KOLB'S KORNER / Richard Kolb

Web Special / June 18, 2002

Jeff Gordon bowls over the competition in Daytona


Jeff Gordon recently entered Daytona (Fla.) Bowling Center carrying his ball known as the "Detonator."

"It's like coming in with my helmet," said Gordon. Jeff still can't shake that competitive spirit of being able to claim victory. "May the best team win," said the NASCAR champion before a friendly match against Speedway President John Graham.

Gordon got off to a bad start in the first frame, finding the wall with a ball in the channel. But in typical Gordon fashion, he rallied on his second ball to cover his spare. He scored a couple more marks before he took a break after seven frames to answer questions.

His score doesn't matter because bowling, along with scuba diving, is just a relaxing way to get his mind off of the duties of being a four-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion and the driver of the No. 24 DuPont Automotive Finishes Chevrolet.

Jeff Gordon wasn't the only celebrity bowling. Clint Eastwood threw a party to commemorate his latest movie, Bloodwork. Eastwood rented the entire bowling center in Tarzana, Calif., for the cast and crew. The party was highlighted by Wanda DeJesus, the film's female lead, and her companion, Jimmy Smits, who unsuccessfully tried to break 100. Eastwood received standing ovations for every strike he threw.

Eddie Ciprian from NBC's "Third Watch" was mentioned here previously when he told Rosie O'Donnell that he bowled in his spare time off the set to stay in shape and maintain his coordination so he can better portray his role as a firefighter. Ciprian has been joined by another bowling buddy from "Third Watch," Michael Steif, who plays a paramedic.

Their interest in bowling evolved from an episode where both bowled for recreation and exercise during down time between fire fights.

The actors decided that for bowling, fact was as good as fiction and started bowling for real in their own spare time at AMF's Chelsea Piers Bowling Lanes in New York where "Third Watch" is filmed. Cibrian and Steif bowl at least three times a week on their lucky Lane 8 where Cibrian shot his only 300 game in practice.

Steif and Cibrian say they enjoy bowling so much that they would love to own their own bowling center someday. Steif says that if anyone wants to invest in this venture, call NBC.


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As far as bowling center ownership goes, PBA regional pro Stoney Baker recently won $3,000 at the Lane Glo Southern Region Open in New Port Richey, Fla. Baker says he will put the money toward the bowling center he just purchased in the greater Atlanta area.

"It was a new start for me because I haven't been bowling as much, so I was lucky to win here today," Baker said. "By purchasing the bowling center, I've been working hard on the lanes there to get my game up, and it paid off for me here. The lanes are in Canton, Ga., and I'll be sponsoring regional tours there at Checky Lanes. The lanes have been under construction there for two years until we actually opened."

The Battle of Little Creek near Norfolk, Va., dealt a serious blow to the attention of the Southern regional stop in New Port Richey because both were staged at the same time. Anyone who qualified in the Battle of Little Creek invitational needed to be there for the entire week, and this rule was a serious blow to the number and quality of bowlers at the regional stop.

PBA President Steve Miller said he has several organizers of national and regional stops and hopefully they will better coordinate the timing of all bowling tours so the national tour won't step on the region tour stops.

Baker agreed that the arrangements between New Port Richey's region stop and the national stop in Norfolk were unfair to the regional tour.

"I like this shot here to bowl on for Sport Bowling, which I think is great, but as far as the tournament here and Little Creek, the ones who made the Virginia tournament needed to leave yesterday to make that tournament and they would've missed this one, so you couldn't do both. None of the big names were here in New Port Richey as a result, so Wilson, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Hoskins, Duke, Couch, and all those guys went to the Virginia tournament where the top 26 on the national tour were invited to compete, and it drained this stop of the big names which fans follow the most. Next time, the tournaments should be scheduled differently by PBA to keep this from happening again."

PWBA Player/BWAA Bowler of the Year Carolyn Dorin-Ballard threw out the first ball of the Major League Baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Florida Marlins on May 5. That kicked off the week of the WIBC Queens Tournament in Milwaukee, where Dorin-Ballard was the defending champion and did not make the TV finals this year, so she commentated the finals with Jan Schmidt. Kim Terrell wore the tiara as the champion of the 2002 WIBC Queens after she defeated Kim Adler 227-214.

Michelle Feldman won the following tournament on the PWBA Tour, the St. Clair Shores Classic in Michigan, when she outlasted Kim Adler 211-206. Adler finished second for the second consecutive week.

Feldman announced during her awards presentation that Aleta Sill has retired from the PWBA Tour. Sill's retirement means that she will be one victory short of tying the all-time tour career victory record of 32 victories set by Lisa Wagner.


Syndicated columnist Richard Kolb is a member of the Bowling Writers Association of America.