(Mike Chiodo/Mikiodo Media)

Given how spoiled we've been with numerous invites to soirées and galas of late, the novelty of a charity event set in a bowling lane—a bowling lane!—seemed just delightful, a real opportunity to let our hair down. And there was still a generous helping of celebrities in the crowd who had come to support Our Time, a charity aimed at helping young stutterers. Fronting the event was genial film star Paul Rudd, who took time out of his acclaimed Broadway play Grace to lend a famous face to the event.

Bowling may not be considered the pinnacle of athleticism, but that didn't quell the competitive streak of several guests.“I can see you getting into a challenge with a kid tonight,” speculated the charity's founder Taro Alexander to Mr. Rudd, who made no attempts to deny the accusations. “If it happens, I welcome it,” he laughed, before insisting, “I've brought my own wrist guard, balls, shoes and a bottle of Purell.” We can only hope he was joking.As is often the case with these charity shindigs, the children honored outshine the celebrities by a mile, and last night stayed true to form. One of the real success stories in attendance was 10 year old Saadiq Wicks, who had overcome school bullies and started up his own charitable foundation after being inspired by the work of Our Time and Mr. Alexander. His mom Kimberley gushed: “I’m super proud, he’s really courageous. He did a presentation at school for National Stuttering Awareness Day to his fifth grade class, and his poise amazes me.”

Someone who made less of an impact on the kiddy winks was yesteryear's English X Factor runner up Olly Murs, who was all smiles in spite of admitting that “nobody here has a clue who I am.” Well, it was nice of you to show up.

After the ubiquitous foyer schmooze fest (“do you know Danny? Danny's so great, isn't he? Danny loves you!”), a kind of bongo circle time ensued, with everyone gathering round to play a game of Hype. Cheering away on the sidelines was RENT actor Anthony Rapp, another committed Our Time supporter whose bowling prowess was rather hit and miss. “I either hit strikes or gutterballs, but I never know when I get up there how it's going to turn out.” How prophetic.  His former co-star Jesse L. Martin was down to attend but failed to show, scuppering our fantasies of an impromptu scene from RENT being acted out between the lanes. Some people are just so selfish. But everyone seemed to be having good wholesome fun— much to the dismay of several youngsters lingering near the bar— and we were tucked up in bed nice and early, ready for school the next morning.

- Rob Lowe, Stephen Colbert, and the cast of Modern Family will be filling in for Robin Roberts on Good Morning America this week while the ABC host undergoes a bone marrow transplant. Hey, we'd take a soggy piece of bread over last week's substitute, Jessica Simpson.

- Would you like to go bowling with Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Denis O'Hare, John Oliver, and not one but two stars of a Law&Order franchise? Of course you do. We don't even need to mention that the whole thing's for charity. You were already sold.

- Candace Bushnell keeps having to resettle the same old lawsuit with former manager (and alleged Stanford inspiration) Clifford Streit. She keeps giving him money for his part in helping her get Sex and the City on HBO, and he keeps telling her its not enough. She should just stop and ask herself, WWCBD?

-Alec Baldwin's dream Portlandia role: "A meat salesman with all kinds of charts and graphs of the loins and the sections of the pig and the cow and the organs." Just no pig, please...we're keeping kosher this week.

Their strategy for being in front of as many New Yorkers as possible—New York is the media capital of the world, their site notes--was to host the final tournament in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall, where media elites traipsing home to the suburbs would practically trip over it.

The $12,500 per day rental fee marks the most expensive installation that Teen Masters tournament founder Gary Beck says he has ever hosted.

“We’re telling a very compelling story, and if you’re going to do that, you need to tell the story where it can be heard,” Mr. Beck, who lives about 20 miles outside of Charlottesville, explained. “There’s no other place in the world you can reach as many people as New York.”

Already, the event has been mentioned by New York media sources such as DNAinfo, the New York Times, and HuffPost.

But at 2 p.m. today, though several media sources had already arrived for the 1 p.m. start, no bowling balls could be heard.

A man bent over the bowling lane with a saw in hand, trimming the end.

They had begun setting up the lane and surrounding bleacher seating last night at 8 p.m., working through logistical issues. 18 hours later, Mr. Beck still had not slept.

When the contractors had arrived this morning to work on the lane, their attire had not met required safety standards, so they had to go shopping for items such as metal-toed shoes before beginning work.

“We had problems because it has never been done before,” said Mr. Beck, adding that the 1,600 pound pin deck had to be carried from the loading dock three blocks away. “It’s more complicated but it’s worthwhile… You wouldn’t be talking to me if we weren’t here.”

“We have all kinds of wacky events in Grand Central,” said MTA spokesperson Margie Anders.

An annual squash tournament, cooking demonstrations and fashion shows have also taken place in the train station’s Vanderbilt Hall. A wedding – complete with a 53-piece orchestra and 500 guests – is scheduled for later this month.

“You never know what you’re going to see in there,” Ms. Anders stated.

The space was converted from a 650-person waiting room to event venue in 1998. Just one lane was being set up for the tournament – the design already approved to meet MTA engineering and safety standards – with the oil pattern determined by the current tournament leader.

Still, with 700,000 people passing through the terminal on a given weekday, Grand Central is no average tournament bowling alley.

“I believe it’s going to be so distracting and nerve-wracking,” said 18 year-old Ryan Ventillo, who had moved onto the final round. “I think it’s a good idea for exposing the sport and the tournament, but as far as bowling I think it’s going to be real difficult… You can’t let all these distractions and all these obstacles get to you.”

While no competitors are city residents, several are from New York State, and as Long Island resident Jeffrey Juarez described, can often be identified because they “tend to be very loud and obnoxious when they bowl.”

After all, 15-year-old reasoned, “You want the intensity level to stay right where it is.”

The Teen Masters Bowling championship participants had taken a party bus from New Jersey to Manhattan that morning for the opening ceremony and final rounds. Many said they play for school teams, attend tournaments weekly and practice daily for about three hours. Of five participants from New York interviewed, three said they took up bowling because their parents bowl.

“I pretty much grew up in a bowling alley,” Tommy Genova, a 17-year-old participant competing for the $64,000 scholarship prize, said, adding that he hopes the event brings attention to an often overlooked sport.

“That’s a shame he had this delay,” an onlooking father noted of Mr. Beck, as he tested the event microphone.

But rush hour was still a ways away.