Saturday, July 13, 2024
Bellmore, NY
Schedule
Breakfast at East Bay Diner in Seaford, NY at 9:30AM
Table Tennis at Round1 / Broadway Mall in Hicksville, NY at 11:00AM
HORSE, PIG, and Knockout at John J. Burns Park in Massapequa, NY at 1:30PM
Lunch at Panera Bread and Five Guys in ?? and ??, NY at 3:15PM
Cornhole at Jones Beach in Wantagh, NY at 4:45PM
Pickleball and Mini-Golf at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, NY at 6:45PM
Dinner from ?? at Eric’s house in Massapequa, NY at ??
Hanging out (talking) and Wavelength at Eric's house in Massapequa, NY from ?? to 1:00AM
Participants
Dave (27th), Marc (27th), Span (), Brian (), Eugene (), Matt (), Mehr (), Eric (13th)
Photos: Highlights | Complete Set
Videos: Highlights | Complete Set
Anecdotes
Reviews
Planning
On February 17, Mehr reached out via group text asking everyone else about setting a MBBB date. He noted that, as usual, May and June would be difficult due to holidays such Mother's Day, Memorial Day, and Father's Day. Brian responded pretty quickly and noted that MBBB 18 in 2014 was the last MBBB that actually occurred in May. The next day, Brian responded again and sent links to the group so that people could post their availabilities for MBBB 27.
A few weeks later, voting for the date of MBBB finally began in earnest. Brian had once again set up voting through Google Sheets, and while some people emailed dates that were unavailable for them, David pushed everyone to enter their available dates on the sheet. His thought was just to get the date figured out so that they could then work on the location and the events. The push by David helped, and by the next day, March 9, the voting was completed, and July 13 was settled as the date for the event.
After this, Mehr immediately asked about the location. Would it be Long Island again? Did someone want to host MBBB at their house? And what about Cooperstown? The final suggestion was shot down pretty quickly due to the amount of travel, the cost of admission and the hotel, and the time to go through the museum. Plus the fact that some of the members were not interested in baseball at all. From a scale of 1 to 10, when asked to rank how highly they'd want to go to Cooperstown, David said 7, Mehr said 8, and Marc said 4 or 5.
A few days later, David suggested Cooperstown as an optional event for Friday or Sunday, but Matt and Eric were lukewarm to going in general, and Span remarked that he was just there last year. With all of that said, it was officially out. Span then suggested Dorney Park as an alternative, but Mehr said it was a lesser version of Hershey Park. Mehr asked about Boston, and David said there was a commuter train straight from his town, or they could drive as the parking cost was also pretty reasonable. Further, David again said he might be open to hosting.
About a week later, Mehr again asked about the location, and people started leaning towards Franklin, MA. It would be a change of pace, they could arrive on Friday, and David had decent availability of beds and couches. Though he also said that he didn't have many bathrooms. This caused some people to advise that they wouldn't necessarily mind staying at a nearby hotel and splitting the cost.
After all of this discussion on the location, a few weeks later, on May 6, David advised that they would actually need to do MBBB on Long Island again due to scheduling conflicts for him. But everyone agreed pretty quickly that that would be fine, and so it was settled.
It was almost 6 weeks later before planning began in earnest again. During the week of June 24 specifically, a group text was sent out to all and push everyone to use a form that Brian created for suggestions for events. A week later, Brian linked to a spreadsheet with all of the activities that were suggested and included how many times each activity was suggested. There were 34 activities with at least 2 suggestions, and in addition, East Bay Diner was suggested and approved for breakfast.
On July 7, the group began voting using Brian's spreadsheet (need to pull this data), and there was also discussion about the locations for meals with some suggesting dinner options such as what was done the previous year (Phil's, Subway, etc.). As for the vote for activities, the treasure hunt was going to be voted in as one of the activities. Unfortunately, when Matt asked what it actually was, no one really knew (some thought it would be like geocaching, some thought Eric would create a hunt, etc.), and so the group had to eliminate it. The group also eliminated archery tag from the running as Dave looked it up and found out that it no facilities actually offered it anymore.
On July 9, because of concerns due to the possibility of inclement weather and the availability of some events (e.g., table tennis), the group pivoted from using the voting system (Brian's sheet which is detailed below) on a strict basis and found the more popular events that could be played regardless of weather or location. They were hopeful that they could employ Jones Beach again as so many of the events that they enjoyed (and that were voted highly) were located there, but included indoor alternatives as well just in case. Finally, since it looked like they would be doing a basketball event, it was asked if anyone had a basketball to use. Marc said that he did, while Eric said he was fine with purchasing one on the day of the event.
Pre-Breakfast
Early in the morning, and owing at least partially to the fact that everyone was meeting at his house to begin the day, Marc took advantage by again getting 10 mile run in before anyone arrived. Unfortunately for Marc, there was a steady rain during his run (which would continue into the early afternoon, but thankfully for him, he was able to finish the run with enough time to shower and clean himself up.
Around 8:30AM, while Marc was getting dressed upstairs, Mehr was the first to arrive at his house. Mehr said that he had just walked from his brother's house (in Seaford?), without an umbrella, in the light rain. He was lucky enough that the rain was light enough that it didn't take him long to dry off naturally. After Mehr, the rest of the group arrived at various intervals. Eric showed up at 8:40, Eugene followed at 8:50, and then Dave at 9:05, Span, and then Matt at 9:13 rounded out the rest. While waiting, two other things happened. Eugene ate some breakfast that he brought at Marc's house so as to avoid an upset stomach from eating food at the diner. Also, Brian texted the group saying that he would take the train and arrive after breakfast. Brian asked them to pick him up at the Hicksville train station since they were going to Broadway Mall after breakfast.
Breakfast
The group milled around in Marc's front yard for a bit, catching up, before asking who was volunteering to drive. Eric and Span said that they would take the reins, though Span had to take a few minutes to clean up the interior of his car to make it suitable for passengers. After about a 10 minute drive, both cars arrived at the diner with Mehr noting that he had walked by this diner on his trek from his brother's house.
While waiting to order food and for the food to arrive, the gang talked about numerous topics. For example, they talked about the Long Island Hall of Fame and other local Hall of Fames as Eric had recently visited one (? and which one?). Additionally, Eric noted that Long Island, where the group grew up, is not actually classified as an island, by order of the Supreme Court! Another thing that kept the crew entertained was the television situated right next to their table and which was tuned to the Game Show Network. A game called America Says was on, and they delighted in trying to correctly answer the various questions asked.
All of this distraction ended up being necessary as the service at the diner was not up to par. The first issue occurred when the waitress forgot to take Dave's order. The group believed that it was because she took Marc's order first, and so when she had finished her circle around the table, she saw Dave sitting next to Marc and didn't realize that they were different people. Though this was eventually rectified, it then took a LONG time for the food to come out. This was despite a very small amount of customers in the diner. The wait was so long that Eric declared that they would try a different diner next year even if the food was fantastic. P.S. Marc's order of sweet potato fries were overdone and needed to be returned for a fresh batch.
One other note during breakfast: Eugene ordered coffee. David said that this was the first time that Eugene had ever done so at a MBBB breakfast.
Table Tennis
As previously mentioned, originally, the group had planned to pick Brian up from the Hicksville train station. But because Brian arrived at the station well in advance of the rest of the crew finishing breakfast, instead of waiting, Brian instead walked over to the Broadway Mall to wait. A mall IS more interesting than a train station after all!
Everyone else hopped into the two cars and drove over the back of the mall where the entrance to Round1 was. It was still raining a little bit, and they were pleased that they had planned for an indoor event just in case they faced this scenario. After walking through the doors, they tried to find both Brian and the checkout counter for table tennis. It turned out that both were downstairs. Dave had reserved the tables for the group, and so it didn't take long for them to check in, take custody of the equipment (paddles and balls), and head over to the designated area.
There were two tables, and the group quickly began practicing while, at the same time, working to determine how they would play and what the rules would be. It was decided that team play would be too cumbersome, and so they agreed that the best course would be a round robin tournament, player vs. player, with two groups and games to 21. In addition to practicing, they noticed that all of the paddles were not the same. Some had textured backs; some didn't. Additionally, some paddles appears to be so new that they actually had to peel the cellophane off of them.
After a fair amount of practice for all involved, the play began, and this is how the first round of games went.
GROUP A GAMES
Dave 21, Mehr 15
Mehr 21, Span 8
Brian 21, Span 8
Mehr 21, Brian 10
Dave 21, Span 4
Dave 21, Brian 8
GROUP A RECORDS
Dave 3-0 (advanced to semi-finals)
Mehr 2-1 (advanced to semi-finals)
Brian 1-2
Span 0-3
GROUP B GAMES
Eric 21, Matt 9
Eugene 21, Marc 17
Eric 21, Eugene 5
Marc 21, Matt 13
Eric 21, Marc 14
Matt 21, Eugene 15
GROUP B RECORDS
Eric 3-0 (advanced to semi-finals)
Marc 1-2 (advanced to semi-finals due to points total)
Matt 1-2
Eugene 1-2
Though everyone admitted to not having played table tennis for many years (if not decades: Eugene and Marc reminisced about playing all the way back in high school in the basement gym where Eugene reminded Marc that he had broken a number of ping pong balls due to propensity to try to smash shots), there was a lot of great play. This can be seen by viewing the videos above. Dave and Eric were particularly strong, both going undefeated in this first round. Even the spectators had a lot of fun, talking about the ongoing games or other topics, taking photos or videos, and avoiding balls that were mishit and rocketed towards them.
With regards to the final four who advanced, only one member was in doubt. Mehr had a 2-1 record and joined Dave from Group A while the second entrant from Group B (joining Eric) was undecided until the very final game. With Matt and Eugene playing, Marc had a pretty good idea that he needed Matt to win so that the three of them would tie at 1-2 and then Marc would advance based on total points won. It was a relatively close game, but in the end, things worked out just as Marc had hoped, and he advanced to the next stage of the tournament.
SEMI-FINALS
Dave 21, Marc ??
Eric 21, Mehr ??
FINALS
Dave 21, Eric 14
The semi-finals were semi-competitive, but the two best players in the first round were again the two best players in the second round. Eric and Dave advanced to play for the championship. However, during the semi-finals, a wrench was throw into their plans: an employee came over to them and advised that they only had about 10 minutes to finish up before another group was coming to fulfill their reservation.
Realizing that they had precious little time, Dave and Eric immediately jumped into the final game. The group agreed that whoever had the most points when they were kicked out would be the winner. Thankfully, that notion was not necessary. Dave and Eric were able to finish the entire game before that happened (though an employee was walking over just as they were collecting the equipment and walking out), and Dave proved to be the best table tennis player of the day.
HORSE, PIG, and Knockout
In the lead up to and planning for this MBBB, the group asked who had basketballs specifically for this event. Since only Marc was able to produce a regulation size basketball, the group first had to stop at a store with sporting goods to purchase a second. Since they were at a mall, Target was considered to be the first and best option. All they had to do was drive around to the other side of the mall and check Target's inventory. Unfortunately, both groups quickly discovered that all of the basketballs that they had were smaller than regulation size.
It was then decided that Eric would drive over to a Dick's Sporting Goods since they would be sure to have what the group needed. Eric knew that there was a Dick's near his house, but he decided to drive in the opposite direction to Roosevelt Field Mall because he thought that they would be playing basketball at a park near there. Unfortunately, they soon found out that Dave, Span, Matt, and Eugene went to a park in Massapequa instead which meant that the day would be slightly delayed.
It being a Saturday afternoon, parking in the mall lot was scarce to say the least. Therefore, Eric drove up to the entrance, and Marc and Mehr jumped out to purchase a basketball while Eric would circle the parking lot waiting for them. Inside the store, it didn't take long for Marc and Mehr to find the selection of basketballs, but finding one that fit the correct size, texture (i.e., not too slippery), and cost was slightly more difficult. After about 15 minutes, they agreed on a ball and went to the front of the store to purchase it. Eric then swooped to the front of the store again so that Marc and Mehr could hop in and they could get the day on track again.
A short and funny anecdote: while driving to the park in Massapequa, Mehr, who had paid for the ball, traded it to Eric to cover the cost of the fantasy football league that many of the members of MBBB are in together.
With everyone finally at the park together, they had to decide what to do. They had originally planned to play Knockout, but because the rain had kept up until 1:45PM, the courts were still rather slippery. This led to the decision to play HORSE (followed by shorter games of PIG) so that so one would get hurt. Two groups were created using the construct of European football: both groups would play HORSE, with the last place finisher of the "better" group's game being relegated to the "lesser" group, and the winner of the "lesser" group's game being promoted to the "better" group.
Game 1 of HORSE
Order of elimination: Mehr, Eric, David, Marc (Winner)
Seeing as Mehr has always been the most athletic of the group, it was very surprising when he was the first person eliminated. A big part of this was due to David utilizing an over the backboard trick shot that very few people could reenact. Somehow, however, Marc was able to hit just enough shots to end up as the winner of the first game.
Game 2 of HORSE
Order of elimination: Span, Matt, Brian, Eugene (Winner)
After both games concluded, Eugene was promoted, and Mehr was relegated. Eugene noted after some practice that the hoops on each side of the (same) court actually had different heights. This was confirmed later by other people who had played on both hoops.
Game 1 of PIG
Order of elimination: Dave, Marc, Eric, Eugene (Winner)
Game 2 of PIG
Order of elimination: ??, Mehr (Winner)
A highlight of the second match was when Mehr hit a turnaround fadeaway which was performed by first turning his back to the basket. Matt and Span were unable to hit the shot, but Brian put up a prayer and somehow stayed in the game by rattling his shot in.
After two games of HORSE and PIG, due to the sun peeking out and the hot weather in general, the court was dry enough so that people could play Knockout if they chose to do so. While Span passed on playing in either game, and Eugene sat out the first game, most people in the group wanted to play a little more basketball.
Game 1 of Knockout
Order of elimination: Matt, Brian, Marc, Mehr, Eric, Dave (winner)
Game 2 of Knockout
Order of elimination: Eric, Matt, Brian, Marc, Eugene, Mehr, Dave (winner with no outs)
The highlight (but also lowlight) of the games came when Matt was on the brink of elimination, already having two outs. He took a shot and missed with his ball careening off to the far left of the basketball court. He scrambled to retrieve the rebound and heaved a three point shot to save his game. The shot went right through the hoop, but unfortunately it went through literally a half-second after his opponent's did, and so Matt was knocked out of the game despite the greatness of the shot.
Lunch
As is often the case, not everyone in the group wanted to eat lunch at the same place. This is generally due to diet preferences as Marc is a vegan and Dave is a vegetarian. Additionally, Matt is always partial to Panera so that he can take advantage of his membership in the Ultimate Sip Club. This meant that Mehr, Span, Brian, and Eugene would head to a local Five Guys chain with the rest heading to the aforementioned Panera.
After arriving at Panera, Eric, Dave, Matt, and Marc all put in their orders with Marc using a website to confirm which items on the menu were vegan friendly. They then all waited at the cooking station where, one by one, the employees announced that their food was ready. That is, except for Matt. He waited and waited, but they didn't call his name. When he walked over to the cashier to check on this, they advised that they had actually kept his order at the front and away from the rest of the riffraff. Was this one of the perks of being a member of the Unlimited Sip Club?
After getting some drinks (though Marc drank from his own personal water bottle), the group talked about a number of topics. Eric again brought up Billy Joel (also mentioned during breakfast during their discussion about local Hall of Fames) and how there was a cover bank for Billy Joel called Big Shot. Eric noted that they were so good that, after Billy Joel's people heard the lead singer of Big Shot sing, they actually hired him to go on tour with Billy Joel's band.
Another topic that came up was movies and cameos from actors who later became much more famous than they were during the filming of the movies. They noted two examples from Almost Famous (Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family and Jimmy Fallon) and then Marc mentioned that Jason Alexander was in Pretty Woman right around the time that Seinfeld exploded in popularity. Marc mentioned it specifically because he noticed during a recent rewatch of Seinfeld that Jason Alexander received the prestigious "and" credit during the title opening of the show and wondered if it was because of the movie's success and his role in it.
Cornhole
After lunch, both groups jumped into their respective cars and headed over to Jones Beach. They had utilized Jones Beach two years earlier during MBBB 25 and found it to be an excellent location for events. The price, only $10 a person, was cheap, and there were 5-6 activities in the same place which meant zero travel between events and time saved.
They walked over to the equipment facility to pay for access to the park and to receive the different sets of cornhole bags. They then walked over to the four cornhole courts to get some practice in. This probably lasted about 15-20 minutes before people felt comfortable that they would be able to put some competitive sport into play.
With practice completed, the group then needed to determine how to choose the teams of two that would be competing against each other. Normally, they would try to base it on skill level, but as no one in the group regularly plays Cornhole, they decided to choose the teams randomly instead. Span was up to the task and suggested an app on his phone called the Wheel of Names which he said his son often uses. After 2-3 minutes, Span finished reading the teams with Eric partnered with Brian, Mehr with Eugene, Matt with David, and finally Marc with Span.
The games were very competitive but sometimes slow going due to the nature of the scoring system (note below that one game was called before a team scored 21 due to the length of said game). Oftentimes, a team would execute a throw for a point or three only to be matched by a member of the opposite team. It didn't stop the games from being exciting however, as cheers and groans echoed throughout the event.
As with table tennis, a round robin tournament style was utilized with Mehr and Eugene emerging victorious with a spotless 3-0 record. Other interesting notes from the event included Span utilizing an overhand throwing motion (instead of underhand) because he found it to be more effective and both Mehr and Marc mentioning that, of the four bags that they used, one bag was significantly lighter in weight than the other three. Even more interesting was that both Mehr and Marc chose to throw the light bag first because they felt that, if they did it in the middle, it would throw off their other attempts.
GAMES
Eric and Brian 21, Marc and Span 5
Mehr and Eugene 19, Matt and Dave 8: Game ended because it was going too long
Mehr and Eugene 21, Eric and Brian 9
Matt and Dave 21, Marc and Span 10
Mehr and Eugene 21, Marc and Span 6
Eric and Brian 21, Matt and Dave 13
RECORDS
Mehr and Eugene: 3-0
Eric and Brian: 2-1
Matt and Dave: 1-2
Marc and Span: 0-3
Pickleball and Mini-Golf
Though Cornhole is not exactly the most physically strenuous of activities, Pickleball is, and so a number of people just wanted to take it easy for the next event. And so the group gathered to discuss who wanted to play Mini-Golf and who didn't. Marc in particular was not interested in playing Mini-Golf primarily because they've done it at so many previous MBBB events. Matt, having played on the tennis team in high school, was also interested. Finally, Dave and Mehr, two of the more active members of the crew, said they would be fine playing Pickleball as well. The other four members favored Mini-Golf which meant that they'd have a nice 50/50 split.
Both groups walked over to the cashier stand to get the equipment that they would need to play their respective games. The Pickleball crew headed over to their court, and before they even started practicing, Matt looked up the rules so that they could remind themselves how to play. With that said, they didn't use all of the rules laid out, but they did agree to most of them while choosing to use a few of their own.
Choosing teams was pretty straightforward. Mehr hid some fingers behind his back and asked Dave to guess how many. Based on this, Mehr ended up teaming with Dave which left Marc and Matt as teammates. They spent about 5 minutes practicing, and early on, it just didn't feel natural. The rackets were small, the ball was flat, and the wind was coming in strong from the ocean which meant that Matt and Marc, with the wind at their backs, had to hold back on their hits while Mehr and Dave had to emphasize their shots to avoid coming up short of the net.
Because of these irregularities, they were a bit anxious that the event wouldn't be as fun as they had anticipated. However, shortly after beginning play, everyone got into a nice rhythm, and they had numerous excellent rallies. Thinking that playing into the wind was a bit of an advantage, the teams switched sides after the first game, and it looked like Matt and Marc were going to be proven correct. They had 9 points late in the game and were on the verge of victory. That is, until Mehr and Dave scored 4 or 5 straight points to seal a second win in a row.
Game 1 of Pickleball
Mehr and Dave 11, Marc and Matt 6
Game 2 of Pickleball
Mehr and Dave 11, Marc and Matt 9
The Pickleball crew finished their games a little bit before the Mini-Golf crew did and waited at the cashier stand for them to finish. After the Mini-Golf players returned their equipment (classically, they returned the balls by hitting them into the final hole of the course), Span stepped aside to calculate everyone's score (it should be noted that Span was an important member of their high school's Math Team). As soon as he had added up the totals, Span announced the results (listed below) to the group. In doing so, Span was pleased to note that he hadn't finished in last place, something that often happens when he plays mini-golf.
Mini-Golf Results
Dinner
The final events would take place at Eric's house, but everyone's car was still at Marc's house, having parked there at the beginning of the day. And so it was decided that the two cars would drive back to Marc's house first and then drive their cars over to Eric's house. This would allow any and all members to leave from Eric's house whenever they decided that it was time.
Almost everyone in the group decided to order food from a restaurant except for Marc (and Eugene?). Instead, while Marc was at his house, and before driving to Eric's, he grabbed some food and snacks that he could eat and/or prepare in Eric's kitchen. Meanwhile, once they had picked up all of the food, the group sat at Eric's large dining table to eat and talk about both the events of the day as well as topics du jour. Crazily enough, one of the things that happened during dinner is that the group heard about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. But no one really wanted to talk about politics, and so that conversation ended pretty quickly.
Hanging Out and Wavelength
For the past few years during MBBB, the group hadn't done much after dinner besides talk. Dave wanted to break this pattern up and suggested a game that he had recently heard about called Wavelength. It was actually a game that could be played collaboratively on the phone which meant that there was no need to break out a board game or pay for one either. Dave, Matt, Span, Marc, and Eric agreed to play the game while Eugene, Mehr, and Brian deferred.
The general goal of the game is to come up with a clue (single or multi-word) that gets the rest of the players to correctly guess where that clue lands on a spectrum. For example, if the spectrum runs from cold on one end to hot on the other, then the clue of "ice" would all of of the way on the cold side, "fire" would fall all of the way onto the hot side, and "lukewarm water" might fall right in the middle. But what object is 75% hot or 65% cold? This is where the game gets very interesting (and difficult, to be fair).
The group played the game for about an hour, and it was a great time. After receiving each clue, everyone except for the clue giver would talk at length to decide where on the spectrum they felt that the clue giver was pointing them to. Most of the time, they'd guess very close to the correct answer (the closer you are to the correct answer, the higher your score). But the biggest reactions were always saved for when the group guessed perfectly (exuberance!) or were way off base (lots of groaning!).
Here were a few examples of the clues:
1. Marc used a "carpenter" as someone who he felt was just slightly overpaid. While the group came pretty close to getting this one correct, Marc joked that it would have been easier if he had to name someone who is 100% overpaid. In that case, he would have just chosen "Daniel Jones" as his clue. This made Matt, a suffering New York Giants fan, laugh quite a bit.
2. Span used "Simon Cowell" as someone he felt was mostly a good influence or a bad influence. This clue was tough because the rest of the team was unsure if Span knew that Simon Cowell, despite his crusty and obnoxious persona on television, was actually a very nice person when meeting his fans and a supporter of many charities. The team therefore guessed that Span knew of this only to find out afterwards that he didn't. This meant that they totally missed on the amount that Span thought that Simon Cowell was a good or bad influence, and they earned zero points.
3.
During the late stages of the game, Mehr decided that he was ready to leave, and so Eugene? volunteered to drive Mehr back to his brother's house. Matt and Span followed soon thereafter leaving the four Struck brothers alone. Brian was waiting for an Uber to take him back to his home, and Marc lingered to talk a bit before hopping into his car and driving home. The end to yet another very successful May Birthday Bash Bonanza.