For nearly four decades, the Howard Mackey Jamboree* has been BLBC’s premier tournament, and this year’s event once again lived up to its reputation. The Jamboree’s unique format attracts players from across PIMD with 42 bowlers from seven clubs participating.

* The Howard Mackey Jamboree is not affiliated in any way with the Country Bear Jamboree!

The format gives all participants, regardless of experience or skill level, a good chance of finishing in the money. When registering, players choose their preferred position…skip, vice, or lead…to compete in three 10-end games. Teams are randomly formed by the tournament committee, and the teams are changed after each game.

Each player maintains their own score and at the end of the day there are no team awards, only the top four individuals in each category. It is the one tournament where there is an “I” in team.

The weather was perfect, the green was pristine and speedy, and the clubhouse was chock full of yummy treats, all of which made for a glorious day of lawn bowling.

Kudos to the Tournament Committee for overcoming the difficult challenge of ensuring that every bowler had different teammates and different opponents in each game.

Additional kudos to the Greens Committee and the Hospitality Committee.

And, of course, congratulations to the winners:

Berkeley pulls off an inter-club hat trick!

The annual Meat Axe Challenge between Berkeley and Palo Alto has been played nearly every year since 1958.  It has always manifested the best of lawn bowls competition, with a combination of competitiveness, joviality, and good sportsmanship. This year’s edition was no exception. 

Palo Alto traveled north, keen to avenge last year’s loss on their home turf.  The schedule called for five 12-end triples games in the morning and afternoon sessions, with the trophy going to the side with the most game points … three for a win, one for a tie.

The unseasonably chilly, misty weather did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of both squads. Like liposuction, the contest was nip and tuck all the way. In the morning, the visitors captured three of the five matches, winning two of them quite handily.  It was nervous times for the Blue and Gold as Palo Alto seemed to have the upper hand.  They only had 15 bowlers, so their teams could remain the same.  We had 25, which demanded a juggling act to add 10 new bowlers in the afternoon. Only our five skips bowled both games.  

They had stability, we had depth. Ultimately, depth prevailed as we won four of the five afternoon matches to secure an 18-12 victory.  The Meat Axe remains where it seems happiest … in our clubhouse.

Once again, kudos to our greenskeepers for the beautiful and speedy green, and to our Hospitality Committee for the yummy snacks and barista-quality coffee.  And an extra shout out to our Tournament Committee for arranging and rearranging the team assignments. 

Moreover, we swept the season’s three inter-club matches for the second year in a row.

On a cloudy, cool, and misty Saturday morning, 42 enthusiastic and seemingly over-caffeinated bowlers from five Bay Area clubs arrived in Berkeley to participate in the annual Howard Mackey Jamboree, the crown jewel of BLBC’s annual tournament schedule.  The Jamboree, which was created by Mr. Mackey in the 80s, has a unique tournament format. There are three 10-end triples games.  Players are allocated into the three categories of skip, vice, and lead and the teams are randomly selected and then changed after each game.  It is the one tournament in which there is an “I” in team as each player maintains their own score and at the end of the day there are no team awards, only individual winners in each category.

The challenge for our tournament committee is to ensure that every bowler will have different teammates and different opponents in each…i.e., no one will ever play with or against the same bowler all day.  Kudos to our TC for figuring out how to do this.  An additional, albeit yet to be solved, complexity is never having anyone bowl on the same rink more than once.  That’s next year’s challenge.

As usual, the BLBC green was in pristine condition and there was an abundance of yummy, nutritious snacks and barista-quality coffee.   Manifesting the collective IQ of the participants was that game one started on time as every bowler was able to figure out their team, position, and rink they were assigned to.   As if scripted, the clouds disappeared by 10 AM and the remainder of the tournament was played under blue skies and pleasant temperature.  The last games finished at 4 PM and nearly all the participants gathered on the patio, munching on ice cream sandwiches (a Jamboree tradition), eagerly awaiting the final results, which were:

Even though there was a bit on cash involved, the abundance of camaraderie, laughter, and cheerful banter throughout the day was akin to a typical draw game, which is exactly what this tournament is all about.  

And lastly, a huge shout out to our Hospitality Committee and our greenkeeping team for helping make this a glorious day.