The Bourbon Street Hurricanes are hard at work preparing for the upcoming Gay Bowl III, to be held in Boston Oct. 11 and 12. In addition to their weekly practices, the team also has been fundraising to help pay their way to the flag football tournament. Those efforts were capped off this week at Bourbon Street with a player auction that raised over $5,000 for the team.

Cody Smith was the top moneymaker for the Hurricanes, bringing in a winning bid of $2,035. Other players on the auction block included Rod Hambrick, who took in $400 and Cliff Pait, who went for $250. In addition to auctioning off players, the team held a raffle with prizes that included a color printer, a digital camera and a CD player. And of course, no bar raffle would be complete without some porn giveaways.

“It was way more than we ever expected to make,” said Ivan Solis, the founder of the Hurricanes. “Based on how we had done before, our goal was more like $3,000, so we definitely beat that.”

The money raised will be used to cover travel expenses for the Gay Bowl in Boston, the Hurricanes’ second appearance at a gay flag football tournament. Earlier this year they participated in the Gay Superbowl in San Francisco, but the team struggled, not winning a game the entire weekend.

“The team that we are taking this time is totally different and at a totally different level,” Solis said about the 25 man team that will be making the trip. “We hope to come away with a trophy. I don’t think any other team can touch us.”

In the break between tournaments, in addition to picking up several new players, the Hurricanes have also scrimmaged with the Los Angeles Motion team – winners of the two previous tournaments.

Interest in gay flag football continues to grow, and with seven teams participating this will be the largest tournament to date. Washington, D.C., joins the growing list of cities with gay flag football teams, which includes San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta. San Diego will play Chicago in the first round of play and their second game will be against San Francisco.

The Hurricanes hold weekly practices in Balboa Park and are always recruiting new players to join the team. For more information on them, visit this story online at www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the Hurricanes’ web site or call Ivan Solis at (619) 804-9000.