It's Party Time. Bring Your Camera.

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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2003-06-08

It's Party Time. Bring Your Camera.
SportsShooter.com turns 1 year-old on the 21st. Sounds like a good reason to take over a bar, doesn't it?

By Grover Sanschagrin

We're having a party. You're invited.

Sure, there have been SportsShooter.com parties before. The launch party; the 6 month (east coast) party; the 6 month (west coast) party; and the for-no-good-reason-other-than-to-drink-and-gossip-and-get-drinks-from-Rachel party.

Photo by Brad Mangin

Grover, left, and friend Heather Stone, light up some smokes in the outside area of Club Mallard. So, on Saturday, smoke 'em if you got 'em. (Grover's mom will not be pleased with this photo.)

But the next one is the party to celebrate SportsShooter.com's 1-year birthday.

June 21st at Club Mallard, in Albany, California.

"Albany, California?"
Yes. Albany, California. Not to be confused with Albany, NY. Albany is a small town just on the other side of Berkeley, in the East San Francisco Bay area.

"Albany? Why Albany?"
Albany is the place where Brad showed me the very first Sports Shooter website. He came to visit Jack and I one day, and he showed me the website he'd been maintaining for years - the archive of Bert Hanashiro's Sports Shooter newsletter. He then proudly asked me: "What do you think?"

Now, normally I am sensitive to people's feelings when they ask me what I think. But although I loved the content inside of the site, I had some problems with the way the content was delivered, and had no problems saying so.

Poor Brad. He just stood there shocked at what I was saying. I could see it in his face: "What an ASS this guy is!" He was right. I can be a real ass at times. (Just ask Jason.) Or maybe he was thinking to himself: "Just wait until I tell Joe about this jerk." (Joe Gosen is the man behind the HTML of that early site.)

After I was finished ripping on things that had worked just fine for years, he finally asks "What would you do to make it better?"

Six months later, after working in near secrecy, Jason, Brad and I built the site you see today. It all started in Albany - and we invited everyone over to the house for the launch party to celebrate.

"Who the hell is going to come to Albany?"
Our beloved Macintosh-hating, Harley riding, Dylan shooting, command-line running, keeper of the ROOT password, Jason Burfield will be there. He's flying in from New York for this event. It would be a good idea for you to get on his good side, and this would be a perfect opportunity to do so. I know I am looking to get on his good side, still. And beer helps.

"Why do all of the SportsShooter gatherings happen in California, dammit?"
Aside from the every-so-often experiments in alcohol abuse held at the Gingerman in New York City, everything's been happening in California because, uh, well... that's where we live!

However, as I glance through the SportsShooter.com 5-Year Plan, I can see that when we make more money than AOL Time Warner, we will be inviting all members onto the SportsShooter.com corporate jet for an all-expense paid trip around the world. So that's cool.

Photo by Brad Mangin

Member Scott Sommerdorf brought his camera to Club Mallard during the 'Welcome Back Jack' party, and made creative use of one the establishment's candles for 'fill-light.'

"What is Club Mallard? Is it cool?"
Just to make extra-sure that this place was SportsShooter.com Approved, Brad and I took a tour of the place. Then, we performed a 'test'. We held the "Welcome Home From War, Jack" party at Club Mallard and, upon examining all of the post-party exit-reviews, we determined that this place was, in fact, fun and cool.

We've rented out the entire upstairs, too. The upstairs area is the primo space inside of Club Mallard. It is so popular that we could only reserve it for our exclusive use up until 10pm - when the general public/regulars can (and will) join us.

In addition, we've got a stack of specially prepared "SportsShooter.com Beverage Currency" to hand out to members. (In other words, drink coupons.) If you're a lightweight, you'll drink free. If you're a seasoned Gin drinker / surfer dude, you might run out of specially prepared beverage currency before you reach your desired buzz.

However, in looking at the Sportsshooter.com 5-Year Plan, I can see that when we make more money than AOL Time Warner, we will be buying Club Mallard and all SportsShooter.com members will get to drink free all year long. So that's cool.

We're going to supply food too. Probably pizza. (There's this place in Pleasanton that makes amazing New York style pizza. But the place is about 30 minutes away from Albany. At this point I am trying to figure out how we can get their pizza safely transported from Pleasanton to Albany in time for the party.)

"Where is Club Mallard? How do I get there? Is there parking?"
Club Mallard is listed in 'The Guide':

http://www.sportsshooter.com/theguide.html?action=view&type=place&id=1335

But for you non-members, the address is:

752 San Pablo Ave.
Phone: 510-524-8450

Yes, there is parking. Street parking along San Pablo, and the surrounding neighborhood. There's also a parking lot across the street you can use. (Next to the Funeral Home. No joke.)

Club Mallard also has a website:

http://www.clubmallard.com

If you're driving, take Interstate 80 to the 'Buchanan Street' exit, and drive in the opposite direction of the San Francisco Bay. When you get to San Pablo Ave, turn left. Follow San Pablo for a few block, and you'll see Club Mallard on the left.

We've got the upstairs reserved for us from 7pm-10pm.

OK, enough of all this. Just come and party with us. We can talk about Brad's old website. Or maybe you favorite message board threads. Or your favorite message board / site personalities. Or just skip all the talking and sit in the corner by yourself and drink.

But bring your camera and shoot tons of pictures so we can create a huge not-so-hidden gallery.

There's a message board thread about the party here, in case you feel like expressing yourself.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=2026

And if you want to get a feel for the place, check out the hidden gallery that Brad created during the 'Welcome Back, Jack' party.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/brad/jack/index.html

Hope to see you there.

And one final note: If you are driving and plan to consume adult beverages, please DO NOT DRIVE home. Have someone pick you up, sleep at the bar or on the sidewalk, but do NOT drive after drinking.

Related Links:

Club Mallard website