Last year’s opening-day ceremonies for the City of Brotherly Love Softball League were postponed a week due to rain. This year brought arguably the best weather ever for an opening day. With temps heading up into the 70s early, shorts and T-shirts were the norm, and attendance seemed much larger and more boisterous than in most years.
The National Anthem was sung lovingly by a team member while Stephen Carlino, owner of Tavern on Camac and U Bar, tossed the ceremonial first pitch and was presented with a game ball and shirt as a thanks. A special recognition was presented to Donna Mae Stemmer for her continued support of the league, which generated thunderous applause, yells and whistles.
Stemmer has been active in the league for 22 years, attending countless CBLSL games, 13 league banquets, five softball world series and 18 tournaments.
Congrats to all the teams that won a game or two kicking off the season, and best of luck to the rest — you’ve got plenty of play left to best them! For the first time, the season winners will be decided with a tournament rather than by standings, so it’s anyone’s title to win or lose.
A special shout-out to the ICandy Buck Fuddies for one of our favorite team names.
Room at the top
While I was pricing hotel rooms in Cleveland for the Gay Games recently, I saw that a few of the lowest-priced hotels are already completely booked, as one might expect only three months out from the opening ceremonies. If you’re still thinking about going, I suggest you get your asterisk in gear and start making those plans now unless you have $225 to spend for a bed every night.
The options are numerous and the guys organizing the Gay Games 9 have a brilliant website (www.gg9cle.com) where you can look up your competitive sport, find out where it is, either in Cleveland or Akron, and which hotels are closest to your venue. Then check which days you’re competing, and you’ve got all your info for booking.
The Gay Games 9 opening ceremonies are Aug. 9, but you might consider arriving a day early for the late-night party.
Muddy puddles
GPFFL was forced to return to its old digs at Columbus Park for the first two weeks of the season due to waterlogged fields in FDR Park. Having to be done by 1 p.m. to make way for the little leaguers, and due to the size of the GPFFL, they have to start play around 8 a.m. Yours truly opened the season singing the National Anthem again and, yeah, that’s a yikes for any singer.
Fortunately the time constraints aren’t there in the fall season, so if the Gay Bowl is forced to play on two fields at a time instead of 10, well, they just might be playing games at 5 a.m.
Don’t ask me to sing if you do.
Countdown to Gay Games 9: 112 days, Let me know what’s in store for your organization and share it with everyone; email [email protected].