BoSox and Bowling

The second annual Beckett Bowl celebrity bowling tournament was held at Town Line Ten Pin & Rain Nightlife only twenty minutes from Boston. The participating “celebrities” for this year’s event were Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Matt Segal from KISS 108FM, Greg Hill from WAAF-FM and Hazel Mae, just to name a few. Proceeds from the Beckett Bowl benefited The Josh Beckett Foundation and Children’s Hospital Boston. Last year’s event raised more than $275,000 for the charities.
With the red carpet roll-out guests and spectators snapped photos while the press interviewed the celebrities and athletes as they proceeded into the Town Line. This all sounds way more glamorous than it really is, especially if you’ve ever been to Town Line. For some reason the event started way behind schedule and the “stars” of the event where hiding out somewhere in Rain until they were announced. There was a live and silent auction, raffles and lots of people roaming around and chowing down on Upper Crust pizza (which smelled amazing).

I did not realize how fast I talk or how strong of a Boston accent I have until I asked Jon Lester to take a picture for BostonNightLife.TV; as he continued to walk as I was talking I sped up the words and he just turned around in utter confusion (as if I had just asked him how to determine the nuclear make-up a an atomic bomb) and asked “What did you just say?” His look of uncertainty did not make for a great photo op, but a hilarious moment as Theresa (founder of BostonNightLife.TV) just laughed at me.
Since we were part of the media and were not bowling our access was very limited. At about 9pm they made all media personnel vacant the bowling area so the tournament could run smoothly. Josh Beckett’s and Jon Lester’s lanes were pretty popular with parents and children trying to get autographs. Mike Lowell’s lane was pretty popular too; however the cougars that swarmed near him were not vying for an autograph.
The after party was to follow at Rain Nightlife next door, but being only in my mid-20s I felt I was a little too young for the crowd that tends to frequent Rain, so I called it a night once I ran out of film.

Josh Beckett along with Mike Lowell was traded by the Marlins to the Sox on Thanksgiving Day, 2005. In his first season with the Sox and for the first time in his career, Beckett recorded 16 wins and pitched more than 200 innings. He also became the first Sox pitcher in 35 years (since the designated hitter rule) to hit a homerun on May 20, 2006.
Beckett, a native of Spring, Texas established The Josh Beckett Foundation in 2007 to support community-based programs that strive to improve health and well-being of children, especially children that are seriously ill, disabled, poor or otherwise disadvantaged.