La Boule D'Or Tournament

SUNDAY MARCH 7- 2010

CONCOURSE 3/3 SELECT TEAMS (2 MEN'S AND 1 WOMEN)

ENTRY FEE $7 REWARDS: 90% OF ENTRY FEE PLUS $ 50 ADDED

END OF REGISTRATION 10 AM - STARTING TIME 10:15

- COFFEE AND CAKE IN THE MORNING

- FOR INFO CALL H (650) 755-2391) OR CELL 650-483-0732

- e-mail jkrauer@aol.com

Pétanque- A sport of Passsion?

France - Shoplifting pétanque player becomes repeat offender

Even if you have only a passing interest in France and things French, the chances are you’ll have heard of pétanque.
It’s a game played by thousands in this country and as with many a sport it can inflame the passions of both participants and spectators.
Unfortunately for one particular young man he took his enthusiasm for it a step too far by stealing a couple of treasured "boules" or balls and getting caught in the act, not once, but twice.
Maybe a word or two on pétanque at this point as even though it’s an international sport, it’s not exactly one of the best known around the world.
There are plenty of better well-informed sources out there describing what it is and where it originates, but succinctly (and therefore probably not entirely accurately) put it’s a sort of French bowls.
Just to emphasise the popularity of pétanque here in France, it ranks as the eighth most played sport in terms of active club membership with apparently more than 362,000 registered players.
There’s a federation governing the sport in this country, championships broken down by sex and age, and of course a French cup.
In fact to find out everything and anything you might ever have wanted to know (or not, as the case might be) there’s the bible of the game available annually in the form of Le Guide Boulisme.
Anyway back to the man who was caught stealing those boules.
The 33-year-old was arrested in the southwestern French town of Dax earlier this week as he attempted to lift a couple of them worth €199 ($US 269) from a store.
No mean feat really as they usually weigh anything between 650 and 800 grammes each and so aren’t exactly the easiest things to sneak out of a shop without being noticed.
Apparently it wasn’t the first time he was "caught in the act" according to the regional daily, Sud Ouest.
He was stopped just last month committing a similar theft, albeit for the smaller amount of €163 ($US220).
All of which means, says the paper, that when his case comes to court he’ll be treated as a repeat offender and runs the risk of not just facing a fine but also a sentence.
And his defence? Well he claims to be quite good at the game but not to "have the means to finance his passion."
So quite literally a French sporting crime of passion - of sorts?
He’ll have the chance to explain himself fully when his case comes to court, but for that he’ll have to wait until April.

Saturday February 14th Tournament CANCELED

The tournament which was to have been held this Saturday, has been canceled due poor weather forecasts and sloppy conditions at the courts.

We look forward to seeing you at the tournament, next month for the honor of having your name on the Northern California Commemorative Trophy for a year.

Registration ends at 10:00 a.m. All games start at 10:30 a.m. Bring your own lunch.
Select Mixed Doublettes (1 man & 1 woman). Plaques, but no cash prizes.
Apéritifs will be served after awards ceremony.

Boulisme Pétanque Newsletter

For all of our Francophiles, here is a wonderful newsletter of and about pétanque in France and throughout the world.

The following is an excerpt from "Boulisme" which talks about the growing interestof pétanque in the Mexican State of the Yucatán.

Des boules au Mexique

Amoureux de pétanque, des Français exilés au Mexique, ont lancé une association visant à l’intégration de leurs compatriotes, notamment par les boules. Une étape vers la création de la fédération mexicaine. Echange avec Pierre De Oliveira, l’un des membres....
Click here to read the complete article.

Get in the Spirit with DECA SPORTS 2

San Mateo, Calif.– Feb. 1, 2010– To celebrate the popular DECA SPORTS franchise, Hudson Entertainment, the North and South American subsidiary of Hudson, has lowered DECA SPORTS 2’s retail price from $29.99 to $19.99. With more than 2.5 million units of the first DECA SPORTS shipped to date, gamers around the world have been enjoying the variety of sports in the series, including winter sports such as ice hockey, speed skating and mogul skiing, in DECA SPORTS 2 for Wii™.

“People around the world are brushing up on knowledge and practice of winter sports,” said Dai Kudo, Director of Consumer Products of Hudson Entertainment.“Now more Wii players will have a chance to experience the diverse games in DECA SPORTS 2 , including three winter sports.”

With the addition of Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection online multiplayer, DECA SPORTS 2 allows players to remotely do battle with other gamers across the country in tennis, ice hockey and dodge ball. The game also features diverse sports such as synchronized swimming, motorcycle road racing, speed skating, mogul skiing and darts, as well as lesser known, but no less exciting, international sports such as pétanque and kendo. Gamers will also be able to design their own teams, customizing uniforms, athlete skills and even the looks of the athletes themselves. DECA SPORTS 2 will truly take the original game’s credo of“the Everybody Sports Game” to the next level.

For more information on DECA SPORTS 2 , please visit Hudson Entertainment at www.DecaSports2.com