Saturday, June 23, 2012
Bellmore, New York
Schedule
Participants
Dave (16th), Marc (16th), Span (), Mehr (), Brian (), Eugene (), Matt ()
Videos
Anecdotes
Reviews
The planning for the 16th annual MBBB began when...
Breakfast
Third year, Marc's house. David picked up Brian from train station, then went to Mom's house to retrieve a camera. Span arrived first, then Mehr. Texted and call Eugene and were about to leave when he pulled up. Sunrise Diner in Wantagh for second of three years. With two events already confirmed, we voted for one additional active and non-active event. The choices for non-active events were bowling (Span felt this was too much due to having archery set and our arms hurting), movie (Mehr was willing to shun the curse), mini-golf, and disc golf (David's suggestion but it was felt that Cedar Beach was too far of a round trip). David voted for disc golf and everyone else went with mini-golf. The choices for active events were wiffleball (never done before), European handball (masking tape and/or chalk would be needed), softball (Mehr had brought equipment), and dodgeball (Span was excited but no facility was available). The vote was David, Marc, Eugene, Matt, and Span for wiffleball and Brian and Mehr for softball. As we was the last to vote both times, Span's vote didn't matter but he did so anyway.
Wiffleball
After a long breakfast, we decided to do wiffleball as the first event. It was an active event, but not so much as handball and that would be needed as it was a relatively hot day (around 85 degrees at its peak). Unfortunately, though David had brought two wiffleballs with him, the gang did not yet have a bat. No problem, any CVS or supermarket should have one, right? Well, not so much. With Mehr and Span detoured to Freeport to a local Modell's, Matt took the time to stop at a close by gas station to fill up his tank.
Soon, everyone was back and so we took a very short ride down the road to the Forest Lake Elementary school. As schools had just ended a few days prior, it was easy to find an empty spot near a corner fence which could act as our wiffleball "field". Cones were provided by Marc and practice swings were taken by all. After a bit of practice, it was decided by (???) that the teams would be broken into "talls" versus "shorts": Mehr, Eugene, and Brian against Dave, Marc, Span, and Matt.
It was a very competitive game with everyone contributing both offensively and defensively, though one of the biggest factors was the wind. As each team pitched to one another, the wind would sometimes cause a team to strike out another team member, leading to shouts of support from the opposing players. As for the game itself, the Talls, led by two Mehr homeruns, stormed out to a 11-3 lead and, late in the game, it looked bleak for the Shorts. However, thanks to long rallies in both the seventh and ninth innings, the Shorts were able to pull out the victory on a two-out double by David which ended the game at 12-11.
A large portion of the game was captured in a box score which can be viewed here.
As we were already running late on our schedule and had an appointment with C&B Archery at 3:30, we decided to eat lunch earlier than expected and squeeze in the final three events before dinner.
** The Shorts were the beneficiaries of some calls (HR, redo ball off Brian?)...
** Span pitched for most of the time for the Shorts while Mehr (?) took the role of pitcher for the Talls.
Lunch
For lunch, David had suggested going to a deli as it would be quick and fresh (as opposed to any of your garden-variety fast food joints). This was agreed to, but which deli we would drive to was in contention. Eugene and Mehr suggested the Smith Street deli located one town over in Merrick, but Span was very eager to take the extra time to drive to (New York famous) Ben's Delicatessen in Carle Place. A few others didn't think it would take too much extra time to drive to Ben's and so the choice was made.
It didn't take long before everyone was enjoying a variety of kosher dishes, though most decided to choose to Ben's signature dish, the pastrami sandwich with extra pickles. We sat at an outside table with an umbrella and talked a little more before heading east to Hicksville.
Archery
Got caught in the parking lot at Ben's and then in traffic trying to pass the Roosevelt Field mall on a sunny Saturday. A little off the beaten path. 30 minute tutorial worried us a little (apparently could go to the hospital, tough for some to figure out anchor point) but once we starting shooting on the range, everyone did well. Also, the fact that there were half a dozen 8-9 year old girls (who wanted to be Katniss from the Hunger Games) put us a little more at ease. Scheduled for an hour of shooting, but we got more than that as it wasn't too busy. Free cupcakes (looked nasty: neon green and purple icing) and cookies. Got to take our target as a souvenir.
Participant notes:
David: Got a bullseye with the traditional/composite bow and the target pushed back.
Brian: Was the most consistent which the instructor said is what you should aim for (consistency means you only need to change your focal point whereas arrows that are all over the place make it more difficult to get a consistent bullseye).
Eugene: Complained of no sight on his bow and hit the pole at one point.
Mehr: Very good shot and engaged in some rapid fire shooting with Eugene.
Matt: Had some experience (?) and so started with the composite bow.
Span: Shot left of the wall at one point.
Marc: Cut finger due to the pressure of holding it too close to the arrow.
Mini-golf
Had considered going to Eisenhower Park but felt the course on Route 110 would be more convenient. Also, parking was $10 for non-Nassau County residents in Eisenhower. Span's car got lost as they accidentally went to the Bethpage mini-golf course first. Marc's car missed the park the first time due to last of signage. Three people got hole-in-ones, though Brian's was assisted by Eugene hitting it from behind. Groups were Dave, Matt, Span and Marc, Mehr, Eugene, Brian.
Notes:
Eugene was down 8 strokes from last year.
Dave had the same exact score as last year. He also had hole-in-ones both years.
Brian also had hole-in-ones both years though he was up two strokes from last year.
No player was able to avoid getting a 4 or a 5 on at least one hole.
Handball
We then drove to an all-too-familiar location in Town Park for the now annual tradition of handball. Because Brian was running a race the next morning, it was his time to bow out of MBBB 16 and Marc dropped him off at the Bellmore train station. This also afforded Marc to stop at his house to pick up a handball and change into some active wear.
With daylight fading, four games of handball were played at their normal high level of competition. After Marc eliminated Mehr for the win in the first game, Mehr went three games without recording an out, beating Marc, Matt, and Dave in consecutive finals. As one can imagine, Mehr was deemed the best player though Matt was given the nod for most improved thanks to aggressive style of play which resulted in (possibly) the most kills of the night.
Dinner
Though there was a thought of travelling to Borrelli's Restaurant in East Meadow, we opted for a closer location due to how far behind schedule we were. Marc suggested George Martin's Grillfire which was mere minutes away and everyone quickly agreed. The meal started with pretzels and mustard and ended with cotton candy with a lot of meat (except for David) consumed in between. Conversation crossed a number of topics and Seinfeld references were in abundance. As pretzels were served for appetizers, Span dropped the "These pretzels are making thirsty!" joke to obvious effect.
Other topics included Span's TMJ (which Mehr identified as tendinitis of the mandible jaw), Pixar films (Span's wife, Rachel was very interested in seeing Brave due to the red-haired princess angle), Marc's reinstitution into competitive running, and ???. Many of the interested members also watched the Yankees defeat the Mets on one of the televisions in the corner of the restaurant.
Poker
Another year, another day ended with poker and again at Marc's house. Marc was very tired and so he bowed out of the proceedings though he did watch the games with interest. The big winner of the night was Matt who also played the biggest hand: four-of-a-kind Aces with no wilds. In quite a surprise, Mehr lost the most money although he did deal the most inventive games. Of note, a new standard game was added to the Spandard (7 card stud, deuces wild) and the Eugeual (5 card draw, deuces wild). Matt almost always chose what quickly became known as the Star Trek Special due to its ubiquitous appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation: 5 card stud, deuces wild.
Money totals are listed below.
Matt: $2.00
Dave: $1.55
Eugene: ($0.15)
Span: ($0.60)
Mehr: ($2.70)
Post-Poker
Though poker ended a little after one in the morning, this was the first year in a long time that Matt had attended. As a result, most of the remaining participants talked for a little while despite the late hour. Conversation revolved around Matt's inclusion in the day as we spoke about other former members (e.g., Russ, Rolly) and possibly inviting them for future MBBBs as well as the thought of Matt joining the fantasy football league that Marc, Dave, Mehr, and Span compete in. The night officially ended at 2:00 AM when Matt left Marc's house and Marc and Dave went to sleep.
Notes