Warm Weather Brings Out The Boules

Melissa Helps Out Didierjean Family at Le Petit Prince

Melissa and Gregory share more than a passion for petanque. They also share out in the chores at the Didierjean family pastry shop in Birmingham. You should visit them at 124 W. 14 Mile, Birmingham. Melissa might even slip an extra cookie into your bag... (NOT!)

A Thief in our Midst???

Joyce brought along her curling iron bag, recently converted to her boule bag... so she says!. I think her eyes were on that Pinot Grigio. The bag and the bottle are ironically similar in size! Keep your eyes on her!!! ;-)

If Marley Can Do It, You Can Too!

Mascot Marley found his own way of keeping warm on Sunday! "These leaves may be bothersome on the piste, but they make a very comfy, warm bed off the piste!" If he can find a way to survive the cold, you can too! Put on that jacket, and those gloves, and stick it out a bit longer, soon we'll be playing indoors...

New Friends and Old Meet Up At Campus Martius Park

Experienced Players Sometimes Don't Get Results They Want

Don't get me wrong, these guys are excellent petanque players, but it shows that even the best players have unlucky moments.

No Boule Size Restrictions in Michigan

Actually, these are the ornaments for the 55 ft. tree installed at Campus Martius Park (where the Detroit Petanque Club plays). No petanque today - however - as all of the pathways are covered with chairs (and my hands were frozen anyway!) Tonight is the tree lighting ceremony, as well as the opening of the ice skating rink (upper left). See you there!

Next Year Mario Will Play Instead of Straining His Voice

New Mascot for Michigan & Detroit Petanque Clubs?

Miami's South Beach is a pretty wild area, here's Jeff and Joe - with a 106 pound boa constrictor around their necks (name of the snake: Ecstasy). "It felt like a giant garden hose, with something bumbpy moving beneath the outer layer. Ecstasy's head was moving uncomfortably close to the goodies..." scary!

Drink Mango Madness

Jeff and I surely had fun with our trip to South Beach! Just give us a few boules, add in a little Florida sun, top it off with a little Mango Madness, and look at those smiles it produces!

A "Priceless" Night On the Town!

Great games of petanque on Miami Beach... $0 Dollars
Pastis with lots and lots of friends... $500 Dollars
Hans charging the whole night of pastis to Tom's credit card... PRICELESS! ;-)

Dave Barry Can Play Petanque!

Philippe and I thought we were going to teach famous sports columnist, Dave Barry, a thing or two about Petanque. It turns out that he's a natural! Here I'm trying to show him where to land his boule, but he didn't need my advice afterall, he beat us 13-12. OK Dave, it won't be quite so pretty in la revenge!

You Have to Do What You Have to Do...

In between games in South Beach I just had to help out my friends, Hans and Tom. Their team, pictured here, Soledad (left) and Franserly (right), just needed a little help with keeping score for their favorite players... so naturally, as with all things petanque, I'm always happy to lend a helping hand! ;-)

MIAMI BEACH PHOTOS

We Played Teams from All Over the Country/World

Some Familiar Faces

It was wonderful to see (and play a game against) Michel and Jeannette who live in the area. Michel was impressed with Don and my playing, and it was nice to get away from the "official tournament play" for a while to cool down.

Michigan and Detroit Petanque Clubs Represent at Miami

Small but happy crowd

Small but happy crowd
Originally uploaded by mainegal.

It was a small but dedicated crowd played at Royal Oak. Cyrille, Cheryl, Camille, Gregory, Dan, James, Joyce and Melissa played round robin doublettes despite the strong wind. Jimmy stopped by to say hi but opted against playing.

Joe's already there, and Ken, Jeff & Don catch their flight tonight to meet up with him and 66 teams for the Petanque-America Open in Miami Beach this weekend. I heard the temperature is a chilly 85 degrees...

Remember... we return on Monday (Nov. 14th) at around 3pm... and are going up to the Bordine's Nursery in Rochester to clean-up/groom the greenhouses for petanque playing in the winter time. Come and join us, and play some indoor warm boule!

Mike Ardelean Gives Up Petanque for Irish Road Bowling

Irish Road Bowling is a sport mainly played in Ireland, although there are small pockets of enthusiasts all over Ireland and even in the United States. Usually referred to by participants simply as 'Bowls' - which rhymes with 'howls' - it is played on public roads, usually on a Sunday, all over Ireland with enthusiastic crowds of spectators. Road bowling is an old game, played for centuries and at one time far more widespread in Ireland, but since 1954 it has been organized under a national controlling body, “Bol Chumann na hEireann”

How the Game is Played
The basic rules are simple. A bowl - a heavy cast iron ball - is thrown from a start point to a predetermined end point, usually 1-2 miles away, the winner being the person or team who reaches the end in the least number of throws.

The bowls themselves vary in weight, adults play with a 28oz bowl while youths use a 14 oz one. Taking part requires nothing in the way of specialized clothing or equipment - just a bowl and an available road. In spite of its simple rules the best players are truly skillful, their ability to deal with bends and undulations in the road and to keep the bowl rolling onward after it lands on different road surfaces is honed by years of experience.

Where and When to See Road Bowling
In Ireland, large crowds gather to watch the matches and they are real family affairs. Visitors are welcome but don't expect any fancy facilities - dress warmly, be prepared to walk a few miles while following the matches and to keep yourself out of the way of flying bowls and road traffic! In Michigan, you can see Mike Ardelean playing it, probably alone, on I-75

WWW.WVIRISHROADBOWLING.COM

Renee Shows Plenty of Improvement

Today's 2 games were remarkable. All of us played at a very quality level, with points taken, and then taken away with almost every boule. One of the highlights of the day was watching Renee point and shoot. When I first met Renee, she was more of a spectator -- but after some coaching, she's turned into quite a good pointer. Today she even shot a crucially close boule and her own boule STAYED!

Detroit Public Television - Get Up Get Out!

Tuesday morning, Joe, Jeff, Gene, Sharon, TonyT, Deric, and Will were part of the Get-Up-Get-Out television program.

Co-Hosts of the show, Fred and Kelley helped Jeff run his lines, and Joe offered up a presidential interview. Producer Oliver Thornton, and Associate Producer Matt Franco, along with Rick on audio and David on video showed us how the professionals put together a TV segement. It was highly interesting how it all worked.

Once the edits are made, the show should air this Friday and Saturday on Detroit Public Television.

Fighting Mother Nature!

There were 40-50 mph wind gusts on Sunday, my house lost power, a tree fell down, but it STILL didn't keep me and the hard-core petanquers from making it to the piste! And again, my great MPC members, Eric, Maude and Dan came through by providing me with baguettes, brie, and a nice Merlot to help me struggle through the down-time... :-) Needless to say there was some fun games that afternoon amidst the "mini-huricanes" of blowing leaves...

Picking Favorites

Apologies to Yvonne (Red Wings Jersey), but my teammate Lauren (peach sweater) stole my heart with some expertly placed points on Saturday! Here she is getting interviewed by the PBS television crew... she was a little camera shy, so I had to do the best thing a good coach should do. I picked her up and carried her over to the crew! She's going to be a star some day, I just know it!

Detroit Public Television's "Get Up! Get Out!" Filmed Us Today

Check out all of today's photos HERE

Dan Gets a Wet Fanny

No, not from 13/0 -- this time Dan received a fanny, a really wet fanny, from the wall-fountains at Campus Martius Park which suddenly turned on - soaking any who were leaning against it.

Well, at least that's 1 garment of Dan's that won't need to be laundered...

Will the Michigan Petanque Club be READY for Miami next Weekend?!

Starting his own BEST OF 9 SERIES... Jeff soundly whooped Ken in both games played against him. The exact scores I'll keep silent about (I'm a humble guy) -- but let's just say... "it was a mini-lightening bolt"

New Guests Mingle with Experienced Members

Petanque is Great for Kids and Adults!

One of the best aspects of Petanque is that both kids and adults can play the sport on the same teams. The rules of the sport are easy, and the throwing techniques are easy enough to begin playing at a very good level (especially if you've ever bowled, played horseshoes, or even played Bocce.)

"Get Up! Get Out!" Detroit Public TV Segment Filmed Today

It's not all about petanque, sometimes we also do public television shows... DP-TV thoughtfully included the Michigan and Detroit Petanque clubs in their children's programming. They brought down their professional crew and filed the members playing the sport, and interviewed us for their show. Look for it on November 11th!