Higgyball Online

On behalf of the organizers, I’m proud to announce The 16th Annual Higgyball Memorial Bocce Ball Tournament.  By now I would assume that we all know the drill pretty well, but for those who may need it, I’ll be happy to remind you.

1. Team registration (2 players per team) will occur at 12:00 noon on Sunday, May 5th.  Go to www.higgyball.com to register.  $10 per team will be charged through PayPal as an entry fee to cover expenses.  Last year’s top 4 teams will be granted an automatic spot, BUT STILL NEED TO REGISTER AND PAY (they’ll receive the registration link prior to May 5th).  A total of 28 teams will be granted entry into the tournament.
2. Registration sometimes fills up quickly.  In the event that our bracket fills up, a waiting list will be opened.  If you are unable to enter your team due to a full bracket, be sure to sign up on the waiting list.  Waiting list teams have won the tourney in the past!
3. H16 will be held on Saturday May 25th, 2019 at 11:00 AM at the Tincher-Mann homestead in Oxford, Ohio.  An address and directions will be provided on the website.  We will reserve Sunday, May 26th as a “rain day”.
4. In an attempt to make the event ever more interactive the food and music registries will be included in the team sign-up process as well as the soundtrack.  In the event that we need more songs, a music registry will be opened to the public.
5. Send us pics of you and/or your loved ones wearing your Higgyball swag throughout the year and tell us where you were.  We’ll add it to our “Where Have Your Balls Been” page at Higgyball Online.  Also be sure to send us any pics from last year’s tournament.
6. Grab your favorite H16 T-Shirt.  There will be some great designs to choose from this year!  T-shirt sales will open on May 5th and close May 12th in order to have everything printed by the tourney.
7. In an effort to increase public safety, we’d like to encourage participants to stay the night and camp or find alternate transportation if necessary.  
8. If you haven’t contacted or found your partner, now is the time to do so. We have a Free Agents page for those needs.
9. Be sure to “Pledge Your Balls” this year if you’d be willing to donate a regulation size set of bocce balls to the day’s cause.  Not to worry, your balls are yours and yours alone.  We don’t want to own them, we just want to play with them for the day.

Expect to hear more from your friendly, neighborhood Council members soon.

Even though the groundhog is a filthy liar, warm weather is right around the corner, which means it’s almost time for Higgyball 16! This year’s event will be on Saturday, May 25, 2019 (with a rain backup date on the next day) at our usual location, the fabulous Tincher-Mann estate on King Rd. Please know that your industrious High Council has been meeting in earnest to make the event as fun as ever!

Write a caption for this photo in the comments on the website, and the winner gets a prize. Many more Higgyball-related details will be forthcoming in the next several weeks.

In the meantime, some local polar bears decided to play some “Snocce” (snow bocce). Try it out during the next snowfall, and let us know the results.

Due to popular demand, we’ve reopened orders for H15 T-shirts. Don’t be the only one in your knitting group without one, act fast. Orders close again on Monday, June 4, forever this time (for reals, we mean it). Click here to order.

We ran into a couple t-shirt snags this year, but we are committed to solving every issue.  If you did not receive your order, or if you received a different size than you ordered, please contact me directly at patrickalytle@gmail.com so that I can personally take care of you.

Thanks,

Patrick

It’s always great when we get a new name on the Higgyball cup, and H15 gave us just that: Congratulations to Marc Tincher and Egon Kraan for the victory! The final matchup between them and 509 Girls provided one for the ages, with the final throw deciding the match, 12-10, for Cougar Bait. Rounding out the top four were Cheese and Pinkley Ford. Good job all around!

If you have a collection of photos from the event, feel free to send them to your friendly neighborhood High Council member, and we’ll get them archived here on the site. Also, if you’re missing anything, we always have leave behinds, so let us know. Finally, it’s never too late to think about next year, so let us know what worked well, what didn’t work so well, and we’ll do our best to make Higgyball 16 even better!

Well, after three days of perfect weather, we’ve made it to the big day. It looks like we may have a pop-up shower or two throughout the day, but we’re going to try to play through it. Don’t forget your rain gear, and we’ll all get through this together!

Hey folks,

As most of you have probably heard by now, the Montavon family has fallen on hard times. Within the spirit of friendship and community, consistent with the ideals of Higgyball, your humble high council would like to offer a Split-the-Pot fundraiser during this year’s tournament.

Tickets are one ticket for $1.00, or 6 tickets for $5.00. We will pick a winner at random just before the Final Four games take place. Half the proceeds will go directly to the Montavon family in the form of a Kroger gift card. Cash only, please.

Thanks for you support, and good luck at the tournament!

Some notes about Saturday:

• Our hosts have asked people to bring extra ice (even if you haven’t signed up for it). It’s going to be HOT on Saturday, so we will use the extra ice. We also need a few extra tables for the food and deck areas. If you have some easily portable tables to lend for the day, please let mark.r.walker@gmail.com know. Lastly, we apparently have a surplus of mustard. If you signed up for mustard, you’re off the hook, don’t bring it.
• The Bracket and Wait List have gone through some transformations lately. If you’ve signed up and your plans have changed regarding Higgyball, please let me know, and we’ll take care of you. And by take care of you, I mean shun you mercilessly.
• The weather forecast for Saturday is still being coy about rain. We’ll probably avoid the rain like we always do, but if we do have to postpone to Sunday, we’ll make that call on Saturday by 9:00am. If you don’t hear anything, we’re still on! In the event that we are forced to postpone, any parties that cannot participate on the rescheduled day will be refunded in full.
• I will be reaching out to those that pledged their balls to Higgyball to remind them to bring their bocce sets. We can’t have Higgyball without your balls!

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Higgyball is next weekend! To the things:

• We need your tune requests. Visit the Music Registry and give us your favorite songs to fill out the soundtrack of our lives. We won’t judge your poor taste in music.
• Take a peek at the Food Registry and let us know if you can bring anything else (we always need more ice). Or look at the contribution list to remind yourself what you promised to bring.
• We cannot stress this enough: BE ON TIME. We’re going to kick off at 11:00am, and if a registered team isn’t there in full, we’ll have to drop you and pick up the next team on the waitlist. If you do get dropped, you’ll get a full refund, but the Swiss Pairing format requires all teams playing at the same time. Let us know well in advance if a registered team cannot attend.
• Speaking of Swiss Pairing, make sure you understand the rules, especially our newcomers. It’s not hard once we get into the swing of things, and we’ve found it makes the early rounds more competitive. As usual, we’ll run everything through a computer on the deck, and I’ve hopefully fixed a few bugs from years past regarding matchups and field assignments. I’ll have a Wi-Fi network set up (but not connected to the Internet) so that you can use a smartphone with a web browser to follow along as the tournament progresses. This isn’t a requirement, however; you can get score updates and field assignments from the deck.
• H15 checklist: chairs, sunscreen, bug spray, sunglasses, hat, cooler, bocce set (did you pledge your balls?), coozie, food, beverages.

This Sunday at noon is your last chance to order an H15 T-Shirt, so act fast!

A few items remain on the Food Registry, so if you haven’t already, please let us know you’ll bring something.

We’re just about two weeks away, so it’s time to start watching the weather. Currently, it’s showing rain for the big day, but that will likely change a dozen times between now and then. If we do need to call it, we’ll let people know that morning, and re-schedule for the next day. Fingers crossed!

Finally, check out the new field map. Our gracious hosts have reconfigured their green space, so we’re looking forward to spreading out a bit, and avoiding some of the problem areas of past Higgyballs.