HAPPY NEW YEAR - Tuesday will be the start of a new year - the year 2008. Many of us never thought we would see the year 2000 because it sounded so far away and now here we are at 2008. The millennium came and went without incident and we are continuing to reach new milestones year after year.

GOOD NEWS - THE WEB SITE IS UP AND RUNNING. Thanks to a lot of hard work on the part of the behind the scenes technician, Brian Rider, of BuildTelligence in Mt. Dora. We have a new calendar with all the information, still color coded to each of the associations. Please check out the web site and let me know if you have any questions, suggestions or comments. The information provided there is for you, the bowler, and if there is something that you would like to see added or changed please let me know. The site can only be as good as the information I have to provide to you, the bowler.

Merry Christmas - Tuesday will be Christmas. I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Holiday season filled with all that you desire. May 2008 be a better year all around - not just on the bowling scene - but for the world in general.

Check out all the specials at the pro shops - gift certificates make good stocking stuffers.

The Women’s 500 Club held their Annual 8 Pin No Tap Tournament on Saturday, December 8, 2007, waiting on the results.

Results from the St. Petersburg USBC Women’s Bowling Association Classic Tournament held in November, 2007, are in and Ocala posted a good showing as always. Congratulations to the following ladies that cashed:

Team Event:

9^th Place Roll Offs - Marilyn Starling; Marianne Chase; Sabrina ...

One week from Tuesday will be Christmas. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas spent with family, friends, or whomever and that it be as joyous as you can make it. Remember it is not the size of the gift or the cost of the gift but the spirit in which it is given and the use the recipient makes of it. Christmas is not material things but love. Remember why we have and celebrate Christmas. Pay it forward or backward or whichever way you want, but do something that makes you feel good. Keep the spirit the whole year through not just at the holidays.

Check out all the specials at the pro shops - gift certificates make good stocking stuffers.

NOTICE: OUR WEB SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY SOMEONE FROM OVERSEAS. THE ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL AND I ARE WORKING TO CLEAN UP THE MESS THAT WAS MADE AND HAVE IT BACK UP AND RUNNING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THI ...

Christmas is fast approaching. Have you been good enough to get that new bowling ball, or bag, or shoes? You have a little time left to do some good deed to stay on Santa’s "nice list."

Check out all the specials at the pro shops - gift certificates make good stocking stuffers.

Sorry this is late in being published, but I was on a cruise for a week and came back to a full plate this weekend with tournaments and parties and all that jazz.

BOWLERS: REMINDER THAT IF YOU NEED TO VERIFY YOUR HIGHEST MARION COUNTY YEARBOOK AVERAGE YOU CAN GO TO THE WEB SITE FOR OCALAUSBCBOWLING.COM AND CLICK ON STATISTICS, THEN YEARBOOKS, THEN EITHER THE BA, WBA OR YOUTH. ALL THE AVERAGES ARE THERE FOR THE 2006-2007 SEASON. BUT YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER TO CHECK THE RULES FOR THE TOURNAMENT YOU ARE ENTERING AND IF ...

Turkey. Smoked, Roasted, Deep Fried and Baked. Turkey salad. Turkey sandwiches. Turkey soup. Finally, the turkey is gone. Hope all had a very Happy Thanksgiving.

The NorthEast Bowling Conference Tournament held at AMF Ocala concluded on Sunday, November 18, 2007. Unofficially holding top honors are:

Team: Shockers 2,827 (handicap)

Mike Stiles

Bill Matovina

Bobby Craft

Tyson Kurth

Shockers 2,785 (scratch)

Mike Stiles

Bill Matovina

Bobby Craft

Tyson Kurth

Doubles: Alvin Coates and Rufus Cliatt 1,554 (handicap)

Mike Stiles and Tyson Kurth 1,375 (scratch)

Singles: Al Brown 807 (handicap)

Scott Newell 792 ...

Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy food, fun, family and friends AND celebrate responsibly.

This weekend concludes the NorthEast Bowling Conference Tournament held at AMF Ocala. Unofficially after one week of competition holding top honors are:

Team: Pin Killers with a 2,794 (handicap)

Willie Rosario

Charles Wolfe

Pete Nadeau

Ray Philman

Pop’s and the Kids 2,630 (scratch)

Larry Kurth

Zacharia Scott

Tyson Kurth

Charles Cannon

Doubles: Alvin Coates and Rufus Cliatt 1,554 (handicap)

Scott Newell and Scott Frederick 1,323 (scratch)

Singles: Al Brown 807 (handicap)

Scott Newell 792 (scratch)

All Events: Al Brown 2, ...

Good Morning Bowlers. Was out of town over the weekend and the Internet connection at the hotel was slow to say the least - so was not able to transmit the blog. But here it is.......

Another tournament has come and gone. The 21^st Annual Mixed City Tournament is in the history books. With the addition of re-entry and late entries there were a total of 29 teams and 64 sets of doubles. Unofficially the Team Winners are B & D Laundry with a 2,765. Team members are Deby Bakos, Bill Bakos, Heather (Bakos) Smith and Scott Smith. Coming in a close second with a 2,759 is the team of It’s Just Time consisting of Jennifer Ewers, Stephanie Roberts, Brad Ewers and Lance Roberts. Taking top honors in the doubles event (again, unofficially) is Tiffany Taylor and Robert Edwards with a 1,486. They edged out Heather and Scott Smith who posted a 1,459. Unofficial All Events Men Scott ...

Good Morning Ocala. Yes it will be morning when most of you read this and hopefully you enjoyed that extra hour of sleep that you received last night when you turned your clocks back an hour. Oh, you forgot so you are early for wherever it is you went today. Oh well. Maybe next year.

The Men’s 600 Club held their re-scheduled Annual Meeting on October 26, 2007, and had a quorum in order to conduct business. The new officers are:

Burt Waite President

Jim Fritz 1^st Vice President

Jack Neal 2^nd Vice President

Ken Dengler Sergeant-At-Arms

Tom Delapenta Secretary/Treasurer

Vito DiBlasi Director - AMF West

Walt Dougherty Director - AMF East

Tim Stafford Director - AMF Ocala

Good Morning Bowlers. This is the last weekend in October and fast approaching the last week of the month. Don’t forget those trick or treaters on Wednesday.

Daylight savings time will end on Saturday, November 3, 2007, wherein you will turn your clocks back an hour to pick up that hour that you lost in the Spring when you turned your clocks ahead. Take advantage of this extra time to catch up on what’s happening in the world of bowling.

Bowlers - you pay a certification fee to the local association, the national association and the state association (where applicable). What does that money go for you ask? The money at the national level is anyone’s guess. They will tell you that they give you $12 worth of service and only charge you $10. Feel free to contact them and ask for an explanation.

First things first. An apology to Bobbi Jo Blind for the "mis quote" in the last article that she had decided to leave AMF when she stepped down from the position of Manager at AMF East to Assistant Manager at AMF Ocala. Seems that my source at AMF East was either incorrect in their information or they were assuming (and we all know what that does) that she left or just wanted to give poor or inaccurate information to see if it would be printed and what the consequences would be. Again, to Bobbi Jo Blind, I do apologize.

Moving on to more positive things - another milestone for Ocala. We have a web site dedicated to Ocala Bowling. The site is www.ocalausbcbowling.com. The front page or Home is the last blog article that appears at

Another week in the life and times of Ocala bowlers has passed.

Due to not having a quorum the Ocala Men’s 600 Club was not able to hold their annual meeting and election of officers. The Club Championship Tournament is being held on Saturday, October 13, 2007, at AMF East at 1:00 p.m. The turn out is small. Out of a possible 150 individuals who are eligible to participate only 49 signed up to bowl. Will advise who the Club Champion is next week. More information about the rescheduling of the annual meeting will be forthcoming.

Seems that bowling in general is down all over. Leagues lost bowlers and whole teams; people that bowled in more than one league have cut back. There are many factors to consider when looking at the decline in bowlers: cost of bowling; cost of food at the center; cost of gas to get to the center and the inconsistent condition ...

Good Morning Ocala. Here we are in October - that only leaves 2 months till we will be celebrating a new year. Where has the time gone? Seems like yesterday we were worrying about the new millennium and whether or not the computers would crash or food would become scarce or that the world would end. Look at us now.

As the old saying goes "change is the only constant." AMF is constantly changing. Vince Jaquin has returned from Arizona and has taken over the helm at AMF East as General Manager. Bobbi Jo Blind requested to step down and be assistant manager and when AMF advised her that she would be transferred to AMF Ocala to work under Brian Yawn she decided to leave AMF. Josh Davis, who was assistant manager at AMF Ocala has been moved to AMF East to work under Vince. Not sure who will be where by next week but for now this is where we are at.

Boo - did that scare you? Yes Halloween will be here before you know it. Hard to believe that another month has come and gone and that the Holidays are near upon us.

Reminder that Daylight Savings Time will not end the last weekend of October as it has for the past many years but will end the first weekend in November. Part of legislation’s move to increase the beginning and ending of this time period. They are trying to get it year round - but that has not passed the House and Senate.

On the bowling scene unfortunately the State Open Championship is NOT final after all. There is another appeal that has been filed which will hold up the finalization of the tournament until early October (almost there I realize) but this is the longest that the tournament has been held up in a very long time. Situations such as these not only affect the individuals i ...

Free bowling - Free bowling - Free bowling - Free bowling. You would think a statement such as that would draw in the bowlers. However it did not seem to catch the attention of the bowlers that were eligible to participate in the Bowler Of The Year Roll Off.

The Bowler Of The Year Roll Off for both the Men’s and Women’s Associations was held on Saturday, September 15, 2007, at AMF West at 1:00 p.m. Out of the possible 40 women and 40 men that were eligible to participate only 12 women and 14 men participated. This is disheartening because this is a service that the two associations provide to the bowlers. Apparently this is a service that the bowlers are not interested in. The associations will be discussing continuing this service due to the lack of participation on the part of the bowlers. True you will never find a date and time that will be convenient to everyone but you would think that more than 12 women and 14 men would be availa ...

Hello, are you there?  Yes, but you are not - where are you?  If you look around at the various leagues that have started this season you have noticed the "V" on the monitors - this means there is a vacancy on that team, which equates to a missing bowler.  Many leagues are missing bowlers from teams or whole teams are missing and being replaced by those hard to beat bowlers called "BYE." 

Many factors are contributing to the decline in the number of bowlers:  price of gas, cost of bowling, cost of food at the bowling center and a general lack of enthusiasm for the game of bowling.  USBC is also contributing to the decline by taking away awards and recognition that the local bowler used to look forward to receiving as their reward for a job well done (good scores).  On top of paying a fee to ...

Well bowlers here we are completing the first week for some leagues while others are into week 2 or 3 of league competition.  Looking around the centers at the various leagues you will notice that not all the teams are full and that the leagues do not have as many teams as last year. 

There are many factors that are contributing to leagues and teams not being full - the cost of gas, the cost of league fees (due to the increase, again), the increase in the cost of food at the snack bar and lack of interest in the sport of bowling. 

So if you did not make the organizational meeting or even the first week of bowling it is not to late.  Stop by any of the centers and check out what is available and get on a team.  There is still fun in bowling, even though in the near future there ma ...

Ready, set, bowl. League competition has started at some of the centers and by next week most of the Fall leagues will start competition bowling. The certification of the lanes is complete so any USBC Honor Score that is bowled is eligible for recognition. And speaking of Honor Scores congratulations to Marlayne King on reaching the ultimate high "300" on August 26, 2007, in the Sunday Sunset Invitational League at AMF Ocala. Marlayne managed to finish out the night with games of 213 and 148 for a 661 series and +142 pins over her average.

Reminder: Youth Leagues hit the lanes on Saturday, September 8, 2007. If you did not register previously it is not to late. Come in on Saturday, sign up, join a team and start bowling!! There are several youth leagues to chose from and not all of them are on Saturday morning. Contact AMF Ocala or AMF East for a listing of the Youth leagues being offere ...

Hello Ocala bowlers.  The Florida State USBC Women’s Bowling Association, Inc.’s Annual Tournament Results are official and Ocala Women were among the winners.  Division 4 Team - 19^th Place Ocala Beach Bunnies: Sarah Hogue, Robin Rumans, Gabriela Trombley, Nancy Crews; Division 4 Team - 21^st Place Ocala’s Silver Ladies: Prudy Waite, Lillian Maxwell, Glenna Burns, Evelyn Simcox; Division 5 Team - 7^th Place Lola’s Girls: Lisa Thomas, Patti Styles, Kerri Roy, Laura Burgoon; Division 5 Team - 10^th Place Alley Gators: Fair Cox, Shirley Pritchard, Irene Kish, Mimi Kish; Division 3 Doubles - 48^th Place Heather Moody/Shannon Drivas; Division 4 Doubles - 67^th Place Prudy Waite/Glenna Burns; Division 5 Doubles -  Sandra Griffin/Penny Lumpkin 20^th Place; Irene Kis ...

My how time flies.  Seems that we were getting ready for Fall leagues to end and Summer leagues to form and get on the lanes and now here we are back to the beginning of a new Fall season.  School will be starting on August 20, 2007, and most Fall leagues will be scheduling organizational meeting that week or the next and hitting the lanes shortly after the Labor Day Holiday.  We have come full circle. 

Reminder - League Officers - Workshop on Saturday, August 11, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. at AMF East - there are rule changes and other tidbits that will be revealed at the workshop so make plans to attend.  Ask questions if you are unsure of a rule change, or an association change or if you are new to the area and need general information - this is the place to be. 

One of the biggest changes is that USBC is pushing for everything to be "downloaded" from their web site.&am ...

Good Morning Bowlers.  Hard to believe that the summer is almost over and fall leagues will be starting up.  Seems like we just were ending fall and working on summer and now we have come full circle.

Reminder that the Annual Meeting of the Marion County USBC Youth Association will be held on Monday, July 30, 2007, at AMF East in the conference room at 7:00 p.m.  Election of officers for the coming year; voting on change to by-laws and discussion of where the youth program is going are some of the topics.  Make plans to attend. 

Very shortly the results from the USBC Women's Championship will be available and I will be updating the blog with the results from the State and National Tournaments for both the Open and the Women. 

Again please feel free to post your comments and/or feedback to this site.  I will strive to do the bes ...