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Long-Board Shuffleboard
By Neil Peterson | May 16, 2009
In 1977, I was a relatively young, energetic thirty-year-old working for the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). I’d just moved my family from Princeton, New Jersey, out to Olympia, Washington, and as a newcomer to the area, I wanted to explore and experience life in the Pacific Northwest as much as possible.
A few of us self-described “young hot-shots” discovered the best luncheon sandwiches in town were served at a dive called the Brotherhood, a tavern that opened at 6 a.m. in order to accommodate loggers and others either just coming off work or just going to work-beer at 6 a.m.!
At the back of the bar was a long-board shuffleboard. Twenty-two feet long, thirty-two inches wide, and thirty-one inches tall-a thick hardwood butcher-block maple bed with a smooth finish: the perfect home for eight fast-shooting, roller-bearing pucks.
The goal of the sport-and it is a sport in Olympia, not just a game-is to get the puck as close to the end of the board as possible without going off the end of the board. You get a point for every puck that is closer to the end than any of your competitor’s. It’s a big deal in Washington. In 2006 there were fourteen shuffleboard tournaments in Washington state alone.
One day the bartender-cook-owner came to our table and asked if any of us wanted to play that night on the Brotherhood Shuffleboard Team in the Olympia Shuffleboard League. They were one person short, and unless one of us played, they would have to forfeit.
In a moment of weakness, I volunteered.
He gave me directions to a tavern on the outskirts of town. When I got there that evening, it was packed. Our guys were good, but the guys on the other team were awesome. We got creamed.
The next day, as my coworkers and I were enjoying our usual sandwiches for lunch at the Brotherhood, the bartender-cook-owner came over again and announced the old-timers had all quit the team in disgust.
“You’re the captain,” he said to me. “Get yourself a team.”
“You’re playing,” I said to each of my lunch buddies. They were my first recruits as I started the process of putting together a team. By the time I was done, our team was made up entirely of state employees-DSHS workers, legislative staffpersons, lobbyists-in stark contrast to the “down-home” composition of the other teams. Our other common bond? We had no experience-absolutely none-playing shuffleboard.
We played at least one match a week, sometimes two, for an unbelievable forty weeks-almost ten months! Even with so many games-and the obligatory late-night drinking-we managed to drag ourselves into work the next day after every match. But the hours of playing, drinking, and pressure took their toll.
Our track record was embarrassing-we lost every match-but we had a blast. Thankfully, the season was divided into two halves, and for the second half, we got to start over with a clean slate. An amazing thing happened that second half: We began to win.
At the end of the season, we got a trophy. Not just any trophy, but the biggest trophy I’ve ever received playing any sport in my entire life. It had to be at least three feet tall. It was for coming in third in the B division of the Olympia Shuffleboard League in 1977. Quite an achievement for rookies!
Never in a million years would I have guessed I would compete in a long-board shuffleboard tournament, yet alone win a trophy. Winning that trophy was one of the goofiest yet most rewarding moments of my life.
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