PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that it what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Why do I ask this question?

Two reasons:  First, I am just curious about the answer.  Second, the country club where I play golf – Illahe Hills in Salem, Oregon – has just developed a bocce ball court and is encouraging members to play.

Many of us at the Club were surprised about bocce how long it took to build the court.  Of all things, the top-dressing is a layer of shells.

So, to go beyond this, based on today’s standard approach of checking the internet, here is what I found out about bocce ball in only a few moments in an article that included this headline:

The History of Italy’s Second Favorite Sport—Bocce Ball

The ancient world delivered many traditions, none as appealing as bocce ball.

The article went on:

“You can think of modern bowling as a distant cousin of bocce.  In England, they have “bowls,” a lawn version of the game using a flattened ball which is rolled like a wheel (bocce balls are always spherical).

“The Latin word bottia (ball) is the root of the Italian word boccia or bocce.  Latin also used the word boulles (balls), hence the name bowls for the British form of the game, and in France the game of Boules.

“The name pétanque is also used in Provence in the South of France.  The word pétanque is derived from a Southern dialect of French meaning “two feet planted,” describing the position of feet before tossing the ball.

“Italian balls are solid and made of wood or a composite and sometimes metal.  French boules are made of hollow metal.

“During a game a ball is either rolled or tossed underhanded down a long lane with the aim of coming to rest near a smaller target ball called a pallino or boccino (in France it’s called the cochonnet  or “piglet”).

“Some form of bocce is played in more countries than any other ball games, with the exception of soccer.  Still, Romans are the ones who spread the popularity of the game throughout the Roman Empire, which encompassed vast areas of Europe, Asia and North Africa.

“Many people, such as Galileo and DaVinci, played bocce during the Renaissance, seeing its benefits to mind and body.  It was also played by emperors, admirals, generals, poets, sculptors and scientists.

“Bocce was also exported to many countries by Italian migrants, and remains popular with bocce courts and clubs throughout the world.

“Bocce in its current form was played in 264 B.C. during Rome’s Punic Wars against Carthage.  Teams of 2, 4, 6 or 8 men were formed.  Soldiers threw a small stone “leader” and threw it first.  Then, larger stones would be thrown at the “leader” and the stone coming closest to it would score.

“The game relaxed troops and gambling was a pressure release, taking their mind off the stress of war.  Men played in teams, honing their military strategic thinking as they played.

“No one really knows how old bocce is.  There were stone balls found in Turkey that date to 9,000 B.C.  Some say bocce dates back to ancient Egypt (5,200 B.C.), but others argue that Greece was its birthplace around 600 B.C.

“When you really think about the simplest game a child can play – tossing a stone – you might think of bocce as the very first game man ever played. Even the child’s game of Marbles is based on bocce.”

So, there you have it.  You now know more about bocce ball than you did before you read this – and perhaps even more than you wanted to know.

For me, my wife and I have signed up for this season’s bocce league at Illahe Hills.

Those who have played in previous years on our old courts, tell me that one of the best parts of the game is this…you can drink a glass of wine as you play!  So, here goes.