After decades in Madison, Marc McDowell has found a new home in Black River Falls, WI and a new bowling home at Strike Time Lanes.

McDowell won five times on the PBA Tour, including the 1992 Firestone Tournament of Champions. Yet, when he first went to Strike Time with his father, the others in the Neillsville, WI center did not recognize him.

The anonymity didn't last long.

Several seasons later, and just shy of his 63rd birthday, McDowell made history at the 2025 USBC Open Championships with a 299-196-300 (795) series in singles. Twelve weeks of waiting paid off. Days before this episode, USBC let him know that his series, just two pins better than the previous leader, held up.

Now, it's a celebration as McDowell earned his third eagle in a way that is the talk among the local bowlers and beyond! ----------------------------------------- What’s YOUR bowling story all about?

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Chetek Lanes in Chetek, WI has a tournament that draws nearly 3,000 entries every bowling season, and this season, those bowlers will compete on USBC certified string pinsetters for the first time.

Chetek Lanes Proprietor John Law recently ditched his free-fall AMF pinspotters in favor of AMF Qubica Edge String Pinspotters for his six-lane center.

He discussed the conversion, the ways that it has changed his operations and will change the 9-pin Tap Plus tournament in the new bowling season, and the journey he’s had in bowling in World on a String/Strings in Your World.

Chetek Lanes: cheteklanes.com

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When Scott Olson came up to me at the Midwest Senior Classic event in April and told me I NEED to have Gene Arentz on the show, I’ll admit, I didn’t really know what to expect.

What I found in "Geno" was one of the all-time greats from La Crosse, Wisconsin’s USBC association.

As you’ll hear, along with his hall of fame bowling resume, recognized as such three years ago, he is a hunter, a softball player, he is full of positivity and has probably sold more cars than anyone else you know!

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An off the sheet challenge from Joey Dayer led to this episode with New York’s Frank Goebel.

He had just driven across a good chunk of the country, and had arrived in Nebraska for the Great Plains Paralyzed Veterans of America (https://pva.org/) National tournament.

He and his twin brother Rich ended up winning a doubles championship and taking fourth place in the team event.

But as we discussed in the episode Tournament Eve, sometimes the brothers find themselves in competition against each other in wheelchair bowling.

American Wheelchair Bowling Association: https://awba.org/

Upcoming tournaments (both AWBA and non-AWBA):

AWBA Colorado Regional, August 15-17, Bowlero Wheat Ridge, CO

AWBA/Mid Atlantic Paralyzed Veterans of America Invitational, September 19-21, Bowl America Short Pump, VA

Wheelchair Bowlers of America, New England Invitational, October 16-19 (dates estimated), East Providence Bowl, MA

Nevada Paralyzed Veterans of America, L E Curtis nvitational, December 4-7, Strike Zone/Sunset Station, Henderson NV

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Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

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This past weekend, Ryan McDaniel and his wife, PWBA Touring pro Melanie McDaniel took to the lanes at Bowlero Mount Prospect near Chicago for the PBA LBC National Championship.

They were part of a team that must have been an absolute blast to bowl on.

Ryan may be even more notorious for his grilling than he is for his bowling, but he is now a coach as well as a player on the lanes.

Much like in the episode with Melanie in February, the two had plenty of back-and-forth this time around.

What will really happen once Melanie becomes a PWBA Tour champion for the first time? Ryan certainly has thoughts on that and more in Bowling and BBQ.

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Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

Chip Magnet salsa - Raise your snack standards! https://www.chipmagnetsalsa.com/ #chipmagnet

Jerry’s Skor-mor Bowling Supply - The Eau Claire, WI area’s leader in bowling supplies, bowling ball drilling and more since 1988. Located inside Wagner’s Lanes. https://jerrysskormorbowlingsupply.com/ (715) 559-1822

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Nearly everyone who becomes immersed in competitive or even social bowling for a long time ends up hearing about the “Varipapa 300.”

It was even mentioned on the telecast of the 2025 PBA Tour Finals.

A strike string at the end of one game and another at the beginning of the following game that add up to twelve total strikes: thats a "Varipapa 300."

Dig deeper into the eponym, and you may discover Glenn Gerstner’s biography “Andy Varipapa: Bowling’s First Superstar.”

You can find it at McFarlandbooks.com.

The first-ever biography on Varipapa involved plenty of digging for Gerstner, and brought to light information that Varipapa’s own family was not previously aware of.

Gerstner discusses the “Great Varipapa,” and the process of creating the biography in “One of One.”

Check out video of Andy Varipapa on Gerstner's YouTube channel: youtube.com/@AndyVaripapaBook

(Thank you to Gerstner and McFarland (McFarlandBooks.com) for providing a copy of "Andy Varipapa: Bowling’s First Superstar” ahead of this podcast)

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Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

Chip Magnet salsa - Raise your snack standards! https://www.chipmagnetsalsa.com/ #chipmagnet

Jerry’s Skor-mor Bowling Supply - The Eau Claire, WI area’s leader in bowling supplies, bowling ball drilling and more since 1988. Located inside Wagner’s Lanes. https://jerrysskormorbowlingsupply.com/ (715) 559-1822

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The Madison Area Scratch Tour (madisonareascratchtour.com) brings in bowlers from all over Wisconsin for its events.

And those who have competed for titles in the past few decades have likely run into Jeff Richgels, the tour’s career championship leader.

But it may not be that way going forward, as Richgels mentioned when i stopped at the year end event in April.

Jeff owns and runs 11thframe.com, which is a fantastic resource for news and information on our sport. Check it out and support Jeff’s work. #buytheblog

Having him on the show was also a great opportunity to discuss some of bowling’s interesting happenings, like string pinsetters in more areas of Wisconsin, what a TV schedule for the PBA could look like in 2026 and beyond and an incredible series at the USBC Open Championships for one of Jeff’s longtime teammates.

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Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

Chip Magnet salsa - Raise your snack standards! https://www.chipmagnetsalsa.com/ #chipmagnet

Jerry’s Skor-mor Bowling Supply - The Eau Claire, WI area’s leader in bowling supplies, bowling ball drilling and more since 1988. Located inside Wagner’s Lanes. https://jerrysskormorbowlingsupply.com/ (715) 559-1822

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When Jason Belmonte shoes up for the 2025 PBA Tour Finals this weekend, he’ll do so as the number three seed.

It’s the last national tour event he plans to bowl this season.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Belmo while he was at home in Australia.

He discussed a noticeable change in his demeanor on television over the years, winning a title with Bill O’Neill and witnessing his PBA Hall of Fame induction, and the controversy at the Players Championship that spilled over onto social media.

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Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

Chip Magnet salsa - Raise your snack standards! https://www.chipmagnetsalsa.com/ #chipmagnet

Jerry’s Skor-mor Bowling Supply - The Eau Claire, WI area’s leader in bowling supplies, bowling ball drilling and more since 1988. Located inside Wagner’s Lanes. https://jerrysskormorbowlingsupply.com/ (715) 559-1822

Visionary Video Hub: Video with IMPACT

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