Sometimes things you hear at league bowling are not what you think. For
example, last week people heard Rose ask me, “can I smell your ball?” I
respectfully ask you to keep your mind, and bowling balls, out of the gutter. You
see, a handful of us, both male and female, have terrific smelling balls. No really,
our balls can smell like peppermint, black cherry, cinnamon apple, vanilla, pina
colada, and around 40 other options.

It all started in 2000 when CEO of Storm Bowling Products, Bill Chrisman, was
looking for a way for his balls to stand out from the competitors. Doing additional
research on scented balls (FYI, you have to be VERY careful how you word this in
your Google search. Now you can let your mind go into the gutter), I found this
was actually Bill’s wife’s idea. She did not like the chemical smell most balls have,
and asked him to make better smelling balls. Grape was the first scent marketed
for the balls. It was so strong people would smell it as they entered the store,
resulting in them walking right past the competitors’ balls, to smell the novel new
balls being sold by Storm Bowling. 24 years later, scented balls are being used by
pro and league bowlers alike and sales have continually increased. So now you
know. However, if you overheard Rose gleefully say she has smelled many balls,
well you’ll have to ask her to explain that one.

Week two of the fourth quarter saw Team Zuke sitting in first place, again. This
week Zuke had his four youngest team members bowl. They won 20 out of 22
points, maintaining a 6 point lead over Team Michaels. Zuke, who is in his rookie
year as team captain, is proving to be as good as a strategist as he is humble.
Congratulations to John Soifer for having this week’s men’s high handicap series
score of 702 and Kayla Jones for female high handicap series score of 698.

As always, fun was had by all. It’s great to see Jack Windish back after missing the
third quarter to replace his knee (reminder to get 6 Million Dollar Man sound
effects when I bowl against him next). We would like to wish Bob Barnes’ wife a
full and speedy recovery. Lastly, if you are on the fence about joining the bowling
league; call, text, email, or send smoke signals. I will convince you to join one of
the most fun activities in Rotary.  And one last thing….Matthew Maddox won the 50/50 AGAIN!

Captain Ralph Zuke