If drinking cheap beer and rolling Skee-Ball were an Olympic sport, the participants of the San Francisco chapter of Brewskee-Ball would be contenders for a medal. Inside the Buckshot Bar and Gameroom in the Inner Richmond, the antlered animal heads on the wall dimly visible in the red light, cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Tecate litter the table next to two classic Skee-Ball machines. Players on the sidelines shout and slap high-fives when their teammates roll high scores, and commiserate with more drinks when they don't. When it's their turn to roll, the players step forward with a game face and a strategy. Rick "Skeethulu" Kitagawa, 30, braces his shin on the front of the machine hard enough to leave a bruise as he holds each ball gingerly at the end of his fingertips, as if it were some kind of offering to the Skee-Ball gods. The last one was held in Austin, Texas, where 64 players competed for the top prize of $3,000 and the coveted "cream jacket." The beer drinking isn't in the rulebook, but then, chewing tobacco isn't a requirement for playing Major League Baseball.
