week 8

As usual for Wednesday night, the Rockaway Beach Volleyball League commenced action with the weather dial set on PVW - Perfect Volleyball Weather. TBG described the night thusly: “The majestic magenta sky (or was it magestic majenta) was so idyllic that it gave the feeling of a top ten silver anniversary volleyball night.” He then continued with language way too intricate for most league members to comprehend. If you don’t have a Literature degree, just nod when you see him because his vocabulary and sentence structure will knock you for a loop. In fact he was just knighted Timothy Murphy, TBGPLRBVL (The Big Guy Poet Laureate Rockaway Beach Volleyball League). That title is for life. (Or until somebody better comes along.) Who else would ask a barking dog, “How did you know I was a Mailman?” During league play TBG attempted a block and due to a physical malfunction he brought the net down. He has frequently brought the house down but the net, not ever, not once. It’s All Good fell to Curran’s 2-3 but are still trying to duplicate their magical (or is it majical) palindronic championship year of 2002.

Wednesday’s scheduling featured a position week where all first and second place teams battled. (As well as 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10.) When the smoke cleared, four of nine divisions had two teams tied or within one point of each other. Diggin ‘n Swiggin beat U Got Served 3-2 and nosed ahead by a point while Kobeyaki Got Kills beat Team Margarita 3-2 and edged within one. Simba’s Pride won 4-1 over the White Horse Tavern in the Sun Ray and Rathbones won 3-2 over Last Call in the Star. Those results left those two pennant races dead even with three weeks to go. All of the other first place teams padded their leads with wins: Freedhand’s 3-2 over Freaky Tiki All Stars, Miley Home Improvement 4-1 over host Jameson’s, Pico 4-1 over Sandspikers, Wharf Rats 3-2 over Beach House and Bungalow Baranha’s 4-1 over It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere. Teams were reminiscing about the early years of the league 25 summers ago and Joe and Seal still remember brother Billy Moore spiking balls off player’s heads, who were brand new to the game of volleyball. When his teammates asked him to take it easy on the newcomers, Billy replied, “If they are out on the court I will spike it off of their noggins. And they might want to remove their expensive sunglasses because I will take them out, too.” Sadly, Billy is gone but his legend will live forever. He and Rocky carried the old Brooklyn Prep (Medgar Evers) torch proudly for many years. Right, Cement Shoes?

Many players were petitioning to change the matches to Thursday because the weather has been great on Thursdays and shaky on Wednesdays. This will be discussed by the executive board on February 29^th. Last week the Wounded Warriors parade wound through the Rockaway’s. Several hundred Rockaway Beach Volleyball League players stopped their games and scurried over to greet the procession of cars, motorcycles and fire engines. Folks were wearing red, white and blue and carrying American and Wounded Warrior flags. Afterward, many wondered if the small gesture meant much. The answer came quickly in an e-mail from organizer, Buffalo Joe Gajewski, who thanked the RBVL for making the parade extra special this year. Great job, RBVL! John Sica posted a video from Riis Park on YouTube. Check it out. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB-UTAPrkJc&feature=youtu.be) And check out his old highlight video from years gone by. Search for Rockaway Beach Volleyball / Disorder in the House and you will see some very familiar faces. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm3DJ-flgIo)

Casino Auto Body lost 2-3 to the Mighty Boosh. The Boosh was led by the deft passing and setting of Allison Bagley. Her band of young guns made several members of Casino feel really old. Wait, they are really old. At least two Casino men have passed the half century mark and two more are eligible for SSI next year. Rocky laid blame for his poor play on a childhood bout with gout in third grade at St. Brendan’s. (Mostly since there was no wind to blame.) A highly cynical teammate displayed some mild skepticism. The Boosh were led by Andrew’s spectacular jump serving, which may be as good as anybody in the entire league not named Brian Sica. And if that wasn’t enough, Allison followed him with an equal number of service bombs. The Boosh seem to be getting Mightier every week. Notorious Uma’s Pumas is self titling themselves the Wild Card of the Beach division. Watch out on August 9^th! Look out for the top secret weapon Michelle “The Squish” Chionchio. Bungalow Baranha’s vs. It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere will play 0 games in a row with 5 down and 5 to go. The Baranha’s took the first 4. If ‘Somewhere’ could bring that game five heat next week they could take a lot more W’s. Ocean 12’s took 3 hard fought games from the Beach Bums for their third win of the season. That goes with 5 shutout losses in their other Boardwalk Division matches. If you can figure that on out send them a tweet. Jimmy Carries was called for zero carries all night and that means either he is improving or the ref swallowed his whistle. Either way, it’s a step in the right direction. Hamilton Hardware won their first match of the season 3-2 over IFMA’s. Things are looking up.

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 everyone is in it together. The RBVL is putting out an APB (all points bulletin) for Cubby. He has been missing for over two years and was last seen boarding a Piper Cub with Amelia Earhart at Floyd Bennett Municipal Airport. Last week, league stalwarts, Joe Hutton and Cody Walsh got engaged. They plan on a joint honeymoon to conserve funds. Rumor has it that Kutshers in the Catskills is on the short list. The only negative being the bunk beds. Connolly’s defeated the Rincon Gringos 4-1. Stevie G. played well despite the physical and mental limitations he confronts daily. Some players feel the team is at it best when Stevie is in the equipment shack. (Just outside the Circle of Death.) Has John Sica’s once proud franchise hit rock bottom?

EZ Company was happy to take 5 for a change. They must be "in the no" - no Owen, no Brian, no coach, no problem. The Dan’s showed you can't spell danger without D-A-N. Will someone please tell TJ who left the cake out in the rain? Annie suggests safety vests for anyone positioned within five steps of you know who. The Devinator is working on a more menacing nickname. Double M left a lot of meat on that bone, but give him credit for a nice try. Barbara changed the Strike Dance into a Spike Dance and a Line Dance for the volleyball league. Sheila's serve qualified as a weapon of mass destruction. SQ promises to bring the strudel again for The Bash. Next week, will the Real Slim Shady please stand up?

Denise would like to remind her team of the “Don’t say Heidi” rule. It always throws the server off. Pat Tanzy of Wine With Sue had one of his best nights thanks to Brian and Tracy. Maybe Brian and Tracy should show up less. Don Sautner, a rookie, has taken Wine With Sue to heights previously not climbed. Elaine Matzen gives him three thumbs up for being an amazing addition to Wine with Sue. (Where did that other thumb come from?)

Karen deeply regrets missing her own team’s party at Connolly’s last week but her trip to Maine was a big success. Sadly, she didn’t enjoy the pulled pork, BBQ chicken, baked beans, cole slaw and macaroni salad everyone else nibbled on through the night. Kudos to the Portable Pig Man, whose motto is, “Have smoke, will travel.” Who is the last original team in the RBVL? Surely, someone knows. (Don’t call me Shirley.) So far, the Beach House, Raintower, Fort Wade, Blackwater, Exercise Club and Hercules Exterminators have been confirmed. Here is the World Cup championship update: Germany 1 – Argentina 0. Pope Benedict took down Pope Francis in the first futbol title match between two living Popes. And everyone in Germany, Argentina and the United States got drunk at parties watching the game. But Americans would rather watch NBA summer games.

Nets are being returned pretty promptly each week. Do not let up on this important job. You have made Patty and Steve very happy campers. They don’t ask for much so let’s do this for them. 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 almost impossible. 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. After all, everyone just wants to play volleyball. 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!