MBBB25 Recap

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Bellmore, NY

Schedule

Participants

Dave (25th), Marc (25th), Span (), Brian (), Eugene (), Matt (), Mehr (), Eric (11th)

Photos: Highlights | Complete Set

Videos: Highlights | Complete Set

Anecdotes

Reviews

Planning

On February 18, 2022, the planning for MBBB 25 started as the planning for many recent MBBB's have started, with Mehr sending out a group text to hassle people about the event. Mehr was a little concerned (to be fair, Mehr is never concerned, so this really isn't accurate) that it might be a bit too early to start organizing for the day, but David assured him that it was not too early. As such, Mehr floated out the idea of a new activity, cornhole, for the upcoming day. David said he liked the idea, but that would be the extent of the conversation for a few months.

A minor update occurred on March 3 when Brian advised everyone that he had renamed the Hangouts group that is used to choose the date, activities, etc. to "MBBB25". However, it wasn't until six weeks later on April 20 when Mehr again pushed for people to start talking about the plan for the next MBBB. To spur things along, David asked Brian to create a Google spreadsheet so that people could vote on the dates that they were interested in, and Brian quickly did so with a return text on April 21.

It took until early May though for people to start using Brian's Google poll. The Strucks go their choices up quickly, Mehr, Span, and Eugene weren't far behind, and Matt finalized everything on May 3. Based on the results, it was decided that July 16 would be the date; this was the best date for Matt, and no one else had any objections.

After this, things turned surprisingly quiet. A few people suggested events that they were interested in, but the planning was looking pretty lackluster. That all changed about a week prior to the event. Mehr had again been pushing people on activities, etc. when Matt? sent a text to Marc and David about a nice discovery that he had made. It turned out that Jones Beach had a really good deal that encapsulated a lot of the events that the group was interested in. For $40, four people could play all the games that they wanted (David called to confirm that equipment was provided as part of the cost) for the entire day. This included mini-golf (a MBBB staple), cornhole (which, as previously noted, Mehr had suggested), pickleball (which Marc had suggested), and a few other games as well.

Matt and David agreed that, not only was the cost excellent (with 8 people, it would be $10 a person), but the fact that the group could stay at one location without traveling would mean that they could save a lot of time and clearly provide them with a better chance at completing all of the events, something which sometimes doesn't happen. In fact, David thought that it was such a good idea, that he said to Matt and Marc that he would probably just "pull rank" and suggest it as the basis for the MBBB 25 schedule. Though there was a slight chance someone would object, it didn't seem likely for all of the reasons listed above. In the end, David was correct, and the only other event that they agreed upon was softball practice. This due to the fact that they had planned it the year prior but run out of time.

A few days before the event, Mehr asked when everyone would be getting in. Most felt that they would arrive late on Friday, and Mehr noted that he would be staying at the same hotel as last year despite the fact that it was a very dirty room previously. Marc texted Mehr to let him know that he could stay over at his house, but Mehr said that he preferred the hotel as it allowed him to get up at 5:00AM to head back home (a pretty decent trip) without waking up or disturbing anyone else. The night of, Mehr texted everyone to let them know that he had arrived at the hotel (David and Mehr briefly spoke about how expensive hotels are on Long Island in general) and that, despite Marc's concerns, Mehr had asked for and received a much cleaner and better room this time. Before signing off for the night, David let everyone know that the plan was to meet up at Marc's house at around 9:00AM the next morning before ordering and picking up breakfast to eat on Marc's backyard patio set.

Pre-Breakfast

Because David slept over Marc's house, he and Marc were naturally the first people to "arrive" for MBBB 25. Brian would then be next; this was the effect of him not owning or driving a car, and therefore had to take a train into the Bellmore train station. He arrived at Bellmore station at 8:49AM, and Marc offered to pick him up since David would take a large part in ordering and/or picking up breakfast. They chatted briefly about breakfast; Brian asked if the deli had bagels available on their menu, and Marc sarcastically answered that, if Span was ordering pancakes with bananas and Nutella (per his text message), then he was sure that they would have plain old bagels as well.

After Marc and Brian got back to the house, Eugene was a surprise early arrival followed shortly thereafter by Mehr. The group began talking in the front of the house before moving into the backyard and Marc's patio furniture; Mehr himself had already grabbed some breakfast from a local deli (ask him which one) as he was not interested in waiting for the rest of the group to figure out their breakfast orders.

After about 30 minutes of talking (and Mehr eating his egg, bacon, etc. sandwich and couple of cupcakes and Eugene eating his Korean sweet potatoes brought from home), Marc saw Span arrive. It was at this point that the breakfast orders were finalized; David communicated via text with Matt who would end up being the person who picked up and paid for the food (to be reimbursed at the end of the day, of course).

Breakfast

While the others waited for Matt to arrive with the food, a lot of conversation leapt around the table. Topics talked about included baseball cards and if they're worth anything anymore (Mehr himself had gotten a few graded, so yes?) and Mehr's ability and desire to work a ridiculous amount of hours at his job every week, When he pulled up his digital paystub on his phone, it showed proof that he had worked an astounding 85 hours during the previous week. During this time, Marc also decided to make his own breakfast (since he's vegan and avoids eating out too often) which ended up as a concoction of mixed nuts, unsweetened almond milk, cinnamon, and zero calorie natural sweeteners. It tasted vaguely like the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal that he ate growing up. After finishing eating, Mehr then offered up his napkins to everyone else in the group, and the rest of the group sarcastically thanked him.

Because he was picking up the food, Matt arrived much later than anyone else, after 10:00 AM in fact. He handed out the food to everyone, and Marc grabbed some orange juice from his fridge (and per Span's request). However, dark clouds began to form in the sky above. Marc's wife, Alyson, said that the weather forecast was predicting rain to start and finish around 10:15 AM. For once, the weathercaster was correct, and a steady rain began to fall. At this point, Marc ran into the house for supplies, and while he did so, everyone else bolted over to the open garage and squeezed in. Marc brought a tray table out to the garage to put the food on, but Span suggested that they might as well just head into the house at this point since they didn't have either a full table or seating. Everyone agreed, but before they did, they noticed what appeared to be a crab claw on the ground and right outside the garage. How could a crab have made it from the beach which was a few miles away as the crow flies? Someone offered up the idea of a bird catching a crab from the ocean or beach and then flying all the way back and over Marc's backyard. That made sense? After deliberating for about a minute, they resumed their move into the house and left behind  those very napkins that Mehr had previously offered up and which were now unusable due to being wet with rain water.

As they sat down at Marc's dinner table, eating and more conversation occurred. They spoke about electric cars (i.e., was anyone was looking to buy one, and btw Span drove down in his wife, Rachel's, hybrid?) and also whether it made more sense to lease a car versus buying one. Marc noted that the prices and mileages of cars at the used car lot around the corner from him were severely disproportionate compared the cost to purchase his lease, and so that is why he decided to buy out his lease.

Marc, Eugene, and Span also talked about their jobs and houses. Span was happy in his new house and super thankful (again) to Marc for sharing his MLB TV credentials as his mother-in-law got daily usage out of them. Span also said that his job was okay; he primarily worked on his own with some other team members, but his job responsibilities were very specialized. This was good due to his job security, but not so good as (Eugene noted) that Span had the responsibilities of a team leader without the title or salary.

It was a long breakfast made longer by all of the chatting, and Span took quite a while to finish him pancakes. But no one was really in a super rush because they felt comfortable with the plan to do most of the activities at the beach which, again, should save a lot of time. Once outside, the group loaded up their cars with bats, baseballs (David had gotten some new ones delivered to Marc's house the day before), and gloves. Unfortunately, there were no water bottles; Matt had brought cases of water in the past, but it wasn't really fair to expect him to continue to do so. The only other item to discuss was who would be driving. David volunteered straight away, and Marc said he would too. However, Matt jumped in to volunteer as well; the only caveat would be that they would have to ride around in the so-called "ant car", a call back to MBBB 23 in Tannersville where Span jumped out of Matt's car because some ants had taken residence. But since Span was all right with the arrangement, the other participants agreed, and away David and Matt drove off to Jones Beach. 

Pickleball

It's a fair walk from the parking lot to the pickleball courts, across the lot, through a tunnel under the parkway, around a paved pathway, and then finally on the boardwalk that runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean. The groups made the trek and arrived at the hub for the activities of MBBB 24, a stand where they could borrow the needed equipment. Just a short walk from the stand were the pickleball courts, and everyone grabbed a racket to begin practicing their form. There was actually a fair amount of said practicing before the group actually started up the competitive games. Some needed to get used to how hard you needed to hit the ball, some needed to adjust to the wind that was was coming in strong off of the water, and others just made sure that their sunglasses were well equipped to block out the shining sun.

With no one having actually played the game before, Span took the initiative to look up the rules online, but seeing as they were a bit complicated, the group worked to simplify them. For example, one way to play is to set up the scoring so that points are only awarded if the serving team wins the point. These are apparently referenced as the "volleyball rules". The problem was that this could lead to some long games even if they only played to 11 points. Therefore, Matt suggested (and it was agreed) that they would instead award points regardless of the serving team and play to 15, with each team having to be by two points to get the win.

As is always the case with setting up the teams, the group tried to make it as fair as possible. Though, with 7 players, it meant that one team would have an odd number of members. Mehr boldly proclaimed that he felt, rather than having a team of three (which would be unfair seeing how small the courts are), he would compete as a team of one. Though the rest of the group said that he didn't have to do it, he felt that he would still be competitive with the other teams of two (and he was correct as the results below confirm). Meanwhile, during practice, David remarked that Brian was playing quite well, and so suspiciously then decided to pair up with him. Perhaps the logic was that, because Matt was on the tennis team in high school, he didn't need a teammate as good as Brian?

The games were very fun, and the new event was a great addition to the MBBB event history. It was fairly tiring, but everyone competed and landed great shots. Some strategy did come into play as well, largely based upon which side of the net the team was on. Teams facing the wind (from the ocean) could smash the ball hard with little chance of it going long, while the teams with the wind at their backs had to swing much more gently to prevent their faster hits from sailing out of bounds. And, in fact, Marc and Eugene were once asked if they wanted to switch sides, but decided to stay with the wind at their back as they felt it would throw off their rhythm if they changed.

When it got to the final match, it was decided that the teams playing should discontinue from making their own line calls. As only two teams were playing, Mehr and Matt were available to spot two lines each and help make the calls more accurate. Though it came down to the wire, David and Brian were able to prevail, and David's decision to team himself with Brian paid itself off.

RESULTS
Marc and Eugene defeated Mehr by the score of 17-15 (this included a comeback with Marc and Eugene being down 14-11 which started with a double fault by Mehr).
David and Brian defeated Matt and Span by the score of 15-10.
David and Brian defeated Marc and Eugene by the score of 15-5.
Marc and Eugene defeated Mehr by the score of 15-6 (in the first game Mehr had Marc and Eugene running from side and side and back and forth. In the rematch, the opposite happened, pretty much because Mehr was wiped from playing by himself.)
David and Brian defeated Marc and Eugene by the score of 15-13 to win the event.

NOTES

Matt's suntan lotion didn't do a great job of soaking into his skin, and so he had a lot of whiter than white skin showing including what other people termed as a "white mustache".

Marc remarked to David that the 4 wristbands for $40 was a really good deal. David said it's probably because it's a state park, so the pricing is going to be very reasonable compared to a private park.

Marc had thought about running a 5K race the next morning, but while playing pickleball with the back and forth and side to side running and bending to hit low balls, he realized that that wasn't going to happen.

While walking to the court, there was a station giving free samples of an energy drink called Celsius. Everyone declined until they realized that the water fountain nearby didn't work. A few people then went to grab some (Brian first, then David?) in flavors such as Orange and Strawberry Lemonade. They were not great, and the group joked that they'd never ask this company to be sponsors for MBBB.  With all that said, it was also remarked that, at the minimum, the drinks were cold and "wet".  However, Span did complain that he ended up with a drier mouth and thirstier than before. Further, Matt worried about the high caffeine content, while Marc was at least happy to see that the drinks were vegan.

After the final, Marc and David? said that they couldn't believe that Brian and Eugene were wearing pants considering the hot weather, but it was something that they both had done at past MBBB's.

Mini-golf

The mini-golf course was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the pickleball courts (great planning...seriously!). Everyone returned their pickleball equipment and replaced it with a club and a colored golf ball.

In forming the groups for playing, David recommended that the three Strucks play together. He said that one reason was because Brian had apparently really slowed down his group the year prior (at MBBB 24) which led to a lot of discontentment with the group playing behind them. David also had another ace up his sleeve to speed up their play: he suggested that each player in their group take their first shot one after another, but then the person closest to the hole would hit as many consecutive shots as they needed until they holed their ball. The next closest would also follow this strategy, and the finally the third closest. By doing this, and also by noting that the second group had four members in it, the Strucks surged away from the non-Strucks. This was further compounded by the second group allowing two groups to play past them: first a group of teens and then a grand?mother/father and son. Because of this, the Strucks ended up letting both of these groups pass them as well.

The course was much different than they remembered (they argued that it had probably been redone), and the first two holes were quite tough, quite different than what you'd expect from your average mini-golf course. The holes were difficult partially because they had openings in the concrete curb that surrounded each green and which allowed the ball to leave the hole and result in a penalty. Therefore, because a number of shots left the green, early on during the event, the group agreed that you could choose to either play the ball as is (i.e., off the cement path if your ball left the green) or lose a shot and replay from the tee.

It was a spirited effort by all, but in the end, Mehr's prowess was too much for anyone to overcome, and his three? hole-in-one's sealed the deal for his win.

*RESULTS

[Put table here]

NOTES

At one point, Marc decided to get video footage of the other group. When he walked back to record Mehr take a shot, he actually got a hole-in-one. Incredibly enough, Marc later walked back to record Mehr a second time, and Mehr got a hole-in-one again!. Mehr then joked that Marc should keep doing it. Unfortunately, Marc soon realized that he accidentally didn't record the second hole-in-one because his phone had been set to take photos instead of videos.

Marc had to use his club as a "pool stick" on one of the holes as his ball got caught in a plastic tube. Likewise, on the final hole, Brian's ball kept bouncing out of the whale, and so Marc and David said that it was okay; that he could use his club to push the ball down the whale's "mouth" and into its "stomach".

Lunch

After mini-golf, it was time to get something to eat. Each group walked back to their cars, though Matt, Eugene, and Marc had a bit of difficulty finding Matt's Toyota in the expansive beach parking lot. It was taking so long that, at one point, Marc implored Matt to use his clicker. The only issue was that the battery for the clicker wasn't working. Thankfully, Eugene was eventually able to track down the car after Marc asked and Matt told them of the first part of his license plate number. Even still, it was a tad difficult as there were a number of black Toyota Corolla's?, though Matt clarified that his car was actually dark green and not black.

By the time Matt, Eugene, and Marc arrived at Burger King, the skies were threatening to bring some rain. And, in fact, it did just that right after they ordered their food. Matt was worried since he left his windows open.  but they were only slightly open and the flaps prevented any rain from getting in. During their meal, the final member of the event (Eric) called them and said that he was at the beach waiting for them. Since it was raining at their location, the BK group asked  Eric if it was also raining back at the beach, but thankfully he said that it wasn't.

At Burger King, a few topics of conversation were Trump, Michael Keaton (McDonald's docudrama, "The Founder"), and 1980's music. David texted from Five Guys that "Saturday in the Park" by Chicago was playing; this was topical for Marc and Matt as they had spoken about Chicago's music at length a few months prior to MBBB 25.

Marc hadn't had soda in a long, long time and thought it might hurt his stomach, but a fair amount of Barq's root beer was actually rather tasty. Eugene only had an order of fries just to be safe (he can't have lactose). Marc looked up on Google to make sure that Burger King's fries were safe/vegan (they are!) because the fries at McDonald's aren't: they have beef grease or tallow in them. In fact, Marc noted that McDonald's got sued in India because of the Hindu? religion and had to change their recipe there; that, and the fact that India has about a billion potential customers in its population.

*Cornhole

Since Matt, Eugene, and Marc had had such a difficult time finding Matt's car the first time, they parked near a sign this time, 4D. This would be difficult since so often people say Trump is playing "4D chess" when he does something seemingly (or actually) non-sensical. Marc referenced the Itchy and Scratchy Simpsons episode where the supremely large parking lot only has two signs, "Itchy" and "Scratchy" which makes Homer's declaration to his family to remember that they're in the "Itchy"? lot pretty darn funny. Also, Marc mentioned to them that he had watched a movie called The Asphalt Jungle recently and was surprised to look up the cast afterwards and realize that Marilynn Monroe actually played one of the primary characters.

Different people had different strategies for throwing the bean bags. For example, Mehr spun the beanbags horizontally, Matt scrunched his up into a ball, and Marc tried to flatten them so that they had a even distribution of weight. Span threw his with too little arc which meant they often slid off the platform?.

Spectators stopped to watch the games which were often quite compelling, especially considering the rules; beanbags counter each other, so only the net score matters. Therefore, each team could get all four of their bags onto the platform? (as Eric and Mehr did once or twice), and neither team would be awarded any points.

A number of people noted that it was very easy to tell right off the bat if your throw was too short, long, left, or right. But the imbalance of the beans in the bags meant it was very difficult to throw with any consistency from toss to toss.

During the final, David noted that these were definitely the two best teams and deserved to be playing each other.

After the final match, the group talked about the possibility of doing softball practice. They had planned to do it the prior year but ran into time constraints. They had the equipment, there was apparently a softball field down the road (also at the beach), and probably enough daylight. However, the group wasn't sure again, so they pivoted to playing Kan Jam back at Marc's house.

On the ride home, Marc and Span spoke at length about music. Big albums like Jagged Little Pill, Doolittle, OK Computer, and also albums that Span had recommended to Marc such as Muse and They Might Be Giants and albums that Span might like: Nick Drake, Big Star, My Head is an Animal (which Matt chimed in about as he had recommended it to Marc a few years back).

A few people noted that, considering how much less intensive cornhole is compared to pickleball, that they probably should have reversed the times that they played both; it was much cooler during the cornhole than during pickleball. That said, 7 player cornhole (without Eric) would have made much less sense than 7 player pickleball.

Before their rematch with Mehr and Eugene, Matt asked Marc if wanted to be on Mehr's side instead this time. But Marc felt that he and Matt were both equally good at the game, so it didn't really matter. Matt said he would try to keep it even with Mehr (or as close to zero as possible each time, i.e. mitigate their losses in the hope that Marc could outscore Eugene). However, every time Marc got a cornhole, Eugene would get on on the same frame?. David said the very same thing happened with him when he played against Eric?.

During the final, there were too frames? in a row where one of Mehr's bean bags was hanging off the edge so much that the spectators were sure that it would fall off, but neither time did it.

RESULTS
Eric and Brian defeated David and Span by the score of 21-6.
Mehr and Eugene defeated Marc and Matt by a score of 21-16.
Eric and Brian defeated Mehr and Eugene by a score of 21-18.
Matt and Marc defeated David and Span by a scored of 22-12.
Mehr and Eugene defeated Marc and Matt by a score of 23-9.
Mehr and Eugene defeated Eric and Brian by a score of 21-8.

Should they stay to play shuffleboard? No, very similar to cornhole but more difficult, so likely not as fun. Eric said he played with his nieces and nephew? and this was accurate.

*Kan Jam

Refresher on the rules after set up. David said he couldn't help set up because he was having issues with his index finger. It was actually quite hard to set up the Kans, but Marc and Eric were eventually able to get it done.

Done with the lights on in the backyard which is why the photos are a bit blurry. Unlike with cornhole where the net points matter, in Kan Jam, you can earn up to 6 points per turn. As they were only playing to 21 (and they checked the rules to confirm that you have to get 21 exactly or otherwise you lose points - this extends the game a bit), these games ended up being very fast.

David suggested that they use the same teams as for Cornhole to speed things along, and everyone agreed.

Marc remarked a few times to Span that his throws were almost too perfect for his teammate David who very easily tapped the disc into the Kan for three points every time. Span replied that, though his physical abilities aren't the tops in many sports, throwing a frisbee with accuracy is a specialty of his.

As they were losing by a lot in the final and had "last licks", Matt and Marc tried four throws in a row to get instant wins and send the game into "overtime". Unfortunately, they failed each time. After the event was over, Marc then posited that he could throw the disc vertically instead of horizontally to have a better chance of getting it into the Kan. On his second try, he did just that.

RESULTS
Eric and Brian defeated David and Span by the score of 21-12.
Marc and Matt defeated Mehr and Eugene by the score of 21-9.
Mehr and Eugene defeated David and Span by the score of 21-15.
Mehr and Eugene defeated Eric and Brian by the score of 21-20.
Mehr and Eugene defeated Marc and Matt by the score of 21-7.
Is there a game missing? Why did Marc and Matt only play one game before being in the finals? They should have played Eric and Brian in the winners bracket.

David collected ordered for dinner while other teams played as Lazzat was closing at 9:45PM?

*Dinner

Matt wasn't feeling well after eating it, but nobody else had an issue so he thought it might be something else he ate during the day. This was really a post-dinner item.

A variety of dishes were ordered including chicken tikka masala, mango lassis, and rice and naan for almost everyone. Mehr asked if anyone else wanted Subway, but they didn't, so he got some for himself. It was in Wantagh on Sunrise Highway which made Marc wrack? his brain. That one was open later than the one on Jerusalem which they went to the year prior.

*Post-Dinner

Watched an episode of The Office with fell Calhoun alum Brenda Withers. Marc had his yearbook out, and they talked about people they had seen recently and what they looked like and were up to. Sometimes, people like Eugene and Mehr felt that how people looked "now" (i.e., in their pictures on Facebook) looked nothing like how they looked back in high school (i.e., in their yearbook pictures).

Also, Prince/While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Span and Matt asked Marc to load it up, David said which YouTube version was the best).

Topics talked about included:
TV shows such as Firefly, Freaks and Geeks (many super successful careers from this one), and Mad Men.
Car stalking: Matt got pulled over by the police and had to walk the line. Marc ended up cursing for one of the only times in his life and also was hiding in the back behind the front passenger side seat. Mehr said he was going around 50mph in reverse to avoid the car that they had been stalking.
Evading cops: both Eugene and Mehr had stories. Eugene needed to go about 130mph to outrun a cop. Mehr quickly pulled into his driveway, turned off the car,  dropped down, and waited for the cop to pass before running inside. Also, AOL baiting (abandoned house that Mehr invited/catfished  guys too) and Marc running home nervous one night that he would cross paths with one of these guys.
Russ (of course) and fantasy football trades/drama/cheating. Mehr actually still remembers the players in the trades like 15 years later (Corey Dillon in one? Jeff Garcia and Terrell Owens in another - can ask him).

*Notes

Matt and David were the drivers for the day except for Eric who showed up at the later events starting with cornhole.

Marc invited former member, Rolly, who was very excited to make a cameo if possible. However, he was moving around that time and didn't get Marc's messages in the week leading up to the event. A few members did ask about him during the day and if/why he couldn't come.