Skee, Skee-Ballin'

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 eighth “skeeson” of Brian Farrell’s BrewSkee-Ball League is starting next month and I got to check it out Wednesday during one of the league’s Skee 4 Free events. The Story: Farrell, 27, started the Charlotte Skee-Ball League in the summer of 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. It is so successful that Farrell quit his day job to devote all his time to the league, creating score sheets, trading cards and mock SKEESPN magazine covers. The scorecards An issue of SKEESPN He has since expanded the league to Wilmington and San Francisco. A Raleigh league is starting next month, and Farrell also has plans to expand to Charleston. His ultimate goal? To have a national skeeball tournament next year. The Players: The league is made up of teams of three, ranging in average age of 23-34. 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. It’s a casual atmosphere as teams wait their turn to play, but the competition heats up at the lanes and heckling is inevitable. Brian Farrell gets the crowd revved up before the first ball is rolled Overheard: “If you live by the hundo, you die by the hundo,” and “I bowled two full circles!” 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. Want to Skee? Registration for Skeeson VIII ends Oct. 10. E-mail brian@brewskeeball.com for more information.