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In This Issue:
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Vol. IX, Issue 26 - September 6, 2010
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Notes from the publisher
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Bocce product of the week
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Bocce news and readers' feedback...
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Non bocce product of the week
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The weekly Ezine for bocce aficionados everywhere
Volume 9, Issue #26 - September 6, 2010
Publisher: Mario Pagnoni Copyright 2010
76 Emsley Terrace, Methuen, MA 01844
http://www.joyofbocce.com (vm 800-211-1202 ext 4949)
Hello again bocce gang,
I had a great weekend in Wickliffe, Ohio taking part in their excellent bocce tourney (The 27th Annual CLEVELAND CHALLENGE CUP OF BOCCE sponsored by Pat O'Brien Chevrolet) - see this week's photos. The event was one of the best organized and best run that I have attended. There was better cooperation between the various members of the Wickliffe Italian-American Club than I have ever witnessed with groups in my area. I only wish other groups could follow their lead. Hereabouts there are a lot of people who want to be the boss and few who embrace the idea of division of labor to get the job done. Not so with the Wickliffe group. They cooperate to the nth degree, meeting and organizing just about all year long for the first-class event.
Many thanks to the good people there including Paul DiCicco and Gino Latessa who invited me and my wife to take part. They put me on a team, let me speak on bocce, and even let me hawk my new book. I really LOVE people who hand me a microphone and let me speak about bocce!
You've got to see the video I posted titled Bocce Belly Flop under this week's photos. It's a trip! The "young pups" from Team USABocce.com introduced it to the bocce crowd in Wickliffe.
Many readers have sent messages of encouragement as I deal with my sister's entry into a nursing home. It has been an ordeal managing her affairs, but we are just about "out of the woods" with the sale of her house pending this week. My wife has been a trooper in all of this, making phone calls, following up with various government agencies, etc. She's done yeoman's work and I know none of this could have been done without her drive and stick-to-it attitude.
Yes, I'm still "playing around" on eBay for the "Non-bocce product of the week." I have come into a great many items - art work, collectibles, costume jewelry, and all sorts of curios. Check out the eBay product of the week. There will be so many different items that something is bound to interest you.
Stay close and always be up front,
Mario Pagnoni (The Bocce Guy)
Note: Please add joyofbocce@topica.email-publisher.com to your whitelist or address book in your e-mail program, so that you have no trouble receiving future issues!
Also, click "Confirm" at the end of this ezine to further ensure consistent delivery.
Did a friend send you this? Sign up to get your own here - http://www.joyofbocce.com/feedback.ivnu - it's entertaining, useful, and complimentary.
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{Publisher's comments in brackets}
Andrea and John Ross send news and well wishes for Joey Bernardi's exciting trip to Italy...
"We are forwarding photos taken at a fund raiser we hosted for Joey Bernardi, the United States 21 and Under Punto, Raffa, Volo Singles Champion. The event was held at Campo di Bocce of Los Gatos on August 25, 2010. The funds that were raised will help Joey and his coach Benedetto Nicosia with their travel expenses to Italy. The spaghetti dinner and silent auction was well attended and exceeded our fund raising goals!
The World Singles Championships will be held at the Centro Tecnico Federale di Roma from September 27 through October 3, 2010. All the members of Campo di Bocce wish Joey, and the United States men's and
women's singles champions, the best of luck and hope that they all have a wonderful experience in Rome!"
{Best wishes to Joey. He is a great competitor and student of the game. He'll do himself, his coach, his family, his friends at the Campo di Bocce and the USBF proud.}
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I've received many emails from those who got early copies of the new book...
California's Dave Wilson wrote...
"Just finished writing to you about Scotts Valley and went to the mailbox and there they were. The book looks great, can't wait to read it. I won't."
Now that the Joy of Bocce 3rd edition is hitting the bookstores, I could use a few reviews (positive ones, he said, hopefully) and a host of resellers (who want to purchase in quantity at wholesale and sell at retail).
Oregon's Lou Ures send this pseudo-review...
"Dear bocce friend Mario - Yes I have digested your third edition and can only say, 'what a meal!' You have covered everything that all who have become addicted to this game could ask for and are making a lot of people, young and old, bocce happy."
New Jersey's Pete Chimento went a little farther, writing a short review for Amazon.com...
"Hi Mario...nice job on the book. Very informative. Good luck and thanks for getting the sport out there!
P.S. ...put in a quick review for you on Amazon.com. ..hope it helps!"
{Check Pete's review out here - and maybe pen one of your own - be kind!}
http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Bocce-3rd-Mario-Pagnoni/product-reviews/145204709X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
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Brent Wagner sends tourney news...
"Here are some tournament details for an upcoming event in LA. Hopefully this can be added to your list and your Ezine.
The proceeds benefit Room to Read and it should be a pretty large event."
http://www.bocceblitzkrieg.com/default.html
Email: brent@thedayofgames.com
http://www.thedayofgames.com
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Alvaro Bettucchi says...
"I hope we get a good turnout for our tournament. Our club, together with our city, spent over $300,000 for six courts, two covered. For the games on the 25th of September we are having a team division 'A' from our sister city of Lucca, Italy. It should be quite an affair."
Contact Alvaro at alvaro_bettucchi@hotmail.com .
For details on the event click http://www.joyofbocce.com/filecabinet/Ezines/NewGamesFlyer.doc
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Special Olympics Georgia links...
http://www.JoyofBocce.com/filecabinet/Ezines/DCALMBocceSoftballInvitational_2010.pdf
http://www.JoyofBocce.com/filecabinet/Ezines/GMSOGATournamentsforJoyofBocceMagazine.pdf
http://www.JoyofBocce.com/filecabinet/Ezines/TrophyofATl-Bocce.pdf
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Robert L. Agnelly sends a reminder...
"You have only 7 weeks to put your teams together and make arrangements to play in the New Orleans Invitational Tournament. Send me your registration forms ASAP. If you have questions, please let me know. Please feel free to forward our invitation to all of your Bocce friends. The response thus far has been very positive, but we need your team applications. Don’t wait to the last minute, get those team registrations in today.
Please visit our web site at http://www.BocceClubNewOrleans.org ."
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Vern Cooper sends a pdf for the 25th Annual Italian American Games Raffa Tournament...
http://www.JoyofBocce.com/filecabinet/Ezines/2010IAG.pdf
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Bill Fletcher has a solution for a problem that many of us have been searching for...
"At the Villages Golf and Country Club, an active Senior Community in South San Jose, CA, we have two 75 ft x 12 ft Bocce Courts with synthetic turf surfaces. (see page 190 in your 2nd edition of 'Joy of Bocce'.
When built in 2002 by a local contractor, the sideboards were 2 x 6 conheart redwood, bolted to the cast concrete sides. The rebound, when 'banking' off the sideboards, was reasonable except when the bocce ball hit
one of the many knots in the conheart redwood. By 2009, after 7 years of play, these sideboards were deteriorating such that 'banking' was considered unsatisfactory. It was decided to add another layer to the existing, worn, 2 x 6 redwood.
1 x 6 Trexwood was tried, by screwing onto the old sideboards. This was unsatisfactory because the bocce balls did not rebound, but merely rolled down the court, parallel to and touching the new sideboards. The same thing happened when we replaced the Trexwood with clear redwood, free of knots. At this time, I called both David Brewer and Tom McNutt. They were very helpful and recommended that I try Ipe, a very hard Brazillian redwood which is used for decking. This was only available in 1 in. thickness so we tried that. We removed the old 2 x 6 redwood and used concrete screws to secure the Ipe directly to the bare concrete sidewalls. This was also unsatisfactory for the rebounds, which were inconsistent. Furthermore, the Ipe boards were cupping and warping and even pulling out some of the concrete screws.
We then decided that a softer material was necessary. I then found a local source of a rubber material,
made from reconstituted old car tires, and supplied by Burke Industries of San Jose, and used for the floors of exercise rooms. It is available in rolls 48 inches wide and 25 ft or 50 ft long. (Narrower widths are not presently available, but who knows if future bocce courts can create the demand!). I purchased one 25 ft roll, which when slit to 4 in. widths, gave us exactly the 4 lengths of sideboard for our two courts, which are 75 ft long. Slitting was easily done by laying the roll on a garage floor and cutting with a 'Handy Knife'. The 4 in. strips were then secured to the existing Ipe sideboards by 3/4 in. machine screws at 12 in. intervals at 3/4 down from the top edge. No other fixing screws were used, leaving the lower part of the rubber strip loose.
In spite of the 'cupping' of the Ipe behind the rubber, the rebound is satisfactory and consistent. In conclusion, I hope that this information is useful to other Managers of Bocce Courts."
{Later, Bill added this...}
"Mario, Re-reading my first epistle on fixing the rubber strip to the Ipe sideboards, I said 'position the screws 3/4 down from the top'. This should read 'position the screws 3/4 in. down from the top of the strip'.
Incidentally, since the screws are well above the line of contact of the bocce balls they can be left flush with the rubber surface.
I also forgot to give you the cost of the 1/4 in. rubber. Excluding freight, because I picked it up at the factory in San Jose, it cost $130.00 for the roll. This gave us a cost for the 4 in. wide strips of about $.45 per foot, considerably less than any of the redwood that we had tried. The only extras were for the screws
and for the wine to lubricate the voluntary labor."
{This has been a trouble spot for many. We have a couple local courts that may give this a try. Many thanks to Bill for taking the time and effort to give us the details.}
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USBF NEWS
NOW YOU CAN REGISTER OR RENEW ON LINE AT THE USBF's UPDATED WEBSITE
We should all be card carrying members. Every club should be affiliated. For the sport to gain the attention it needs we need to boast of many thousands of members. Download a USBF Membership Application here:
http://www.joyofbocce.com/filecabinet/Ezines/USBF_membership_pdf.pdf . or
REGISTER/RENEW ON LINE AT http://www.Bocce.com }
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{chronological order}
WHY ISN'T YOUR TOURNEY LISTED HERE?
Don't let the West Coast players hog all the space!
SEND INFO - WE'LL POST - NO CHARGE - SEND ME A PDF (File for me to post).
Please - anyone running a tournament - do me a favor - put a notice near your tourney bracket board informing players that they can go to http://www.joyofbocce.com and "opt in" for my FREE Ezine on bocce. Click the logo to the right to opt in if you do not already receive this ezine every Monday.
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Please consider designating someone as "official event photographer" and directing that person to send snapshots for us to reproduce as photos of the week. Our readers love seeing bocce action from around the continent.
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September 18, 2010 - California - IAC Stockton. RAFFA 1 MAN 1 WOMAN. Contact Roy Ramacciotti @ 209-369-2389.
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September 18, 2010. Vermont - Burlington. Vermont State Championship. Singles. Contact Zander Ponzo @ zponzo@uvm.edu
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September 19, 2010. Vermont - Burlington. Vermont State Championship. Doubles. Contact Zander Ponzo @ zponzo@uvm.edu
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September 25, 2010 - California - IACC South City. RAFFA 3 PERSON. Contact Alvaro Bettucchi @ 650-871-9278.
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October 2, 2010 - California - IBS Sutter Creek. OPEN 4 PLAYERS. Contact Rick Wagstaff @ 209-296-6151.
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October 9, 2010 - California - San Rafael - Marin. OPEN 4 PLAYERS. Contact Diane Pelligrini @ 415-485-5583.
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October 10, 2020 - California - IACC South City. VOLO - 2 PLAYERS. Contact Alvaro Bettucchi @ 650-697-7702.
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October 10, 2010 - New Hampshire - Derry. Sixth Annual Martignetti Family Charity Bocce Tournament at the Sportszone. Recipients of this year's proceeds will be the Michael J. Dunleavy Foundation. Contact Sandro Martignetti @ sandro@martignetti.us .
http://www.michaeldunleavy.com/foundation.htm
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October 15-18, 2010. Louisiana - New Orleans Bocce Tournament. Up to $4,000 in cash prizes based upon 20 teams. Entry fee is $400 per 4 man team. This will be a round robin tournament so every team will play several games. More information at www.BocceClubNewOrleans.org, or contact Bob Agnelly at Bob@LouisianaBenefits.com .
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October 16, 2020 - California - Sacramento - East Portal. RAFFA 3 PLAYERS. Contact Vern Cooper @ 916-961-2404.
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October 23, 2010 - California - Marin - San Rafael. OPEN 4 PLAYERS Novato Rotary Fall Classic. Contact Frank Bruno @ 415-798-0668.
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November 6, 2010 - California - Stockton - Waterloo -OPEN 2 MEN 2 WOMEN. Contact David Canclini @ 209-957-3314.
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November 11 - 13, 2010. Nevada - Reno. Peppermill Casino. OPEN - 4 PLAYERS. Contact Dana Shores @ 800-648-6992.
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Merchandise still available at joyofbocce.com
Check out the first-rate equipment we offer. The finest measuring devices for bocce (made in UK by Prohawk for lawn bowling, petanque, and bocce) - the finest bocce balls in the world (made in Italy by Perfetta) and the number one selling instructional book on bocce in America - Check them out.
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