Bourgeois!!

We need to codify the bourgeois party. It has been rumored and suggested that the 21st of October be the day.

A note on booze to be had: Obviously Gin & Tonic is out of season, as are the Blonde Heffeweizens. Wine is certainly be appropriate, as ought to be a selection of Ales, Stouts, and the hoppier of the Pilsners, along with any of the seasonal beers, but should be served in pint glasses rather than bottles (fearing impropriety). Whomever brings Brandy or Cognac will have to also bring his or her own snifter and would ideally also bring a Cigar.

Comments, cocktail and hours devours suggestions, corrections, or requests, Please.

Bourg?

We played a game on saturday:

Players: Annie, Jumpy, Kathleen, Luke, Morris, Todd
winner: Jumpy, Luke, Morris, Todd, Annie, Kathleen

But anyway, is anyone still interested in the Bourg. Party? How about in 2 weeks? Anyone? Anyone?

OU/TX Weekend?

Is anyone going to be in town this weekend? Just wondering.

New Games

Last nights game clocked in in a mere 4 hours, who was left standing? Why, it was Miyuki, who won the entire thing. The Association is also currently reviewing the rules concerning game-aiding gloves.

09/18/06
Game 1: Jumpy, Miyuki, Morris, Satiko
winner(s): Jumpy, Miyuki, Satiko, Morris

There are also 3 other games that werent ever posted, or recorded as far as I know. I can i think I can remember them though.

Expanding the Empire

Before my departure, I had began contemplating and talking about why wasn't croquet popular anymore? Seriously, not only us, but most people that play seem to enjoy themselves. You dont exactly move a lot, but that doesn't hinder the videogame, television, or movie industry. Oh, you need space? Most places where people live have things called "parks", or even better "soccer fields". And the chief question, why in the world is croquet far less popular than its far less exciting, even less movement (carts), and more space hungry cousin, golf?

The popularity of golf is a strange thing when wondering why croquet fell out, and golf has remained in. The expanse golf courses take up is it redundant to say could support more than a few croquet courses. To add insult to injury, people that will spend a few hundred dollars on golf equipment, TIME, tournements, clothing, etc. generally try to hide their laughter when they are invited to a croquet match.

The above may have been more of a ramble, but I'm trying to bring in a bigger point. At certain times, at the old course and the new one, we have seen levels of interest in croquet that are larger than our 6 person capacity. As talked about before, this is both a boon and a bane. Its good becuase there is a wider interest in play than six people, its also bad becuase it creates the headache of "who gets to play". With five (maybe four, eh) "veteran" or "regular" players, its not exactly good for expansion when only one extra person can join a game. And as before it seems we go from periods of feast to famine, probably as a result of our restrictive nature. So here is not so much a following proposal, but something we have talked about many times. Its a call to action, and one that means more than just a single driven field operator can manage. Its going to require a certain, albeit, small time commitment (you can watch one less episode of The Daily Show a week I promise).

Basically, this is a call for actual expansion of Our Noble Club. I think with some recruitment it could be done fairly easily. At the onset, develop a roster of committed players. The divide this group into 2 (or even 3!) divisions. There would be the allowance of interdivision play, and while your score would be be counted in your percentage, each player has only be ranked in his respective division. At the end of a season, you have the interdivision playoffs and championship. Each division can decide if they want to play 9 wicket double diamond, or 6 wicket, or both. The real key is for each division to create a schedule that its members can play. The beauty of 2 or more divisions is that schedules for players could be more flexible.

Now heres the crazy part, instead of being locked on Jumpy's course, most of the division play would likely happen on the North Oval, the soccerfields, a park, where ever. Each division has a "captain" so to speak that is in charge of recording and calculating games. I haven't driven around to check, but I'm sure theres a at least semi lighted flat feild somewhere for night play (the presumed most acceptable time). Now of course, this would cut into drinking, but Im not advocating abandoning our normal play. Im merely advocating that we actually put words into action, and expand. The details can be worked out and worried about later, what really needs to happen is dedication to pull this off. Dedication my friends, is what has kept us playing for over a year.

Start seeing who would play, hopefully we will be surprized at the number of people ready to do something different on their free time.

Surprise Upsets

Season 4 - Game 7 :: 7/09/06
Players: John, Laura, Mark, Todd, Sam
Winner: Laura, Mark, John, Sam, Todd

Season 4 - Game 8 :: 7/09/06
Players: John, Jumpy, Laura, Mark, Todd, Sam
Winner: John, Mark, Jumpy, Sam, Todd, Laura

Please make any corrections in comments. And don't says things like "Jumpy, I got fifth the second game." I'll make any necessary corrections in the post.

Croquet Pitches, People

Go to this site, use ctrl + f, type "croquet." The campus is on I44 near the NW 10th St exit. I will go check it out. I drive by it on my way to work.

There is also purportedly a croquet pitch mentioned in this Golf Course News article, which is actually here.

19 Wickets

God bless Google video. Watch and be amazed.

First of Games on the First of July

Heres the results of the two games we played on Saturday. If you notice I won, which means I'll be retiring at the top, see you around mortals.

07-01-06
Season 4 - Game 5 :: 07/01/06
Players: Abby, Jake, Jumpy, Mark, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
Winner: Jumpy, Jake, Mark, Todd, Abby, Morris

Season 4 - Game 6 :: 07/01/06
Players: Jumpy, Mark, Miyuki, Morris (1 Ball)
Winner: Morris, Jumpy, Mark, Miyuki

Also, Miyuki is actually pretty good for someone with playing three games ever, and no golf experience. But theres also the issue a few times we're running into about scheduling a game with only six players, and not going over. We need to figure some sort of timed system or something about where we could have six people in a game, but also allow people to be invited to come over.

Notation, Victory Libations, Duel

Season 4 - Game 4 :: 6/30/06
Players:- Alison, Jumpy, Keaton, Mark, Morris, Todd.
Winner: Jumpy, Todd, Mark, Morris, Keaton, Alison.


Lets keep this notation going, it will be a lot easier to keep track of how many games we have in the Season; since Morris isn't here to keep us in check all the time anymore.

Jumpy and Todd still need to play a Season3 Championship Game. Morris and Jumpy still need to get Todd his Victory Libation. While we're at it, we may as well purchase the Season 3 bottle as well.

Todd had better bring his "A" game.

Season 4 Games

Season 4 - Game 1 :: 06/21/06
Players: Jake, Jumpy, Todd (2 Ball)
Winner: Jake, Jumpy, Jumpy, Todd, Jake, Todd

Season 4 - Game 2 :: 06/23/06
Players: Jake, Jess, Mark, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
Winner: Jake, Mark, Todd, Morris, Jess

Season 4 - Game 3 :: 06/23/06
Players: Jumpy, Morris, Todd (2 Ball)
Winner: Jumpy, Todd, Todd, Morris, Morris, Jumpy

There ya go.

Season 3 Ends

I calculated the standings for Season 3, they are pretty dismal. I first calculated with 18 games since 2 games were in question on eligibility, I talked to Todd and then decided these games should not count. If anyone disagrees let me know, although it does not effect anything in this season. Also a congratulations to everyone for getting a season finished so quickly, its been really enjoyable watching Jumpy win everything......ever.

Jake: 41/48= 85.42% (8/20=40%)
Jumpy: 101/108= 93.5% (18/20=90%)
Mark: 48/84= 57.14% (14/20=70%)
Morris: 47.5/84= 56.55% (14/20=70%)
Todd: 69/114= 60.53% (19/20=95%)

If you notice Jumpy is clearly the leader. Jake would technically be in second, but he has only 40% standing. It seems that weekend games are difficult for Jake to make, does that matter? So either its a Jumpy-Todd final, or Todd and Jake play a semi-final to get to Jumpy. Personally, I feel it should be a Jumpy-Todd final.

New Games

Saturdays games.... actually a nice return to the old school double bottle of Black Swan days...

06-17-06

Game 1: Clint, J-Doh, Jumpy, Mark, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Mark, Morris, J-Doh, Todd, Clint

Game 2: J-Doh, Jumpy, Mark, Morris
winner: Jumpy, J-Doh, Mark, Morris

I'll, as well as anyone else who wishes, need to calculate that I think we may be in a new season. Although, we did play these games as Association. Is that something new?

Square Heads, USCA Compliance

The new set came in Monday, 6-11-06 and we played its maiden games.

Below are the results of the games played this week, and are posted here based on my recollection. Please comment and post corrections if needed:

6-11-06
Game 1: Jake, Jumpy, Mark, Todd (1-ball)
winner: Jake, Todd, Jumpy, Mark

Game 2: Jake, Jumpy, Mark, Todd (1-ball)
winner: Jake, Jumpy, Todd, Mark

6-13-06
Game 1: Mark, Jumpy, Todd (2-ball)
winner: Jumpy, Todd, Jumpy, Todd, Mark , Mark

Game 2: Mark, Jumpy, Todd (2-ball)
winner: Jumpy, Todd, Jumpy, Todd, Mark, Mark

The set meets USCA specifications, and has radically changed the dynamics of the games. We have each voiced some frustration with the USCA wicket width, but since this first game we have all adapted our play and are improving our accuracy. Some have made the rather important point that friendly games will be less inviting with this new set. Novice players will not likely pass through more that the 3rd or 4th wickets, and will likely not find it an enjoyable experience overall.

While I do not think it necessary to do for competition games, social games may want to be played with either the old wickets or the old balls. The new wickets are just under 1 and 1/4 the width of the old balls. The old wickets are just over 1 and 1/2 the width of the new balls.

Wicket Debate

So we have the new set, which keeps reminding me of being in the Giant World of Super Mario Bros. 3. The mallets are giant, the turning stakes are giant. Its either a nice croquet set, or professional vampire hunting gear. Though with a very festive killing spike. And the length of the spike is a great modification for todays more chunky American draculas!

Anyway, we have several options about how or if to deal with the new, smaller wickets. First off, yes, we would get used to them in time. This would also probably (hopefully) greatly reduce the amount of time its taking to play one stupid, long, and boring game. But their are other issues.

The biggest problem with getting used to the small wickets is that we will be essentially walling ourselves off from ever inviting non-regular players for a game. Someone would probably get pretty bored when they came out for a friendly game and never got past the third wicket. For championships or whatnot, bring out the small hoops and big balls. Although the thought of watching a three hour long champ game is more fun than making out with Todd's gf Abby. Which I do quite frequently.

So anyway, we could use bigger wickets, smaller balls, etc., whatever. Debate, staaaaaaaaaaaaaaart!

Weekend Games

06-09-06
Game 1- Jeff, Jumpy, Lori, Luke, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Luke, Morris, Jeff, Todd, Lori

Game 2- Jumpy, Morris, Todd (2 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Todd, Todd, Jumpy, Morris, Morris

06-10-06
Game 1- Jumpy, Morris, Todd (2 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Jumpy, Todd, Todd, Morris, Morris

Game 2- Jumpy, Morris, Todd (2 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Morris, Jumpy, Todd, Morris, Todd

The new set should be coming in someday.....unless Todd is just ripping us off.

Re: Rule Clarification

Keep in mind, we are playing USCA Backyard Rules, not Association Rules. According to the USCA website the border is 6" from the middle of the wicket.

But, perhaps I am misunderstanding your rule interpretation. I would request a clarification post with your interpretation for procedures for a ball struck out of bounds. Do you suggest we should place the ball a mallets head (or mallets length) from the border? Or are you suggesting that the border be a full 36" from the outside of the wicket?

If I understand your interpretation of the rule, and the border is 6" from the middle of the wicket, then a ball struck out of bounds is effectively placed 33" inside the pitch as measured from the middle of the wicket (a wicket is 6" wide. the distance from the middle of the wicket to a wicket leg is therefore 3". Likewise the distance from the outside leg of the wicket to the border is also 3". So, 36" = 3" from border to wicket leg + 3" from wicket leg to middle of wicket +33" from middle of wicket to suggested ball placement).

This differs from our current play in only one major way and can easily be adapted to. Currently we place the ball on the border (which is measured as 6" from the outside wicket leg as we've been playing), which promotes exploiting out of bounds relatively close to the wicket, since the angle will almost never be too sharp to make. A ball placed out of bounds at a distance of say a foot from the wicket is still and easy shot. My understanding of the rule you cite would only change this tactic in one dimension: striking the ball out of bounds at a greater distance from the wicket. In other words, rather than aiming a foot behind the wicket, a player would have to aim two to three feet behind the wicket when sending the ball out of bounds to maintain a makable shot.

Please comment and correct my understanding of this.

Rule Clarification, & the Cost of Pro Croquet

I was perusing croquet.com and found a clarifying rule on the rules page:

(Under PART 5. BONUS STROKES)

29. Bonus strokes may not be accumulated. Only the last earned bonus strokes may be played. The exception to this rule occurs if you score both wickets at the starting and turning stakes.

This suggests that you can't rack up with two shots. Say you roquet a ball (2 shots), but then use only one of those shots to go through a wicket (1 shot). Normally, we say that you still have 2 shots, yet this rule states that you would only have one (going through the wicket was your last bonus shot earned).

And a clarification on out-of-bounds:

(Under PART 7. BOUNDARIES AND OUT-OF-BOUNDS BALLS)

41. A ball sent out of bounds should be placed on the boundary margin ONE MALLET LENGTH (36 inches) inside the boundary line at the point of exit. If the player has a second bonus shot he/she then plays it. There is no penalty for going out of bounds. (capitals added)

42. All balls that come to rest within the boundary margin (closer than one mallet length to the boundary) are immediately replaced on the boundary margin, with the one exception of the players ball being still in play on a bonus stroke.

Wow. This definately puts to death the idea of smashing it up to the wicket. From what I read from these rules, if you get your ball closer than a mallet's length to the edge of the pitch, its brought in. At the same time, it seems to help the game. It requires a lot more skill on the side wickets than previously thought.

And for some fun, check out some of the pro stuff on croquet.com (i mean the cost)

http://www.croquet.com/croquet-equipment/hoops-wickets/shop.cfm?N=2720+2723+4294775863

http://www.croquet.com/croquet-equipment/flags/shop.cfm?N=2720+2723+4294775865

If you look at the 'other equipment' you'll see a 'hoop smasher' for $70, theres also a drill type thing to bore holes for the hoops. It looks like anything about pro croquet is at least $70-$5000 dollars. Yeah.

Pitch Changes and Deadness and Aliveness

Deadness and Aliveness: I second Morris' motion for adopting ball deadness before the first wicked as standard game play. If asked why this makes sense to me, I would cite an existing deadness rule, and consider this a logical extension. An existing deadness rule states "Deadness occurs after a roquet is made and the striker is unable to score his/her wicket. The consequences are that the striker is not allowed to roquet the ball(s) again until scoring the wicket. Once the wicket is scored, the striker becomes 'alive' and is able to roquet the ball(s) again. If a striker roquets a ball he/she is dead on, all balls are replaced to their positions before the shot, and the turn is over. Deadness carries over from turn to turn." (USCA backyard 9-wicket rules) I don't think that it is a reach to extrapolate from this rule the following: Because at the beginning of the game, the striker's ball has not scored a wicket, it is dead. I submit this for discussion at Saturday night's game.

The new Pitch got some changes. Some good, some bad. For the good, we moved the playing area approximately 10 feet north and 1.5 feet west. This gives us better lawn consistency, bypassing the shrub patch on the east side. The downside to this is that in a lack of foresight and knowledge of adopted boundaries, the pitch now has a two-foot post boundary rather than the traditional six-foot. In other words, out-of-bounds behind the post is now two-feet rather than six, effectively promoting further exploitation of the boundary rules. I think we all have a consensus that exploitation of these rules on the sides of the pitch is both fair and sensible. I anticipate some frustration and disagreement about the effective two-foot border at the ends of the pitch. We can take this up also at Saturday night's game.

your numbers

I arrived in Norman early today (~430) and was rewarded with being locked out of the house I sleep in. Anyway, to kill time I thought I would go ahead a post the numbers so far. I didn't include Meuki (if thats how you spell her name) since shes only played a few games. At the rate shes going though, she might become a fairly regular (and good) player. Heres the numbers:

Jake: 29/36= 81% (6/12 games= 50% standing)
Jumpy: 50/54= 93% (9/12= 75%)
Mark: 29/48= 60% (8/12= 67%)
Morris: 32/54= 57% (9/12= 75%)
Todd: 50/72= 69% (12/12= 100%)

If you remember, we actually changed our standing rules. We decided to lessen the standard from 75% to 66% of the season games. This though makes an akward game play number of 13. 5 games. As said before its within reason, so I guess it doesn't matter anyway.

But this does bring me to a new point. We have several issues that come up, and we never really decide on anything. Are balls that haven't gone through the first wicket (or hoop) be in play? I don't think they are, as the ball has only been hit, but hasn't done anything else to suggest it has began the game.

Another issue is standing. I don't want to go through another senario like we did with season 2. We need a definate system, and we needed one in the first season. For Jake to come into standing, he has to play 7 of the 8 games (that would bring him up to 13 games). But what if he plays 12? 11? Can we (or do we) decide on what is "reasonable"? Is "within reason" 10 games? I for one don't really care that much on this issue, but I need some feedback from everyone else. One thing that might help is looking at professional golf. If you are in the PGA, do you have to play every tournement? If not, then how does the system work?

I'll post later when I get some more questions we need to answer thought out.

Weekend games

First off, we need to get Todd his bottle.

Anyway, heres the weekends results:

06-02-06
Game 1- Amanda, Jake, Mark, Morris, Todd, Scott( 1 Ball)
winner: Jake, Todd, Mark, Scott, Morris, Amanda

Game 2- Jumpy, Mark, Meuki, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Todd, Mark, Morris, Meuki

06-03-06
Game 1- Jake, Jumpy, Mark, Moni, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Jake, Mark, Moni, Morris, Todd

Game 2- Jumpy, Miyuki, Morris Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Todd, Morris, Miyuki

I'll try to complie the stats later.

New season gives way with new field

To clear up any confusion, here's all the games and rankings I have for this current season:

05-07-06
Game 3- Dearner, Morris, Todd (2 Ball)
winner: Todd, Todd, Dearner, Dearner, Morris, Morris

05-15-06
Game 1- Morris, Todd, Mark, Toe, Dante, Jeff (1 Ball) (Bourg Party)
winner: Morris, Mark, Jeff, Todd, Dante, Toe

05-16-06
*Championship*- Jumpy, Todd (3 Ball)
winner: Todd, Todd, Jumpy, Todd, Jumpy, Jumpy

Game 1- Jumpy, Morris, Todd (2 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Jumpy, Morris, Morris, Todd, Todd

05-17-06
Game 1- Jake, Jumpy, Mark, Morris, Todd (1 Ball) (New Course)
winner: Todd, Jumpy, Morris, Mark, Jake

Game 2- Jake, Jumpy, Mark, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Jake, Jumpy, Morris, Todd, Mark *check*

The championship went pretty well, as in your typical Battle of the Somme (WW I). Todd picked up the title, and thus that means he has a bottle coming to him. As far as the new course goes, I think we're all in agreement that its pretty freaking cool. Not only is it regulation, but more private, and 10x more difficult do to the terrain change. Everyone glance over the last two games to make sure I have the correct order.

A palindrome that ends with "Todd" ... and a "Christening"

"winner: Jake, Todd, Jumpy, Jumpy, Todd, Jake"

This means, as we now know, that Todd and Jumpy advance to the final. And for those of us who have the foresight to know better (or for those who witnessed the 'blessing'), this particular phrase ends with "Todd."

That is to say, Todd ultimately rallied the season, trumping the now-two-time-runner-up, Jumpy in the final championship threeball game.

Along with the win of the season, of course, comes the inaugural play on the new, regulation field. The Christening went well, with the two game winners being Jumpy and Todd, and Jake and Jumpy, respectively with respect to games played.

I'm sure that last item was misunderstood. But we will talk about that later..

Semi Final Results

It was definately a great game. A big thank-you for everyone that came out.

Jake, Jumpy, Todd (2 Ball)
winner: Jake, Todd, Jumpy, Jumpy, Todd, Jake

The game was definately close. While Jumpy got one of his balls in early, the course of the game made it really close. From what I understand it really came down to the rover (which Im a huge fan) and a great shot from Todd.

So the final 3 Ball Championship game will be Todd and Jumpy. Im hoping this can happen Tuesday. Good luck to everyone. Bourg party tomorrow. Winner of the championship gets a bottle of wine supplied by the other three players.

Bourg. Party

Okay, Ive said before the Bourg party basically cant happen on the 19th (at least at my house). So the date needs to be moved up. I suggest something as soon as Monday. Anyone else have a say?

Statement

After getting support from Jake for whatever desicion I make he will accept, and conferring with Todd I humbly put forth my proposition. I reluctantly want to make an administrative choice. I made an administrative choice when I decided to ban (along with a majority vote) the "Assassin Ball", or as it has become known now as "ass ball". I put forth my reasons why, and the USCA and Sooner Croquet players agreed with me. However, in this finals desicion, I do not claim property of the feild as my authority. But that I am the only one that does not have some motive for what should happen.

There are good reasons for each proposition. There is a good argument for extending the season to 20 games (which we have), and good reasons for who should play in the final. Becuase each senario has its own reasons (I assume they have been addressed suffiently in other posts) for why who should play, it makes an objective reason difficult to arrive at.

I therefore, throw my wieght (as essentially an outsider) behind Jake, Jumpy, and Todd all play a 2 ball semi final game. The purpose of us meeting together has always been to enjoy each others company and also enjoy sport. I feel this situation, where three players basically decide by their own merits, is the best one. The two finishers will then play a championship. I hope everyone knows that I have thought about what senario would be best, and I hope no ill will is taken in my desicion. As said before, becuase this particular situation is so difficult, I see this as the most fair way to solve this. I also would hope to think that the spirit of why we have played together for so long, and so loyally, with each other is that the spirit of enjoying fraternity amongst ourselves is strong. If you do not agree with me, please answer with your reasons. Any dissention is welcomed, but for the reasons stated above I believe this is the best way to solve our issue.

Again, whatever the outcome, the players of Sooner Croquet have stuck together, through rain, drought, snow, darkness, and outstanding circumstances. I hope for the summer season to continue to hold these qualities that have sustained us for so long.

Final Tally

Okay, I tallied the 15 game stats, and then the 20 game stats.

15 Games
Jake: 39/48= 81.25%
Jumpy: 51/72= 70.83%
Morris: 60/90= 66.67%
Todd: 60/78= 76.9%

20 Games:

Jake: 62/78= 79.49% **
Jumpy: 64/90= 71.11%
Morris: 81/120= 67.5%
Todd: 84/108= 77.78%

**However, if you take Todd's 'bring the up to 75%', then Jake does a

62/90= 68.89% (oh geez, he's still beating me)

However, I'm not a real big fan of this. On the other hand purposefully extending a season becuase a player chose to not play enough games. If we're going to do that, then why not extend the season until I'm in second? I do however, accept that making a season 20 games makes it easier to remember that you need 15. This also provides a richer demographic.

Also notice that not a lot changes from 15 to 20 games. I think you could argue that since Jake is out of standing a playoff of Jake, Jumpy, and Todd could be played. This situation isn't that fair to Todd, since he really is has the most to lose, or the only one. Otherwise, a Jake/Jumpy playoff could be had, then the winner play Todd***. Or just do a Todd/Jake final. I hesitate to reveal the scores when there needs to be a descion , but I trust you can make an objective opinion. Post or comment what you think should happen, and why.

***This all assumes Jumpy ever comes back, or answers his phone, or gives any signals he's alive.

Less Jumpy= Extra fun!

Well Jumpy was unable to make it today. Too bad for him, becuase the Greek House doesn't come around handing out free gyros everyday, and then when the Johnnie Walker rep came and played with us, then gave us a few extra bottles of Blue, Green, & Gold labels. Truly, even excluding the Oriental cheerleaders, the day was one of super fun. Anyway, heres the stats:

05-07-06
Game 1- Dearner, Jake, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Todd, Jake, Dearner, Morris

Game 2- Dearner, Jake, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Todd, Morris, Jake, Dearner

Game 3- Dearner, Morris, Todd (2 Ball)
winner: Todd, Todd, Dearner, Dearner, Morris, Morris

Regarding the Bourg. game. Todd mentioned how he would like to have a "Good Bye" game to the course that has given so much to us, I agree. However, we also should have a "Hello, Nice to Meet You" party for the new course. Unfortunately, since my evil roommates are moving me out early, playing on the 19th is screwed. The house will have no electricity, no running water, and pretty much moved out of. So the Bourg Good Bye party will have to be held at an earlier time. And yes, white is in this season.

Comment! Post! Comment! Post!

Re: "Bourg," Vindication, and Season

Re: Season

My motion for increasing the requisite game count for a season to 20 games stands. The rationale is twofold: 1) We readily fit 15 games before the end of the season. 2) 75% of 20 is more readily accessible to the mathematically-challenged of our players (the answer is 15), which simplifies the process of determining the eligibility of any one player.

Re: Vindication

Support from the Croquet community is backing Morris. While a legalistic viewpoint puts Master Jake in the right, the "gentlemanly" argument carries a lot of weight with me. A player "A" that goes "rogue" for the purpose of conspiring with another player "B" in an effort to boost the odds of a win for "B" does smack of ungentlemanly conduct.

Re: "Bourg"

White is in season, isn't it? Morris's motion for cocktail croquet by tiki light is hereby seconded.

Bourg. Party

Since we've gotten the rain, and hopefully more is coming, it seems we may be able to have night games again. I know what your all thinking- Bourgeoisie Party! Yeah, I was too. I have to move out by the 20th if we want to do it here, I think the 19th is a Friday. Gin, ties, bowties, etc.

Think of it as a kickoff to the Third Season (if we vote it in).

Vindication

On my post after Sundays game I rehashed my reasons against the Assassin Ball as being legal. Apparently Im friends with a bunch of legalistic hardnoses, Tocqueville is rolling in his grave. Anyway, I began to wonder if my action to just outright ban the AB practice as a personal field rule was overkill. But then I decided to seek higher authorities. Here is the response I got:

Hi Chris,

My name is Bob Kroeger, I am chairperson of the USCA 9 Wicket Croquet Committee. You are correct in saying that the action this person takes in giving his balls to an opponent is inappropriate.
If I was running an event and heard of this taking place, I would disqualify them for this action.

If I can be of any further assistance to you, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Sincerely,
Bob Kroeger

(end transmission)

So beyond my own personal protests, the full weight of the USCA is behind my (correct) descion. So since the USCA has this opinion, I resend my initial private rule, as it is a REAL rule.

P.S. And Blogger has been acting really weird today, so Im not sure what has made it on here or not. Hopefully my previous post and this one will make it up.

Season 2...or 3?

Okay, I have come up on a third option for what we should do.

Possibility 3: Take the top 2 scores from the first 15 games, and they play for the season final. I had ran this senario before, the top 2 are actually kinda close, where the bottom two are actually close to each other.

Theres also the other 2 options that are laid out in the previous post. Here they are for your viewing pleasure:

Possibility 1: Cut off at fifteen games. Since Jake is out of standing, just play a (whether 1 or 2 ball) semi-final game. Then, the top two players then play the final.

Possibility 2: Extend the season five more games, this would give Jake a higher standing.


Comment or blog your response, explain why you think we should do what option. I'd like to have this resolved by the next time we play. Which by how its been going is 1 game and maybe 45 minutes long. Again, I want to commend our club for being so dedicated.

Also, other people are actually allowed to post on this, just to clear up any confusion. Actually, it would make it better.

Todays Game

Today we actually had six (6!) people play. As thought it would be, it was glorious. Also, Morris showed that the broken mallet isn't handicapped, there, there orange mallet, at least he likes you.

04-30-06
Game 1- Amanda, Luke, Jake, Jumpy, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Morris, Jake, Jumpy, Amanda, Luke, Todd

We didn't get to fully debate what we are going to do with the new season since everyone was running around with their heads cut off. There have been two senarios proposed:

Possibility 1: Cut off at fifteen games. Since Jake is out of standing, just play a (whether 1 or 2 ball) semi-final game. Then, the top two players then play the final.

Possibility 2: Extend the season five more games, this would give Jake a higher standing.

I don't like the second option becuase it is soley just to bring Jake up to higher standing. Also, the standing rule isn't concrete, its within reason. Jake played (and won) the championship while out of standing in the first season. So extending it past what was planned does not make much sense. Another reason why the the first possibility is better is becuase we only play ONE game a week. In the fall we would play at least two, probably more games, so retarding the start of a third season would be deterimental to the third season ever actually getting finished.

And while I have not found any explicit rules against going "assassin ball" in a game, it has always shown ill will to the people that are victim to it. In short, the game becomes less friendly, and instead becomes a tense competition.

The Assassin Ball also artificially changes the games results. If the player in last place went after the winner just to knock down the percentage, then presumably all the percentages would become nearly the same.

And finally, as everyone says on their sites,backyard croquet may have any rules anyone wants. There is an eXtreme croquet movement even. So since I control the feild, I am now taking adminstrative action and here by out lawing the practice. A player must keep on a reasonable course for going foward in gameplay. If a player does not wish to play further his ball may be left on the field, or if that player is so behind it is of no use to anyone, the ball may be removed from the course. That settles it. If Jumpy wants to enact different rules on his field, then he may do so.

Taking New Season into Consideration

Okay, I don't want to do my speech, which you may have picked up due to my number crunching and third post of the day.
So I spoke about how since I realized that we actually have played 15 games, which I think we agreed would be a season. Anyway, that makes the following final combined scores (considering the first 15 games-both 1 &2 Ball). There is also the issue that if we want to consider the 2 2-Ball games that I'm not scoring since I didnt correctly record the final places.

I'm going to with hold the numbers until we reach an agreement, becuase the adjusted numbers offer some surprising results.

Clarifying 'Ball in Hand' Rules

There has been some confusion on what options a player has once they roquet another players ball. I found these rules and they explain the whole situation pretty clearly:

1) Take the two bonus strokes from where the players ball has come to rest.

2) With "ball in hand" place the players ball one mallet head's length away from the other ball in any direction and then take two bonus strokes.

3) With "ball in hand" place the players ball in contact with the struck ball (where it has come to rest) then strike the player's ball so as to send both balls in the desired direction. This is called a croquet shot. The striker then has one bonus stroke remaining.

4) With "ball in hand" place the players ball in contact with the struck ball (where it has come to rest) and placing the player's foot on his own ball so as to render it immobile, strike the player's own ball so as to send the other ball off in the desired direction while the player's ball remains where it is. The player then has one more bonus stroke remaining. If the players ball moves from under the foot there is no penalty and the bonus stroke is taken.

source: http://members.chello.nl/vleeschd/9wicket.html

Current Percentages

Okay, so I decided to run the percentages while God has been merciful and has been dumping rain on our dear course. Anyway, here's what I did. First there will be the one-ball games, then I also ran the two-ball games. Here there were two games I did not record the full places, so I'm not counting them. This is becuase I basically averaged the two-ball scores. If you came in first (6 points) and second (5 points) I gave you 6. If you came in first (6 points) and third (4 points) then you got 5 points. It should also be mentioned that the two-ball games are actually more relfective of your game, since there is the full 6 points in play there. If I would have just done a 6-5-4 assignment this would seem unfairly inflating the scores.
Anyway, and finally I combined everything.

One-Ball Games:
Jake: 46/54= 85.18%**
Jumpy: 52/66= 78.78%
Morris: 53/84= 63.09%
Todd: 61/78= 78.2%

** Jake only has a 64.28% attendence record, all other are complient

Two-Ball Games:
Jake:2/6= 33.33%
Jumpy: 9/18= 50%
Morris: 14/18= 77.78%
Todd: 10/12= 83.33%

This one is interesting, Morris does far better in 2 Ball, and Todd is shown to be consistent in both types of games. However, Jumpy and Jake, suddenly do poorly.

So now everything is combined:
Jake: 48/60= 80%
Jumpy: 61/84= 72.61%
Morris: 67/102= 65.7%
Todd: 71/90= 78.89%

As noted above, Todd's consistentcy in 2 Ball brings him up to definate striking distance for the numer 1 ranking. Also, there have been 14 1-Ball games, and 17 total games (actually 19 if you count the two deleted 2 Ball games). So, if we are sticking to a season being 15 games (in total i assume), we are actually in a new season. I'll see what everyone says and then I'll see where the numbers are then.

Results

Heres the latest games, way to play an entire TWO that lasted for an entire 45 minutes. We're certainly troopers at soonercroquet, yup, no weenie girls here.

04-16-06
Game 1- Jumpy, Ken, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Todd, Jumpy, Morris, Ken

Game 2- Jumpy, Ken, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Morris, Todd, Ken

04-23-06
Game 1- Jake, Jumpy, Morris, Todd
winner: Todd, Jumpy, Morris, Jake

Game 2- Jake, Jumpy, Morris, Todd
winner: Jake, Todd, Jumpy, Morris


I may need to remind people that croquet is a gentlemen's game. A gentlemen is someone that is tough, say, he could do something for a few hours. Especially if that thing is something he only does once a week.

Another part of croquet is ettique. The gentlemen idea comes into this as well. When a gentlemen performs badly at something, his character, honor, and the very ettique (or essense) of the game would prevent him from acting less than expected. When a gentleman, or just man wins something, he's happy he has succeeded, but he doesnt gloat. At the same time, when a gentleman, or man, loses, he takes it as a setback but does not pout. A simpleton can simply be happy when he is winning, but angered if he loses, becuase that is the character of a simpleton, it is simple.

Rule Change!

After discussion, we have decided to atleast try the "ball in hand" type of croquet, which actually is the official version. While our way demands almost exact accuracy, there rarely is the action that the game is named after (croquet). With trying out the rules we have shunned I expect a few things with happen: 1) The games are going to be longer, since everyone with be croqueting everyone else with all the vengence of a 20 year-old girl has towards any other girl prettier than her. 2) Fist fights may be on the rise, this though is outlawed by the etique rules. 3) It throughs even more uncertainity into a game where the last ball can go to first in one turn.

Heres the explanation from the Croquet Assoc. of America:

The striker earns one bonus shot if the striker ball scores a wicket or hits the turning stake. The striker earns two bonus shots if the striker ball hits another ball (a "roquet") (but see the Exceptions below).

The first of these two shots may be taken in any of four ways:

From a mallet-head distance or less away from the ball that was hit ("taking a mallet-head")
From a position in contact with the ball that was hit, with the striker ball held steady by the striker's foot or hand (a "foot shot" or "hand shot")
From a position in contact with the ball that was hit, with the striker ball not held by foot or hand (a "croquet shot")
From where the striker ball stopped after the roquet.
The second bonus shot after a roquet is an ordinary shot played from where the striker ball came to rest, called a "continuation shot". Bonus shots may not be accumulated. Upon earning a bonus shot by scoring a wicket, hitting the turning stake, or roqueting another ball, any bonus shot previously earned is forfeited. If a ball roquets a ball and in that same stroke the striker ball hits another ball, the second ball hit is not a roquet and remains where it comes to rest (with no deadness incurred on that ball).


Basically, when you roquet someone, you can pick up your ball and croquet them with your first bonus shot. You then play as normally. READ: If someone hits your ball, they can choose to pick up their ball and place it to hit you with a croquet shot.

Good luck hunting.

What is deserved

We (as in Jumpy, Morris, Todd) need to get together to buy Jake's prize for winning the croquet season. He has been a gracious winner, and we should have been gracious enough to return the favor of what was promised to the winner. Therefore, I submit each club member needs to bring together their respective monies owed and together, or as a selected representative buy the wine. This really needs to happen as soon as possible. I'm not trying to brow-beat, but this needs to be remedied.

New Numbers

I went ahead and crunched the numbers for this season. Whats pathetic is that we've played only NINE single ball games so far (I didnt count any 3 man games, also 2 Ball games were not counted as Im not sure how to score them). So here you go

Jake- 31/36= 86% win and 66.67% games played
Jumpy- 32/42= 76.2% and 77.78%
Morris- 33/54= 61.1% and 100%
Todd- 35/48= 72.9% and 88.89%

Go nuts.

New Games

03-26-06
Game 1- Jake, Morris, Todd, Jeff Craighead, Red Guy
winner: Jake, Todd, Morris, Red Guy, Jeff C

It should be noted later this day Jumpy, Morris and Todd played a great series of games

Game 1- (winner) Todd, Jumpy, Morris
Game 2- Todd, Jumpy, Morris
Game 3- Morris, Jumpy, Todd

04-02-06
Game 1- Amanda, Jake, Jumpy, Morris, Todd
winner: Todd, Amanda, Jumpy, Jake, Morris

Game 2- Amanda, Jenny, Jumpy, Morris
winner: Jumpy, Morris, Jenny, Amanda

The first game was o-k...ish. The second was better, but becuase of a outbreak of Girlitus a few players had to not play the second to care for their vaginas.

Mo' Sun, Mo' Problems

Well, as if the burn ban has severely hindered (or killed) night play, theres even more. Norman will vote tomorrow http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/03/05/440bbe6e691d9 (and I assume pass) for a $44 million update on its water system. Whats that mean? A 77% INCREASE in your water bill. Why do you care? Becuase since Norman is so down on rain, it seems unlikely that this spring enough rain will come our way to really help anything. The reason I'm getting to is that when we play regularly the course gets pretty worn down. Without heavy watering, it gets beat up even more. Last year I watered enough to cuase an increase in the bill the roommates complained about to get the yard somewhat healthy. With the new prices the turf we were hoping would come back won't have a chance with a few inches of rain every few months. sigh.

Games!

When Jumpy finally made it to the game he had suggested we play a week ago a few hours after the time he suggested we start, things really got tense. With Berry here, a wrench was thrown into the normal workings of the game, that is, Berry is pretty good. Also, the black and white nature of the game was revealed: both games the first three players battled through the course nearly the entire game. The games were a change in that no player ever got a comfortable lead the entire time. All in all, thats how it should be.

03-05-06
Game 1- Berry, Morris, Todd (2 Ball)
winner: Berry, Morris, Todd

Game 2- Berry, Jumpy, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Jumpy, Berry, Morris, Todd

Game 3- Berry, Jumpy, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Berry, Jumpy, Morris, Todd

The Docket and The Trial

If we are to resume night games, I suggest a start time close to 8:30. It will have to be decided upon among members whether my appearance at games will justify this late a start time, but my schedule will not allow a weekday game earlier that this.

As for the gossip of the week, pertaining primarily to Mr. Loftin's apparent Sunday comeback, authoratative sources have waxed jubilant about the sudden rally in this venerable veteran's play. Although the match was a minor one, the senior croqueter's technique and strategy were both sound and decisive. And while his play lacked the creativity and deftly-executed high-risk full-grounds maneuvers that rocked the sport when then-junior croqueter Jake Rowe commandeered the Fall 2005 season, this only tends to support the opinions and cautions voiced by the sometimes guardedly conservative veterans of the sport -behind which inhere the implication that strong technical skill will trump Agassi-style braggadocio- but also that Mr. Loftin's defeat last season was due in part to the chorus-like gasconade that lauded Mr. Rowe's successes. We will see this season if there is any truth to the assertion that Mr. Rowe's inaugural trounce was more due to popular plug than to superior skill. It may well be that Mr. Loftin was defeated more by flighty fans than by an adroit adversary. Time will tell.

No posts in a bloody month?! Deplorable!

Reproachable, lamentable. Woeful. Add to that the fact that we've not organized a good game (none that I've had the pleasure of playing) in about the same time and I say its high time we get the ball rolling -as it were- on the Spring season. We will play this weekend, my croquet comrades. I propose early afternoon with a cocktail-party smile and glee-club attitude. Cell phones optional. Bourgeoise artifact mandatory.

Championship!

We finally got the championship game done. The results were something less than an exciting game. While Jake and Jumpy both didn't play that well, Jumpy was the one to capitalize on screwing up. This leads one to ask: Was Jumpy the player we thought he was?

Championship- Jake, Jumpy (3 Ball)
winner: Jake, Jumpy, Jumpy, Jake, Jake, Jumpy (Jake)

Game 1- Jake, Jumpy, Morris, Todd (1 Ball)
winner: Jake, Todd, Jumpy, Morris

Then we played a second game, which makes like 3 in one month. If we're going to make a season 20 games, we should be finishing up around 2007.

our cause is true.

Overcoming the Unforseen

Who knew with all the scheduling problems the burn ban would be the central thing preventing us playing? Even with Todd knowingly skipping the day of play he suggested, the other more commited players came out and met up to pursue our love interest. Heres the single game results:

01-22-06
Game 1- Jake, Jumpy, Morris (2 Ball)
winner: Morris, Jumpy, Morris, Jumpy, Jake, Jake

I also think, if 2 ball games become more prevelant, then they should get their own scoring list. The more times we can get out and play the more games we have to make something of. I was also thinking about making something for scoring. In one post I joked about Jumpy getting a 'doublus victorious'. This type of thing could be integrated with a ranking system. You could have your raw percentage, but also credits to your name. Like in the computer versions of Risk you can get medals for doing certain things, maybe we could add something like this into our system. The problem though, is that while giving out a DV is easy since you just look at the games and see if a person won twice in a row in one night. But do we want to have a tablet recording croquets (or roquets which i dread tallying that), cross court shots, etc., but it would add in an element of telling us how a player performs.

So using a fictious player, we'll call him Todd Suckington, so Mr. Suckington has a 55% point score, and he has no DV's, 5 croquets, 24 roquets, etc. I guess the problem here is you cant really have a percentage of roquets and stuff, unless we then tally every shot taken. Geez, this sucks.

our cuase is true.

Care for a drink sir?

Well, not that I signed up to gets emails from a wine related site or anything, but I have acquired a list of some guys picks on wines under $12. Not that this would interest anyone, but I thought nothing had been posted in a bit. Heres the link, the list is at the end of his little speech http://www.wineloverspage.com/qpr/index.phtml .

And also, the stupid fire danger is continuing as we get no rain, atleast for night play. Bleh. Let me know whos open when.

Treacherous Dogs!

So, it finally happened. After so much hard work, planning, and re-planning it really happened. No, I didnt make out with anyone (sorry to get your hopes up), but we did manage to play during the DAY. Yup, it happened, no filling canisters and carrying them out, no searching for you ball or mallet after you laid it down. Just beautiful, uninterrupted play. Whats more beautiful is that Imperial Jake fell. I guess the sun set early on this empire. In this game though, it should be noted Jumpy had a legitimate excuse to leave, and we decided he therefore forfetted (sorry Jumpy). I'll let Jumpy explain his reasons if he wishes (I'll give you a hint with the title).

Heres the breakdown for today:

01-08-06
Game 1- Jake, Jumpy, Morris, Todd, Cassie
winner: Jake, Jumpy, Morris, Cassie, Todd

Game 2- Jake, Jumpy, Morris, Todd, Cassie
winner: Todd, Morris, Jake, Cassie, Jumpy

Game 2 was definately changed when Jumpy left. For the record, it was him and Morris at the 1st wicket going towards the post. When he left we decided to leave his game as playable. This allowed Todd to use it and rocket ahead. Would have Jumpy won had he not left, would Todd have won anyway (*snicker*)? Thats croquet, we dont know, ask God when you die.

If anyone has any ideas about how to do the scoring, using a system we can manage, tell us. Also, I'd still like around 6 players per game, but that again leads into possible scheduling stuff. Eh.

our cause is true.

New Season Begins!

Well, we kicked off the new season last night....results weren't really so good. If you weren't there, it wasn't close on the back half. Jake pretty much played, and everyone else watched him.

01-02-06
Game 1- Morris, Jake, Todd, Cassie, Amanda (1 Ball)
winner: Jake, Todd, Amanda, Cassie, Morris

Game 2- Morris, Jake, Todd (2 Ball)
winner: Jake, Morris, Todd

Even in the 2 ball game Jake finished first and second. Now that Im reflecting on it the morning after, I feel like I was 1) taken advantage of, or 2) did something wrong, and I should feel bad about it. Well I think both apply, one should feel bad about sucking so much.

By the way, Jake, if youre reading this: YOU ARE KICKED OUT.

our cause is true.

Happy New Year

So the new year has come and gone. What does this mean for our fragile croquet club? With a few changes I suspect we could strengthen the club greatly. I submit the following:

1. One issue that grinds me the wrong way, is that there really arent that many games we played in the course of several months. Was everyone busy? Of course, we all were. But could we have gotten in more games (if even one at a time)? Absolutely-weekends are the clear choice, or playing earlier on several nights (I'll address this later). Bottom line-we need to get out and play more.

2. It may have been the night we played this semester, but we had a shrinking play list. We ended up with 4 regular players (plus cassie towards the end), I'd like to see this expanded. One later point will address one idea, but obivously more people (and once it teeters over 6) goes into scheduling problems etc.

3. Starting play at 10:00pm is a horrible, horrible idea. If we want to kill a night playing, then go for it. Otherwise, play should start around 7. Here we could get in 2-3 games, and you can do something the rest of the night. Nobody has a schedule where one night you cant play at 7. This would also increase the amount of people playing, and probably times we could play.

4. There should be a final game to decide who wins. I dont want to leave the stats as the weak, pre-finals last games we played.

So thats it, fight on croquet club, fight on.

our cause is true.