Hello Laugh Olympians!

I just wanted to get a quick note out to you all… I could work all afternoon on writing my thoughts about how well this year’s event went, but I can’t afford that time. Let me just sum it up by saying: THANK YOU. This was a great event for me this year… very low on the drama, very high on the good feelings. Everywhere we went, we left a positive impression behind. The 2008 edition didn’t set a record for money raised (looks like about $7,000… which is still great!), but I think it may have been a record-setter in overall good karma. Everyone got along, everyone had more than a few laughs.

Some specific thank you’s:

Chris and Christie: Thank you for helping out all morning with registration, etc. That was a huge weight off my shoulders. I actually enjoyed golf this year!

Brent: Thank you for once again being the best angry scorekeeper there is!

Alison: Thank you for volunteering and helping manage this group of 60 people! Your work was another reason I was able to enjoy myself more this year.

Jocilyn, Julie, Jessica, David: From a jump-start at the Orchards to selling tickets to getting barbecue and egg rolls… thank you!

Ryno: That’s some cold beer on the party bus. Thanks, man!

Ryan D.: Thanks for getting the Topeka news out to cover our event again!

Seth M.: Thanks for hooking up lunch for us again!

Adrianne: Stuffer of all the gift bags and woman of my dreams! Thank you.

Chesty: Thanks for keeping the Web site maintained… next year, we’re getting you drunk.

Mario: Abasolo 2 helped me load and unload, and it was great seeing Solo’s little brother representing for him.

Kena: For taking the second shift on raffle ticket sales!

Trish: For helping me hand out prizes!

Who am I missing? Who knows?!? This is the danger of naming names. But I’m willing to take the risk. Expect another email from me in two minutes when I write, “How in the world could I have forgotten (name)?!? I’m such a jackass!!!”

(Coming next, I’ll have the first-ever Laugh Olympics survey going out… if you could reply with your thoughts, I’d appreciate it. I wish I could make it anonymous, etc., but I don’t want to mess with any web site where I have to enter everyone’s email addy, and pay for the service, etc.)

THANK YOU!!!

-Seth
President and Chief Drinking Officer
John Wake Laugh Olympics

Well, it’s all over! We got through it. Glad you were there, thanks for joining us!

There is a conversation about the J-LO on Chesty’s web site. Feel free to chime in there: http://www.chestysite.com/forum/index.php?topic=2320.0

Congrats to Mark “Hollywood” Johnson, who won the Laugh Olympics flask a record-setting SECOND time. Hollywood first claimed the flask in 2003, when the Laugh Olympics consisted of only six of us… so for him to win it when there are 61 vying for the trophy, well, that’s pretty cool.

I’m still trying to pick up all the pieces from Sunday night. Eventually, I’ll list all the winners (of the events) and what they won, and I also want to get out a survey on what you thought of this year’s version of the J-LO. I also have a whole list of thank you’s to get out… scratched on a piece of notebook paper in my office. So I’ll publish that later.

Rules - link to the official scoring rules for the 2008 Laugh Olympics.

The big difference this year is the pool tourney – we’re going to try to get it moving faster this year, so you will be assigned a table randomly. See attachment for all details. Questions, email Brent, bfry517@gmail.com

Here is the schedule for the Laugh Olympics:

8-12:15 – Orchards Golf Course
12:30-1:45 – Wayne and Larry’s
2-4 – The Pool Room
4-? – Rick’s Place

(Party bus available from 4 to 8 p.m.)

A few more details (including a list of prizes) will be coming this afternoon… check your email/visit the Web site before Sunday if you leave work early today!

Seth

So, how hard can you punch?

Why, you ask?

The bowling alley isn’t even close to being reopened. I was just there over the lunch hour — the place is entirely wrapped in plastic. They’ll be closed until early September, at least.

The plan is this: We’re still golfing. From there, we’re going to WAYNE AND LARRY’S, which adjoins the bowling alley. There, we’ll have appetizers waiting for us. We’ll each also get to show off how tough we are when we take four punches at their speed punching bag.

Your two hardest punches (on a 1,000-point scale that is clocked by a computer) will be recorded. The highest combined two-punch total wins the new event. We’ll have Alison there recording everyone’s punches.

I just went to Wayne and Larry’s over the lunch hour to check it out. It’s pretty hilarious.

I know some people will be disappointed we’ve lost bowling, but it’s just the hand we’ve been dealt this year. The good news is, it shaves some major dollars off the bottom line of operating the Laugh Olympics (bowling and golf being our two most costly events). It also should ease the schedule up a little bit.

Also, this is right up the alley of the Laugh Olympics. The original games were golf, pool, shuffleboard, foosball and Shinobi (my 1980s arcade game). These are the Laugh Olympics, and I think recording 65 people’s score on a punching a bag is exactly the kind of thing we do.

What will we do while at Wayne and Larry’s? Well, besides the punching bag, they have shuffleboard, pool tables, a dartboard and multiple TVs. Oh, they also have beer and food.

Yes, it’s a curveball being thrown at you. But all the other events are still there, including the party bus!

(It’s not an option to try the Jaybowl, either. It’s too small for our crowd, also — NO BEER!)

Just as soon as I got done putting up that last post, my work phone rings. Coors Light is IN, BABY!

That helps a ton with the raffle, folks. We’ve got a shitload of prizes we’ll be handing out this year.

Thank you COORS LIGHT!!!

Pleasant surprise for today: The envelope full of gift certificates that was awaiting me in my mialbox at work today. Inside? Three certificates for a full slab of spare ribs, two sides and six wings! Boo-yeah! Courtesy of the fine folks at Vermont Street BBQ so be sure and say “Thanks!” next time you’re in there.

Laugh Olympics survival tip-for-the-day: Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, bother our official score keeper until after the first round of the Pool tournament! Why? If you do, you may get your eye gouged out. That’s why!

Seriously, we’re going to try a new method this year so it’s more obvious to everyone where they are in the standings. It’s not going to be pretty (I’m thinking posterboard and Sharpie marker right now) but it’s better than Brent smashing a pint glass on someone’s head.

I’ve got three giant boxes of good stuff in my office right now. All courtesy of the fine folks at Driving 4 Life. Thanks guys! Can’t wait to break into it all and see what we got. I think there’s a brand new Callaway wedge in there…

The cool thing about running the Laugh Olympics today? The free rib I had handed to me while waiting for my food at Lone Steer BBQ. Pretty darn good!

Also stopped by the KU BBall office today to pick up the autographed rock, and stopped in at Set’em Up Jack’s where they gave me $50 in gift certificates to support the Laugh Olympics. The last stop was at Drop Zone Paintball, where they gave me a BUNCH of free passes (didn’t have time to count over my lunch hour, I had to zoom all over town).

Oh, the deposit for the bus went in the mail today as well.

Still no word from our beer sponsor. Am I concerned? Yes, yes I am. We’ve already lost one sponsor from last year, I’d hate to lose another, especially a major one.

Today’s Laugh Olympics tip: Do not bring your own bottle of booze with you to the bar. That’s not a good idea, and we’ve been busted for it before! Also, when we’re at the Orchards, do me a favor — buy a beer from the clubhouse. Outside beer isn’t allowed at the Orchards, yet it always appears there, and Ed kindly turns a blind eye. Make it an easier pill for him to swallow by buying your first round from the clubhouse. It’ll help your karma points, and that translates to a lower golf score!

The only thing I don’t have wrapped up is our beer sponsor. Hopefully, I get a phone call on that soon, or I will panic. I also have a few loose ends with sponsors, but that will just require me to stop by places, pick up gift certificates, etc.

Two tips today:

1. When you are leaving Orchards Golf Course, take a right. Then take your very next right on Lawrence Ave. Take another right on 9th street. You’ll see the bowling alley and the pool room on your right when you come up and over the hill. It’s quicker and easier than taking the three left-hand turns when you go the other way.

2. Pace of play at the golf course. Please be mindful that we don’t want to be at the golf course ALL DAY. Especially on No. 1, please try to play quickly. The tee shot on No. 1 always causes a bottleneck because people think they’re going to drive the green. Unless you really can drive the green (you know who you are; if it’s a question in your mind, then YOU CAN’T) please don’t wait too long to get started. And don’t take 10 minutes to look for your golf ball which you hit in the creek or over the apartments.

Please, try to keep moving at a steady pace on the golf course. If you’re lying five on a par three and not even on the green yet, PICK UP. Only the top 10 scores “place” anyway, so we really don’t need you to card anything over a double bogey EVER. More on this later, but just try to keep in mind that we have a schedule to keep on the golf course.

Thanks for reading this far. More coming soon (tomorrow!)…

1. How much money will we raise this year?

2. How many participants will we have this year? (As of this writing, we have 60)

3. Who will be our ‘angry drunk’ this year?

Yes, there is a prize for the person who is closest to all three!

I can’t guarantee you all the goodies. I can still guarantee you the same good time as everyone else, though.

We had 54 people register by deadline. Since then, we’ve added five more. I told the Driving 4 Life People that I would have 60 participants. I haven’t received their stuff yet, but I imagine they’ll send me 60 of everything. So… if you’re about to register, just keep in mind that I can’t guarantee your gift bag will be as opulent as the 60 people who registered before you.

Now, don’t be discouraged. There are always people who drop-out the day of. I hope no one drops out. I also don’t want to discourage you, Mr. Late Registerer, from registering right now. I just want to cover my ass so when the person who registers on Aug. 30th wants to know why they’re not getting a T-shirt in the size they want, I’ll tell them ‘hey… you registered after deadline.’

Whew. That’s done. That is a stressful moment for me — ordering the T-shirts. It’s not often I tell someone to do something to the tune of $500 for me. What if you all are playing a joke on me and no one shows up? And I’m stuck with 59 T-shirts? I’m screwed, that’s what.

Yes, 59 shirts. We have 54 registered! Whoo-hoo! I ordered an additional 5 T-shirts in case we get a few late entries. We’ll see how long those last. (One is already off the board, just got an email.)

I went on a full-day fundraising trip yesterday. Did pretty damn good, I think. I can confirm that these places will now be helping out our cause in some way:

Kansas City T-Bones
Game Nutt Entertainment
Frame Woods
Kief’s Downtown Music
Set’em Up Jacks
Lone Steer BBQ (located in the old Don’s Steakhouse building)
On the Border
LongHorn Steakhouse

There are a few more that are probably “in” but I’ll wait until they are official before I drop their names.

Frame Woods, LongHorn and Set’em Up Jacks, especially, gave us some nice prizes.

Seriously!

(OK, listen, I need to submit this T-shirt order by Wednesday morning to get the shirts back on time. So you can still register up to the day of the event… I just can’t promise you a T-shirt or goody bag unless you register by 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning.)

We have 47 entrants so far. Looking good.

If your friend hasn’t signed up yet, and plans on being there, tell them to sign up soon so I can get an accurate T-shirt order in.

I’ve got the ball rolling on T-shirts. I need to have my order confirmed by Tuesday morning (8/20) so if you want the proper size T-shirt, you need to be registered by then.

I’m going with the KU blue shirt that we had two years ago. Any objections? Let me know now. They have those shirts in stock, so it makes ordering a bit easier. Plus, it’s football season and I think LO’ers like wearing those shirts to KU football games. But, this is open to discussion. Also, if anyone has any ideas for the wording on the back of the shirt, comment here. We’ll need to put the sponsors on the back, sure, but last year we used “a good time for a good cause” at the top of the shirt. I think two years ago the shirt read, “benefitting sickle cell anemia and ALS resarch.”

OK, bowling update: Chesty called the bowling alley and they told him they are closed until sometime over the Labor Day weekend due to that fire. I don’t know for sure if the bowling alley will be available to us or not.

Assuming that bowling won’t be available, what do we do? I think we should start golf up later. Then go to the Pool Room, then head over to Rick’s. At Rick’s, we continue with the dart tournament, but we also bring back an original Laugh Olympics game: Shinobi. The arcade game. Thoughts? We can also have shuffleboard going (for the hell of it) while the final four of pool ensues.

We got our first major donation yesterday. Thanks to Damon Di Giorgio in the Domincan Republic for his generous donation.

It’s Laugh Olympics season, people! Get ready!

We had 79 people last year, but I’m not too concerned… whether we have 79 or 7.9, we’re going to have a good time!

I saw that there was a fire at the bowling alley. Anyone know what that’s about? I haven’t confirmed our time there, but I assume we’ll be fine — it’d have made headlines in Lawrence if it were major, right? Hopefully Royal Crest doesn’t bump the price up on us to cover the cost of fire damage! (Last year they raised the price on me, sighting their renovation as cause.)

Looks like we’ll be auctioning off a cruise for four this year. Can you imagine? I remember when the best prize from the Laugh Olympics was Lervik buying you a shot of three wisemen.

More in the coming days…