I'll get my 12 year old to take you on any time. I'm sure I'll pick up some cash *g*.


>Hello all! This is a recap of the Friday night Extreme Glow Bowling event last Friday.
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>The night started off as good as can be expected, bowling was to begin at 10:00 p.m. The bowling alley is pretty strict about starting at 10. At about 9:57, Mike Helland decides to make his appearance. I knew it was going to be a good night when Mike went up to the counter to check in. The attendant asked him what size bowling shoes he needs, and Mike had to take off the shoe he was wearing and look inside to figure out what size he needed.
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>Anyway, bowling then commenced. My wife and I, being a typical midwestern middle income family, are in a league. We were definitely having an off night. Not as bad as Mr. Helland though, who started off the first game with a powerful 5 gutter-balls in a row. When he finally hit a pin, the applause would have made you think he just won the Masters. This game continued fairly poorly for all involved. During the 7th frame, my wife decides to make it interesting. Mike had an outstanding score of 32 at this point. My wife decides to wager $5 that Mike can't break 50 point. Unfortunately for Mike, he ended with an amazing score of 35. Side note: a couple of months ago, we went bowling with some friends of ours who brought thier 5 year old along. He got an 87.
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>So anyway, my wife, invigorated with her newfound $5, decides on ordering another round. The beer was flowing freely, and the second game began. Because the beer was flowing freely, I'm not completely sure on some of the events that followed, but, faithful to any readers out there, I will do my best.
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>I know there was another wager in here, and I believe it was again between Mike H. and my wife ( Amanda ). I think Amanda gave Mike 5 to 1 odds on a $2 wager that he couldn't break 100 points this game. I don't know where Mike's confidence came from, but he decided to this wager. The game was continuing along nicely, and Mike was avoiding the gutter enough that it almost seemed mundane when he hit pins. He was definitely on his way to a 100+ game.
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>At this point in the evening, another friend, Marquis, being a week into his 21st year, and having lots of available alcohol, began to start acting strange. He started singing (very loudly) with the music, which I seem to recall at that point, was something like "Little Willy Willy won't, go home". Luckily for me, I had my #6 Mark Martin racing hat on. For those not up to speed on Nascar, his sponsor is Viagra. My willy had no problems going home!
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>Anyway, we're about halfway through the second game at this point, and based on what normally happens during league night, I expect to start picking it up. Usually I can get at least a turkey ( 3 strikes ) towards the end of the second game. I casually mention this to Mike ( not bragging or anything, you know ) and he immediately pounces on it. The wager is if I don't get a turkey, I have to post this stupid recap in the chatter forum. Being fairly logical people, you can probably figure out that I didn't get the turkey. I felt like this wasn't enough of a wager though, so I bet $2 that I could double Mike's score. At this point in the game, and based on Mike's first game, I figured this was easy money. At this point, Mike had somewhere around 70, and I had somewhere around 130, and it was the 6th or 7th frame. Unfortunately for me, I didn't manage to make my bet. Mike was up $2 dollars. Too bad for him, he only got 96, and therefore, that $2 went from my pocket to my wife's
>pocket. Another interesting side note: When Mike lost the first bet, had he actually won, the money to pay for that would have come from my pocket, but since he lost, my wife gets the money. Strange how that works.
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>The last game is about to begin. At this point Marquis is loaded. He is dancing something akin to an Irish jig in the lane. And I mean IN the lane. This is until he falls down, at which point he attempts to breast stroke back up the lane to the sitting area.
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>My wife and I give Mike 2 to 1 odds that one of us can double his score in the last game, which he gladly accepts, his confidence bolstered by the fact that he isn't 21 yet, and both my wife and I are smiling too much at this point. He starts out the game with a STRIKE!! Everyone is in amazement! Now he starts bugging me about how he is going to beat me. He says if he can beat me, then I have to give him $20. 20 to 0 odds don't sound all that great to me, but after that pitcher of Lienie's Amber Bock, I figure, what the hell. We are neck and neck throughout this game, mainly because I didn't want to crush him and make him cry in front of his friends :) A few frames into it, I, apparently in my great wisdom, realize that it was a pretty stupid bet I made, I should get something out of it. I try to talk Mike into mowing my lawn this summer, if he loses, but he wants nothing to do with that. Oh well. The game continues on, Mike out to a huge 3 pin lead. It comes right down to
>the 10th frame. Mike left the 9th open, and I was working on a spare. He strikes his first ball! I, unforunately, leave the 10 pin standing. Never fear, folks, your hero always has something up his sleeve. Mike, thinking it's in the bag, is thrilled to no end. Unfortunately, he only gets 9 pins and finishes the game with a 106. I, drawing on my years of experience, of course pick up the 10 pin, and finish off with a strike for good measure, and end up beating Mike by about 20 pins. The good news is, I didn't loose $20 to a really stupid bet. The bad news is, Mike won $2 from us, because neither of us doubled his score. We were still up by $3, however, so we were okay!
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>That is the recap of our Friday night escapades. Comment if you want.
>jfh
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>Disclaimer: portions of this account may be embellished or entirely fictional. But I doubt it.