week10

Once again the Rockaway Beach Volleyball League played under beautiful weather with perfect volleyball conditions and players are wondering if bad weather will ever hit Riis Park this summer. Keep enjoying the wonderful nights. (For one more week.) You are not going to believe the next 14 words; they are worse than last week’s 14 words – there is only one more Wednesday night match left in the 2016 RBVL season! Say it ain’t so, Joe. Playoff positioning and regular season titles will all be up for grabs one last week. Summer seems to take forever to get here but once it does it moves too fast. It was actually chilly on the beach, requiring teams to break out their championship hoodies. The after-party was at the Bungalow Bar – which sponsors two teams in the league and is always a generous supporter of the RBVL. The spread included salad, rolls, chicken, mashed potatoes, rice and pasta, with lots of refills when things went out. Players took over the beautiful tent, and DJ Teddy spun all night. It doesn’t get much better than a beautiful night on the bay, and we’re thankful each season for the chance to dance all night on the Bungalow Bar’s deck. Next Wednesday will be the 2016 regular season finale both on and off the courts. The volleyball action on the courts will decide playoff positioning and the party action at the Belle Harbor Yacht Club will decide nothing, except who can have the best time. Every year this is the biggest and best celebration of the season. 8/10 should be no different. See you at BHYC.

The Cape Cod Irish Villagers were forced to roll out their 40-and-over lineup on the men's side, and promptly lost four games. The results on the concussion tests for Mike and Mikey Jr. were not available as of press time. Optimistic Pat wants to know if his 3XL sweatshirt will be ready for August 14. He has plans. EZ Company went 4-1 against the Odd Couples. Coach Fishkisser lost the toss but sort of made it up for it with a fair to middling pep talk. Annie stumped the movie loving crowd with her, "I don't know nothin' about birthin' no babies" line from Gone With The Wind. Old Dan has learned to pronounce metatarsophalangeal joint, which is not a good thing at all. He will be sorely missed. Happy Birthdays to Jill and Young Dan. Cupcakes may be in the mix for next week but no promises have been made. Best Dressed Player Marty showed up, got changed, and hit 7 consecutive great serves before she had a chance to even take a breath. Kerry had a passing fancy with plenty of nice sets back and forth with the Birthday Boy. Teej still wears an orange Bay One-er under it all just in case he has take it all off and jump into a fishbowl to help a goldfish in distress. Deb's melon display was missed by all. Greg the Keg has mouths watering with early talk of his special breakfast sammies for playoff day. Of course, his Famous Bash is the biggest crowd pleaser of them all. Henceforth Mikey the M will be known as Rasta Man. The Sparkling Seltzer Sister got a chorus of amens with her motto, “'I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." Amen, Sister!

Community House took four close games from Le Greann – despite solid serves from the “Spinny Serve Guy.” Rob and Ryan Vasselman skilled it on the net, blocking and hitting them over. Both teams are so well matched that the games are fun, which is the whole point anyway. The Star Wars Cantina was ready for lift off with the positive vibes in the absence of Pat Brady. But the score was pretty much only negative vibes with four losses to the By the Beach Cocos. Substitute Captain Big Mouth Blutstein’s pride of the night was blocking five spikes from Mike Paskoff, proving who has the biggest ups in Belle Harbor. Blutstein requested a change of his nickname to The Cronston Killer but Big Mouth is probably more fitting. Simba’s Pride roared Wednesday night, winning four against the Beach Bums. They are planning on shipping Brian King to Rio to represent the United States. Make sure to get your Zika vaccination. Tax City snatched three from the Bungalow Baranhas, but the games were close and friendly. Standout players for the Baranhas, one of tonight’s host teams, include Carolyn, Jackie and Other Danny. This season the Baranhas have shared the league with another Bungalow Bar team, and while on the sidelines, scribe Katie came up with an idea to hold a “Bungalow Bar Cup” between the teams once the summer league is over. What do you think, other Bungalow Bar? There are plenty of free nets after the matches on Saturday. Parts R Us Sharks beat It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere 3-2. It was pretty even, with lots of volleys and good all-around play. The team fell apart in the last two games but they’re feeling pretty confident going into the championships next week. They still are the top team in the division.

Mr. Happy’s team was not so happy this week. After winning four out of five last week, they got swept by their competition tonight – who’s not even worth mentioning. Players on Hall of Fame said they feel like the red-headed stepchildren of Mr. Happy, but want the team to get it together – or get out. They want Gifford to stop running and play more. Mr. Happy’s response is, “Most of youse should get out and start running so you can actually reach the balls. Or get cable and learn how to actually play.” I smell trouble in paradise. McMahon’s Suns of Beaches finally clinched four out of five for the first time this entire season. The standout player was Mike, aka “Chicken Cutlet,” because he’s always dredging and rolling all over the sand to get the ball. Kristen played for the first time this season and became a chicken cutlet, too, diving and jumping for plays. Thank God for Nick wearing his special volleyball socks, which helped the team win games when they really needed them. He finally washed them for the first time all season which may have also helped them win four awesome games (even though he only plays games one, three and five.) And a shout out to Sandro, who jumped like an NBA star and still got the ball over the net. The Rincon Gringos continued their good play despite losing 2-3. They were missing the Jim “Big Toe” Mack but luckily they had his daughter Morgan who is getting better every week. The girls, Maria and Billy, were once again outstanding, setting whenever the boys gave them a good pass. Jay continues to be the best pick up of the year. The teams were evenly matched and filled with great sportsman and women.

The RBVL committee would like to thank Janet and Bobby Fash for bringing vintage hats from the original volleyball days. Back then the league played on Beach 108^th Street and spelled volleyball without a space. To honor the throwbacks, Rocky brought out his old-school Abbraciamento’s silk jacket, too.

Patty from The Stanni and Alex from Hyper Athletics want to give a big shout out from Conklin House. Thanks to Joanne, Helen, Gerard and Frank for supporting the teams, along with their buddies Christina and Adriana. Hope to see you next week. The Stanni loved playing against their friendly pals the Beach House, and another great time was had by all. But, Beach House, remember that the game started with MAF making a rare but appreciated block at the net. The league has a friendly reminder to all players: We take the games seriously, but this league is not that serious. Please do not yell or abuse the refs, your competition or other volleyball players during games. At the end of the day, it’s a summer volleyball league that’s all about fun. If you were that good, you’d be playing in the Olympics right now.

Make sure to lock your car doors in the Riis Park parking lot. Two of our players had credit cards stolen from their wallet which was left behind in their car last week and over $5,000 in fraudulent charges were rung up while they were playing ball on the beach. Someone else spotted people in the lot checking door handles, probably looking for other unlocked cars. Be careful, especially on Saturday 8/13.

The RBVL 2016 Playoffs will be played by all divisions on Saturday, August 13^that 10:30 a.m. sharp. 10:30 is both the start time and the forfeit time for game #1. Nets will be available for set up and practice at 9:30 a.m. and must be up by 10 a.m. Just as a reminder, when the matchup is 1 vs. 8, the 8 seed is the home team and responsible for setting up the net. So the lower seeds are stuck putting up the nets. It’s good to be the King (higher seed)! All matches are best of 5 games to 21 points – win by two points and no cap. Round 1 - 10:30 a.m.: 1^st place vs. 8^th place, 2^nd place vs. 7^th place, 3^rd place vs. 6^th place and 4^th place vs. 5^th place. Round 2 - 12:00 p.m.: 3^rd/6^th winner vs. 2^nd/7th winner and 4^th/5^th winner vs. 1^st/8^th winner. Round 3 - 2:00 p.m.: CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES. The Sun Ray Division has a slightly different schedules in that the top two teams in that division have a first round bye. In their round 1, 3^rd place plays 6^th place and 4^th place plays 5^th place. In round 2, the 3^rd/6^th winner plays the 2^nd place team and the 4^th/5^th winner plays the 1^st place team. Round 3 is the Championship.

It may seem like the fun is over after Labor Day but there’s plenty to look forward to in September, including Poseidon’s Parade on Sept. 17, organized by some volleyball players. The parade kicks off at noon at Beach 106^th Street and the boardwalk, and players are encouraged to dress up in your favorite sea costume, build an amazing float with your team or neighbors, or just cheer along the sideline. The Graybeards would like to thank everyone who came to the Family Fun Run and helped out our neighbor who is in desperate need at this time. The neighbor is a family of 4. The father has a terminal genetic disease that was passed on to his 2 children. This disease is more progressive in younger individuals. It is truly a terrible situation. This family's gracious neighbors and friends have been pitching in to assist with everything from meals to yard work. Thanks to your generosity, almost $10,000 was donated via the 50-50 raffle to help out. Thank you so much. Don’t forget the Poseidon Parade on Saturday, Sept. 17. It kicks off at Beach 106^th St. and ends at the Beach 95^th St. plaza. Captains are reminded that they can have team items entered in the weekly Wave article by showing up at the sponsor bar or by e-mailing Joe at jmcgivney2@nyc.rr.com by midnight on Wednesday night. If you are wondering why some teams get a lot of coverage it’s because they send over some items and we transform the ideas into literature. Amazing! The RBVL has a Facebook page and, if you like it, you will receive timely updates, whoever you are, captain or not. Your RBVL Committee members will be around each and every week to help out on any matters and answer your questions.

See you on the beach!