The senior project of dreams

Nine Beirut tables, countless amounts of white cups and flowing beer wouldn’t remind most people of a senior project.

However, every Wednesday night Downtown Brewing Co. hosts the Downtown Beirut League (DTBL), a former senior project.

Cal Poly graduates Tyson Briner and Hayes Metzger worked with current business administration senior Steven Larsen last year to create the DTBL.

The league is made up of 72 two-player teams and is comprised mostly of Cal Poly students.

“The main objective of the Downtown Beirut League is to be able to provide an environment for students, really all people of legal drinking age, to come together and play the game of Beirut,” Larsen said.

The teams play two games of Beirut at 9 p.m. every Wednesday on the upstairs level of Downtown Brew. For safety concerns, there is a two-hour gap between games.

“It’s fun playing Beirut, anyway, so a bar with good beer makes it that much better,” said Chris Tennant, a DTBL participant and construction management senior.

The regular season ended last week and all 72 teams began competing in double-elimination playoffs last night. A first loss in the playoffs sends a team down to the losers’ bracket and a second loss leads to elimination.

Playoffs will continue on Nov. 26, 28, 29 and Dec. 1. The top three teams going into playoffs are The Brick House, Local Privilege and The Sharks.

The winning team will become “Lifetime Downtown Brew” members and only pay $1 a pint for any Downtown Brewing Co. beer for the rest of their lives.

The league has multiple female teams competing this season. “None of the guys take us seriously because we are an all-girl team,” said Jamie Antonioli, a DTBL participant and business administration senior. “Of course there are always a few drunk assholes, but for the most part it has been really fun. Some of the teams get too intense, but we are just there to have a good time.”

The cost of joining the league is $25 per player per season and each season runs for eight weeks. The cost includes a T-shirt, registration fees and all supplies needed for the Beirut games. All profits from the league go to Downtown Brew, Larsen said.

When the league was created last year, there were only 32 teams and four Beirut tables. This fall, more than 80 teams signed up within 18 hours of the start of online registration, Larsen said.

The DTBL has official rules and regulations that players must follow. Some of the rules include specifics on air balls, bounces, re-racks and rebuttals.

Referees keep score and have the final say in any disputes teams may have.

Players are not required to play Beirut with beer; they always have the option of playing with non-alcoholic beverages.

“You don’t have to use beer, you can really use anything,” Larsen said. “We have had girls use soda before . They didn’t want to drink that night.”

Briner, Metzger and Larsen were able to work the DTBL into a senior project by creating a detailed business plan and through the use of the Software as a Service (SaaS) business model. The league follows the SaaS model by running itself from the Web site slobeirut.com.

Larsen said there are many participants that take the league very seriously and consider Beirut a professional sport.