Gran Prix Over 50/Under 50 doubles, 9am St. Charles Lanes, 9am Saturday
www.granprixtours.com

King Of The Hill, Shrewsbury Lanes, 7:30 pm Saturday
http://www.shrewsbury-lanes.com

Metroeast 700 Club, Camelot Bowl Sunday, 9am  http://www.metroeastmens700club.org/

9-Pin No Tap Team Tournament, West County Lanes, call for squad times 

http://www.westcountylanes.com/

Happy Thanksgiving! Lots of events around the area, hope you all bowl at least one!

What do you give thanks for in bowling?

Me - it's my dad. Got me started at age 5. Then he, along with my uncle Wally Clark, got me into the hands of Nelson Burton, Sr. at age 10 for lessons.

When I got to college, I repaid my dad when he was trying to fill slots on his Missouri Knights of Columbus teams for the St. Monica Cardinal Ritter Chapter. The were all older and needed some "new blood".

I got my former SLU teammate John Toebben (now there's a name from the past!) to join me. Together, we turned it up a notch for them. Each year, they cashed and were proud to see their name on the tournament results list with $$$ behind it!

My K of C memory was at Airport Bowl. Threw the first 7 in team event, in the plastic era, not an easy thing to do. 8th ball - headed home - then jumped 4" before the pocket. Ugly split - turns out a screw had dislodged from the Brunswick A-2.  I didn't ask for interference, I probably should have. I still threw a great game but to think, a 300 in the state K of C tournament in the plastic/rubber era?

Another Thanksgiving moment for me was the 1976 Vincennes Invitational. Until the big college tournaments at Strike and Spare and St. Clair, This was THE BIG ONE in the country. Vincennes was one of only 3 schools at the time that gave scholarships (the other two were Wisconsin-Whitewater where Tim Tyler went, and SUNY). Vincennes was always strong.

My father wanted to go, so I let him drive. At 4am, I welcomed the break! It paid off. I shot 1947 and won the all events. I shot 693 for singles and won that. I had no chance in doubles - my partner didn't show up! Two bowlers I remember beating that day - Harry Sullins and the late Mike Halwe. That got me on the radar screen and I was named an ACU-I All American honorable mention that year.

I give thanks just being able to bowl today as a raisin. I gave up the game for 12 years. Wish I hadn't. But I don't look back, only look forward.

And I give thanks to be able to put together and edit this forum - and thanks to you for being members - especially Bowlergrif - congratulatiions to Don Griffin for being elected to the Missouri USCB Hall of Fame. A well deserved honor.

And Don, before you let it go to your head, you know what it means to be in a HOF? You're old. They don't let kids into HOF's.

Now it's your turn. Tell us your what you give thanks for about bowling this Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Scott Simon

     New this year the tournament will have 4 flights: A,B,C, and Championship. Anyone has a chance to cash regardless of your average.

     Entry is only $55 per person, brackets, side pots & strike pots available, first place $500.00, based on a full field. This is limited to the first 48 PAID entries.

     FORMAT:  All bowlers will bowl 6 games scratch on 6 different pairs. The top 1/4 advance and bowl 3 more games, all pins carry over. All bowlers that make the cut will cash.

     Sign-up begins at 8:30PM, for more details call JERRY ANDERSON at Red Bird Lanes at 618-337-5840 or e-mail at randyrau@sbcglobal.net. USBC sanctioned.

     Red Bird Lanes 1801 CAMP JACKSON RD. CAHOKIA,IL 618-337-5840

Just a reminder, Senior Gran Prix Tournament, Sunday Nov. 16 at Red Bird Lanes in Cahokia, 9am. Complete details about Gran Prix Tournaments can be found at: http://www.granprixtours.com/

Congrats to Rich Orf for winning the Gran Prix tournament at St. Charles of the weekend. It was bowled on the hardest of hard conditions, 40 foot flat pattern, like the US Open.

Which gets a BIG salute to tournament director Reynold Blondin. This is the 29th season of Gran Prix Tournaments. What's different and new is that the Regular Division (all ages can bowl) events are all bowled on Kegel Challenge Series patterns, harder than a house shot but a bit more forgiving than the PBA patterns. 

The senior Gran Prix Tournaments still bowl on easier house patterns. I find that ironic - older bowlers complain scores are off the charts with resin reactives, and that young bowlers aren't as good as they were at the same age.

But more often than not, bowlers choose to bowl on the easy china but wonder why, when they go to the USBC national tournament, can't average more than 175.

Reynold Blondin gets 4 hambones (is that 16 strikes in a row?) for providing us the Gran Prix Kegel Challenge Series. You'll have to watch the PBA telecasts to find out what a hambone is, if you don't know.

So how good is this format? Reynold's tournaments are getting 40 entries and more each time. The PBA this year started marketing its PBA experience tournaments. They are a bust - many got ZERO entries and others were just cancelled for lack of interest.

Reynold gets it. The PBA doesn't - although they are trying.

 11/09/2008 GPT-St. Charles Classic - St. Charles Lanes

Stepladder Finals 

Yarbrough Tony          191   Williams Jeff              208
Wedemeier Mike        216   Williams Jeff              203
Flanagan Mike            220   Wedemeier Mike       267
Orf Rich                        216    Wedemeier Mike       180

Bowler, Hometown                                             Prize     10 Games  

1 Orf Rich, O'Fallon, IL                                       $  750.00  2173     

2 Wedemeier Mike, O'Fallon, MO                     $  375.00  2104     

3 Flanagan Mike, St. Peters, MO                      $  250.00  2143

4 Williams Jeff, Cape Girardeau, MO              $  200.00  2034     

5 Yarbrough Tony, Rogersville, MO                  $  180.00  2087 

6 Stiegemeier Dwayne, St. Charles, MO         $  160.00  2027 

7 Rau Randy, Belleville, IL                                 $  145.00  2002 

8 Hendrixson Ned, St. Louis, MO                     $  135.00  1987 

9 Hargrove Brian, Imperial, MO                         $  125.00  1986 

10 Marable Bob, Pagedale, MO                        $  115.00  1973 

11 Patterson Jeffery, Belleville, IL                    $  110.00  1954 

12 Bohannon Tom, Forsyth, MO                       $  105.00  1952 

Top Senior - Wolff Dale, Wildwood, MO (Senior)   $   70.00  1855 
               
           Visionary Bowling Ball Winner - James Propst

           Trio Bowlers Supply accessory kit winner - Troy Goettel  

If Dick Weber were alive today, he'd be cussing up a storm.

That's because the International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum, located on Dick Weber Lane in downtown St. Louis, closed its doors forever this afternoon forever in the Gateway City.

The closing isn't a surprise - that was announced this summer. Did you know the exact day it was closing? If so, you're more in-the-know that yours truly.

The powers-that-be in bowling closed the door on communication about the Hall of Fame after announcing its move.

I saw no advance notice the exact closing day and found out about it today when in the car, heard Bob Hamilton report it during hourly news on KMOX radio at 4:07 p.m.

The Hall and Museum locked its doors for good in St. Louis seven minutes earlier.

I'm angry. I wanted to go one last time. My mother, who used to bowl years ago, wanted to go before it moved. OK, it's my fault for not picking up the phone a few weeks ago to call and ask their staff the closing day.

But their lack of communication highlights again the problem with bowling - lack of information. Maybe the date was announced. But if it was, it sure was a big secret because it wasn't done enough.

We just ended a presidential election and the biggest complaint is that people were tired of hearing and seeing the same message repeated daily.

Well you know why a message is repeated? To make a person remember. Name a top soft drink. Chances are you'll say Pepsi or Coke. Name a top fast food restaurant. You'll most likely say McDonalds. Name a popular car brand. You'll get a variety of answers for this one, such as long-time GM lines like Chevrolet. Ford, Chrysler, Toyota and Honda will get a lot of mentions. I wouldn't expect anyone to identify Hyundai or Daewoo as a top-of-mind brand recall.

What they all have in common is they repeat their brand name over and over until it is indelibly etched in our memory. Bowling doesn't do that. And because of it, people forget. And when people forget, they don't participate in bowling like they could.

For that, I promise as editor of the Bi State Bowling Times to be more informed then let you know what's going on in the world of bowling.

If there's a positive for the Hall and Museum's move to Arlington, Tx., it's a destination for me when it opens in 2010. I grew up in nearby Fort Worth before moving to St. Louis in 1965. Hopefully my mother will still be alive at 88 to join me on that trip.

Finally, Dick Weber Lane remains on Walnut St. between 7th and 8th St. But is it appropriate for the block to be named after him when there is no bowling monument there?

I have a solution. Erect a small building on the block and put a couple of lanes inside for people to use like a park. Bowling lanes on Dick Weber Lane has a nice sound. And it'll be an infrastructure improvement to the area with Lake DeWitt (named after St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt), a.k.a. Ballpark Village, next door north of Busch Stadium - now going on its fourth year behind schedule.

Given that development's well-publicized problems getting off the ground, maybe bowling's problems aren't as severe as we think.

Welcome to the Bi State Bowling Times group - dedicated to promoting bowling by publicing events and news about the sport in the area.

St. Louis is rich with bowling heritage. It has been tarnished a bit with the loss of the Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum which is moving to Dallas - and I believe that this is the last month it will be open so please, visit one last time if you haven't been there.

The only way this group will be successful is for you to participate and to let others know about it. Community groups grow very quickly so please help out.

There are a lot of great featurds on my.stltoday.com for the group, so let's use them all.

Thank you and look forward to your participation.

Scott Simon