Buffalo Croquet & Debate Club

Lightning Results in Park Deaths on Playoff Sunday  On the Wednesday after our playoffs, I was going around the park and ran nto a worker I knew who showed me where lightning struck on the rugby field during our rainstorm. Sure enough, there was a 3 inch hole and some singed grass going off in different lines. But what drew everyone to the spot in the first place, was the 10 dead seagulls. All that was left on Wednesday, were small white feathers all over the place. As we looked at it, two women walked over who had seen the dead birds and asked what had happened. They were relieved  to find it was lightning and not some satanic cult. I was relieved it was 10 dead seagulls and not 10 dead croquet players!     

Raining like tigers and wolves, this unholy day will be forever washed from our senses. The only vestige that remains is the name of the victor scrawled on the cup and scratched again and again to hide all that have come before who lay vanquished in the sift of this gushy field of friend and foe who come together to test their will and ability, cunning, maybe heroic, but constant in the herald of the end to this season of sun and the coming of cold.

We laugh, shout and swear to the idea that our time has or will come again. 

Mike Doran needed a win in his final preliminary game to get a birth in the 6 man final, and went toe to toe with Kent Lorence down the stretch, to win his first BC&DC championship. The final game of the night was a great one, with Paul Strada, Bob Gannon and Carl Amorosi all having their chances to take the lead. Doran becomes the 6th winner in the 10 years of the league’s existence in a night that featured all previous champions. Strada in particular had a great night. Seeded last, Paul won the first 2 preliminary games allowing him to sit out the third. Likewise with Brian “BigBoy” Conboy, who finished the season in 17th place, was a late addition to the playoffs - and managed to make his way into the championship game! 

The first game was delayed by a vicious downpour caused by a cold front moving in, featuring some terrifying lightning that caused fire trucks and ambulances to zoom down Parkside Ave, officially marking the club as a bunch of croquet wackos. Parts of the courts were temporarily underwater. But as predicted, the sun broke through, giving way to a beautiful steamy finish - to the night, the season and the summer, as temperatures began to drop.

Doran in, Summer out. 

• 2008: Mike Doran 
• 2007: Bob Gannon
• 2006: Kent Lorence
• 2005: Rob Price
• 2004: Carl Amorosi
• 2003: Bob Gannon
• 2002: Bob Gannon
• 2001: Rob Price
• 2000: Kent Lorence
• 1999: Bill Rupp

Other Club Tournaments:2006 USCA Regional 9W: Doubles: Amorosi & Webber, Singles: Gannon2004 Winterfest: Rob Gleichenhaus2003 First (and last) Annual Greenskeeper Invitational: Tony Billoni2003 Winterfest: Bob Gannon2000 Spring League: Bob Gannon

Below are the playoff brackets, based on the final standings.
The top 3 seed in each division start with bonus points of 3, 2, 1 respectively.
Three games are played - no time limit.

The top 3 of each division advance to a single championship game:TWICE around the court.
The first to stake out gets his name on the trophy.

Games begin at 4pm on SUNDAY, Aug. 24th.
Come earlier to help set up/ practice.

WEAR WHITES 

If any contenders are unable to participate in the playoffs, they will be a scratch, with all players below moving up in the brackets and supplemented by the 13th player in the standings (etcetera).  

Lightning strikes cancelled the final game of the season, leaving some issues unresolved . . .
How many points would league leader Carl Amorosi have ended the season with?
Who is the 12th and final Tour winner of 2008.

The most dramatic finish of the season was between 2nd & 3rd finishers Kent Lorence and Bob Gannon, both of whom finished with the same points and same amount of wins. Lorence won the tie breaker by having more Tour wins, and in so doing, earns 1 more playoff point then Gannon when the two will face each other in the Semi-final games.

• 2008: 23 players played 769 games 
• 2007: 26 players played 748 games
• 2006: 25 players played 832 games
• 2005: 25 players played 687 games
• 2004: 23 players played 942 games
• 2003: 23 players played 605 games
• 2002: 23 players played 577 games
• 2001: 25 players played 420 games
• 2000: 17 players played 230 games
• 1999: 7 players played 99 games

It had been six years since anyone had made 11 wickets in a row, five years since Kent Lorence missed a night, and also five years since Bill Rupp won a Tour. 
But Monday night, Hell finally froze over.

Rupp took advantage of an unusually even field to take his first tour since June, 2003. Seven different players won the ten games, with only Rupp, Mike Doran and Nelson Montgomery posting a pair of wins each.
But it was Monty who really drew attention. Winning the only 2 games he competed in, his last game of the night was legendary, opening his game with an 11 wicket run (only the 3rd player in club history to do so). On his 2nd turn, Nelson sank a 45 foot shot through the center wicket and completed the game in just 4 turns!
Monty continues to fly under the radar - but he is playoff ready.

The last time Rupp had this many points in a season, no one had ever heard of the an “iPhone” or would believe that you could stand on the court and look at the weather radar in the palm of your hand. Josh Mergler again had his first Tour Win in the cross hairs, but could not convert in the Tour Game, nor could Bob Gannon.
The night featured 4 hours of rain, 3 tables, 2 tents, 1 corn roast and no Kent.

 Rupp breaks out.