The Fun of Croquet (thanks to King Charles II of England)

Wikipedia refers to a book dated back to 1801 called "The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England," by Joseph Strutt in describing the game of Croquet as "A curious ancient pastime." Well, I don't know about ancient, but I do know I use to play Croquet as a young child with my family while visiting the country home of my grandparents. The whole family would play and it truly was a lot of fun. Before traveling to Oregon this August I started thinking that my sister Vicki's yard would lend itself well to a round or two of Croquet, so I bought a set (and those damn wooden balls and mallets aren't cheap) and hauled it up to Cottage Grove. I didn't realize they already had a Croquet set and had been playing frequently. Nevertheless we broke out the new set after our walk that morning and began setting up. Now my brother-in-law Tim is not a patient man nor is he known for his tact. As sister Lizzy and I commenced to set up the wickets Tim is saying something like, "O.K. you guys, I'm going to play but I don't even know why you are bothering because I'm going to kick your butts in this game. Its just a matter of fact." We ignore him because that is what we quite often do when he starts in like this. I guess Lizzy and I are taking too long to get the course set up because he continues, "....are we gonna play or not? lets get going!!" The players will be "The King of Croquet" Tim, sisters Lizzy and Vicki, neice Beth, grandneice Madison and me (Dean decides to set this one out opting for a nap instead. Smart guy). So our game consists of players young and old and if I remember correctly Beth guesses the correct number to be first. As luck or skill (take your pick) would have it Tim quickly takes the lead, chiming along the way, ".....you guys are pathetic. I'm leaving you in the dust." Well, for the most part that was true. While he was making it through one wicket after another Beth and Madison were giving him a run for his money. For the two youngest players these girls were holding their own. Vicki and I truly were pathetic players as Tim had noted. We were still trying to get up the course when the rest of them were already making their way back toward the final two wickets. In fact we were so far behind the others didn't notice when we took extra shots or repositioned our balls more conveniently in line with the next wicket. Hey when playing with Tim one has to learn to be crafty. So finally Tim is within the last stroke of the mallet and he over shoots the final double wicket slot for the win. Beth seizes the moment and wins the game while Tim is trying to make his way back around. "Well at least Tim didn't win," I tell Dean who had woken up from his nap just in time to see the final moments. "Diana, he threw the game" Dean tells me. "No way!" I exclaim, "he totally shot crooked." Dean just smiled and said, "He threw the game on purpose."
I wasn't convinced and I was talking to Matthew (Tim's son-in-law) about it later. Matthew's response to me was, "I've played Croquet with Tim a number of times and I have never won. If Tim lost the game, he did it on purpose." I was devastated. I have determined to practice with my newly purchased set here in California and next summer when we go to Oregon I'll show Tim who is pathetic. Hey Tim, who loves ya man? I do.