Saturday, June 24, 2017
Bellmore, NY
Schedule
Participants
Dave (21st), Marc (21st), Span (), Brian (), Eugene (), Matt (), Mehr (), Eric (8th)
Photos: Highlights | Complete Set
Videos: Highlights | Complete Set
Anecdotes
Reviews
Planning
The planning for MBBB 21 began in early February when Matt sent out an email asking where the event would be hosted, while also providing a few suggestions. The choices he laid out were Long Island (a usual and convenient choice), a site hosted in one of the MBBB member's hometowns, or a neutral site such as the Poconos or Cooperstown.
But, before they could even agree on a location, David changed focus by emailing out a number of potential dates for the event as well as holidays or trips that might present conflicts. In the past, choosing a date had usually proven to be a tougher task than choosing a location. Amazingly enough however, once a few people started mentioning that June 24 worked for them, all the dominoes fell into place, and the date was agreed upon fairly easily.
After the date was chosen, it was then quickly agreed that Long Island would be the ideal location for the event. In fact, it was further recommended by Matt and David that Long Island be the host location every other year due to the fact that it's the easiest, cheapest (many MBBB members can stay with their parents), and homiest (again, getting to see family) for everyone involved. It is worth noting though that, prior to finalizing the decision 100%, Matt was kind enough to ask Marc if hosting at his house might be a burden. But Marc's wife and son had already happily agreed to spend the weekend at her parents' house, so everything was all right.
With two big decisions having been made in haste, the most time-consuming part of the planning now commenced: the selection of events. The planning was a little disorganized at first with people "shouting" out ideas through the email trail. For example, David mentioned curling and also footgolf, an idea that came up when he and his wife, Jen, were watching TV one day. They saw some people playing footgolf, and Jen asked David if perhaps the group would be doing this as an event for the bash.
Because this idea was so interesting, the group actually did some preliminary research and found that there were two footgolf courses within driving distance of Marc's house, one in Dix Hills and one in Calverton. The course in Calverton also had disc golf and mini golf, but most felt it was too far of a drive. Matt suggested the possibility of a trivia competition while the group drove to and from Calverton, but it was agreed that, if footgolf were chosen as an event, the course in Dix Hills would just make more sense.
Other ideas for events, both new and old, included a rope bridge/ziplining park and football. The former was suggested by Marc; he had thoroughly enjoyed navigating a similar adventure park during an Alaskan cruise many years ago. With regards to the latter, many in the group reminisced about the football games they used to have when everyone came back to Long Island on Thanksgiving weekend during college. Sadly, Marc and Matt then also remembered how sore their muscles would be the next day (and probably the day after that too!) due to their general lack of physical activity the rest of the year.
At this point, selecting events was becoming a little chaotic, and so Mehr and Brian jumped in to bring a more organized process to the table. Mehr was first: after a multi-week lull in the conversation, he sent out a huge list of potential events in mid-March that covered most of the activities already suggested. Funnilly enough, Mehr's list included dodgeball with a note that one should "Duck, Dodge, and Dip". He was quickly reminded that there are actually five 'D's in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story: "Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge!"
This was followed by a suggestion by Matt (and agreement) that MBBB 21 should consist of one new activity and three classic activities. As Brian had already been storing notes on Google Keep about which activities were seeing the most buzz (footgolf, pitch and putt, and a home run derby by his count), he took the data and created a voting system using a shared Google spreadsheet. As suggestions continued to flow in, he kept tweaking it until everyone was ready to vote in early May.
The full vote is below and, as you can see, the tallied votes generated top results for Pitch and Putt, a Home Run Derby, and KanJam. The one really obvious choice was KanJam; this was due to the fact that many of the MBBB members were on the track team in high school and played Ultimate Frisbee almost every day before practice. That being said, the three classic activities had been chosen and, based on feedback from the email trail, footgolf was quickly selected as the new activity. The adventure park (rope bridges/ziplining) was also well spoken of, but ended up tabled for a future date mostly due to its price ($39.00 for two hours of twilight climbing) and strict physical requirements.
During the process of the first vote, it was agreed that the post-dinner activity would be voted on separately. The gang was now approaching the date of the event (approximately one month out), and so Matt, David, and Marc started a group text for general conversation that they could then supplement by emails for lengthy backup material. Between the group text and group email, a second voting system was created using Brian's spreadsheet. The results are below and show that Codenames (a board game) was a pretty solid winner over Poker and Jackbox Party Pack (a video game).
You'll note that the group decided to give a few events a second lease on life by recycling them from the first vote, but interestingly enough, watching a movie in a theater ended up dead last for the second time. Perhaps the MBBB Movie Curse applies to both watching movies and voting on them? Also, though Poker was a very popular choice (finishing second), it ultimately suffered because there was concern that it would take too long and might need a time limit if played.
As a slight aside, it's worth nothing that, at one point in late May, Mehr advised the group that they had to remove him from the group text. He didn't have a smart phone, was sometimes getting dozens of texts a day while he was working, and had no way of keeping up. It was also annoying. At that point, Matt, David, and Marc agreed to have a three-way text in which they would drill down on particulars before bring a more concise overview back to the rest of the group.
Anyway, after finalizing the events, locations for meals were quickly decided upon. Breakfast at the Sunrise Diner was a no-brainer (the crew having gone there numerously times previously), as was ordering in for dinner (the restaurants would be decided upon on the day of the event). The only small hangup was lunch, primarily due to Marc being a vegan. Marc knew that Moe's Southwest Grill was very vegan-friendly, and as luck would have it, the franchise actually had a location that was less than 10 minutes away from the golf course. Effectively, the planning for MBBB 21 was now complete.
Note: Having supposedly conquered the MBBB Movie Curse when they watched Mad Max: Fury Road, seeing another movie was considered. However, it was pretty slim pickings: Wonder Woman turned out well, but The Mummy remake with Tom Cruise, Cars 3, and the latest Transformers movie weren't exactly exciting anyone.
Note: During the planning process, Marc suggested the possibility of having a few cameos for the event as he had done previously. It would mainly be old high school friends, however Marc was unable to arrange it as the people he tried to contact already had plans.
Note: Upon Eugene's arrival at Marc's house prior to breakfast, people remarked on how long his hair had gotten. Marc asked if it was because he hadn't cut his hair since their 20 year high school reunion (the previous November), and Eugene said, "pretty much".
Breakfast
The past few MBBBs that have taken place in Bellmore have always started by meeting first at Marc's house and then taking a short drive over to the Sunrise Diner in neighboring Wantagh. Brian was a little late because he took the train in, but he actually arrived at the diner just in time after walking from the nearby station. Everyone else had come by car and had the "pleasure" of parking them in the admittedly small parking lot. As with previous years, a few choice words were uttered regarding how annoying it can be to park in the diner's diagonal parking spaces. In fact, the parking lot is so devious that David even asked Mehr why he hadn't parked in one of the larger spots; it was because it was so large that he and his passengers didn't realize it WAS a spot.
Meanwhile, whilst most everyone had been waiting for Brian, Span took the initiative to proactively enter the diner and procure a table for seven. It was thus that, upon approaching the hostess, the group was immediately walked to a nearby table that had already been prepared for them. Nice! After choosing their seats, everyone was quick to remark that the breakfast menu had been significantly streamlined; it was now only one page, front and back. That didn't stop them from ordering however, though it did cause two people to order off the menu. They both asked for oatmeal; Marc because he's vegan, and Brian because that's just want he wanted to eat.
Mehr ordered the "Sportsman Special", which everyone thought was very apropos. Span then also ordered the "Sportsman Special" which caused everyone else at the table to do a double take.
A lot of conversation was made at the table, as it always is. Two major topics were started by Span when he asked if anyone would be travelling to see the upcoming solar eclipse AND how long they'd keep doing MBBBs: In response to the first question, Mehr mentioned that he had previously told his daughter, Haley, that there's a comet named after her. This prompted the gang to take out their phones to determine the next time that Haley's comet would swoop around Earth (the answer is 2061) and wonder how many of them would still be around to see it again as they had when they were children.
Two other notable occurrences in the history of MBBB took place during breakfast:
1. Span remarked that it was the first time that he ever finished breakfast first at a MBBB. Technically, Brian finished first, but he only ordered a bowl of oatmeal, not a "real meal". Matt, on the other hand, said it wasn't surprising to him that he was the last to finish.
2. Another first time occurrence was that Marc actually brought cash to pay for breakfast. For as far back as he can remember, he's always had his brother David pay his portion and then paid him back later via PayPal.
KanJam
Because there were only seven people (Eric would join the fun later), the group divided into two teams of two and one team of three. It would be Marc and Mehr, David and Span, and Matt, Eugene, and Brian. They began with a little practice which was aided by the fact that David and Marc both had KanJam sets. This meant that four people could practice at the same time. It also confused silly old Matt who asked if they were planning to have two games going on concurrently. It wasn't long before he realized that there were only three teams and not four and so that would be impossible!
The gang decided that a round robin format would be the best way to determine the champion, and so went the games:
Game 1: Marc and Mehr beat David and Span by the score of 21-17. David tossed a throw that went through the KanJam's slot, but bounced up and out of the goal, otherwise it would have been an instant win.
Game 2: Matt and Brian beat David and Span when Brian threw an instant win into the top of the goal with the score tied at 12-12.
Game 3: Brian and Eugene beat Marc and Mehr by the score of 21-16. The team of three cycled Eugene into to the mix.
Game 4: Span and David beat Marc and Mehr in sudden death by the score of 4-3. Marc and Mehr were stuck on 20 for way too long and allowed Span and David to catch up to them and beat them in sudden death.
Game 5: Span and David beat Matt and Brian by the score of 21-9.
Game 6: Eugene and Brian beat Marc and Mehr by the score of 21-18.
Records:
Matt, Brian, and Eugene: 3-1 (winners)
David and Span: 2-2
Marc and Mehr: 1-3
Because everyone was having so much fun, it was decided that a second round would be played. For this game, they chose to have all three teams playing together at the same time with the first to 21 winning. It was a tough competition, with Eugene and Matt rotating in and out during their team's turns. Surprisingly, the winners of the first round, Matt, Brian, and Eugene, were eliminated first as they only scored 18, and crazily enough, the other two teams both scored 21 to move the game to sudden death. This game just didn't want to end! But end it must and so, in the first round of sudden death, Marc and Mehr emerged victorious over David and Span by the score of 6-4.
Note: Mehr dove on the ground to deflect frisbees into the goal because a lot of Marc's throws were low. Oh, and because he's super competitive.
Note: It got a little windy here and there in Marc's backyard. Some throws went wild, and some people tried to wait for the wind to calm down before their throws. If they did, they were ruthlessly heckled.
Pitch and Putt
After finishing up with KanJam, the group took a relatively long drive to Suffolk County, as that's where the closest pitch and putt course was located. Upon arriving, Matt advised everyone else that he had actually come to the course the day prior and completed a practice round with his father. It was thought that this might give Matt an unnatural advantage, but the results listed above show otherwise. The results also show most of what you'd expect, including domination by the most physically-gifted participant in Mehr.
The fact that Matt had played the previous day did come with a set of advantages for everyone else, however. For one, Matt brought two sets of clubs so that he and another person wouldn't have to rent clubs, and secondly he also brought about 50 golf balls because you have to pay $1.00 for each ball you use. Seeing as how Matt and his father lost seven balls the previous day, and the course was littered with a combination of ticks and poison ivy, it was a most prudent action by Matt.
After doing their best to not embarrass themselves while practicing on the first tee, the gang broke off into two groups: Mehr, Marc, David, and Brian followed by Span, Matt, and Eugene. They broke into two groups as they felt this would make it easier if other people behind them wanted to play through.
The play was remarkably decent, with pars and a few birdies spread around while everyone avoided a double digit score for any particular hole. There were mishaps, of course. For example, on the second hole, Mehr sliced his ball way right off the tee and, despite his best efforts, couldn't find it in the bushes. He did find two other balls while looking for his, however; combined with the extra ball that David found while playing, and the group actually ended up +2 balls at the end of the round.
A few other notes: numerous deer, rabbits, and frogs were spotted on the course. A number of holes were full of dirty water due to the thunderstorm that morning. And finally: Mehr said he would give $20.00 to anyone who could manage to score a hole-in-one. Marc actually came within six inches of one (photo here) on the final hole, but Mehr wouldn't even give him $10! That said, Mehr didn't ask Marc to reimburse him for the parking fee, so apparently it's all even.
Lunch
Matt's the kind of guy who likes to keep the MBBB on schedule as much as possible. So, when it came time to travel to Moe's Southwest Grill for lunch, he decided to speed things up by utilizing their online ordering system while riding in the car. He ordered lunch for himself, David, and Marc, however, things did not go as planned when they arrived at the restaurant.
After announcing their arrival to the cashier, the trio waited and waited with their order nowhere to be seen. In fact, it was so bad that Span was able to walk into Moe's at least five minutes after they did, place his order at the register, and still receive his food well before Matt, David, and Marc did. While waiting, David and Matt were puzzled; they remarked that Panera's online ordering system never fails. Well, this system was no Panera, that's for sure! Marc, on the other hand, wondered if the patrons who were walking in and ordering were getting priority because they were offered the opportunity for new revenue. After all, as the three of them had paid via the online ordering system, Marc was correct in saying that, "They already have OUR money!"
After a while, Matt, David, and Marc joined Span at a table to eat while Brian, Mehr, and Eugene smuggled their food in from the Bagel Chalet, conveniently located just down the road. Everyone ate at adjacent tables and did so with little conversation. There had already been plenty of time to talk during the day, and there would be plenty more during the rest of the day.
Footgolf
It wasn't a long drive over to the footgolf course, which was actually a golf course that included separate tees and oversized holes for those who wanted to play through with soccer balls. The group was well-prepared, with everyone bringing along either a regular-sized ball or a miniature version.
There was also a new arrival at the course as Eric found some time to join in the activities. He actually arrived first, and had accumulated a few interesting stories to tell while he waited. The first involved him running into a snobby golf player and his son in the pro shop. The father was wondering why anyone would want to play footgolf instead of the real thing, and appeared to want to get ahead of the prospective footgolfers who clearly weren't good enough for the course in his opinion.
Instead of speaking up, Eric simply took in the scene while stowing his soccer ball in his bag. He figured that this golf player would get his comeuppance one way or another, and he was right. It was with much pleasure when everyone saw that this golf player was actually quite bad at golf. It was an ugly display as he navigated the first hole, from tee off to putting. Oh, the irony was delicious!
The second story that Eric mentioned had to do with a conversation he had with the employee in the pro shop. The employee said that the footgolf was popular enough that they actually rented soccer balls for $3.00 each to those who didn't have balls of their own. The only problem was that soccer balls cost a lot more than $3.00; therefore, he said that the shop used to have six balls, but that count had been reduced to only one (for obvious reasons).
As soon as the snobby father and his son vacated the first green, it was time for the gang to get kicking. Some people used the point of their toes to kick in the hopes of keeping the ball as straight as possible. Others went for power by using their instep; let's just say that these people were much more likely to bend their balls into the wooded areas than bending it like Beckham.
The course was pretty fun with a soccer ball (Eric enjoyed it so much, he brought his nephew back a few days later and then proceeded to get schooled by the youngster), though certain areas were still damp from the morning rain and led to many kicked balls that just stalled as they flopped into hidden puddles. That being said, you can see from the scorecard above that a number of great shots were made, particularly on Holes 4 and 7 (to be fair, these two holes were mostly downhill).
Note: Much like with Pitch and Putt and as noted above, a number of holes were still full of dirty water due to the thunderstorm that morning. This, despite the fact that they played much later in the day.
Note: Marc got a birdie on Hole 4 by kicking the ball on the perfect angle to catch the downhill slope without touching the rough. He was very excited as it continued to approach the hole. After the ball stopped, he turned to ask Eugene if he had video taped his fantastic kick. After all, Eugene was just standing there waiting for his turn, and always seemed to have his phone out just recording away. But Eugene said he had not, and so Marc grunted in frustration.
Home Run Derby
The Home Run Derby took a little bit of effort to get started. Originally, the gang had planned to play at Gunther Field in Bellmore. It was a field that they had played on 15 years ago (!) during MBBB6. The field was in great shape, and when they arrived, the gate was open and no one was there. Everyone got out of their cars and started approaching the field, but then they saw two warning signs: the first indicated that playing on the field was by permit only, and the second said that you couldn't play on the field if you were over 13 years old.
As daylight was running short, some people wanted to stay and risk it, but Marc assured them that he had a backup location that had two or three fields to choose from. So, everyone hopped in their respective cars, drove another five minutes to a nearby elementary school, and as luck would have it, found two totally empty softball fields waiting for them.
At the start of the derby, the entire group pretty much agreed (or thought) that they stood no chance to beat Mehr. And so they each took a few warmup swings if only to see who would be crowned as his runner-up. The problem was that, even though they stood a few paces in front of home plate AND used brand new balls, most of them struggled to reach even just the fence on a ground ball, let alone on the fly.
Therefore, the event was changed from a strict competition to more of a practice where everyone would get to bat and field. As Eugene put it (paraphrasing here), "How often do we get to just swing the bat at a couple of balls?"
The event went mostly as expected. One by one, each person got up to bat and tried to score a few points (the rules were one point if you hit the fence with a ground ball, two points if you hit the fence on a fly, and three points if you hit a home run). It wasn't the most Herculean display of strength, but the group had fun and even scored a point or two here and there (rough totals had David with three points and Marc with five or six).
Their expectations flew out the window, however, when Eric took his place at the plate. Armed with the experience of playing baseball back in high school, plus a ton of very consistent pitches from David (because had done the majority of pitching during the event), Eric cranked out home run after home run to the surprise of all attending. In total, Eric put up about 13 home runs, and everyone knew that even Mehr would be challenged to match that score.
In the end, Mehr was only able to muster up nine home runs plus one point for hitting the fence on a ground ball. However, he suffered from three disadvantages that Eric hadn't:
1. He batted lefty even though he's right-handed.
2. He batted from home plate, whereas everyone else batted from about 10 feet in front of the plate.
3. He had Marc pitching to him instead of David (David wanted to get some fielding in), and Marc's pitches were much more scattershot due to the fact that he had barely pitched that evening.
Regardless, it was good for everyone to get active, run a little, twist their bodies a little. And with all that activity, their appetites were returning with a fervor. But, before we move on to dinner, this is a good chance to remind the reader that, as a child, you're always told not to ruin your appetite. As an adult, however, you don't mind ruining it, because you know that another appetite will always come if you just wait long enough.
Note: Matt and Marc were warming up their arms, throwing the ball back and forth, before realizing that it wasn't really necessary. It wasn't like they were going to have to throw anyone out after all!
Note: Amazingly enough, the field had a set of stadium lighting that automatically turned on as sunset approached (Marc joked that he noticed this when scouting the softball field). The lights, when combined with the neon yellow color of the balls, made it possible for play to continue even as darkness covered the field.
Dinner
The final meal of the day quickly transitioned from eating food to playing a board game, but there were still a few distinctive notes worth sharing. The majority of the group (Marc, David, Matt, Brian, and Span) ordered delivery from That Pizza Place in Levittown because their vegan pizza is very delicious, and because they also have a number of tasty non-vegan items on their menu. Lactose-intolerant (and he won't stand for it!) Eugene decided to bring his own food and simply cooked it in the microwave. Eric bought food from Riella's Homestyle in Wantagh as it's a favorite restaurant of his, and it was pretty much on the way as he traveled from his house to Marc's (presumably he went back home to take a shower and/or feed the dog after footgolf and the home run derby).
Finally, Mehr first had to take a visit to the hotel he booked in Massapequa before having the chance to eat. He stayed a few towns over because it was graduation weekend at all of the local schools, and this made it very hard for him to find a room near Marc's house. Additionally, due to the the rabid demand for rooms, he wanted to make sure that the hotel hadn't given his room away. All was well, though, and Mehr soon re-appeared back in Bellmore. The only unfortunate part was that he had wanted to get his dinner from Subway, but they closed at 10:00PM, and he got there literally a minute too late. He therefore had to pick up some food from McDonald's instead.
Board Game
As only Marc, David, Brian, and Eric had played Codenames before, David started explaining the rules to the other members. However, it was determined that the easiest way to explain the game would simply be by playing it. So, Marc and David decided that they would give the clues while the six remaining people acted as one gallery for both players.
Game 1: David had the first turn. Marc won the game.
Marc played a very strong game, starting out aggressively with the clue "Money" to get the gallery to guess "Millionaire", "Contract", and "Limousine". They briefly flirted with "Shop" (which Marc had overlooked), but never strongly considered it.
David struggled creating combos, and on his final turn had to try to get four cards to win because Marc only had one card left: "Foot". David had "France", "Nut", "Ground", and "Knight". It was a seemingly impossible choice, but choose he must, and so David chose "Winery" as his clue. The gallery mentioned a number of words including "Nut", "Ground", "France", and "Olive". "Nut" because some wines have a nutty flavor, and "Ground" because grapes are grown. However, as grapes are not grown in the ground, but on vines, the gallery pushed that word aside. They first chose "France" which David confirmed was his word, but the game ended on their next guess. Because wineries so often use people's feet to squish grapes in the wine-making process, the gallery was sure that "Foot" was his word as well. As soon as they chose it though, he revealed that it was actually Marc's, and so Marc had won the game.
Game 2: The group then decided to have two new clue-givers, Eric and Span, who would also complete a draft of their galleries, much like is done in their fantasy football league. Span picked first by virture of a coin flip and chose Marc. Eric then chose his brothers David and Brian. Span took Matt and Eugene, and Eric took Mehr to finish it off. A second coin flip gave Eric the first turn. In the end, Span won the game.
At the end of the game, Span mentioned that his gallery had surmised his reasoning perfectly on every clue he gave. As David did in the first game, Eric had the unenviable task of trying to get his gallery to correctly guess four words with just one clue on his final turn. He chose "Death" as a clue for the words "Doctor", "Wake", "Spot", and "Block". His team knew that "Death" didn't represent all of the words; they considered former clues such as"Money" which pointed towards "Spot", which is another term for money ("Can I borrow a five-spot?"). Unfortunately, his team (essentially) ended the game by incorrectly guessing "Roulette", a reference to Russian Roulette, and something that Eric hadn't thought of.
After the game, Eric explained he was frustrated about his use of the clue "Current". He had carefully considered it so that it would only apply to "Wake" and "Wave". Other potential clues were "Tide" and "Water", but he knew that those make his team consider "Moon" and "Seal" respectively. Eric's team chose "Wave" relatively quickly and were sure that "Day" was the second word (a reasonable expectation considering the phrase "Current Day"). Once that was confirmed to be wrong though, they started thinking that "Block Current" was a thing, perhaps as an electrician's term. Ironically, Eugene, who works at Con Edison, was on the opposite team and could only confirm after the game that, no, "Block Current" is most definitely not a thing. Nevermind that Eugene had also correctly guessed that "Wake" was the second word earlier in the game (i.e., he whispered it to Marc so that the other team couldn't hear him).
Game 3: Eric and Span decided that a rematch with the same galleries was in order. Span had the first turn this time. Eric won the game.
This game started with a little bit of a flub. Span conferred with Eric and asked if "Goldfinger" would be an acceptable word to use. When Eric agreed, Span put it to his team and they immediately chose "Bond" and "Film". However, as soon as Span started putting his cards on those words, Eric realized that those weren't actually Span's words, but HIS! The only reason Eric hadn't stopped him was because he hadn't yet fully absorbed the board and noticed this (there are 25 words after all). It wasn't a big deal, though. They simply stopped the game and started a new one, an easy task when one is playing Codenames.
During the new game, two things happened on one clue that often happens and which are also reasons this game can be so much fun. Eric chose the clue "Penske" hoping that his gallery would choose two of his words, "File" and "Paper" (as files have papers in them). As huge Seinfeld fans, his gallery immediately realized "File" was one of his words (see "The Barber" episode from Season 5). However, it didn't dawn on his team that "Paper" might also be his word, and so they started looking elsewhere on the board.
Mehr quickly recognized that "Penske" also had ties to racing and oil. He thought that "Penske oil" was a brand (in fact, it's a trucking company with a NASCAR team that's sponsored by Pennzoil) and started thinking that Eric might be referring to either "Gas" (since oil and gas are interrelated) or "Lap" (because NASCAR cars race in laps). Eric hadn't thought of either of those possibilities and now had the realization that both words were equally good and bad. "Gas" was good because it was also Eric's card, but "Lap" was bad (more like disasterous) because it was the assassin and would end the game in Span's favor if chosen. Luckily for Eric, David confirmed to Mehr that Eric was in no certain terms definitely NOT a NASCAR fan, and so "Pennske oil" being related to "Gas" made much more sense.
The game ended when Eric got down to his last word, "Chest", and Span had three left. Span chose "Winnipeg" as a clue for "Fan", "Tooth", and "Parachute". Earlier in the game, Span's gallery had hemmed and hawed about both "Fan" and "Tooth" due to Span's use of the clues "Punch", "Hockey", and "Japanese". They were pretty certain that those were two of his three words. But "Parachute" never came up in the discussion because Matt indicated that Queen Elizabeth II was the current queen of Canada (amongst other countries). Knowing that Span was a master of both geography and world leaders, "Queen" was chosen and the game was effectively ended.
Span explained that he was hoping Matt, being a huge hockey fan, would reference the team name of the Winnipeg Jets. "Jets" would then hopefully lead his gallery to "Parachute". Unfortunately, the team name never came up. In retrospect, it made more sense that Span would expect Matt to be much more familiar with the hockey name than the political structure of Canada. And why choose "Winnipeg" instead of "Montreal" or "Toronto" unless the team name was important? Just things to think about when playing the game next time!
Miscellaneous
Note about Codenames: As a total aside, a few years back, David and Marc tried creating their own board game, something that you could use one deck of cards with, which wouldn't require its customers to purchase expansion packs, and which forced players to create clues that were imaginative and logical at the same time. They used clipart, stock paper, and a paper cutter to create game cards, tried coming up with silly names for it like "Inspiroglyphics" and "Clue-neiform", and even playtested it with their family. Unfortunately, they never could quite get the rules right.
When Marc first read about Codenames, he asked David if the concept sounded strangely familiar. So, they bought the game, played it, and realized that this was pretty much what they had been going for, but which they were never able to put together on their own. Professional board game creators had "cracked the code" so to speak, and Marc and David could give up their endeavor.
Completely random note: At some point during the day, the gang briefly touched upon using the bathroom. Marc mentioned two things that bothered him:
1. He never understood how people could be comfortable using the toilet in the middle of a room, like a living room. Perhaps that only happens in the movies, though.
2. One time, on a cruise (Alaskan, he thinks), the bathroom had urinals that faced out onto the ocean. As you're out to sea, there's no one that can see you, but still...
This is but a taste of the riveting conversation that takes place during MBBBs.
Another conversation: At some point during the day (meal time?), Span and Mehr swapped stories about ripping up their backyard decks. Mehr was quoted hundreds of dollars for the work and told it would take him months. He did it on his own in four days. Span's neighbor called the City on him as his deck is deteriorating, and he wanted to rip it up himself, but soon realized it was not to be.