As you might have heard, our beloved league president Matt has decided he needs to focus on running the home stretch to his degree this coming semester, and after that, may be leaving town to pursue his career. As a result, he is going to hand off league-running duties to me.
I want to express my sincere gratitude that Matt started this league. I have been a member since the third meeting of Season 1, after Joseph and I saw a flyer for it at Pinball Pete’s in Ann Arbor (oddly enough). Originally, pinball was Joseph’s thing, which he got me casually interested in, but neither of us had ever played in an organized competition before. League really ignited a fire in both of us, resulting in something I would not have predicted at the time: competitive pinball is now a major part of our life together. Moreover, I have the whole Michigan pinball community as friends and associates, and having such a fun crowd to hang with really feels like being back in the days of my youth again. As the song says, “these are the good times.”
Matt’s goal in creating the league was to encourage Pinball Pete’s to keep their games at the Avenue and maybe, just maybe, add a few more. My understanding is that the league formed when there were only three games at the Avenue, though by the time I attended my first meeting there were four. We now have well over twenty. Truly, pinball at the Avenue is “the house that Matt built” and as long as the league goes on I hope it will be remembered that way.
I consider it a great privilege to take over from Matt, one that I will carry out to the best of my abilities. I will need to get the league’s 10th season approved by the IFPA and on the calendar shortly, but before I do that, I wanted to make sure that there are no objections to continuing on the schedule we currently use, which is two Tuesdays a month in alternate weeks to the Grand Rapids Pinball League. If I don’t hear any concerns about that, I will go ahead and submit that to the calendar, which will mean our next season will begin on January 9.