RBVL Gears Up for Championships
By Rocky D. and
Joe McGivney
8/1/14
It is hard to believe but the Rockaway Beach
Volleyball League completed the penultimate night of league play on
Wednesday night. That’s a
TBG kind of word but it means there is only one more week to go.
The season seems to go faster than the summer, if that’s
possible. Only four teams
out of 74 have clinched first place.
Congratulations to Freedhand’s, Miley, Wharf Rats and the
Baranha’s. Everyone else is
vying for the best possible playoff position and a few regular season
titles. Kiss My Ace had
their biggest night of the year with a 4-1 win over Kerry Hills.
Unfortunately, they are still the first team eliminated from the
playoffs. Only one other
team will not qualify for the playoffs and right now the Kevin C.
Buckley Sandstorms hold a 4 point lead on Kerry Hills.
Mathematically, anything could happen, so stay tuned.
And the best pennant race of all belongs to the Star Division.
Rathbones are 30-19; DisFUNctional are 30-20; Wine with Sue
Island are 29-19; Last Call is 29-20.
Wednesday and Saturday should be very exciting.
Casino Auto Body defeated the Mighty Boosh 4-1 to avenge an
earlier regular season defeat, despite the spectacular one handed circus
sets of Alison Bagley.
Casino was led by Charlie Brady and the triplets, Brianna, Sarah and
Lauren, heretofore known as Charlie’s Angels.
For those wondering, Joe and Rocky were also on the court.
In the third game Joe broke his own record for the least number
of footprints placed in the sand during the course of a game.
He reduced his previous record of 14 slow placed footprints to
12. That’s either old age
or superior defensive positioning. The Circle of Death was alive on Connolly’s
tonight, producing one victory in the last game.
I guess the Average Joe’s just got tired of winning.
The Circle of Trust for the Roger’s Irish Setters seemed in
jeopardy. John Fabry of
Wine with Sue, team and band, asserted that they are going to make a
serious run for the championship.
The band is celebrating their twenty year anniversary and would
love to enhance their special anniversary year with a championship.
This week, Bugsy’s speech to his It’s All Good teammates
incorporated a word not often associated with volleyball – springboard.
It appears to be Bugsy’s motivational word for the week.
Patrick Goldberg morphed into the Bagel, Brian Bagley, due to the
new Doo atop his head. He
must have gotten his haircut at Beach Bagel.
Billy Collins brought his “friend” down to play volleyball.
It’s nice to have “friends” who are Division One players.
Pico took three from Dalton’s,
with the help of a first, in Rockaway Beach Volleyball history.
Leo showed up in a dress shirt and tie to help win the last two
games. He may be the first
player that actually tied one on before the game.
Dalton’s is checking the rule book for an over dressed clause. The new king of the beach, Ryan Whalen, handled
the extra load of an absent Jack Bradley as Freedhand’s edged out
Gatemate 3-2. Looks like
Jack has been demoted from King of the Beach to the Semi-Sultan of Soft
Sand. Sue from Sets on the Beach
would like to know where all her team-mates were.
They certainly weren’t at The Wharf.
Perhaps they were home watching volleyball training tapes.
Or cooling the whip marks from their 4-1 thrashing by the Odd
Couples. EZ
Company limped away with two wins without the Quiet Man. TJ's goulash
recipe leads the league in the "what did he say?" department.
Grampa Don inspired the squad
with stories of USA volleyball victories in Trieste. Annie
M. explained to Young Danger that the Wizard of Oz character is Auntie
Em, not Annie M. Senora Spike said that volleyball has been berry,
berry good to her. The Devinator is on strike until she gets
a better nickname. (Sorry, but TBG and Cement Shoes are already taken.)
Whitey Bulger and his gun moll brought just enough snacks to last
all night long. Old Danger looks ready for a new Beach Barco
Lounger. Sheila and SQ are like
Nixon - tanned, rested and ready. Look
out. Everyone knows that Patty and Vinny have a love fest every
week but this week it almost came to blows over a deflated volleyball.
Long story short, super efficient Equipment Man Extraordinaire,
Steve Gifford, had left pumps out by the blackboard and a friendship was
almost lost over a misunderstood flat ball.
Who needs “Gone with the Wind” when we have "Gone with the
Volleyball?”
Where do we find these DJ’s?
First Teddy and now DJ Mouse, it doesn’t get any better than
that, folks. Unless you
stop by the BHYC next week!
That should make three great DJ’s in three weeks. Pete Wrynn stepped up to solve the riddle of the
missing 7th team from the inaugural year of the RBVL.
Pete says it was his team, the All American Sharks.
Some of his teammates were Steve Kearns, Tommy Kearns and maybe
Nora O’Connell. That makes
it sort of, kind of, maybe, official.
The 7 original teams of the RBVL are: the Beach House, Raintower,
Fort Wade, Blackwater, Exercise Club, Hercules Exterminators and the All
American Sharks. Next
season, we’ll figure out who joined in year two when the league expanded
to 12 teams. Right off the
bat, add Abbracciamento’s to the list, led by owner Frank and captain
Rocky, with Joe and Billy Moore, Joe, Tommy P., Billy Ryan, Jenny and
Leah. And don’t forget
Connolly’s, once and still, led by the happiest of all captains, Stevie
G. The RBVL 2014 Playoffs
will be played by all divisions on Saturday, August 9th at
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. All
matches are best of 5 games to 21 points – win by two points and no cap.
Round 1 - 10:30 a.m.:
1st place vs. 8th place, 2nd place vs.
7th place, 3rd place vs. 6th place and
4th place vs. 5th place.
Round 2 - 12:00 p.m.:
3rd/6th winner vs. 2nd/7th
winner and 4th/5th winner vs. 1st/8th
winner.
Round 3 - 2:00 p.m.:
CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES.
Some sandwiches will be provided for lunch.
Please bring any other beverages you require but remember that
officially, alcohol and bottles are not allowed on the beach.
Make sure that you bag and clear all of your garbage from the
beach when you leave. A
rainout on Saturday is very rare. We may be under the buildings
for a while if there is lightning but we are likely to play through the
rain. With 40 6-ft. heroes ordered, 37 referees contracted and a
DJ it is very hard to postpone. Of course, check your e-mails and
the website for updates.
The
RBVL then concludes its 2014
season. Is that possible?
Is the season really only one week from being over?
Say it ain’t so, Joe.
I’m getting verklempt!
The RBVL committee would like to thank the overwhelming number of players who have cooperated with the “no bottle”
policy. Unfortunately, bottles have been noticed on the beach and we are forced to play bottle police.
It’s not fair to us or the league to do that.
We have a comfortable but precarious relationship with the custodians of the park.
Some of the common excuses are:
We take them with us and/or I couldn’t find cans.
Gateway and the RBVL don’t care.
The regulation doesn’t allow for excuses to determine who qualifies for an exemption.
No one qualifies. And the beach has not been spotlessly clean the last two weeks.
Make sure to clean up when you leave and help out by picking up any stray garbage even if it wasn’t yours.
Everyone is in this together.
Consider this practice for the playoffs, where everyone must be on their best behavior since all of Gateway will be watching.
All RBVL players and refs must remember that the committee is volunteering their time, after working
all day and taking care of their families.
There is one week left before the playoffs and things usually
become more intense as the season winds down.
Please remember it really is just a game! Make Patty
and Steve happy one last time next week and return your net promptly.
When it’s dark outside, no one can possibly be playing.
Do not let up on this important job.
There is only one more week to go.
They don’t ask for much so let’s do this for them.
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.)
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