Fall 2021 — Week Five
“A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.”
-Billie Jean King
Everything was up for grabs heading into the final team challenge of the Fall Pétanque League, Monday edition. Only a single win separated second place from first, third place from second. Indeed, it was a tight grouping between the top three teams in the league and with only two teams passing into the championship match, there was an intensity in the air as players arrived, dusted off their boules, and took aim for a shot at pétanque glory.
Over on the north side, the third place Tenacious Boule Destroyers were looking up and hoping to steal a spot in the finals after a season of constantly knocking at the door and refusing to go quietly into the night. In their way, the Bad Boules who have had a rough season to say the least but were looking to finally get their act together and play spoiler on the last night of the season. But, it was not to be. The stick-to-its came out of the gate galloping and refused to let up until they had taken seven out of eight victories. They even refused a loss in the eighth game, marking a tie in the last frame to add insult to injury. There is not enough bold face type to acknowledge all of the players who contributed to this near-record-breaking performance but Chris, Tim, and Steph continued to make waves and solidify their positions on the individual leaderboard. TBD moved to an impressive 18-9-1 record with a solid chance to leapfrog one of the top teams for a spot in the post-season.
On the south side, Sacré Boule who had been holding the first place spot all season hoped to keep the Boule$hit Artists at bay. With TBD nipping at everyone’s heels, the stakes were as high as ever with zero room for error. The first frame was a wash but in the second, the grifters stole a pair of close games to take a 3-1 lead. In the next frame, another pair of blowout victories for the yarn-spinners. The final frame yielded a loss and a tie but the damage had already been done. Flawless performances from newcomer Maggie, veteran Laura, and semi-pro Paul sealed a 5-2-1 performance. T
The Boule$hit Artists jumped over the first place holy-rollers to secure a spot in the finals but the talk of the town were the Tenacious Boule Destroyers who leapfrogged both teams to finish first over all and secure home court advantage in the championship match. This should be a match for the ages. Just last week when these teams met for regular season play, they finished 4-4 with a point differential of 55-54. But nothing can prepare you for the playoffs. You can’t talk your way out of a loss on the big stage, and tenacity might not be enough to seal the deal. The winning team will have to stay sharp throughout, find the champion within, and refuse to bend or break under pressure.
In the consolante, a chance at redemption for the Bad Boules. Standing in their way, Sacré Boule who held first place all season long. Deflated and dejected after this week’s performance, they are nonetheless unlikely to consider themselves as belonging in the loser’s bracket. Will they suffer from a bout of overconfidence? Will they simply fold under the weight of what could have been? Or will they show up to play just like every other week, get the job done, and secure for themselves a spot on the trophy and place in Carreau Club history. And what of their opponents? They’ve been stepped on, left out, picked on, and put down all season long. They can erase all of their bad shots, bad memories, and bad blood with one night of miraculous play. To the Bad Boules, the whole league is watching, whatcha gonna do??
MONDAY WEEK FIVE RESULTS
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The fall weather kicked it into low gear as our Tuesday night leaguers made their way onto the courts, hot toddy in hand (for balance) for the final night of team challenges. Heading into the final stretch, the Dream Team seemed to have locked up the top spot with a four game lead over the rest of the pack with Spaceboules in the basement with narry a shot at the championships. The real race tonight was between the second place Great Boules of Fire who held a two game lead over the Raging Boules in the standings. For the final night of regular season play, a three frame round robin of extended games would determine the final fate of our pétanque faithful. In the first frame, the fireballs and startrekkers settled for a split decision while the pesky pugilists delivered a clean sweep over reverists to slide within one game of the finals. in the second frame, the dreamers got it together for a clean sweep of the great boules, including a squeaker, last-minute victory by rookie Zehra and old pals Derek and Trish. On the other side, it looked like a split decision until last minute heroics from Ernesto salvaged a tie for ragers. In the final frame the dreamers and spacers split two insignificant matches and Aaron and Dave narrowly escaped from the dynamic duo of Zach and Jeff. With one game left to finish, the jerry-lees couldn’t afford to lost—a win would send them to the championships while a tie would force the league’s first ever extra round. Brendan and Sophie got off to an incredible start and after some great pointing, led Ernesto and Anne 11-2 with fifteen minutes left to play. But the bulls began to run and when the dust had settled, the Raging Boules took the last spot in the playoffs by one single tie.*
The championship match should be a tough one. The Dream Team took the first place slot on night one of the league and haven’t given an inch since. But we’ve seen bigger collapses before (see Carreau-No-Virus, Spring 2021) and the Raging Boules are hungry. The last time these two teams met, the dreamers took an easy 6 out of 8 but they will be facing a different team from a few weeks ago, a team that has scratched and clawed its way into the finals, a team that knows that it belongs in the conversation, a team that could turn the reverists’ dreams of a championship into a nightmare collapse.
In the consolante, the stunned Great Boules of Fire will have to look past the disappointment and find the spark to light it up for one more challenge. They were unbeaten in regular season play and will have to bring the fire to secure a spot in the annals of pétanque history. In their way, the Spaceboules who have had to travel to the far reaches of the galaxy to find wins this season. But they have all of the right skills and some seriously drab uniforms. If only they can get a little help from the Schwartz, perhaps they can find their names etched into a big @ss trophy for all eternity…
*A minor controversy erupted as a certain team showed up to the last night of league play with only their four best players on hand, the rest of the team purportedly “sick” or “out-of-town”. Pending doctor’s notes and travel documents, an asterisk will be applied to the books. The League Commissioner continues to explore potential punitive measures and remedies to preserve the integrity of the league for the future.
TUESDAY WEEK FIVE RESULTS
