A disappointing summer Wednesday night season wrapped up last night.  A fired up Roll'em team took to the courts after another of the captains legendary pep talks to face Boccilism.  On a very fast court we struggled to get in a groove and found ourselves in a tight game.  With the 'lisms leading 7-6 Clinker and myself were unable to get one very close and on the last throw they snuck one in to end the game.  While we didn't throw our best Boccilism threw really well and in their next game against the Squatches had a 7-0 lead before losing 9-8.  The story of the night was Mission: Imbocceball.  They were throwing well and got into the final against Squatchy Bocce, jumping out to a lead and putting Squatchy on the ropes.  Squatchy started coming back.  However with Mission on 5 and Squatchy down to their last ball Big Ed went for a knock.  While he did get the knock it worked up terrible as Mission was still in and a lot of room to lay their last their last three balls in.  A little hope for the Squatches came when Mission threw a too short shot however their next ball hit it and both ended up points and Mission: Imbocceball took home the coveted badass towels as Wednesday nights inter-pool champs.

Roll'em wrapped up the summer regular season last night against Biotches and then Mission: Imbocceball.  The first game was against the Biotches and they only had two players so they picked up a player from another team and also are Saudi friend Valya who had never played before.

We got off to our usual aggravating slow start.  Our Saudi friends first throw would have reached the street if not for the back wall but then she settled down.  She hit the pallino and moved it way back when all our balls were around it opening up an easy four point frame making the score 6-2 which became 8-2 before we staged a rally with a three pointer but alas it wasn't to be losing 9-5.
Another coaching error as I forgot to give my legendary pep talks before the game so I gave a brief talk to try and inspire The Glue, Clutch, Clinker and myself.  Apparently it worked as we jumped all over Mission and never let up winning 9-1.  
We ended the season with a disappointing 8-4 record and to ponder what could have been.  On to the Inter-pool and then the season tournament.

Roll'em If You Got'em took to the courts last night after having a week with no games. 
In the first game Roll'em looked like they would continue building on the last couple weeks as we jumped out early on Boccelism.  We continued to build on our good start, winning 9-1.
In the second game against #thankusforyourwin we seemed out of sorts as they jumped out to a lead.  The continued to apply pressure with good shots every round and we found ourselves down by a big margin.  We were making our run down 8-4 (maybe 5) and a ball fairly close with them having only one ball left and us three.  On their last throw the #'s got just inside of us and we were unable to get anything close thus giving the #'s their first win ever in yet another epic Roll'em collapse.  
Catastrophe was avoided only by the Curmudgeon's nimble feet and quick reflex as he used his dancing bear moves to avoid doing a header unto the court.
Poor coaching led to our defeat as the captain forgot to have his legendary inspirational pep talk before the game. 

Friday night we finally got together with our old Saudi friend Valya at Silkworms anniversary party and then went to Brews Brothers for a couple more beers.  It was great running into some friends we don't see very often at the party but the highlight was seeing a framed shirt that started the whole Silkworm business.
On Saturday we went up to Gabbys for a late lunch which was very good.  As we were leaving we talked to a very nice couple on a motorcycle.  It ended up that the Glue had worked a carbondale with the woman.
On Sunday the Curmudgeon set a personal best on the golf course, shooting a 40 on the front and then a 36 on the back!!!  To celebrate I bought some beers in the clubhouse and then we headed down to Blue Boar for another late lunch.  Our last couple experiences there haven't been good but this one was.  I had the fried fish and shrimp skewers and the Glue had the etouffee'.  We stopped at Trails End for a beer and ran into another very couple from Pinkneyville and had a nice conversation.  As we were leaving the couple from Gabbys walked in so we had to have another beer before we left.
Bocce starts again this week!

Since I started playing in fall of 2013 there have been many improvements to the the court equipment such as the roller, new drag, hose cart and hose.  There have also been many improvements to the facilities such as concrete around the courts, bathroom/storage building and the concrete walkway.  In light of this the decision to put gravel over the drain at the west end of the court was not a very good decision.  The gravel has made it's way onto the court, in the ball holders and all over the brick and concrete walkways.  It's possible that some of the gravel problem is caused by getting in shoe treads but I don't see a way that it would cause the ball holders to have it in them.   Not sure what the answer is but something needs to be done.

I'm not sure the timing of the bye week is going to work in Roll'ems favor as we seemed to be finding our mojo the last couple weeks. 

We had a very nice and luckily mostly uneventful Fourth of July weekend.  The Glue fixed some wings Friday which were great as always.  Somehow our "entertainment" for the evening managed to narrowly escape burning our neighbors house down.  After a laid back Saturday we went to Mases Place on Sunday just ahead of a monsoon rainstorm.  Neat place with a nice deck.  We both had the fish was pretty good but the highlight was their BBQ sauces. They had two kinds both of which were real good but mixed together was the best.  On Monday I fought the rain to cook some ribs, sausage and armadillo eggs.  I cooked three baby backs and for a change did a St. Louis cut spare rib.  I prefer baby backs but the spare really surprised me with how good it turned out.  We finished out the extended weekend by watching the fireworks from Riverside Park from across the street.  Another really nice show to cap a nice weekend.