The following is an email sent from your
Veep to Ron & Rick describing his
trip to Denver. Portions of this
letter will be published (hopefully) in
IGBO's International Newsletter this
fall. But you, my dears, get to
read the entire (updated) version!
Enjoy!
Yes,
I'm back! Denver was a blast.
Getting out there turned out to
be the most difficult part. I arrived in
Boston to find that American Airlines
had cancelled both my flight to Chicago
and the connection to Denver! They were
blaming the 'wind' in Chicago. I told
her that I’m an air traffic controller
and we never refuse service to any
aircraft because of 'wind'. The major
thunderstorms in Dallas were also
wreaking havoc on the air traffic
system, plus it was the beginning of a
holiday weekend (again, why cancel a
flight?). But what was done was done.
So, everything else was booked on every
flight on every other airline until the
next day (Fri) at 3:30pm! Well, that
would have made me miss the board
meeting and the first round of bowling.
I didn't have much of a choice so I told
her to save me a seat. She suggested I
try JetBlue since their computers are
not interconnected like they are with
most of the other airlines, and they had
a direct Denver flight leaving that
night. She also told me that if I did
get a seat with them that I should
cancel my outgoing flight with American
Airlines or else they would cancel my
return trip if I didn’t show
up…ok…good to know!
I practically ran to the next
concourse, because in the 20 minutes I
had spent waiting for her to give me
this news, the line at American went
from about 20 people to over 100 and was
growing!
I
walked right up to the JetBlue counter
(nobody in line!) and asked if they had
a flight to Denver?...yep...seats
available?…yep...I'll take one! So,
$400 and 4 hours of waiting later, I was
on my way. But first I had to cancel my
outbound flight with American.
So, I called their 800 # using
one of Logan’s pay phones and got the
automoated teller.
Apparently the mic on this phone
was not the greatest.
For when I tried to give her my
last name of Richardson, she replied
something like ‘was that Flyxrmack?’
Uh, no…that’s
Richardson….’was that Klyzkrbank?’
At this point I’m laughing
hysterically and people are wondering
what the hell is so funny.
Then she asks me to spell
it…’was that J-l-z-q-y-b-…well you
get the picture. Finally, the computer put me through to a human where I
cancelled the flight in about 10 seconds
(I had been on the phone for 10 minutes
by this time – ya gotta love the
speediness of automation!). I definitely needed a drink before my flight, so headed to
Legal’s for dinner and drinks.
JetBlue is a great airline to fly
if you ever get the chance. The
individual tv screens make it well worth
the price!
I watched an unedited version of
‘Revenge of the Nerds’ on the plane
(“we have bush!”), so was hoping
there weren’t any kids around my seat
peeking over my shoulder!!
JetBlue is a helluva lot nicer to
deal with than other airlines too! I got
in only about an hour later than
originally planned (about 12:45am). I
knew things would get started early the
next morning, so I went right to
bed...not that I could sleep...a little
too excited!
After
registering the next morning, I re-met
Rob Silliman and he introduced me to the
rest of the reps in the Northeast
Region, one of whom would be my doubles
partner. I sat with them during the all
day board meeting (9-4:30!), which
included breakfast and lunch. Guys, I
have never been so impressed with an
organization than I was with this group.
Most everything ran like clockwork, with
all information readily available to
read in front of you (much like you do
with the stats package at the end of the
year - outstanding, by the way!). The
President was in her last month of
office, as was the Treasurer, so 2 new
positions had to filled, which took much
of the morning posing questions to
potential candidates and voting. At each
major tournament (Annual &
Mid-Year), they announce which city will
win the bid for the tourney 2 years from
that point (e.g. - Las Vegas won the bid
for the Annual Tourney 2009). Plus, all
the cities that have won bids for the
major tourneys coming up have to give
financial reports on their status.
(Oklahoma City - Mid-Year 2007, Atlanta
- Annual 2008, San Diego - Mid-Year
2008). Much of the afternoon was spent
deciding what to do with 2 members who
behaved immorally in Detroit during the
Mid-Year tourney back in November.
Their behavior ended up costing
IGBO $2500 in corporate sponsorship due
to a moral clause...and pissed off a lot
of people along the way.
After several rounds of voting
and bickering and testimonials, they
finally ended up suspending one from any
IGBO tourney for 1 year...the other got
a 2 year suspension.
During
the meeting I found out that they had
moved my singles/doubles bowling from
that night to Sat afternoon...right
after my team event, meaning I would
bowl 9 games in a row (as would my
doubles partner). So, I had Friday night
to myself, so I relaxed in the hot tob (luke
warm at best!) before getting ready for
the evening. Later, I walked downtown
Denver (which is BEAUTIFUL) and found a
restaurant. The city was actually full
of gays, as there was a national gay
volleyball tourney, a national gay darts
tourney, and an international gay square
dancing convention all going on that
weekend!! So, lots to see. The
volleyball tourney was just a few blocks
from our hotel, so I took a walk down
there after dinner. I just wanted to
check out the competition as my brother
and I will be competing in volleyball in
the upcoming Gay and Out Games.
Afterwards, I found the cocktail lounge
at the hotel where they made divine
Espresso Martinis! After a couple of
those, I walked up to the hospitality
room on the top floor to discover that
they were serving free
alcohol...well...had I known that!! I
got to meet a few people and learned to
play a dice game called Ooga-Booga
(Liar's Dice).
Bowling
at 8:30 the next morning came early! The
restaurant there was serving a special
breakfast for us, so I partook. Good
grease to help the hangover! My team
consisted of my doubles partner, Paul
from Rochester, NY, and 2 other New
Yorkers from Long Island. The 2 Long
Islanders averaged 195 and 205 to go
with my 176 and Paul's 164. I had my
best series of the day as I bowled all 3
games over average. They give out pins
for any games over 200, so I earned one
there and another in the singles. Our
first 2 team games went well, and we
thought we would be in the hunt for the
big money prize. But, we couldn't quite
come together in the last game and
faltered a bit.
We
had about an hour and 1/2 break before
singles started. I had 2 of 3 games over
average there. By the time the doubles
started right after that, my fingers
were hurting. So, Bloody Mary helped
ease the pain. Unfortunately, she hurt
my chances of medaling or finishing in
the money. I only had one game above
average in doubles, but of all my under
average games, they were all within 10
of my average. Lots of people thought I
still had a chance at the money, but you
had to wait til the banquet to find out.
There
were several 'side' tourneys you could
enter. One was called a 'Scratch
Masters', where they divide all the
handicaps into 6 different categories.
Then, the 8 best in each category get
together on Sunday morning to bowl in a
bracket competition. 1st and 2nd place
share the prize money in each category.
During this competition, 2 individuals
bowled 300 games! Another guy bowled a
299 while I was bowling singles, and
another in the lane next to me bowled a
288. So, there are some damn good gay
bowlers out there!
Other
games that they play while bowling are
some that we can bring into our league.
One is called Strike Pot. You sell
tickets for each game (6 for $5), then
draw one ticket. That person has to bowl
a strike on his/her next ball to win the
pot. If not, the pot carries over to the
next game. Another game is called
Brackets. You pay $5 per bracket (which
is good for the whole series). The names
are placed into the brackets at random.
Then, whoever has the best score with
handicap at the end of each game
advances in the bracket (brackets are
built in 8's). They paid 1st place
bracket winners $25, 2nd place got $10,
the rest of the money went to a host
city for a future major tourney (they
alternated every day). They also did the
50/50 drawings, but only drew the
numbers at the banquet and not during
bowling.
I
tried one of the Denver bars early
Saturday night (I skipped out on the Bar
Crawl - 2 buses would rotate from bar to
bar and pick up or drop off any bowler
who wanted to bar-hop). I wasn't
impressed with the bar I chose, so I
headed back to the hospitality room,
where I stayed til near closing.
Most
of Sunday was my leisure time. I took a
drive up into the mountains about
mid-morning and got some nice pix and
inspirational scenery (beautiful
snow-capped mountains). Sunday evening
brought the Cocktail Hour before the
Banquet. I sat with my bowling teammates
and 1 other couple from Houston and 1
other couple from Florida. There were
540 bowlers and another 30-40 guests.
The banquet was probably the least
organized thing of the whole weekend.
When they started announcing the winning
scores, much confusion ensued as the
readers couldn't tell whose score was
whose and where the winning cutoff
numbers were. So, I don't know if I won
any money or not. My guess is not, but I
was told that if I did win, it gets sent
later via snail mail.
The
flight home was MUCH smoother than the
outgoing flight. But, as I stayed up
very late at the hospitality room the
night before and my flight left at
7:30am, it turned out to be a LOOOONG
day! Even the next 2 days were brutal!
All in all, my experience was wonderful
and something I'll remember for a long
time. I will easily go to another IGBO
tourney and will try like hell to make
all the local tournaments. Syracuse will
be making a bid in November for the
Annual Tournament 2010, so we have that
to look forward to! Meanwhile, there are
many tourneys between now and then to
participate in. Namely, NEIT in
Syracuse, Oct 5-7, CHIT in D.C., Oct
26-28, Sweetheart in New Haven, Feb
15-17, and many others scattered
throughout the country. A chance to
build up our frequent flyer miles!!
It
will be my job to promote the hell out
of this organization. I met one of our
league originators (I think his name is
Toby? - knows how to sell IGBO!). He
seems to think we should include the
word 'invitational' in our league for
legal reasons. He said he will visit us
during next season and see how we're
doing, where I'm sure he'll bring it up
again! Anyway, I would love to see at
least one person from our league to be
present at each of the local tourneys in
the next year, and at least one team to
make it to either the mid-year tourney
in OKC in November or the Annual in
Atlanta in May (where I'll be
attending).
TOURNAMENT IN SYRACUSE
As mentioned above, there will be a tournament in Syracuse from Oct 5-7,
Columbus Day weekend. I highly encourage any
and all interested to attend this
tournament. I believe this tourney
will be the closest location to us this year,
so you should take advantage of it
now. I know it is short notice,
but it'll be worth the effort.
Details about the tourney can be found
at www.neitsyracuse.com/index.html.
Entry fee is $100 per person, plus $5 if
you're not a USBC member (details to
join below). All bowling
takes place on Saturday and
Sunday. The banquet is Sunday
evening. The host hotel is Embassy
Suites offering rates from $119-139
depending on the number of beds.
The hotel offers free parking, free
happy hour from 5:30-7:30 at the hotel
bar and a shuttle to and from the
bowling alley. Entry deadline is
October 1st! I plan on attending
and would certainly love some
company! I have an application if
you would like to take a
look.
USBC MEMBERSHIP
Since we are not a USBC sanctioned league, we run into a snag when one of
us wants to bowl in a tournament.
There is a simple solution,
though. Any of us can become an
Associate Member of USBC for about $21
which will cover us for the year and
prevent us from paying any extra fees at
the tournament. You can join
online at www.bowl.com.
Any questions, just ask Tim.
NEWSLETTER ITEMS AND WEBSITE INFO
For
all of our new bowlers, this newsletter
will be printed once a month on the
first Wednesday of the month. So,
if you have something for the newsletter
that you would like announced or
mentioned, please give it to Tim (and
make sure he writes it down or he WILL
forget. And don't forget the
league website, run by Christine D, can
be found at http://home.comcast.net/~MerrimackGNL/.
