Bocce Club Award Winner Announced
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| Presenter Randy Ubriaco, with last year's Don Pepino Award winner recipient Mike "Marketside" Poletti, and this year's winner Leonardo Szafran. |
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| (Above and below) Some of Randy
Ubriacco's Bocce teammates. They
aren't very good players but Ubriacco tolerates them in the spirit of good sportsmanship. |
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Big news coming out of Niagara Falls this week.
Our correspondent Randy Ubriacco sent us this important communication:
The "Don Pepino" Good Sportsmanship Award for the Niagara Falls Bocce Club for 2013 has been bestowed upon no less a personage than Mr. Leonardo "Dicapuccino" Szafran of Niagara Falls.
The Don Pepino award is given to "that person that may not be the 'best' in the game, but shows respect and compassion for his fellow players," and in this case Szafran is no exception - he isn't the best but he sure has class when others whup him.
In this respect, Ubriacco says, he is a fitting addition to the long, long list of Don Pepino winners.
He may not be as good at the game as sterling players like Ubriacco, and some of the comely ladies he is known to play with, but that class act, Szafran, sure the hell is a gracious loser.
Bocce ball - for those who don't know - is a sport dating back to the Roman Empire. Bocce is played on a court and balls are rolled from one end of the court into a zone.
There are rules, of course, but unless a person is Italian, the rules are mainly incomprehensible.
In any event, Szafran got the award and we are told he shares the award in spirit with "those players that have gone, to the big, big Bocce ball court in the sky, but are NOT forgotten. Players such as Joe Volpe, Louie Paonessa, Bob Caggiano, Ernie Baldasarre, and Seb Passanese to name a few."