ODB and the chance to take our revenge for the ouster in last year's playoffs.

record: 3-1
mood: surly

Posted by Jamie at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We got moved to Tuesday this week to avoid a conflict with Floyd's Last Monday event. Performance was not affected, however, as we took down the Schweddy Balls in straight sets, 7-3, 7-3. We were down a few players as Cap'n Terror was out with a scheduling conflict, Chili Terror was laid up with a bad back and Boccima continued his Invisible Man act. Nevertheless, those of us that played did very well, jumping out to an early 5-0 lead in Game 1 and rallying after going down 2-3 in Game 2. The second game saw one ridiculous series where the pollino started off just over the line (way to go, Ezra) and ended up being touched by 3 balls (1 ours, 2 theirs - Marc's metrocard wouldn't fit between any of them) forcing a replay. We scored 4 points on the replay, more or less salting the game away.

The Schweddy Balls were newcomers to the league (there's a similarly named team at Union Hall that my co-worker plays for), but they've got some talent. Once they get up to speed on the vagaries of the court, I expect them to make some noise in the playoffs.

Earlier in the evening, the Sweet Meats fell to Watch Your Balls, while defending champs ODB went to 0-2 after being demolished by a Brian-less Boccelism. Monday nights look to be exceedingly tough as always, and it doesn't help that we don't play another game until February 26th. But the season is off to a rollicking start, and I look forward to hoisting the trophy at season's end.

Go Terrors.

Posted by Jamie at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This past Monday night Coffee Flats Terrors defeated Mamalukes. The match went three games. I think everyone had a good time.

Posted by Marc at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Marc at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For Game A of the final day of Tournament play, the Dirty Half Dozen failed to arrive with the required four starting players. Given eight minutes beyond the required fifteen, they forfeited and the Terrors advanced to the quarter finals.

In the semi-finals The Coffee Flats Terrors took on and defeated Boccelism.

The other semi-final game saw Jimbo's Sweet Meats All-Stars advance past If You Want My Bocce.

In game two of the finals, the Terrors rallied, scoring six unanswered points in order to win the match.

The Hot Hand of the Day award went to Cap'n Terror (not acting captain this season. That fine job was handled by Eco Terror).

Unfortunately, two Terrors weren't able to share in the celebrations. The following photo should also include Dani (Tasty Terror) and Matt (Ono Terror).

(nine more photos available here)

Posted by Marc at 05:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Coffee Flats Terrors faced Balls Deep in Round One. Round Two, saw the Terrors against The Notorious BRF. Both teams were defeated, with the Terrors advancing to play the following weekend.

Eco Terror, aka This Season's Captain, captured the Hot Hand of the Day Award with some fine play. He's seen here using that oven-mitted hand to attach the team name to the tournament bracket.

A few weeks ago Chili Terror won the Hot Hand of the Day. I forgot to take a picture at the time. Here she is, oven-mitted. Or is it oven-bemitted?

Posted by Marc at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It goes down to the wire and If You Want My Bocce takes the match, despite support from Lenny.

Posted by Marc at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The winning streak ends.

Posted by Marc at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's a win!

There are push-ups if you hit the back wall.

Hot Hand of the Week Award goes to Turkey Terror.

Posted by Marc at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Match 3 goes our way.

The Hot Hand of the Week Award goes to Sweet Touch.

Posted by Marc at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Match 2 goes our way.

Posted by Marc at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Artist's Rendering. Actual birth may be cuter and/or bloodier.

We woke up Saturday morning looking down the barrel of another bocce match. Last week's near collapse was behind us and we were ready to get another notch in the ol' victory belt. Standing between us and that notch were newcomers Rollin' Deep, jumping into the Saturday fray for their first ever match.

RD even had their own cheering section in the form of John from Cobra Kai. Actually, he was more of a booing section, and those boos were aimed firmly at the Terrors. Undaunted, we came out strong with Marc and I at the south end and Sweet Touch and Kat on the north side. Nice shots all around produced a 7-2 win, but we knew better than to relax.

Game 2 brought trouble and self-flagellation. Chili had shown up early to work on her game, but she was unhappy with the results, especially on one ball that turned a Terror point into two points for the opposition. Matt, Cap'n and Tasty couldn't pull it together either and a 3-7 loss had us looking for answers with the 3rd set looming. Ezra, playing manager this season, put himself in with me, and kept Matt on the clay joined by Sweet Touch. We were consistently giving up 1 point on every round at our end as we were missing shots left nad right, but at the other end, the boys were able to keep us in it to the point where we were tied 5-5. We ended up in a good spot with a couple balls still left, and Ezra clamly walked up and hit his spot perfectly for the game winning points, just as he had the week before. And so it became only logical that he be re-christened "Captain Clutch". If he's rolling against you with the game in the line, watch out.

This week's award went to Matt Drumm in his first game back from sabbatical in Argentina for his consistently excellent shooting.

Unfortunately, the first forfeit of the season occurred when Electric Mayhem was a no-show for their game with the Beeyotcees. Which was too bad because I was interested to see how they played this week. But it worked out OK because we only had to wait through one game before we could get back on the court for some practice.

On another note, I think I volunteered last night to take over the scheduling duties from Jim and the Floyd folks. There was some grumbling about the way that the schedules were drawn up with some teams having several weeks off in a row, not enough variation in the start times and a lack of "double-headers". Someone said I should take over the job, and I said "Sure!" I don't know if I'll be any better at making 25 teams happy, but I'll give it a shot.

Posted by Jamie at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Oh. Where do I start with Saturday's recap? We were scheduled to face Electric Mayhem (formerly known as sonofabocce) at 3:15pm. Due to some B63 bus delays, Cap'n Terror (not our actual captain at the moment), Principle Terror (our actual captain at the moment) and I (a captain for one season) got to Floyd at 3:18. We shouldn't have been worried during that bus ride. That day's second match was heading into a third game. That meant there was an entire match that had to be played before the Terrors needed to take the court.

That extra time meant Cap'n Terror and Principle Terror (Chris and Ezra, ok? Can I stop referring to us by our nicknames? It's really tough to follow.) had time to get a late lunch. Sadly, I don't have photographic evidence of Chris realizing his sandwich was issued in wrap form. He hates wraps. After losing to the Cle. Steamers beat Cobra Kai, our sandwich guys donated a few of their remaining potato chips to our old league-mates, Cobra Kai.

Around 4:45PM we finally got onto the court. Electric Mayhem has a no warm-up policy for themselves. Feeling confident, we decided we were fine with getting the game started right away. We selected the red balls (despite one of the good balls being missing from the area of play. We had to use one of the Sportcraft balls as our fourth ball). Jamie and I took the front entrance side of the court, with Chris and Kat handling rolling duties from the opposite end. Game one ended quickly, with the Terrors scoring seven unanswered points.

(Kat in mid-season form)

Captain Ezra said we were rolling great and that the same four should stay on the court and keep rolling. I think we all wanted to see him get in there. After some bickering, I decided I'd step out and force him to take my position. It seemed like a fine decision. The Terrors scored six more unanswered points.

And then the answering began. Electric Mayhem scored seven points in a row, sending the match into game three. There were stunned looks all around. The dominant play we'd been showcasing disappeared.

(Ezra follows the trajectory of a bank shot)

At the conclusion of that shocker, Chris dashed off to a previous engagement (honestly, he thought he could make plans for nighttime activities with a game scheduled for 3:15. He was wrong, apparently). I stepped back onto the court, joining with my game one partner, Jamie. Ezra switched ends and game three got underway. It was a back and forth battle as each team seemed to score one or two points at a time. Eventually, we found ourselves tied six to six. Ezra made a great spock shot, taking out the green Electric Mayhem ball and the Terrors won game three, and thus the match (to sighs of relief from all of us in red shirts).

(Electric Mayhem was intimidated by our logo. Obviously, they got past that in game two.)

On Saturday, February 3rd, we get a look at Rollin' Deep. That match is scheduled for 1:45. We'll do our best to get it started on time.

Posted by Marc at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

We faced off against Cobra Kai this past weekend. Game one featured a back and forth battle, but Cobra Kai held onto their first side lead. They won 7-4. Game two was over in three sides, with Kai taking the win 7-0.

Next week is an off week. We don't play again until December 2. We'll take on New Kids on the Bocc.

Posted by Marc at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

A rainy Saturday found the Terrors assembling at Floyd for the day's second and third matches.

Principle Terror wore his warm-up shirt:

Our first match went smoothly:

Our second match wasn't so hot. Rivals, If You Want My Bocce, started out missing a few shots, but rebounded in the middle of game one. Game two was a bit tougher for them. Game three was a rough one for the Terrors. It was up to me to make a final, almost impossible shot, to keep us in the game. I couldn't do it. I take the blame for this match (not the final shot, but due to some poor play earlier in the game). If we see this gang in the playoffs, they don't stand a chance.

I'll let Cap'n Terror chime in with the Hot Hand of the Day report.

Posted by Marc at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Yesterday wasn't a good for the Terrors. The final match of the regular season was one in which we made a few mistakes. While both games against Cobra Kai were good and evenly matched, we lost 7-5 in each. We will have our revenge during the playoffs!

Posted by Marc at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

A few hours ago the Terrors completed the longest match they've ever had. Game one against No Brooklyn Posers started five minutes late, at 2:05pm. I don't think things ended until 3:30. There was very little dawdling. There were very few big sides. The match went three games. And we lost. I think it was a day of mistakes from both sides, with us unable to capitalize on their mistakes in that last game.

With only four of us present, I didn't take too many photos. But here's one of the final chalkboard:

We've got a bye week coming up, so there's no match on Sunday, 7/23. We return in two weeks to face 0 for the Season.

Posted by Marc at 08:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This past Sunday we battled against The Beeyotcces in the second official match of Floyd's summer bocce season.

The Coffee Flats Terrors emerged victorious, taking the first two games of the possible three game series. Erik, Matt and Ezra played with skill and Dani, rolling on the court for the first time, made some terrific shots. Apparently all those hours spent watching bocce during the previous season gave her a leg up on the competition. The Beeyotcces were shut out 7-0 in game one.

Game two had me stepping in for Ezra (who, let's be honest, was still high from the day's World Cup match). We got off to a strong lead but faltered a bit, allowing The Beeyotcces to tie things up 6-6. Despite their cheering and huge level of enthusiasm for their first ever bocce match, The Beeyotcces lost 7-6.

I'll post photos soon. Meanwhile, check out The Beeyotcces version of how things went down during match day.

Posted by Marc at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday was a perfect day for an indoor bocce tournament. The skies were overcast and the chill in the air practically invited folks indoors for a day of drinking and rolling. Sadly, it turned out to be a day of drinking for the Terrors.

We faced off against OLD DIRTY BARRISTERS at 3pm. As the scoreboard shows, things got interesting in game two. Game three was hard fought, but the reverse of Saturday's match against Team ODIN was the result. We had a 5-4 lead until some shakey rolling by the Terrors and perfect rolling by ODB gave us the loss.

Despite disappointment, the Terrors will be back. Meanwhile, congratulations go out to BOCCELISM, the winners for the most recent season.

I'll add more photos soon.

Here's a bit of wrap-up on the day from the Cobra Kai Bocce Dojo.

Here's a video from The Old Dirty Barristers.

A tournament report from Watch Your Balls!

If You Want My Bocce's report from Saturday

A second look at Watch Your Balls!' tournament weekend

Posted by Marc at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

as team captain i should've known better. i tried to get fancy and missed. what's worse, is that i tried to get fancy with the wrong play. the cobra kai ball i tried to take out wasn't even the closest ball. after i missed my "showoff" play, cobra kai played one more side and scored enough points to win game three. my memories of our first loss were quickly drowned by baseball talk. anyone else care to chime in with a wrap-up?

Posted by Marc at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

This past Saturday the Coffee Flats Terrors faced JOANIE LOVES BOCCE and won in two games (the first game by just one point).

We also battled against IF YOU WANT MY BOCCE and won in two games (the first game by just one point).

We're undefeated now.

We'll face COBRA KAI this coming Saturday.

Posted by Marc at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday's match found the Terrors warming-up but not actually competing. There was no match. Chewbocce didn't show, repeating a move from the previous week when they failed to play against Cobra Kai.

Posted by Marc at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

the Terrors completed their sweep of the first round of the Saturday Division by defeating Team ODIN 7-1, 4-7, 7-0 on Saturday. yes, we lost a game in there (our first since the regular season of the fall/winter season), but i'm going to attribute that to the absence of the distractingly beautiful Chili Terror who was sidelined (sinus infection/pneumonia) but has been listed as probable for next week's game versus Chew Bocce, who was an unexpected no-show for their game with the good people from Cobra Kai.

it was not the best game we've played this season, but everyone had at least a few good shots, and Bocchima availed himself well despite having several family members in attedance. personally, i felt like itwas probably the best game i've played all year and it was heartening to see us take care of business so quickly in the third game, even though i was sitting out and cursing myself for getting a parking ticket. also, i didn't warm up at all beforehand. hmmmm....

i suppose we should mention the slight controvery surrounding ODIN's rotating use of players within each game rather than using a fixed 4. it would be hard to argue that there is an advantage to be gained by doing this, and fighting it wouldn't have bought us much good will, but it is a part of the rules so hopefully it won't come up in the future. it should also be mentioned that Marc was disappointed to note that ODIN hadn't brought any of their female contingent to distract us. perhaps this was part of their plan: to distract us by making us wonder why they weren't trying to distract us. that must be why we lost game 2.

but at any rate, we put our perfect record on the line again next week. hopefully Chew Bocce will show and we won't be caught looking forward to our 2 games on 3/25 including the much-anticipated rematch with archrivals If You Want My Bocce. i don't think i'll have a chance to practice this week, and we're going to be short-handed due to SXSW, so i think we should arrive early to get some extra rolls in.

Posted by Jamie at 12:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

The Terrors faced an old foe on Saturday, the fine gentlemen and ladies from a little New Jersey dojo called Cobra Kai.

Game one began with Alex and Ezra on the south side of the court, our fearless leader having won the toss and given us the pallino and the red balls. Alex ran the pallino long with a great shot and we started with a four pointer. Cobra Kai promptly answered with a three point round, but after another Terror point, Eco and Sweet Touch, helming the north side of the court, clinched the game with a two making the final score 7-3.

Game two was again started by Alex, this time with Matt Drumm at his side making his Terror debut. CFT jumped out to a three nothing lead after two rounds, but again Cobrta Kai answered with a three pointer. Marc and Kaci won the next crucial round and from there the Terrors cruised to victory, again winning 7-3.

Overall there were a lot of positives to be taken from the match. The Coffee Flats Terrors are again atop the league after going undefeated through the first four matches. Last season CFT hit the skids after an identical start, but we all know how that turned out in the end. No team has yet forced a third game against the "flock of tools" in 2006.

The match was a coming out performance of sorts for Alex "BaChima" Terror who, to my eyes, was clearly the best player on the court. It was also a winning debut for the as yet moniker-less Matt Drumm, who stepped in nicely filling in for a missing Cap'n.

The next time the Terrors take the court is not until March 11th, the long break wiill give everyone a chance to get well rested and let those nagging injuries heal.

Posted by ez at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Principle Terror's blog just pointed me to the blog entries of two members from Watch Your Balls, the team we beat in the final match of the Fall 2005 Tournament. Good stuff.

we had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the [dark bar]

manlio rules

Posted by Marc at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past Saturday was a two match day for the Coffee Flats Terrors.

At 2pm we squared off against Joanie Loves Bocce, last season's winners for the best name award (listen to the podcast to hear the awards presentation). Eric and Jamie started at one end of the court, with Chris and Ezra on the opposite end.

This is when I should mention that I spent a fair amount of time last week working on a sheet to use for keeping score during a game of bocce like the way one scores a baseball game. I found a email a few bocce resources and even managed to try keeping score for three pick-up games at Floyd on Thrusday night. Sadly, keeping score and recording the outcome of every ball rolled was a bit tedious for my tastes. I'm not sure if I'll revisit the idea of keeping score. I certainly didn't pull out my pen and scorebook during Saturday's matches. Because of that, I can't even remember the scores from match one. Now that I've gone all "blog" for the bocce season, I'll start taking better notes.Do any other Terrors want to jump in on the comments and fill me in on the scores?

The Terrors won the first game against JLB. Game two featured Kaci and me at one end and two of the other Terrors at the opposite end. I'm 90% sure we left Chris and Ezra in. We won the second game, and thus the match.

Before the second match against If You Want My Bocce, the Terrors gathered outside and prepared to march in to "Welcome to the Terror Dome." We also wore the number 23 to "psyche out" IYWMB star player, Mike. Once during open play one night at Floyd some bargoers referred to Mike as the "Jordan of Bocce" because of his skill with the precision roll. That's the story behind the fake numbers on our shirts. Not everyone was there to witness someone getting into MIke's head and the joke was a bit of a bomb.

Alex arrived in time for game two and stepped onto the court with Kaci. We won 7-4. Game two also went smoothly and we captured the match with a game two score of 7-2.

For Listmaker's take on the day, check out One of These Games Is Socially Acceptable and Is Played in a Bar, The Other is Quite Nerdy.

Our record for the season now stands at 3-0. This coming Saturday we face the relentless Cobra Kai.

Posted by Marc at 01:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Listen to my podcast from day 2 of the Fall 2005 Finals.

download the mp3
and here's the link to my blog entry about the podcast

Posted by Marc at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm writing this 8 days after the spring season's first bocce match. On Saturday, the 4th of February, the Coffee Flats Terrors played and defeated Chew Bocce. To win a match at Floyd, a team needs to win two our of three games. We got the W with just two games.

The Terrors stuck around to watch some of our former teammates play. Dan, Jim and Mike are now part of a team called If You Want My Bocce. IYWMB faced Team Odin and managed to defeat them in two games. Here's Mondale's take on the day. Make sure you check out the comments where CFT's own Cap'n Terror keeps the trash talk going.

Posted by Marc at 02:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)