Nine years and 2 months ago I went bowling for my birthday. Two months later we had a hack league of 12 teams chucking straight balls at Yankee Lanes. Two years later we had 26 teams and Bayside Bowl was under construction. Last year we hosted the PBA and were on ESPN for four weeks and revolutionized televised bowling. I’ve received the Lion of Judah Lifetime Achievement Award and Commissioner of the Year. Things keep getting harder to top with the exponential growth of BoPo as a league and an entity. We have a podcast, a webpage and a national footprint. Closer to home more and more bowlers from other houses are wanting to become a part of it and each year we welcome a few more and add to the fabric of the league. As long as you are here to party first, and follow our one golden rule (DBAD), welcome to the club.
BoPo is about having fun with a giant community of friends using bowling as the excuse for hanging out. Naturally many folks have gotten pretty good at the bowling thing given how much time they spend at the lanes (shout out to Gutterboy), so some teams have really stepped up their pursuit of the banner, and that’s all good by me. Other teams will be gunning for the new B Division title game, and that’s going to be a great addition to the Bowling Ball. Plenty of other teams have no goals other than hanging out with their friends once a week and having some laughs while they spray houseballs in every direction, the original raison d’etre of BoPo. There are probably as many reasons for being in BoPo as there are members.
So, now we start a new season, the last season in our current confines before the growth continues (we’ll launch season 10 with an 8-lane addition). Tuesday nights will be an homage to the past and a glimpse of the future as the house is entirely given over to the league. We’ll see a new league night mechanic ‘GREG! GREG! GREG! GREG!’ We’ll have a celebrity first bowl, a whole new season of rooftop sessions, and we may even have one special league Monday night telecast live on XTRA Frame. We’ll welcome the pros back to town and they are pumped. We’ll have our own team, the Portland Lumberjacks! JACKS! JACKS! JACKS! JACKS!’ Oh, and I happen to know there’s a Little Hungus on the way mid-season.
Enjoy the next 16 weeks, it’s going to be an amazing ride.