ALLEGATIONS–Week 20 February 2, 2026

Even though snow was still on the ground and the air was cold, all eight teams fielded a complete contingent of four bowlers. If one does the math, the least number of balls that can be rolled in a game is 12; resulting in a perfect 300 score. Ralph Decker rolling for the Cowell Team missed this mark, BUT he rolled 10 strikes in the first game, 10 in the second game, and a piddling 9 in the third game. Ralph’s high score of 267 tied his previous league leading score but his 728 scratch series demolished his previous league leading 650. Ralph’s teammates were inspired by his performance and all three exceeded their average. Vic Difate rolled 84 in the second game followed by 174 and a handicap series of 669, followed by Mark Rubinelli with 628 and David Cowell with 611. Team Cowell rolled to a 22-0 whitewash of Team Cooper landing them securely in second place. Team Cooper plummeted to eighth place but on any other night against a different team they probably would have been in seventh. Vic Difate allegedly said, “Ralph knew how to stretch out the length of a game by his talking.” But, come on Vic, the guy threw 29 strikes thus eliminating 29 second balls, so I would say he actually sped the game.

On Lanes 21 and 22 Team Maddox battled Team Lane; a first place versus last place struggle. All eight bowlers exceeded their average (except two who fell 5 pins short, but that’s close enough). The games were close and Game Two came down to the tenth frame with Dan Conway needing a mark for Team Maddox; he threw a strike for the win. The most interesting feature of the match was the fact Team Lane took the total by ONE pin. Team Maddox retained their first place position with 12 points while Team Lane moved from last to 6 by winning ten points.

Rumor has it that Chad Baker is going to quit his day job since he has a steady source of income from the 50/50 drawing. Latest total won was a record $90. Meanwhile the rest of us have to be content funding the League dinner.

Team Soifer and Team Werner met on Lanes 19 – 20 with Werner taking 14 points. Jon Soifer led both teams with a 688 series; the remainder of the seven bowlers were very close to average, thus producing a very boring series. Soifer holds the third spot in the standings and Werner holds down number 5.

The Weiss/Baker match ended with Weiss picking up 20 points on the basis of exceptional performances by David Stuart with 660 series; Matt Weiss with 661; Mike Coleman with 640; and Jack Windish with an eye-popping 685. Chad Baker had a strong 655 for his team. Even with this impressive Weiss performance they would have picked up only 8 points had they been paired against Team Cowell. Mike Coleman’s second game had no open frames; I am sure he wished he had picked up 9 pins instead of 8 on one of those frames to record 200.

For those of us who wish to accede to the scoring heights of Ralph, note that success in the game depends on the three C’s: concentration, consistency, and confidence. But we Rotarians know there are five C’s. Add calamity and collapse.

Strikes and Spares,

Carl Lane