Another great Higgyball is in the books. Congratulations are in order to Mike and Chris from The Fistful of Dice. Also, great job to the MVPs: Dana and Liam.

As always, we must thank our gracious hosts, Danielle and Marc, for letting us have this great party. If you happened to leave anything behind, please come get it as soon as possible. Also, save the date for the next Higgyball: May 27, 2023. See you next year!

The weather looks like it just might be perfect tomorrow, which is surprising considering the slop we’ve had the last few days. Here’s a final checklist for the big day:

• BE ON TIME! Reminder for the address: 7650 King Rd. Oxford, OH 45056. The event starts at 11:00am, so be there before then, especially if you’re part of a team. Speaking of teams, take a look at the rules. Newcomers should familiarize themselves with how we run things. As usual, we’ll run everything through a computer on the deck, so you can see field assignments and standings on the big screen. Teams should check in at the deck computer when you arrive, because we need all teams present to begin the tournament. If you’re ridiculously late, we’ll give you a loss for your first round match-up. If you know you will be late, please let someone know long before the start of the event.
• If you’ve signed up and your plans have changed regarding Higgyball, please let me know, and you’ll get your money back. If someone bows out the day of the event, we’ll take any replacements that are at Higgyball to fill the spot. If you would like to play and have yet to sign up, click here, there are still spots.
• If you pledged your balls to Higgyball, please bring your bocce sets with you, and check in with a council member for field assignment. We’ll do our best to make sure you leave with the same balls you arrived with.
• Items to bring: water, sunscreen, bocce set(s), food items to share, lawn chairs, water, bug spray, sunglasses, tape measure, rain gear, swim suit and towel, and water.
• Ice! It’s so important, it needs its own section. Please bring a large bag or two of ice to throw in the giant communal beverage tubs.
• Just like recent years, parking is now in the big field to the left of the driveway (rather than on the right as in years past). Just park where everyone else is parked.

We are now less than 10 days out from Higgyball 18, and for me that means watching the dreaded weather forecast. Right now it looks to be relatively warm but with a possible thunderstorm. Frequent participants may remember the extreme weather events of past Higgyballs, so it I’m sure we can handle whatever Mother Nature throws at us. If it looks really bad, we’ll use the rain back-up date of Sunday, May 29, 2022, and will let everyone know if that clause is invoked.

We still have a few spots open, so ask around to see if anyone would like to register. We can handle up to 32 teams, but we will make do with what we have no matter the number. We’ll even take teams the day of the event, so don’t be shy. If you need to change your team name or partner, or even need to bow out, please contact me.

Here’s the address for the event: 7650 King Rd. Oxford, OH 45056. Please remember to be on time. We start at 11:00am, so if you are playing, you need to be there well before that time. Don’t make us wait on you! Everyone should bring a large bag or two of ice to throw in the communal drinks bins.

Lastly, check out the Higgyball Dry Goods store for this year’s T-shirt choices, along with stickers, coozies, and pint glasses. These are ordered individually and delivered right to your door, so take advantage while supplies last.

(For those that haven’t gotten the update, here’s the post)

H18 Registration is open: Register here!

Follow along on the Bracket page. As you are registering your team, don’t forget to pledge your balls to Higgyball and add a few songs to the Music Registry list (max 2).

If you don’t have a partner, please add yourself to the Free Agents list. When all team spots have been filled, the Wait List will open up.

We have a new online store at Zazzle for T-shirts this year, Higgyball_Dry_Goods. When selecting your shirt, you have the option to customize not only the size, but also the style, brand, cut, and color There are stickers, pint glasses, and coozies to purchase as well. Keep an eye out for the discount code printed next to the products in red; add that code in your cart for some extra savings. When finished, you will have your shirt shipped right to you. Lastly, proceeds from the purchases will be donated to the Red Cross in support of the Ukrainian Humanitarian Crisis. There may be a surprise raffle for buyers if we are able to raise enough. So, please consider an item or two and stay tuned, as your name will be entered for each item purchased.

Please email mark.r.walker@gmail.com if you have any problems or questions.

Watch out, folks! Higgyball will soon be able to legally do the following things: vote in U.S. elections, join the military, buy a lottery ticket, open a bank account, create a will, and buy pornography. But most importantly: return to its rightful place at the Start of Summer. That’s right, Higgyball will again occur on the Saturday before Memorial Day.

Save the date: May 28, 2022 at 11:00am. More details coming soon!

Congratulations are in order to Jenny and Thomas Fisher of The COVID Task Force for winning Higgyball17! Congrats also to the MVPs: Jenny Fisher and Marc Tincher.

It was another great tournament (albeit a little soggy at the end), and much fun was had by all. Thanks go out to our gracious hosts, Danielle Mann and Marc Tincher, and to the Higgyball Council for getting it all organized. We hope to be back at our usual Bat Time next year over Memorial Day weekend (though you can’t beat the lower temps that we had yesterday). Save the date: May 28, 2022.

If you had to leave anything yesterday, or perhaps misplaced something, please do your best to retrieve it today, or contact someone to make arrangements. Some extra help with cleanup is also much appreciated.

Here’s a last-minute checklist for Higgyball17 (which is this Saturday!):

• BE ON TIME! Reminder for the address: 7650 King Rd. Oxford, OH 45056. The event starts at 11:00am, so be there before then, especially the registered teams. Speaking of teams, take a look at the rules. Newcomers should familiarize themselves with how we run things. As usual, we’ll run everything through a computer on the deck, so you can see field assignments and standings on the big screen. Teams should check in at the deck when you arrive, because we need all teams present to begin the tournament. If you’re ridiculously late, we’ll give you a loss for your first match-up. If you know you will be late, please let someone know long before the start of the event.
• If you pledged your balls to Higgyball, please bring your bocce sets with you, and check in with a council member for field assignment. We’ll do our best to make sure you leave with your balls.
• Keep an eye on the weather. It looks to be pleasant, and there definitely won’t be any extreme weather like we’ve had the past few years. Even though we have yet to use it, the rain backup date is Sunday, Sept 5, 2021. We’ll make the call on Saturday morning if we need to use it this year.
• Speaking of weather, don’t forget: water, sunscreen, bocce set(s), food items to share, lawn chairs, water, bug spray, sunglasses, tape measure, rain gear, swim suit and towel, and water.
• Ice! It’s so important, it needs its own section. Please bring a large bag or two of ice to throw in the giant communal beverage tubs.
• If you’ve signed up and your plans have changed regarding Higgyball, please let me know, and you’ll get your money back. If someone bows out the day of the event, we’ll take any replacements that are at Higgyball to fill the spot. If you would like to play and have yet to sign up, hit us up, there are still spots.
• Just like recent years, parking is now in the big field to the left of the driveway (rather than on the right as in years past). Just park where everyone else is parked.
• Obligatory COVID section: please be smart. If you’re sick, please stay home. If you’re not vaccinated, please consider wearing a mask. Let’s all be safe.

Thanks go out to everyone that was able to navigate the craziness of the registration fiasco a few weeks ago. The poor web server couldn’t handle the thousands (dozens? sevens?) of eager fans vying to get their spot in the tournament this year, so I gave it an upgrade. We do have some team spots open, so if you’re able to join us on Sept 4, 2021 at 11:00am (SHARP!), please feel free to register your team. If any registered team has to drop out for any reason, let us know as soon as possible and we’ll refund your money. We also have T-shirts available, but remember that we need those orders by this Sunday, Aug 15, 2021, so do not delay.

A reminder on the location: 7650 King Rd. Oxford, OH 45056. We usually have a Food Registry so that we don’t end up with 20 bags of chips, but it crapped out this year, so please be wise and bring shareable potluck items suitable for feeding a small army of bocce enthusiasts (along with the supporting cast of things like eco-friendly plates and silverware, and lots of ice and water). Feel free to coordinate amongst yourselves.

Lastly, we are still looking for a volunteer to run the show on the deck, as our venerable manager of years past, Holly, is not able to join us this year. If you think you have what it takes (you just type in the scores and click a few buttons), please send a message to mark.r.walker@gmail.com.

H17 Registration is open: Go!

Follow along on the Bracket page. When you register, along with entering team information, don’t forget to pledge your balls to Higgyball and add a few songs to the Music Registry list.

If you don’t have a partner, please add yourself to the Free Agents list. When all team spots have been filled, the Wait List will open up.

While you’re there, don’t forget to buy a Shirt (sales end August 15) and add to the Food Registry.

Please email mark.r.walker@gmail.com if you have any problems or questions.

Attention all spectators! We have an opening for the Deck Manager position, which involves pushing a few buttons and letting people know which field they are playing on at the start of each round, and then entering scores when the games finish. If this could be you, please let me know. No experience necessary!

Your friendly Higgyball council would like to remind you that we have Higgyball registration happening this Sunday, August 1, 2021 starting at 12:00pm. We’ll keep registration open until we fill all 32 spots, but don’t sleep on it. Cost is $10 per team, and you will need to provide your team name, the names and email addresses of both participants, how many standard-sized bocce ball sets you can lend to the cause, and also up to two suggestions for the music playlist. During the day on Sunday, you can keep an eye on the Bracket page to see who has signed up. Also, add to the Food Registry or sign up on the Free Agent list if you don’t yet have a partner (you must do this instead of grabbing a spot and hoping to find someone later).

In addition to team registrations, we’ll have the annual Higgyball shirts for sale (see above), designed, as always, by the incomparable Patrick Lytle. One little wrinkle this time around: we’re using Lebowski again for the shirts, but they only offer price breaks at certain numbers of shirts ordered. Our shirts start at $25, but if we don’t have enough ordered for either design (H17 logo or the mad cow), we may ask if you would switch designs (or we will return your payment if you don’t care to switch). Hopefully there won’t be an issue, but do keep this in mind.

Finally, since we will have 32 teams this year, we’ll have a new format for the fields. Get a sneak peek at the map above, and start practicing your bocce throws! (This new format is why we need you to pledge your balls to Higgyball, so do let us know when you register.)