Another Reason to visit Vegas… Bocce Bellas

Need some ball help?
Need some ball help?

By: Gene Yuss
With summer around the corner there is only one thing that should be on your mind – bocce.

The great game of bocce is one that buy cialis 20mg I grew up buy cialis 10mg as a child playing.  It to this very day is something that my family plays on the beaches of Wildwood and the alleys of Conshohocken.  BBQ, beach or backyard – it is the original, and consequently greatest, tailgating game (sorry baggo, washers, redneck golf, etc.).  If you aren’t familiar with the game, do yourself a favor and try bocce.

Here’s a history lesson on bocce and some other fun facts…

 

Throwing balls toward a target is the oldest game known to mankind. As early as 5000 B.C. the Egyptians played a form of bocce with polished rocks. Graphic representations of figures tossing a ball or polished stone have been recorded as early as 5200 B.C. While bocce today looks quite different from its early predecessors, the unbroken thread of bocce’s lineage is the consistently common objective of trying to come as close to a fixed target as possible. The Romans learned the game from the Greeks, and then introduced it throughout the Empire. The Roman influence in bocce is preserved in the game’s name; bocce is the plural of the Italian word boccia, which means “bowl”).

 

The early Romans were among the first to play a game resembling what we know as bocce today. In early times they used coconuts brought back from Africa and later used hard olive wood to carve out bocce balls. Beginning with Emperor Augustus, bocce became the sport of statesman and rulers. From the early Greek physician Ipocrates to the great Italian Renaissance man Galileo, the early participants of bocce have noted that the game’s athleticism and spirit of competition rejuvenates the body.

 

My father is a fastidious Catholic, and while I share his faith, I do like to take the occasional jab at the Church to remind him that blind faith is as dangerous as mesh condoms…Writers side-note: During the 15th century bocce was condemned by the Catholic Church, which deterred the laity and officially prohibited clergyman from playing the game by proclaiming bocce a means of gambling.

 

And I’m proud to be an American… The earliest record of a bocce court in America can be found at the southern tip of Manhattan.  Those of you in NYC that brave the 4/5 to work everyone morning would be more acquainted with the name “Bowling Green”.  The first President to have a bocce court was George Washington – the court was built at Mount Vernon in the 1780s.

 

As if you needed another reason to go to Vegas… Caesars Palace has a summertime lunch-and-booze service at its Italian restaurant, Rao’s. But rather than just have grilled food outside, the place is stepping it up with bocce courts and some Bocce Bellas (pictured above), ostensibly hanging out to help you with your game.

 

One Reply to “Another Reason to visit Vegas… Bocce Bellas”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *