Fall 2021 - Championships

The second season of the Monday Night League did not disappoint. All season long it was a three way race between Sacré Boule, the Boule$shit Artists, and the Tenacious Boule Destroyers. Though the teams were only separated by a couple of games, the holy rollers continued to hang onto the top spot week after week. But in one of the biggest upsets in league history, both the grifters and the TBDs leap-frogged their way into the championships, leaving Sacré Boule to wallow in third place, settling for a solid consolante bid.

For the finals, the league commissioner introduced a new format called Pétanque-A-Mania. Oh yeah, brother! Teams played two matches side-by-side, keeping a cumulative score for both games, and substituting players in and out of the game in chaotic frenzy. We put 99 minutes on the clock and the team with the most points when time ran out would be crowned league champs!

In the championship match, the Tenacious Boule Destroyers established an early lead and kept applying the pressure. At the midway point they led by as many as 18 points and it didn’t look like there was any way for their opponents to bullshit their way out of this one. But as the clocked ticked down, TBD began to falter and the grifters scored four points in each game and then another three. As the final rounds commenced, only one point separated the two teams and the tensions were high. In the final frame, TBD lived up to their name and held on for the win with a 45-41 victory to take home the trophy.

In the consolante, Bad Boules was hoping to extinguish the memory of a season gone bad by delivering an upset over the recently demoralized Sacré Boule and sneaking their way onto the trophy. But, alas, it was not to be. Like Walter White, once you break bad, there is no going back. The holy rollers, for their part, were back to form and made a fine showing to land themselves a spot on the trophy.

In other news, Tim snagged the coveted Rookie-of-the-Year award with a solid 7-2-0 record and +1..33 points-per-game. Let’s see if he suffers from the usual sophomore slump next Spring or if he can keep the party bumping!

Fall 2021 Champion: Tenacious Boule Destroyers
Fall 2021 Consolante: Sacré Boule
Rookie of the Year: Tim Donahue (7-2-0, +1.33PPG)
M.V.P. — Tenacious Boule Destoyers: Chris Verstegen (5-0-1, +3.33PPG)
M.V.P. — Boule$hit Artists: Laura Vierra (6-1-0, +1.43PPG)
M.V.P. — Sacré Boule: Nicolas Humbert (8-2-0, +4.40PPG)
M.V.P. — Bad Boules: Hugue Dufour (Played his heart out!)
Pétanque Sicko: Olivier Saye
Pétanque Sicko: Marc Sarton du Jonchay

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The fourth season of the Tuesday Night League was such a pleasure to behold this Fall. So many familiar faces and the skill level continues to bust the learning curve and impress. Though there was some controversy at the beginning of the season when the league commissioner decided to break up the old teams and mix things up, it was exciting to see old friendships strengthened even as new rivalries were born. It was a horse race throughout the season as only a couple of games separated all of the teams in the standings.

The self-appointed Dream Team held the top spot almost the entire way and looked to capture the championship against the Raging Boules who snuck into the finals by a tie on the last night of team challenges. After a rainout of the regularly scheduled championships, the teams took to the courts just before the awards ceremony to try their hand at Pétanque-a-Mania! It was a close match throughout but the dreamers who dominated the individual leaderboard for the season held on to cap a glorious season and take home the gold.

Kasia joins Garrison as the only two players to have won championships in every single season they have played and league veterans Adam, Derek, Trish…and Dana all found their names on the trophy for the very first time!

In the consolante bracket, Great Boules of Fire knocked the Space Boules back to the far reaches of the pétanque galaxy. League veterans David R., Nina, and Kyra all find their names chiseled into Carreau Club history for the first time.

As the awards ceremony wrapped up, our members took to the courts for the second inter-league challenge. Last season our Tuesday Night veterans put on a clinic for the Monday Night newbies, showing them the virtue of experience in a stunning rout. But this season’s Monday Night crew was out for revenge. They had the home night advantage and have been used to playing late (and drunk) into the evening on league night. After eight matches, the Monday Night crew delivered seven convincing victories to steal the title and claim bragging rights until next Spring.

Fall 2021 Champion: The Dream Team
Fall 2021 Consolante: Great Boules of Fire
M.V.P. — The Dream Team: Mark Green (8-2-0, +3.00PPG)
M.V.P. — The Dream Team: Derek Dahmann (7-1-0, +2.00PPG)
M.V.P. — Raging Boules: Anne Warren (9-4-0, +2.08PPG)
M.V.P. — Great Boules of Fire: David Raymond (5-4-0, +1.11PPG)
M.V.P. — Space Boules: Ian Rosoff (7-2-1, +2.70PPG)
Pétanque Sicko: Jeff Patton
Pétanque Sicko: Jess Murphy

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Looking back on the past four seasons of great friends, solid tunes, fun times, and glorious competition, we feel so blessed to be part of such an amazing community. Thanks to everyone who participated in the leagues over the past year. We are so bummed to be hibernating for the next couple months without having Monday and Tuesday to look forward to. But we are so excited to return next Spring bigger and better than ever and to reunite with all of our pétanque pals. It seems more than likely that the league commissioner will have some exciting news for the league in 2022! Until then, keep on dreaming of the perfect point and shooting for the stars…we have so many more carreaus to come!