Fort Lauderdale’s Flagship Tournament Celebrates 20 Years!

A lot can happen in 20 years time.  When the Hurricane Showdown’s first tournament was held Bill Clinton was in his first term as President, Toy Story was breaking box office records at the movies and The X-Files swept the nation on television.

It’s safe to say that times have definitely changed, but through all the ups and downs and life changing events that can occur in a 20 year time span the Hurricane Showdown is still here to welcome gay softball players and allies to Fort Lauderdale.  While the tournament isn’t sold out this year, a strong field will converge on one of the United States’ favorite vacation spots to fight it out for the hardware in three divisions.

Abe Hasbun is the Hurricane Showdown tournament director and he knows why teams keep coming back year after year to his tournament.  “We have great fields, we usually have great weather and along with many gay bars within walking distance of key areas…we’ve got the beach,” said Hasbun.

There will be no shortage of fun this coming weekend in the FTL and it all gets kicked off on Thanksgiving Day!  The Village Pub will host a Thanksgiving buffet for all players and then the bar will host the Ms. Hurricane Showdown Pageant on Thanksgiving night.  Friday’s fun includes registration, Home Run Derby and the 20 Year Hurricane Showdown Party all held at Mills Pond Park.  Saturday night will feature a bar crawl to all of the tournament sponsor bars and the Closing Ceremonies will be held at the W Hotel in conjunction with Gay Days Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.

The B & C Divisions will play their games at Mills Pond Park and the D Division will play at Brian Piccolo Park.  Teams are guaranteed five games for their entry fee and two umpires will be used in each double elimination game.  In addition to awarding trophies for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams in each division, the tournament committee will be awarding jackets to 1st place teams in each division this year.

The host hotel for the tournament is the Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Beach and with the rain out issues last year, the teams traveling to the Hurricane Showdown should be pleased to see a favorable forecast as of now for the tournament.  The tournament is proud of their sponsors including Village Pub, Progress Bar, Rumors, Sidelines, Alibi, Bill’s and Rosie’s and encourages players and fans to frequent them during their stay.  Tournament participants will want to check out the Hurricane Showdown’s Facebook page for updated information throughout the weekend.

In addition to supporting the tournament sponsors, the DD suggests checking out some events being held during the 1st Annual Fort Lauderdale Gay Days from the 27th-30th.  Multiple pool parties will be on the agenda throughout the holiday weekend along with a Gay Days Expo event at the W Hotel.

Good luck to all 56 teams across the B, C & D Divisions in the 20th Annual Hurricane Showdown!

*Thank you to Abe Hasbun, Hurricane Showdown tournament director for his help with this tournament spotlight article.* Don’t forget that hyperlinks in posts give you direct access to information regarding that particular business or item. 😉