In the piece below, I endeavor to put things straight

by Angelo D’Elia/ 07-24-07

It has come to my attention that after I left the previous Friday’s card game a little early, there was somewhat of a, for lack of a better word, shall we say . . . ruckus. I thought I could trust my cousins, FMT, Dante, Joe and Jerry to behave after leaving, but I was to be disappointed. It appears the big bru ha ha was over the life and death topic of how to score a bongioco when calling yourself out without actually finishing the game.

According to Al Gore (inventor of the internet), the planet is melting, there’s a war going on in Iraq, terrorists are staying up nights trying to figure out how, where and when to hit us next, the Pope stated that Christians who do not recognize him as boss ain’t going to heaven, the NBA and all other sports have been shown to be as corrupt and dishonest as the rest of society, but my card-playing colleagues felt that these concerns were not worthy of discourse. Instead, they focus their skills of argumentation and intellectual acumen on how to score a bongioco in the game of Tresette.

Sometimes history is a great teacher, but me thinks (Shakespeare talk) it is risky business to depend on the lessons of history when trying to convince characters such as those named above. Nevertheless, I will try. In the past, when a player reaches 31 (the score needed to win) before the entire hand is played, he may call himself out. In order to win, he must have the requisite number of points in the "tricks-taken" pile, and he cannot (see note below) count his bongiochi or napolitane. Thus,in this particular instance, the bongiochi or napolitane become totally irrelevent. Winning the game in this manner, requires one team to establish victory without bongiochi or napolitane.

Naturally, there are many variations as to how this game is played, but our ancestors, from whom we learned to play, did it as I have described above. Incidentally, if your points do not add up to 31 after calling yourself out, you forfeit the game. So to all my card-playing associates, but especially to Joe and Jerry, I say keep your noses clean, play your cards right, and don’t count your bongiochi or napolitane when calling yourself out.

With respect to Joe’s comments about "exterminating" anyone who disagrees with him on this issue, I can only say that if he successful, he will spend his Friday nights playing solitaire, at which time he can dictate his own rules without fear of oppposition from other bothersome homosapiens.

Note:  Remember, when you opt for a C-Section as the mode of delivering a baby, you have to give up using the birth canal altogether.