'MO - August 2008 - (Page 19)

The arrival of the Series in Seattle celebrates the 32nd anniversary of the games, which began in 1977 with a single game between New York and San Francisco. Now grown to include 37 North American leagues and nearly 200 teams from across the U.S. and Canada, the 2008 Series is titled “Northwest Quest,” and is a combined undertaking of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance and the Amateur Sports Association of North America. Both national organizations will be holding their summer meetings here, and will be accepting bids from future cities, informed in part by the Seattle experience. Seattle won the bidding for the 2008 Series back in February of 2007 with a winning presentation of the area’s ﬁelds, accommodations, transportation and other amenities. The Emerald City’s winning bid was bolstered by the support of the City of Seattle Sports Commission as well as letters from Governor Gregoire and Mayor Nickels. “We are thrilled that the Gay Softball World Series is coming to Seattle, and we welcome the players and their fans,” said Alex Fryer, spokesman for Mayor Greg Nickels. “This is the kind of event we work very hard to attract to Seattle, and we look forward to seeing some world-class softball.” World Series Executive Director Frank Pichinini felt that the support from the city was particularly instrumental in bringing the tournament to Seattle. “The Seattle Sports Commission accompanied the bid committee to Phoenix in February 2007 and was part of the bid presentation,” he said. “They also became a Northwest Quest Diamond Club member and a resource for sponsorship connections.” World Series 2008 Sponsorship Director, Daniel Cross, was equally enthusiastic about the response of businesses. “We’ve got some really great sponsors. Aquaﬁna and Coors continue to be title sponsors and this year we’ve added Subaru, which is our ﬁrst car company. Local bars and businesses have also been very supportive and represent a mixed crowd of gay and straight. For instance, we’re also being supported by 88 Keys Dueling Piano and Sports Bar down on 2nd and Jackson.” Even with ﬁve full days of ball, there will be plenty of time for the athletes, coaches, staff and visiting fans to patronize these businesses as well as enjoy some local sightseeing and social events. In doing so, the GSWS is expected to generate not only enthusiasm but moseattle.com Photo creDit: maLcoLm smith Representing the Open Division: (l-r) Dustin Walton (Maulers), Ben Jury (Drillers), Rick Cardona (Poco), Josh Magallanes (Knights), Gregg Behounek (Shock), Floyd Lovelady (Pilots), Holden Knecht (Atomic) and Craig Hickey (Bulldogs). also dollars for the Seattle economy. Based on previous Series, the city is expecting a boost of more than eight million dollars. That’s a lot of peanuts and crackerjacks. The Series’ positive economic impact is not limited to just businesses either. The Open Division also has a tradition of putting on a beneﬁt talent show Wednesday night as a way of strengthening local communities. “Hosting such a large event can be a drain on the non-proﬁts in a city, as everyone is going for the same sponsorship dollars. So the teams from the host city pick some local charities and the money from the talent show goes to them,” said Daniel. According to the tradition, at least one of the beneﬁciaries of the talent show must be an AIDS-related charity and this year, the Series chose Lifelong AIDS Alliance as well as Lambert House. Both on the ﬁeld and off, the Series is attracting some of the best talent available. Forty-one member cities in the U.S. and Canada competed over the 2008 season to qualify for a limited number of “berths” in the Series. The number of berths each city is assigned is based on size, and their scarcity breeds ﬁerce competition as teams vie for one of the coveted spots. Locally, the Seattle softball league, the Emerald City Softball Association, has 19 berths (the Seattle Open Division has eight berths and the Women’s Division also has eleven) but Northwest Quest may be the last time the two play in the same city during the same Series. Chicago and Milwaukee will be bidding to host the 2009 Open Division Gay Softball World Series while Philadelphia and Madison are courting the Women’s Division Softball 19 World Series. No matter who wins the bids, 2009 will be the ﬁrst time the two divisions won’t compete in the same city. These changes reﬂect an increasingly complex view of the Series as leagues negotiate the changing legal and multicultural landscape of North America. Both the U.S. and Canada are integrating the LGBT community into full equality in a regional patchwork rather than at a federal level. This has left some wondering how best to reﬂect diversity within the Series itself. The Open Division technically has restrictions on how many straight people there can be on an individual team—two (the Women’s Division has no restriction), but each city league sets their own local rules. Frank said, “Even as the U.S. becomes more open, in some cities it is still an issue and there are strong opinions both ways. Some member cities have restrictions, while others—including Seattle— have no restrictions at all. The North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance has restrictions on the number of straight players to ensure that straight players aren’t taking the spots of any gay players, but Seattle works very hard to ensure that anyone who wants to play, regardless of sexual orientation, ﬁnds a place.” Along with the combined attendance of the Women’s and Open Divisions, the high levels of softball enthusiasm may enshrine Seattle’s 2008 Series as one of the most attended games. “Seattle is one of the ﬁve largest cities in terms of numbers of teams,” said Frank. “There are a lot of gay sports locally but softball is the largest. We’ve got 29 Open Division teams (continued on page 20) issue #18 | august 2008 http://moseattle.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of 'MO - August 2008

'MO - August 2008 Contents Letter From The Editor Voices Coors Joins the Fight to Erase Hate Pet Project ’mo-BIZ: Ajaxx63 Northern Xposure Returns Lambert House Offers Youth Support Beijing, China The 2008 Gay Softball World Series in Seattle Form & Function: Vacation Nutrition An Account of the STP Bicycle Classic Book Review: Family Outing by Troy Johnson Capitol Hill Guide Live Event Review: Teatro ZinZanni’s Quest for a Queendom SceneOut: People@Places

'MO - August 2008

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