week ten

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 7^th 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 9^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. 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. 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.)

For one last Wednesday and one more Saturday, we will see you on the beach!