According to The New York Times, American ad men and ad women are increasingly taking to the beach with balls that don’t float.
Bocce, the genteel Italian sport once played exclusively by leathery men in alabaster outfits on courts made of crushed seashells, has been adopted by young professionals.
One hundred men and women, most of whom work in the advertising industry, play in the Los Angeles chapter of the Beach Bocce Ball League, and 50 more participate in the Chicago branch.
The early Romans were among the first to play the game as it exists today. Thus bocce is especially ingrained in Italian culture. In the 1950s, for instance, certain models of Fiat automobiles came with a bocce set in the trunk.
It has yet to be determined if the trend is ironic, or not.