North Carolina Bowled Over

Above: Paul and me at bowling.

Paul and I used to be on a bowling league in Boston with two of our good friends, Charlie and Jack. Our team was called “The Wire Hangers,” a close second for team name was “The Donna Martin Graduates.” We came in second overall in the entire bowling league in 2005. We miss our old bowling buddies! So we were all geared up to go to bowling this Sunday with our future softball teams. I am not the best bowler, but I find bowling to be so much fun and a great way to get to know our teammates. Most of the guys on our softball teams are 30+ and everyone is super friendly. My softball manager, Terry and his boyfriend, Hakan, were on our team and we bowled against Paul’s coach, James, his boyfriend, and two of Paul’s teammates Lance and Gordon. Gordon was the guy who nailed my in the mouth with the softball, so it was nice to see him again!:-) Also, it was Gordon’s 50th birthday so we all had some delicious cake.

Above: Left to right, Lance, Matt, James, Terry, Hakan, Gorden,
Me and Paul.

The fun started when a bunch of big burly hairy guys started dressing up in drag to bowl. It was hilarious to watch all these big guys apply their make-up, style their wigs and bowl in strikes! It brought back memories when I won $700.00 in the bowling league in Boston…my raffle ticket was called and I had to pick out of a hat which way I had to bowl to win the big jackpot. The choices were, bowl left handed, bowl granny style or bowl in drag…. of course I got the bowl in drag and I NEVER get strikes But this time I bowled a strike and won &700.00 right before Xmas 2 years ago. It also reminded me I had this picture of Paul below; he had to do the same thing!

Above: Shirley Temple? No way, it's Paul trying to win some cash last year at the Beantown bowling league.

Bowling was a blast as you can see in some of the pictures below. It’s really cool that we are making some pretty great friends out here. Check out some of the pictures below:








After bowling Paul and I went to the Pilsner to meet another new friend, Matt. Paul met Matt a when he first came to SF while watching sports at the Pilsner and their dry wit and wisecrack banter cemented them as friends. So we met Matt to watch the college basketball game I have been waiting for, North Carolina vs Georgetown. Matt could be Mike Clisham’s twin brother…well maybe not twin brother more like younger brother, the similarities are uncanny. I was first in my work pool and if NC went to the final four, I would have picked all four team in the final four and would have been a shoe-in to win. I was all pumped up with my NC blue visor on and I felt confident that NC was going to win as they were hanging on to a 10 point lead for most of the game. It came down to the wire at the end and both teams went into overtime, I was starting to feel nervous but was confident that my boy Tyler Hansbourough was going to come through and win it. Then it all went to shit, the ref’s obviously had money on G’Twon to win and they called three of the worst calls in the history of college basketball and they helped G’Town win. It sucks when the ref’s bet money on a team and helps the team win with several bad calls. Oh, well. There’s always next year for NC to win it all.

Above: Clisham's younger brother? His twin? New friend Matt and me at the Pilsner watching North Carolina get clobbered.