Dookie XXV - Recap

Marathon Dookie, no doubt.

Damn, it was great spending the better part of a week Dookie-ing with yinz.

The biggest thing that sticks out for me was the food.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever eaten that much gourmet food, over *so* many consecutive days, in my entire life.

A true tip of the cap to Oakes, Bowser, and Metcalf.

Incredible job, men.

The stomach-expanding pain from the second plates that we *knew* we shouldn’t have gotten, were *totally* worth it.

And even though Stumpy sadly wasn’t in our Tournament this year, the Saxon Inn came through with the perfect after-Golf meal on Friday.

Thanks, big guy.

And a huge thanks to Oakes for providing us some bad-ass personalized folding camp chairs!!  They came in handy after we stuffed our faces with your delicious food.

Also, thanks to O’Toole. He does a lot of behind the scenes stuff that few people recognize, but are essential to executing this Tournament. Not just this year, but decades worth of work.

(Garyn, you’re The Bomb for climbing up in those rafters for dartboards every year!

We should all give G our Flesh Parrot of Approval the next time we see him!)

Thursday July 6th, to Sunday July 9th 2023….

Our King of the Hill 25th Anniversary Tournament took many twists & turns over the course of its’ 4 days.

The never-rains-on-Dookie weather forced us to alter the order of events slightly. And we definitely took a leisurely pace of things on Thursday and Friday.

Golf was held at Meadowink GC for the first time, and it did not disappoint. The new course and Power-Ranked partners resulted in one of the most competitive Golf events in our history, with Danny sinking a 10+ footer on 18 to take home the 7 points. The top 5 teams were separated by only 3 points!!

Sunday turned into a truly pivotal day.

A day focused less on food and frivolities, and more on the actual events and accumulating points.

Some serious Dookie.

Playoffs in Bocce and Horseshoes, plus the entire event of Darts. All on Sunday.

A lot of points on the line.

In fact, *half* of the total points available for the entire weekend, were up for grabs.

And things were close:

halfway through Sunday, there were 6 guys who were within touching distance of the Cup.

Half of us.

And one man, Tony, had his destiny in his own hands:

win Darts and be crowned King of the Hill.

But alas, King Danny reigned supreme.

His victory in Darts ensured the Cups would be shared between himself, George, and Sean.

How “Dookie” of us to crown 3 Conquerors, when we set out to crown 2.

Looking at the final stats, Dan truly is our King of Kings:

Five first-place-finishes over the 6 events.

Overall, he finished 12 points above his nearest competitor.

(though he did get last place in Croquet)

And with his title this year in Bocce, he became the first Dookie that has won each individual event that’s been contested

(the 6 events from this year, plus Bowling and plastic Darts).

A vintage dominating performance.

But…

if we take away the outliers of Dan at the top, and the two guys who finished at the bottom….

then there were nine of us within 5 points of each other!!

That’s 9 guys, who were one events worth of points exchanging hands, away from being Dookie King’s of the Hill.

That’s some serious parity.

(those Power Rankings really did their job!)

The one big difference between George and Sean winning the Cup, and the other 7 guys who finished within one event of winning??

No last place finishes.

Event wins are pivotal, but not finishing in last place turned out to be crucial.

So a huge congratulations to…

Danny, George & Sean

our Dookie Kings of the Hill !!!

Our 25th Anniversary Conquerors.

A well-earned victory by all.

But with 4 freakin’ days of events, gourmet freakin’ meals, and extra-freakin’ wide camp chairs,

I think we are *all* Kings of that freakin’ Hill.

In all seriousness though, after 25 years,

I just want to say:

Thank you for being my Brother-in-Dookie.

I hope everyone appreciates just how special this thing of Ours is.

Hopefully all 16 of us will be back at our antics again next year.

Remember….we’re only going on 26.

So, stay young, Dookie’s.

remember: Drink like Vikings!

Your King of the Hill Conquering author,

Sean M. Hare

‘Pudgey Dookie’