03/28/25
July 24, 2002
The perfect summer game? : If ever there was a leisurely hot-weather pastime, it's petanque (or its relatives, boules and bocce). It may even promote longevity; the founder of the USA Petanque Federation, Alfred Levitt, a former chess partner of Marcel Duchamp, died a couple of years ago, aged 105.
Compared to the older folks I've seen play in France, and here in NYC, I'm a beginner, but it's good to know I can carry on improving for 40 years, and enjoy conversation and refreshments while doing so.
posted by liam at 03:32 PM on July 24, 2002
All I can think right now is that Cosby Show episode....PETONK!
posted by Succa at 06:33 PM on July 24, 2002
Great link! It's good to see more alternative pastimes on the board. When I was a kid in Western Massachusetts, we used games like this as an indicator to separate the regular people from the hicks. Regular people played Bocce. Hicks played Horseshoes. Sadly, I think I enjoyed horseshoes a bit more.
posted by Samsonov14 at 08:31 PM on July 24, 2002
Ahem! While more a past time than sport bocce provides players of all ages and types competition and the comraderie of team play. Serious players have organized leagues to play in, as well as a "pro circuit" where top purses can be as much as $10,000 to the winning team. At backyards or picnics bocce provides an opportunity for grandfathers to bond with granddaughters and cousins the chance to revive past memories. I actually had a player --one of the best ones-- on a team of mine that won a club championship who at 95 was more than 50 years older than the next oldest player!
posted by Bocceman at 07:23 AM on July 26, 2002
My family would have epic games of bocce in our Texas backyard while I was growing up; kids, cousins, parents, grandparents. Grandma, of course, soundly whooped all of our asses on a regular basis. There was nothing worse than watching your ball roll closer than Grandma's, thinking "Yes! I finally beat her!" and then hearing the 'clink' as it touched the center ball. Flash forward to the present, which finds me living in bella Italia. Upon seeing a group of older people playing bocce in the park, I casually mention to my friends that we should play a game of bocce sometime. Macchè, stai fuori? E' un gioco dei vecchioni!" (Are you nuts? It's an old person's game!) Indeed. And one wasted on the youth, it seems.