All posts by Rolayn Tauben

2023 Howard Mackey Jamboree Winners, 3/18/2023

2023 Howard Mackey Jamboree Winners:

Skips:
1st Place: David Usher (Palo Alto)
2nd Place: Bing (aka Gary) Burns (San Francisco; dual member Berkeley)
3rd Place: Andrew Keeler (San Francisco)
4th Place: John Grimes (San Francisco)

Vices:
1st Place: Lennon Hamilton (Berkeley)
2nd Place: Cris Benton (Berkeley)
3rd Place: Billy Wilson (San Francisco)
4th Place: Luis Zapata (San Francisco; dual member Berkeley)

Leads:
1st Place: Carrie Chiang (San Francisco)
2nd Place: Lydia Zapata (San Francisco; dual member Berkeley)
3rd Place: Mei Chan (San Francisco)
4th Place: Ginger Cheng (Berkeley)

10 very Berkeley date ideas, Berkeleyside, 2/14/2023

Excerpt from Berkeleyside article “10 very Berkeley date ideas”:

“Yes, lawn bowling

Hear us out. This ancient cousin to indoor bowling is an excellent outdoor activity for not-so-perfect weather (Lawn Bowling is enjoyable even under a drizzle). This date idea is also a perfect chance to test your crush’s frustration threshold, as getting the hang of this deceivingly simple-looking game requires patience and good coordination skills. Tucked in the Poet’s Corner in West Berkeley, the bowling green has been part of the city for almost 100 years. For just $5, visitors can play a game. The club offers snacks and soft drinks, but feel free to bring your sandwiches and snacks.”

Ginger Cheng Takes Berkeley Novice Singles Title, 2/4/2023

What a day! What a final! Ginger Cheng takes Berkeley 2022 Novice Singles Title

The 2022 BLBC Novice Singles Tournament—yes, that’s the 2022 event—finally took place on February 4, 2023 after several postponements in December and January due to the welcome but, for bowlers frustrating, winter bomb cyclones and atmospheric rivers that the Bay Area has been subjected to.

Undaunted by the prospect of further inclement weather during the day, 12 eager Novices took to the damp and heavy green and braved a day of cold, wind, and showers—sometimes intense—to show their mettle. (“Fine bowling weather” it’s called in Scotland.) Given the uncertain conditions, a last minute decision was made by the Tournament Team to abjure the usual singles format of playing till a certain number of points is scored and instead to have games run to 15 ends, in the hope that this would expedite play and allow the tournament to be completed on the day.

By random draw, the field of 12 went through three preliminary rounds with only two players emerging as winners of all three of their games. This resulted in a final matchup of Tom Birt and Ginger Cheng, and what a final they gave us.

End for end, bowl for bowl, they assiduously contested every point, with the lead moving back and forth over the course of the match due to excellent shots by each player. On the 15th end, you just knew it would happen, on a beautiful draw Tom seized two points to tie the score, so a last, tie-breaking end had to be played. With Ginger lying shot, Tom had little option but to try a “yard on” with his last bowl. In it came, edging the jack over four feet to where one of his bowls was closest, but before he could celebrate victory his runner continued, nudging Ginger’s bowl just enough to put it a few inches closer to the jack than Tom’s, giving her the game and the 2022 Novice title by a single point. It was a final to grace any tournament, let alone a Novice one.

Thanks are due to many people, not least Tom himself as a “Novice” Tournament Director in difficult circumstances, to all who helped with hospitality and green setup, and especially the veteran bowlers who volunteered their time as markers and who carried on through the on again/off again downpours.

  • Report courtesy of Jim Corr

BLBC 2022 Pairs Tournament, 10/22/2022

BLBC 2022 Pairs Culminates in Dramatic Final

The Club’s 2022 Pairs Tournament was held on Saturday, October 2022 and featured eight teams, first playing a series of three randomly-drawn 10-end games. The two top teams from that round went forward into a 10-end final. Teams had been formed by a random matching of Skips with Leads and had been handicapped based on the combined handicap of Skip and Lead. 

Only one team—Gary “Bing” Burns and Gordon Beveridge—emerged from the prelims with three wins, while three others had won two of their three matches. Of the latter, Chris Davis and Sarah Allday moved on to the final through having the best differential among the tied second place teams.

And what a final it was! A delight to the assembled spectators. Starting out with a net handicap in this matchup of +5 and taking three shots on the first end, Gary and Gordon looked in a formidable position. But Chris and Sarah were not giving in that easily and fought their way back into the match to tie it up at 9-9 on the eight end. Both teams were bowling really well, drawing continuous applause from the peanut gallery for shot after excellent shot, a particularly spectacular one being from Gary to slip in on the 9th end with his last bowl and take away Sarah’s point that was sitting less than two inches from the jack. The perfectly executed draw slowed as it drew in and curved just so to nestle an inch behind the jack. But the undaunted Davis/Allday team were not yet out and grabbed a single point on the 10th end to tie the game.

A 1-end bowl-off determined the winners. Chris and Sarah were now on a roll and put in great shots to win by three points and thereby emerge as 2022 Pairs Champions. 

Congratulations Chris and Sarah and thanks to all the participants for a fine day of bowling, to the hospitality crew of Sarah and Rolayn for vittles, and, as always, to our Greenskeeper Annie for what must currently be the fastest natural cover green in the PIMD.

– Report courtesy of Jim Corr

Rossmoor Challenge, 11/5/2022

The “Allende El Cerro” Trophy Goes to the Other Side of the Hill
They say “better late than never,” but when the news is not so good, maybe it’s not so good. Anyhoosies, with apologies for the delay to those of you not already aware, we lost the annual challenge match to Rossmoor LBC on Saturday, November 5.
We fielded six triples teams for a morning and afternoon game, but sadly only managed two wins on either side of lunch. Rumor has it that the Rossmoor folks were riled up by your humble correspondent holding up the trophy at announcements time, urging our hosts to take a good look, as some of them had never seen it before. (Berkeley had won the preceding four years in a row.) Lesson learned.
The trophy titled “Allende El Cerro” translates as “Over the Hill” to some people—a bit too close to the bone for me, with its whiff of an implication that lawn bowls is a sport for geezers. “On the other side of the hill” is a perfectly good alternative.
Riled or not, our Rossmoor colleagues were ever gracious and laid on a very nice lunch with hamburgers, veggie burgers, and hot links with all the fixings and then some, served up by grillmaster Ozzie Ozorio. We thank them and look forward to next year’s match-up here at home when we anticipate the trophy will return to this side of the hill!

– Report courtesy of Jim Corr

PIMD 2022 Singles, 7/9/2022, 7/16/2022

PIMD 2022 Singles—Dual Venue Tests the Field

The PIMD Singles Tournament was held over two Saturdays (July 9 and July 16) at two clubs: first, at San Francisco LBC, followed by the final rounds at Berkeley.

Twenty-four competitors, both men and women, started out at SF, and after three matches played to 16 points, a top 12 emerged, three players having three wins: Chris Davies (Berkeley), Jim Corr (Berkeley) and Scottie Marzonie (Palo Alto,) and nine having a record of two wins, one loss.

On the succeeding Saturday, with all games played to 18 points, the top six bowlers from the SF rounds were first randomly matched against the bottom six. The two later rounds were played on a “winner v winner” basis. After two matches, the final contests were set with Jim Corr facing Andrew Keeler (San Francisco) for top spot and Jesse May (Santa Cruz) against Chris Davies at that point in third and fourth place. In the Corr-Keeler matchup, Andrew jumped into an early lead to go up 10-3 at one point, but, mainly through getting hold of the jack more often, Jim managed to switch play to a short jack game and dominated the second half. Four points for Jim on the 16th end tied the game at 15-15, and in the next end he took another three to snatch victory and the 2022 Singles title.

The other top match was equally hard fought, with Jesse overcoming Chris by 18-14, which vaulted Jess to second place overall in the standings. Andrew finished third, edging out Aumao To’alepaialii (Santa Cruz) by a single differential point over the three matches of the day.

Congratulations to all who were “in the money” (a total of eight players) and thanks, as always, to PIMD Tournament Director Bud Birkenseer for the hours he put in to overseeing the tourney. And a big shout out to the Berkeley hospitality crew as well as to newly (re)-appointed greenskeeper, Annie Brillhart for producing a fine playing surface at short notice.