Passions run high during Wilderness Bocce season. Dawn-to-dusk matches
fueled
only by regulation foods and beverages – ribs, niblets, and rum punch --
test the competitors'
endurance. Players who could effortlessly toss a bocce
ball within a hairsbreadth of the pallino at mid-morning
all too often find
themselves bowling into tree stumps and gopher holes as the shadows
lengthen
in the afternoon. As tempers fray, hot words are exchanged.
Ribs are tossed like throwing knives; heads
are shoved into niblet bowls.
Players drown their anger in rum punch, only to find that anger loves
a
good cup of rum. Matches generally end with a fracas of fists between
the teams, followed by rum punch,
niblets, ribs and rum punch.
