Screwball

I don't remember the year, but a buddy and me went to a Tiger game. Got there early and went to the entrance where the players came in to see if we could see any of them. The Mick, dressed in a green garb, riding his Kawasaki come driving in and said hi to us. That made our day. Loved him. RIP Mick.

Me too, but that wasn't my experience. Good for you. It was truly awful. They got way to expensive, at least where I live, and what I wanted. When the weather got bad it wouldn't work. We finally got fiber so I was out in a heartbeat. Love it. It rocks. My fiber is cheap and I cheat for everything else now.

To the bold - beware. That will be one of the most frustrating and irritating thing you will ever go through. I canceled last year. I was one of the most awful experiences I ever had with a company. They don't want you to leave, so the BS starts, and seemingly never ends. When you are finally done, you will get mailings for months trying to get you back. And phone calls.

Well, it all comes down to WTF you going to do about it? We ain't voting our way out of this. But many still think we can. They are delusional.

Are we just figuring this out? We have had the big red white and blue stuffed into us as Carlin so eloquently explained in 1991, known as the American Dream skit. You gotta be asleep to believe it. 35 years when you do the math...

What rug?

They could have custom drilled a ball for you. My Saturday consisted of 24 lanes of high school kids. Good for future customers. It was ran by the owners wife. She was everybody's mom. Saturday was also ball drilling day. The guy who drilled balls was behind the counter with me fitting balls for people. They were off work on Saturday so he was busy all day. One day a guy came in with a bad hand, kind of like yours. I don't remember what happened but his hand/fingers were messed up. He wanted to bowl in a league but couldn't throw a regular house ball due to his fingers. He asked the ball drilling guy (Smut himself) if he could fit and drill him a ball. He told the guy he would try, but couldn't guarantee anything. He said go for it. He spent about a half hour measuring this guys hand and using the fitting ball as best he could. I was helping. He went to the back and drilled this guy a ball. We turned on a lane so he could give it a try. It worked, and you would think this guy just hit the lottery. He was so happy. He signed up and got to bowl in a league. He was forever thankful. He got to do something he always wanted to do but didn't think he could. It was a neat deal, and if I remember right, they didn't charge him a dime.

Especially one who helps control the money and banking system. There is never only one cockroach. Our entire system is controlled by cockroaches. But hey, the markets are at almost all time highs. Giddy up!

That's interesting. When I learned we put three fingers in the ball. The two middle fingers of whatever hand we threw with. The holes were drilled so we could put the first two knuckles of our finger in the hole. Then another hole for the thumb. I don't remember when, but at some point, they went to the "fingertip" ball. You only put the first knuckle of your finger in the ball. This made the distance between the thumb hole and the fingers longer so you got more leverage to spin the ball - in theory. Probably true. As the game progressed some quit using the thumb, and only drilled 2 holes in the ball for the fingers. Now, they do a thing even more unorthodox by using both hands to launch the ball in order to get more spin. It's all nuts compared to years ago. I find this interesting given my background. Sorry for hijacking the baseball thread into a bowling conversation.

He just booked an Indy car race in DC. Had Roger Penske at the WH. I'm sure Penske is known in these parts. I've always been a fan. His racing record is second to none. He might be a weasel **** like most are, but I think I could vote for him. He's too old now but his resume speaks for itself.

They had customized fitting and drilling way back when. That was a thing where a guy could become well known as a driller and people would come from all over to have him customize, fit and drill their balls. That didn't sound right. There was a guy in Toledo, Ohio who was famous. He did work on the pro's balls. Giggle, but true. The people I worked for learned how to drill balls from this guy. We became well known because this guy died, and some of his clients came to us. It became known as "Smut's Pro Shop." You can't make that **** up.

I think you are from the Toledo area, do you remember Imperial Lanes? I'm not sure they are even there anymore.

When I started bowling they used a spray can that you bought in a hardware store to spray for bugs and stuff. Used a particular type of oil. The guy (us workers) would walk out to around the arrows, start spraying and walk backwards. It would float down to the lanes. Depending on how it was done... No consistency. That made the game really really tough. Then the machines came along. They would go down the lane, knock over the pins if some happened to be still sitting there, in a clean cycle. Then it would come back to the front as it put down the oil. Much more consistent. You could control distance and width of the pattern. When bowling in our town got another 24 alley house they they competed with each other by letting them throw higher scores. Bowl here - average 150 - bowl there - average 180. Where you going to go? Kind of like baseball and juicing up the baseball. 🙂

That sucks. I don't know how it works today, or even 20 years ago, but when you threw a 300 the city association officers would be called and they would verify the lanes. By verify I mean, check them to see if they were legal as far as the oil pattern goes. If they give the game their blessing the info would be sent to the ABC (American Bowling Congress) and they would issue a prize to the bowler who shot the 300. That's how it worked years ago. I'm not sure the ABC is even still the sanctioning body today. Since you guys weren't in the league at the time of the score, he probably got credit for the record, but no prize from the ABC. Only guessing, been out of it for a long time. Back in the 70s and 80s when 300's weren't shot as often as they are now, you would get a prize of your choice. Many took a ring. It was gold with a diamond set in a ruby. It had your name and date inside the band. They were worth a decent amount of money at one time. I know a guy who had one appraised at over $700 bucks. This would have been back in the early 80s. Since then, and because it is so much easier today, they only give out much lesser prizes. Maybe just a patch. Funny, I just read a while ago: A 10 year old kid shot 244-248-276 for the huge 768 series today in the USBC Youth Scratch Tournament. That's nuts! Nothing against the kid, he's probably really really good. But it seems awfully easy.

Yes, my mistake, but this guy choked it on the last ball after throwing the first 11. And the best part, once someone had 11, and it didn't happen often, the crowd accumulates. So he choked in front of a bunch of people watching.