Boccismo!

I've joined a bocce ball team. Yeah- the sport that is commonly played by 78-year-old Italian men is being reinvented by cool 20 and 30 somethings at Brooklyn's Union Hall.
Initially, the only reason I agreed to join the team is because I have a massive crush on our team's captain, and when he asked me if I was interested, I said, "Of course! Count me in! Sounds like fun. Oh, I don't know anything about the sport. Is that a problem?" Luckily, my friend Bucket agreed to join the league as well, so I wouldn't be among complete strangers. After much deliberating (actually there was no deliberation on the name), we decided to call ourselves Boccismo! With an exclamation point. That's part of the name- get it? We need a minimum of 4 players in order to compete, but can have up to 10 on our team. Including the random people we met last night and invited to join Boccismo!, we have about 8 people.
Bocce ball is basically this:
There is a tiny white ball, called the pallino, that is thrown at the beginning of the game. The goal is to get your ball as close to the pallino as possible. Players rotate according to whose ball is the closest to the pallino. In the end (I'm not going to illustrate all the rules now), the person (or team in my case) with the balls closest to the pallino wins. The number of points is determined by how many of the winning balls are closest to the pallino. Pretty easy concept, no? It's a game of strategy. Strategy and beer.
This is Union Hall's first ever bocce ball league. There are 3 nights set aside for games- Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. We will be playing on Monday nights, opening with a triple header 2 weeks from now. I have to say, after last night's practice, I'm pretty freakin' excited. Like most sports, I figured I would be pretty awful at bocce ball. Once again- I only joined the team so I could hang out with Brian on a weekly basis. (Yes, that's his name- I'm not using a code name because I'm fairly sure he would never find this blog. And because he already knows I'm in love with him.) But, after kicking some ass last night, I'm now in it to win it.
After Brian went over the rules with Bucket, John (another friend), and I, we started playing. I beat Bucket in the first game, and played Brian. I beat Brian. Then Brian and I teamed up against Bucket and John, but we lost. We probably played about 10 games throughout the night- random people kept asking if they could play winner, and we met some other good players.
All in all, I would say Boccismo! is shaping up to be a damn good team. We will be wearing costumes: white V-necks w/ lotsa chest hair, Boccismo! on the front (Boccisho! for me- get it? ho???), and fake moustaches. Our goal is to be the renegades of the league- and to be the champions.

Viva Boccismo!