Happy New Year everyone.  I know I am behind on this particular post.  Not only did I not feel well after returning from Maine, but I also wanted to take some time to let everything settle down and sink in with me.

I’ll be honest.  I had full intentions of doing an article telling both sides of the story.  I wanted my readers to know everyone’s side – honestly and as unbiased as possible.  I wanted to be a reporter.  I was covering the tournament.  It took me a long time, literally weeks, to go over it in my mind.  This site is about the game.  It’s not about anything else.  I completely respect the opinions of the people I was going to interview and I thank them for the honesty they have always provided me.  It is what it is, and I am going to leave it at that.

I was really fired up when I walked in the door Thursday morning, and all I saw was the above.  EVERYONE was there.  It was the most AWESOME feeling I’ve ever been able to witness in a bowling venue.  Talk about being a kid in a candy store.  Who do you watch, really? Surette? Holbrook? Ricci? Lapierre? Barber? Mallahan? Whitcomb? Morgan? Baker?  Everywhere you turn, greatness.  Every name you type, amazing.  It’s just that good, and you can’t get enough of the atmosphere.  I apologize if I didn’t include your name here as I could easily type every name that was there (and a double apology to our Canadians friends up north, as the only three I really know so far are LeBlanc, Locke, and Seary).

I ended up making it down to the end of the alley where Lucky Strike was facing off against Crazy Train.  Here we see Chris Boisvert lining up his next shot before trying to pick up the 2-4-6-7-10.  I learned quickly from both sides that much of the week had many a bowler looking at Chris’ particular shot.  The term “shoot it over” was heard many times while I was standing there.

Yep, I’m going to say it.  Boisvert totally owes me a beer – and not because the shot didn’t go – it wasn’t a bet or anything like that.  I owed one, Jeff Surette, a beer.  I went over to get one for him and me.  As I handed Jeff his, Chris looked like a kid looking at his kid brother and said “for me” with raised eyebrows.  I couldn’t deny the look, and I handed him my beer.  He even played the part by saying “really?”.  He’s a weasel!

You can also see above that Dave Barber and Jeff were standing right near where Chris was about to throw.  I learned that the Canadians forced the United States bowlers to act like that.  Many years ago the Worlds used to be super, super competitive, slightly less friendly.  The Canadians would stand behind the US bowlers and try to rattle their cage – especially new bowlers.  I am sure Chris would have been fine in this case as he has made countless shots over the course of his career.  It was just amazing to hear that even in the world of bowling, jeering (and less than friendly jeering) can take place on all stages whether it’s the Worlds or not.  I hope if I am on a team next year, I have people behind me all the way.  One would hope.

Craig Holbrook said it best when I said hello to him Thursday morning.  He said “The worlds are like Friday nights on steroids”.  Three strings, two points per string, two points for total.  Three matches on Tuesday through Thursday, and two matches on Friday.  The playoffs start on Friday, with top six from each side getting in, and the top seeds getting byes until the semifinals.  Another unique part of this tournament is that you can be subbed for in the middle of a string.  It has to be before the sixth box, and you cannot be on a mark.  Sometimes a sub can be EXACTLY what a team needs to jump start a rally.  It’s an interesting concept, and there is a fine line of when to pull the trigger and when not to pull the trigger.  I’ve heard from a handful of captains that it’s common to wait until at least the fourth box as that gives the bowler a chance on both lanes.

I also had my first real experience with the Canadian folks.  I can say it was interesting to say the least.  One of the more friendly (and flirty) bowlers was one Calvin Locke.  He is a great bowler – really, really smooth with his approach.  The pins explode when he throws in what appears to be so little effort.  He was all smiles while winning his second round playoff match.  While he came over to watch the end of the Lucky Strike v. Extreme TNT match, one of the other Canadian bowlers asked Calvin what lanes they were bowling on in their next match.  He responded defiantly “whichever lanes USA East juices the most”.  There was a round of chuckles, and that’s when I introduced myself and said that you don’t know who’s listening when you speak.  I told him I was going to quote him – and he said “by all means, you can tell them I said that”.  Well, there it is in black and white.

There’s our boy in the flesh getting all friendly with the missus.  It’s a good thing he behaved because even though I didn’t play ice hockey, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to hockey fight!  I’m sure he knows I’m talking a good game and it’s all in good fun.

Calvin is an incredible competitor and he is the cohesiveness that keeps his team together was a site to behold.  I can see why he leads them out of the gate.  I watched during the second playoff match and into the early stages of the match with USA East how he works bowling first.  He’s great at continuing where their anchor left off, and if they need a spark he is usually the one to ignite it.

I did hear some minor grumbling that people won’t miss Serge Babin (not him specifically – I promise).  The entire week whenever Serge would get a mark, the entire left side of the tournament would hear Calvin’s distinctive roar “Sergio Valente Castillo Garcia, OLE!”  Usually he would get the entire team to say “Ole” and their captain and anchor Brian Bernatchez would come in oh so late and say “Ole” on his own much to the chagrin of Calvin.  I just had to mention his chant.  I wasn’t going to let it go.  I thought it was awesome.  On a sad note, the video I caught with the iPhone is rather terrible and converting it didn’t help either.

I think the one thing to note about all of this, the venue made it very difficult to watch the finals.  It just seemed like the place was set up in such a way that I could only enjoy the scores being written down instead of the bowling itself.  Congratulations to Fairlanes A+ Pelham in their convincing win over USA East in the finals.  I wish I could have watched a little more closely.

If I do get to bowl, I hope I hear “SERGIO VALENTE CASTILLO GARCIA, OLE!” all week, I’m sure no matter what it will be worth it.  The worlds are unbelievable and if you can go and watch, please do.  Make a trip of it.  It’s an amazing experience and one you don’t want to miss.  Either way I think I’m taking a week off of work to go to Halifax next year.