Every Wednesday and Thursday night this fall, you can walk into Murphy's Tavern and hear the sweet sounds of your youth – the familiar sound of a skee-ball rolling down the lane and then the brief moment of silence as it jumps the ramp and lands (with luck and good aim) in the 50-point bucket.
The Story: Brian Farrell, 27, started the Charlotte Skee-Ball League in summer 2006. It wasn't long after his first skeeson started that he was contacted by a BrewSkee-Ball team in New York. They compared notes, teamed up and BrewSkee-Ball Charlotte was born.
In just two years, the league has doubled in size by word of mouth and secured Anheuser-Busch as a sponsor.
Farrell has since expanded the league to Wilmington and San Francisco. A Raleigh league is starting next month.
The Players: The league is made up of teams of three, ranging in age from 23 to 34. Most everyone joined as a way to meet new people and expand their social network. Indeed, Farrell says the league has spawned about five skeerious relationships, and many high rollers told me they met some of their closest friends through the league.
Overheard: “If you live by the hundo, you die by the hundo.”
The Prizes: Farrell works hard to include everyone – from trophies for Rook-skee of the Year, MV-Skee and Lifetime Skee-chievement awards to the highest honor of them all: the BrewSkee mug.
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