Here's hoping the
Italian Bocce Federation (FIB) spends 2004 cracking down on the proliferation of nonstandard equipment through American sporting-goods stores.
Last summer's cookouts were overflowing with bastardized kits. Too often I was boxed into defending Italian-American honor with what were essentially painted croquet balls. Though it seemed a feeble excuse to the uninitiated, it really is difficult to reproduce your game with a ball that weighs half of what you're accustomed to throwing.
I'm not sure how the Powers That Be in bocce can, out of one side of their mouths, argue that some form of lawn-bowling be admitted as an Olympic medal-sport, while at the same time allowing Franklin and Sportcraft to continue to market their cut-rate lines of "Recreation" balls. Then again, when USBF tournament rules authorize officials to
restrict the "volo shot" — only the
most exciting throw in the sport — for "safety considerations," you can see how these corruptions happen.
Anyway, here is a cheat sheet for all of you who are planning barbecues in '04:
(1) Genuine wooden balls are few and far between these days (even in Italy), but a nice polyurethane or phenolic set won't kill you.
(2) A 113-mm ball is tournament grade, and you really shouldn't go any lower than 100.
(3) Look for an FIB certification on the box, because USBF isn't good enough anymore. Not after taking the stance that it did on the volo.
(4) Any set you find with four colors is screaming to be
left on the shelf at Modell's.
Capish?
