“How to Use Sports to Talk to Guys” Event Canceled at TownHall

A scheduled event at TownHall Tuesday evening marketed as a workshop to teach women “how to use sports to talk to guys” has been canceled.

A spokesperson for TownHall confirmed Tuesday to Scene that the $50 ticketed event was scratched by its organizers, Sports-ish.

Tara Killmer, a co-founder of Sports-ish, told Scene via Facebook that the event had to be postponed (for reasons left unspecified) and would be re-scheduled when special guest, Browns tight end Gary Barnidge, returns to Cleveland “after the season break.”

The event was described as an evening of “memorable socialization, private entertainment and a truly special experience with Cleveland Browns players,” which sounds like a fairly typical evening at TownHall, but the marketing hook — “teaching” women sports — was one that exasperated Deadspin, for example.

“It was supposed to be a soft launch,” Killmer told Scene, adding that after two events next week, both of which will also include Barnidge, Sports-ish will be on hiatus until around April.

Barnidge turns out to be not only a special guest but a co-founder of the new group. Killmer said the goal is to host “seminars” with pro athletes in the future and to generate interest by coordinating a number of early events with Barnidge, who is active in the community and is most widely known for his weekly movie outings with fans.

Barnidge will appear at Dave & Buster’s on January 2 from 6-8 p.m. He’ll be challenging guests to skee ball. Earlier in the day (2-3:30 p.m.) he’ll be signing autographs to raise money for his charity, American Football Without Barriers, at Pizza Fire downtown.

This article appears in Dec 21-27, 2016.