Left to right: PPB’s Dominic “The Doctor” Borland accepting the traveling bronze plaque from SBR’s Jim Kauffman
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, the 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 that has been in the 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, 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 the PPB with a score of 9 to 3. After the second round, the PPB was ahead of SBR by a score of 15 to 9. In the third round the PPB only had enough to break even with a score of 6 to 6. Now the PPB was ahead by 21 to 15 over SBR. The PPB went into the final round up by 6 points and would have to win only four games out of 12 to take possession of the plaque. The 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 that has been on the SBR’s wall for the last eight months. 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.