wk5

“Hop on the bus, Gus, you don’t need to discuss much. Just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free.” On Wednesday night, the RBVL took Paul Simon’s advice and hopped on a bus which delivered the revelers to the Cabana in Long Beach, an RBVL first of its kind road trip. Rocky and George Johnson thought up and carried out this plan and it worked beautifully. Two neighboring Long Beach bars wondered how they could order up 50 customers on a quiet Wednesday night like the Cabana did. The trip, now known as Thelma and Louise’s excellent adventure, arrived at the Cabana well tuned up for a night of live rock and roll. Brian Monaghan and his understudy, Bobby Butler Jr. did not disappoint. Brian’s lilting musical sound treated the players to all of the classic songs they wanted to hear and to some of the vulgar but hysterical covers they didn’t know they were getting, too. And Brian reminded his Rockaway fans that Joe is not just a member of the RBVL Committee but he was also Brian’s Little League Coach a scant 33 years ago. Brian is proud to say the wood he makes a living with is not a baseball bat but a Takamine guitar so Joe’s early prediction was half right. Bobby relieved Brian for quite a while and stoked the party up a notch. Then Dancer tore it up sitting in on a couple of songs and had the crowd percolating with his soulful raspy versions of Southside Johnny’s “Fever” and Mellencamp’s “Little Pink Houses.” After hearing Dancer’s rich throttled voice, a petition was circulated to have his name changed from Dancer to Singer. That means he has to re-sign his roster.

The Rincon Gringos have been going through growing pains this season. It’s hard to call it growing pains since they are actually not growing. They are doing whatever Benjamin Bratt did in that movie of his. Moving down to the fourth division with Connolly’s they are both struggling. However the new additions of Mary Bruns, Nora, and Mutz will eventually pay dividends. This week they abandoned the mantra of three hits as they fought the wind and just put it over the net. Team captain John Sica is confident that on any August Saturday anything can and will happen. Look out Beach division. The Freaky Tiki All Stars had it out with JG Electric. JG’s girls didn’t seem to notice the wind with their electric sets. The All Star’s took a big hit. Not in the standings, but in the loss of Connor (Sweet Baby) Pfister. He is a big addition to the team, not only in size and talent, but in the ability to partake in the winning float at the Mermaid Parade. Tiki will do what they can to get him a “sweet” sweatshirt for Chicago.

Freedhand’s won again, who cares? The Bungalow Baranha’s took four with strong (windy) serves and powerful (windy) spikes. The team had four wins but only three seats on the bus so they took a dollar cab all the way, for only $1. If there was more room they would have picked up some fares near Mott Avenue. The team missed Captain Vinny and Carolyn who were up at some other beach somewhere else. Who knew there was a beach beyond Rockaway? The Stanii would like to welcome back Kieran Rodgers from his navy tour aboard the USS Fort McHenry. The Stanii celebrated by losing four to one.

The Social Yachties don't need any old random guy because we have Danny Toumey! Thanks to Mark Kuhlman for a great cooler. We’ve got Rory doing cartwheels. So if you are running late for work, no worries. After many years in the RBVL Mike Martin finally performed his first heroic task by personally digging up the biggest rock anyone has ever seen buried on the beach. Keep up the good work because the Parks Department may have re-buried it on Thursday. Last week, It’s All Good stumbled in their first loss of the year, a 2-3 squeaker to Team Margarita and this week they repeated that performance in a 2-3 defeat by Atlantic Service Sandsharks. Pat Goldberg’s championship guarantee looks shakier every week. Murph had a little trouble finding his court Wednesday night, even though his team has been assigned to the same one all year. He was a little suspicious his squad was hiding on him. Kiss My Ace got more aces and kisses and won two games, double the win total they had coming into the week. Let’s go Aces! It’s time for the playoff push. Mr. Happy, AKA angry Steve, did not make the trip to Long Beach and he was missed. Referee /Coach Bob Schwartz was the big winner of the night. The Cabana is conveniently located a mere two blocks from his house, which was the sole reason for the road trip. Coach was so appreciative he had a second plate of food. As the only ref on the trip, he was happy to hold up the long standing ref tradition of being first on line for the food. Way to go, Coach. Chicken and beef tacos seemed endless and were delicious and the staff somehow managed to handle the sudden influx of thirsty customers smoothly.

On the bus trip home the passengers entertained themselves singing the songs of Bill Withers, CCR, Don McLean and others. (Is entertaining one’s self akin to self-medicating?) The road trip appears to have been an outstanding success with 66 of the 67 people signing up for next year’s possible trip. The bus driver was the only one declining to sign up for next year’s trip.

All in all, the first (annual?) RBVL Bus trip to Long Beach was a rip roaring success and President Patty was rejuvenated by the event. Every seat on the bus was occupied and the clientele was a perfect cross section of the league. Young and old, new and veteran were all mixed together in one big party. And the bus ride home was reminiscent of camp days with Colleen, Theresa and Noreen leading the singing of many a classic rock tune. Bobby Butler added the tenor notes and perfect tempo, banging on the bus window. After all, he is in the business. And Kathryn represented the younger players Singin ‘n Swiggin with the old-timers. While this was all going on, the Cabana team had their own private van filled with 12 players right behind the bus. The bus made two stops and everyone under the age of 30 got off at Connolly’s to continue the party. The bus disgorged the other well sated cargo back at the Belle Harbor Yacht Club in a scene reminiscent of the return of Randle “Mac” McMurphy’s fishing trip in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Then Joe and Tommy Lac went to Jameson’s but no one was there and we really mean no one. What happened? FYI - the bus left BHYC at 9:03 PM and returned from Long Beach at 11:50 PM, returning to BHYC at 12:30 AM, almost exactly as planned. What were the odds on that happening? About the same as Haley’s Comet’s arrival. (Haley had not been mentioned in a few weeks so he was overdue for a reference.)

A now an administrative reminder: Every year of expansion made filling referee spots tougher and tougher. Thank goodness for the many youthful refs who have stepped in along the way to help us make ends meet. Now the league is stretched to its limit and finding enough refs each week is a chore. Be prepared to have a week where there are no refs in your division. If that happens, play the games hard, with sportsmanship and report your scores when finished. The Ocean Division, filled with the top players on the beach, did it last week without any trouble. Follow their lead. After all, everyone just wants to play volleyball. It seems like a better option than cutting the RBVL back to 32 teams. (Or maybe back to the Original 7.) By the way, who were the original seven teams in the RBVL? Some older players mentioned the Beach House, Raintower and Fort Wade but there must be four more. Send us an e-mail and let us know. And what about all of the romances and marriages that started on the courts of the RBVL? Nets better get returned promptly next week. Then Patty and Steve will be very happy campers. Captains and players 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 11 PM on Wednesday night. The RBVL has a Facebook page and, if you like it, you will receive timely updates, whoever you are, captain or not. If you have any questions please call Patty Moule at 917-613-0908. (Call between 10 AM and 9 PM.)

See you on the beach!