PPB’s Dominic “The Doctor” Borland (left) accepting the traveling bronze plaque from SBR’s Jim Kauffman (right)
Left to right: Joe Vidmar, Phelps L’Hommedieu, Dave Parker, Dominic Borland, Dick Dunbar, Joe Giammarino, Fred Dianda, and Jack Hoverter
Joe Giammarino
The Pool Players of The Brooke (PPB) would like to thank SaddleBrooke Ranch Billiards Club (SBR), Jim Kauffman, and SBR’s billiards team for their pool table prowess, camaraderie, friendly competition, and a congenial luncheon at the Mesquite Grill after the 8-Ball Challenge. Another big thank you goes out to Dominic “The Doctor” Borland, acting PPB Travel Team captain, and Tony “The Snake” Cardillo for organizing this event. On April 8 SBR’s Travel Team ventured down to SaddleBrooke for an 8-Ball Team Challenge. We were competing on four 8-foot Connelly pool tables for temporary ownership of a traveling bronze plaque, which has been in SBR’s possession since April 22, 2022. The PPB team was made up of four two-player teams, and SBR also had four two-player teams. The PPB teams consisted of Joe “Fast Eddie” Giammarino and Dick Dunbar, Dominic “The Doctor” Borland and Phelps “Montana” L’Hommedieu, Dave Parker and Jack “Crash” Hoverter, and Fred “The Baker” Dianda and Joe “Ball Breaker” Vidmar. Our opponent’s teams from SBR were Tim Connolly and Keith Vincent, Phil “The Fixer” Jelleff and Karl “English” Knight, Jim Mabbott and Tom Marshall, and Jim Kauffman and Bruce Keller, with alternate Mike Bosky. The format was simple and interesting. Each of our teams would play each of their teams three games of 8-Ball with each game won being one point for the winning team. There were a total of 48 points in the match.
The first round score was 6 to 6. The second round went to PPB with a score of 9 to 3. After the second round, PPB was ahead of SBR by a score of 15 to 9. In the third round, PPB only had enough to break even with a score of 6 to 6. Now PPB was ahead by 21 to 15 over SBR. PPB went into the final round up by six points and would have to win only four games out of 12 to take possession of the traveling bronze plaque. PPB turned it up and won the round by a score of 9 to 3 to win the match by a final score of 30 to 18.
We again had a chance to play for the traveling bronze plaque, which has been on SBR’s wall for the past eight months. Competitive revenge against our neighbors is satisfying! This event was a continuation of a friendly but fierce rivalry. SaddleBrooke is proud of their team, and they thank SBR for being such gracious guests. We relish our win and will once again enjoy the traveling bronze plaque on our wall. A mounting ceremony was held, and PPB invited the SBR players to attend!