Congratulations to:

Dookie XXIV Conquerors

Turk~Oakes~Ray~Tool

Wow….      THAT is the way you Dookie!

 

What an incredible year, yet again. This year saw some absolute classics, coming around full-circle.

2022 brought us back to a sense of normalcy in a lot of ways.  The laid-back feel of three full days, along with only doing five events, is blooming beautifully.

Golf greeted us with a wonderful climate on Friday morning at Spring Church. If it wasn’t for the Stableford scoring, this would have been the first year (that we can remember) anyone shooting under par. So, congrats to Beiter & Collins on a useful round.  And speaking of useful, our eventual Dookie XXIV conquerors, would start the weekend out in LAST place after the first event. Way to really shit the bed, boys.

As per their usual high standards, The Saxon was delicious for dinner on Friday.

…that Toasted Italian…fuhgetaboutit.

Our first twist this year, was digging right into the field events after dinner. It was blood-on-blood for most of the evening, and it was glorious. We got to spend time with our own teammates, while plotting strategy in shoes, bocce and croquet.

Nightfall on Friday, brought a bonfire for some, and poker for others.

On Saturday morning, we resumed the Field Events round robin.

Our second big change of the weekend, was bringing back home-cooked meals. Both gourmet meals were mostly provided by our resident Dookie Chef’s: Oakes & Bowser. They had smoker’s & grill’s & pot’s-boiling for most of the day. Rubbing and saucing and beating… ..their meats.

I’m glad I was wearing slides, because they knocked my socks off.

It seems the round robin would never end. The Field Events culminated in a 3-way playoff in croquet between Metcalf & Jimmy, Turk & O’toole, and Beiter & Slade, just for seeding the *actual* playoffs on Sunday.

Saturday night is alright..for Darts.

Adding a 4th board and moving the event to Saturday night, Darts under the lights & stars, sparkled.

O’toole carried his team from an initial loss, up through the losers bracket, to the summit and a 9-point victory, almost single-handedly.

We finished LATE night Saturday.

So, Sunday saw us kinda mosey-on-into the Field Event playoffs.

Red Shirt Sunday.

Just the Varsity squads invited.

A lot of points up for grabs, with only 2 of the 5 events completed, and a fresh start for everyone, on this third day of Field Events.

This year, we introduced a new playoff format after the round robins. The top 2 seeds got a bye, with seeds 3 through 6 battling in the first round of playoffs.

It led to some decent swings in fortune, with a 5-seed, who wouldn’t typically even make the playoffs, winning croquet. Congrats to Oakes & Ray.

But…sometimes…chalk is chalk.

The big-balls-of-bocce were hangin’ low for Jay & Bowser all weekend; their balls couldn’t be beat in the round robin or playoffs.

And O’toole & Turk were a freight train made of horseshoes.

Then…

Sunday afternoon’s total point’s tally brought the biggest change of all.

FINALLY *all* of us current Dookie’s, have won the Mug’s.

That’s right folks, our lovable loser, is a loser NO MORE.

Reefer-tuna Dookie.

Our little drummer boy.

Look in his pocket and you’ll see *two* *decades* worth of L’s.

The closest he came to winning before this, was when he finished in 2nd place the year we only had two 8-man teams.

Yes.. a hearty congratulations goes out to Ray Fortuna, who has finally got his name upon the Mugs.

 

(..cough..cough..uhhhhh… psych!

Upon closer inspection, it turns out that there is still *one* person who’s been in for 9 years now, but has failed to get his name on the Mugs….

#JayIsTheNewRay )

Cheers to our Conquerors:

Oakes, Fortuna, O’toole, Turk

 

Thanks must be given again to The Saxon for lunch on Sunday. We are *so* lucky to have such a close relationship with a fantastic kitchen.

 

Cash was lost on the poker table, Bowser thanks Metcalf.

And bottles of bourbon bet on the final rankings were paid off, Oakes thanks Jimmy *and* Phat.

Our format & formula is more refined than ever.

And a first-time Conqueror was crowned.

 

Great year, XXIV.

 

Next year is our 25th anniversary.

A lot more will be said about that, come the new year. But know, for now, we plan on out-doing ourselves in every way we can, to make this a momentous and unforgettable year.

For this one year only, we’re gonna try for four full days, gonna reinstate our 6th event: Euchre, and gonna change partners with each event (King-of-the-Hill-style).

Sprinkle in one or two of our killer Dookie gifts.

And top it off with something unique like a food truck, or a cigar roller, or a suds-bunny in a bikini walking up & down the hill.

It won’t be cheap, but we’re gonna kill it. So, start paying your RSVP ASAP !!