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Calling bowling experts ... is this a 300 or not?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by hondo, Sep 23, 2020.

  1. mpcincal

    mpcincal Well-Known Member

    When I started working at the San Diego U-T in the '90s, we had a local bowling organization that sent in the top scores for the week. I was told beforehand that although we generally just used last names in agate for local stuff, we had to use both first and last for this particular bowling league, and I was like "OK, whatever."
    Actually entering in the stuff wasn't a big problem, but I was annoyed that on the sheet they sent in they always had an canned introductory paragraph that ended with the desire for first and last names "... as requested by YOUR readers." (the all caps was theirs). Yeah, a group of readers that made up 1-5 percent of our circulation.
    After I made a comment about that to one my co-workers, he told me how that originated: Before I worked there, they had a guy who worked the same job (low-level clerk), was an avid bowler and friendly with the people who ran the league. They complained about the first-name thing, and our editor said that's how all agate was done and would continue to be done, so our employee told them to organize a bunch of bowlers in the league to incessantly call the sports desk to complain about it. After a couple of days of getting blitzed with calls, the editor sent out a memo saying full names would be used with the bowling results, and only the bowling results.
     
    2muchcoffeeman and maumann like this.
  2. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Last time I bowled, I threw a 206.

    Never mind it was 38 years ago. Yay me!

    As far as the 95-year-old lady, give it to her. What the hell.

    Although it does remind me of several moments at some of the various rinky -dink papers I've worked, involving bogus/ bullshit 300 games in bowling and holes-in-one in golf.
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2020
  3. BitterYoungMatador2

    BitterYoungMatador2 Well-Known Member

  4. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    He's got bigger balls than that.
     
  5. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    One of my college buddies got a job with a sporting goods store and they put him in charge of bowling and suggested he join a league to get to know, you know, bowlers. So he grabbed a bunch of us, gave us cool shirts and we bowled in a league for two years. I loved every second of it.

    We sucked but we had fun. The second year, we improved a bit and actually took some cash out (money league, not a trophy league). We had a bowling pin piggy bank and you had to put a nickel in if you had an open frame and a dime when someone on the team posted consecutive strikes. We had a party at the end of the year with the money we collected.

    I won most improved, increasing my average 31 points from year one to year two. I got a belt buckle for that. Wish I still had it.

    Shirts were free. Balls and bags we got at cost. I can't remember what kind of ball I had but my wife swore I liked it more than her. And, at this stage of life, I do miss the bowling ball more than her.
     
  6. Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.

    Corky Ramirez up on 94th St. Well-Known Member

    I have a Columbia 300. Bowled a 199 twice with it but still have yet to cross the threshold.

    My preference is duckpin, though (so you have a 1-in-3 chance of guessing the state where I live). Have a set of brown-and-orange swirl duckpin balls that I've used for years. Sadly, two of the three duckpin houses within an hour's drive of me have closed and one was demolished recently, so now I only have one remaining. And it is exactly an hour away.

    Here. Instead of getting all worked up over politics tonight, watch this instead (taped from the Holiday Lanes in Manchester, which closed permanently last month):

     
    BitterYoungMatador2 and maumann like this.
  7. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    My sister-in-law has been in a league for several years. Goes to Vegas and Laughlin for tournaments. She's pretty good, but it's mostly for fun.

    I'm OK, but better when we take the nephew and nieces with my grandparents and we can plug those gutters.
     
    maumann likes this.
  8. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    The hipster part of town here has duckpin bowling, have been a couple times. Seems to me like it should be easier but instead it's maddening as heck.
     
  9. Chef2

    Chef2 Well-Known Member

  10. Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.

    Corky Ramirez up on 94th St. Well-Known Member

    A 300 has never been rolled in duckpin. Highest I think is a 287.

    (Keith Jackson voice) John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson are credited with inventing duckpins, I'll have ya know, because when a ball hit the cut-down pins, they scattered like ducks.
     
  11. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    The one and only . . . Pin-Money Pete.

    [​IMG]
     
    maumann and Moderator1 like this.
  12. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    THAT'S IT!!! Thanks - you made my morning.
    The first year, when I really sucked, I'd go to the bank and get rolls of nickels. I was always open.
    The next year, when I was a star on the rise, I cost my teammates lots of dimes.
     
    maumann and Chef2 like this.
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