MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS

Old Traditions fading .  New Ones Beginning.

Leaside: Joe Davis Mens  Mixed Trebles

 

When I started bowling back in 1989 there were 2 great Mens Trebles tournaments at Leaside . . . must stops on the men’s local circuit  . .  entries from players across the GTA. (Of course it wasn’t the GTA then  . . just Toronto & the suburbs). Enter early or you were left behind. The Joe Davis in the spring & the Cy English in the fall . . . greens guaranteed to be in top shape of course . .  Lloyd Woods was in charge.

 

Those were the days . . 96 men in white pants (no colours allowed) . . 288 black or brown Henselites or Taylors (and Dunlops) on the green (no other colours existed) . . . getting clobbered by the Alf Kirton, Al Ferguson, Jim Ellieff trio (well, all memories aren’t so great) but learned how to play winning bowls while getting thumped. As Yogi put it . . .  “You can observe something just by watching”.

 

Today those rumblings under foot aren’t tremors from the volcano in Iceland . . that’s the heaving of the ground from old time Skips rolling over as the two grand old east Toronto events have now officially departed. After a few years of  lagging entries (down to about 14 as I recall in 2008) the Cy English was put to rest in 2009.  This year the Joe Davis was changed to a Mixed Treble’s event to see if the number of entries could improve. Not too bad . . 18 entries on Sunday . . ok for many clubs . . but still disappointing for an event that was always filled to overflowing. Maybe the Mens event will return to try again. 

 

Why the lag in entries . . maybe a topic for another day. Most entrants on Sunday were unaware that they were part of a change in Leaside’s traditional ways. Didn’t faze the winners one bit. Arnie Markowitz / Hazel Jaffe / Sum Tang were #1 followed by the Charlie Lyle team from Burlington.

 

Despite Leaside dropping the event you still have a chance to win the Cy English Trophy . . maybe a little harder to earn than winning Leaside’s event. It was won the last 2 years by the Ontario ‘B’ team as the top Mens team at the Canadian Championships. (Which Arnie & Sum were part of last year).

 

One down note at the event. There was a prize (Entry Fee back) given out in a lucky draw for teams that weren't in the regular prize money. A ploy used by many clubs to keep players there until the prizes are given out by their sponsor. Unfortunately the sponsor had to draw out 6 team names from the hat before they got to one that hadn't already left. The absentee's loss (of $45) was Remi's gain . . . but also a loss to show the sponsor that many participants really didn't know or care that the sponsor was there supporting  the club.

 

New Traditions Beginning . . . The Richard Bruton Trophy at Insert Name of Club Here.

Three or 4 years ago Financial Advisor Richard Bruton (Cannacord Wealth Management) was encouraged by client Mike Vince (Cosburn President) to sponsor a tournament at Cosburn Park. He gladly agreed to do it and the 1^st Cannacord Classic MP was born.

 

It  has now spawned several brother & sister events as Richard last year sponsored tournaments in at least 8 different clubs. The first one this year was the Victoria Day Open Fours at Coburg. Richard doesn’t just support his events with cash (quite a generous amount I might add) . . he is on hand with good lucky draw prizes along with bottles of champagne & strawberries for all to toast the winners (and the Queen) at the end of the day. He even played in the tournament with Jim Smith. Bravo Richard (and Jim).

 

Another tradition . . Wayne Wallwork (Al Purcell, Al Handlecher, Vera Richardson) winning the Coburg Open Fours . . the only winner of the event in its long 2 yr history. Will have to have a talk with the draw masters (Laura Hawryszko / Susan Smith) next year. They helped Wayne both years by pitting my team against him in the 3rd game. Second place captured by the Bob Matthews team from Peterborough. They were down 2 points after 11 but managed to score 3 in the last end  (against Pauline Hill) to take the 3^rd game.

 

Norm Smith (Matthew’s team) was fresh off winning 3 in Oshawa on Saturday where he had graciously thanked Bob Guppy (also on Matthews team) and Matthews for going to Burlington & letting him run the team in Oshawa without interference for once. Looks like he can win with them or without them.

 

Points were hard to come by this day as Wayne won with just 38 pts and I believe Matthews took 3 games with 34 points.  As always . . no matter what he does . .Gord Terwilligar seems to get in the money. Just scored 29 points but was the high 1 gamer.

 

Now . . all preliminaries behind us . . off to the Fours.

 

BB in the GTA (and Coburg)

Hanging Out In Oshawa On The Victoria Day Weekend

Victoria Day Weekend - A great holiday weekend of bowls . . kicked off by the MacMillan Trebles in Oshawa.

 

Gentlemen from points east of Toronto plus a few T.O. teams gathered in Oshawa Saturday (May 22) for the 2010 renewal of the Gord MacMillan Memorial Men’s Trebles. They came from Whitby, Peterborough, Coburg, Belleville, Pickering, Cannington, Port Perry, Oakville, Toronto . . .  and lets not forget the strong contingent from the host Oshawa club. Those outsiders looking for an easy 1^st game against a weak home team need not apply in Oshawa. They have so many good teams you have to be up to the test right from bowl number one.

 

The scheduling of this event on the same day as another premier tournament in Burlington resulted in the absence of a few regular attendees . . . but that void opened the door for a few teams that may not normally have made the entry list as vacated spots were quickly snatched up by local teams. The weathermen had been saying all week ”watch out for rain on Saturday” . . .  but the bowling Gods had the final say as 5 minutes of misty drizzle was all that materialized.

 

Good weather . . . great greens. . players anxious to show their stuff after hibernating all winter . . . resulted in a great day of bowls. As usual when conditions are good the cream rises to the top and the 3 game winners were all teams who are no strangers to the winners circle.

3^rd place to Norm Smith of Peterborough, 2^nd place to Fred Thompson of Oshawa with Gord Terwilligar & Keith Olan, (I can’t remember many tournaments I’ve been to where Gord didn’t cash in).

 

Winners on the day: Wayne Wallwork of Cannington with Al Purcell and Roger Buck. (Roger’s patented yells of “YES SIR” & “OH BABY” could be heard from rink 1 to 16 several times during the day).

 

Yikes . .my teams own satisfaction of managing to walk away with a prize was greatly tempered by the fact that we lost game 2 by a score of 18-17 . . . .  by giving up 7 points in the last end!  Well . . already forgotten  . .  moving on to the next game.

BB in the GTA

IN TOUCH WITH BOWLS IN THE GREATER TORONTO AREA

Something new and something blew - your socks off. . Bob Bates has his finger on the pulse of bowls in his area and he has agreed to share his observations. He will report specifically from a GTA perspective but he has been known to wander afield occasionally and there are no limits on his parameters. This blog doesn't operate on any hard deadlines so this Bob can roll his copy when ready. Set, Go with  BB in the GTA.

Will keep you updated on anything interesting that crosses my radar in the GTA. Other than the Provincials and the odd trip to Burlington or Peterborough most of my playing is done locally . . so I don't know the scoop on other areas . . other than there seems to be good bowlers who are hard to beat everywhere I go!

 

Winners of the trophies at AGINCOURT [ WF/F Sun. May 26 ] were the Wayne Wallwork team (same team as 2008: Al Purcell, Gord Terwilligar, Al Handlechener) and Doreen Semple (Willowdale) took the Ladies event. Only other 3 game winner on the day was Dave Johnson of Willowdale.

 

Most of the Men's teams present (Skips: Larry Wales, Allan Steffan, Rodger Thompson, Wayne Wallwork) had the same line ups as last year and did well. Guess familiarity is a plus as a couple of good made up teams with bowlers from different clubs looked strong but didn't get the prize. Note: Was also good to see Frank Zazzara there watching and looking as good as ever.

 

Team / District Changes:

After winning all 3 events in Dist 15 last year Peter Wong is going to play in Dist 10 this year. He is playing with Albert Wu (who is moving from Dist 12). Andy & Mike Watson (newer players out of Agincourt) are playing the front end.

 

It will make the Dist playdowns a little tougher in Dist 10. We don't really need the added competition in my District but look forward to playing Peter as we’ve had several great games in  past playdowns. On my team Eric Brands & I just changed positions and I am leading, he is skipping. I find it a much more sociable game at Lead . .and I seem to play better when I don't have to worry about all the other bowls in the way!

 

Ladies have some new combinations.

Last years Ont champs Pauline Hill & Pat Gemmell are back for another go at it with a new front end.

Helen Wright is moving back to District 12 after playing out of Dist 11 for a few years. Her normal teammate Jeanne Christie will be touring Europe and is not playing. Helen has Jackie Hogan, Joyce Kruss & Shirley Ko with her. This also means Vince Donohue has to find a new Mixed Prs partner to carry him (lol) after medaling the last 2 yrs with Jackie Hogan.

 

Helen will find it tougher in District 12. If the Doreen Semple team (with Gloria Chueng, Brooke Reid, sorry didn’t see who the 4^th was ) is playing the Districts they looked pretty good.

 

Auriel Daniel is moving to Dist 10 (from 14) to play with Debbie McCourt, Maureen & Jan Ferguson.

 

Laila Hassan & Chrystal Shephard are hoping to duplicate their trip to the Canadians in the Pairs so are once again not entering the Fours. I played with Laila, Chyrstal & Jeff Harding in one of the N.Falls Fours events. Got a first hand view as to how they manage to win so many games. Wish I had their confidence in being able to make the right shot at the right time.

 

Played at my club last night. Not too bad a turn out with about 36 players on a mid May evening. We have a photo gallary on the wall of all the Ont Champions from Cosburn since about 1980. About a dozen photos of Women’s teams and only 1 of Men! Seems we continue to have a much better contingent of Ladies at Cosburn then men. With Laila & Chrystal, Nanci Myers (last yrs. Ladies Singles Bronze) and now Cathy Haskins (Sorry . . Cathy Larking after she got married to Ron on the weekend) it looks like the trend in the photos on the wall will continue!

 

Ps – Just got back from Mens Pairs at Agincourt: [ P Wed May 19 ] Winners today were the Jim Butler/Gord Terwillegar team. Other 3 game winning skips: Martin Foxhall & Remi Canuel. (who won all 3 despite only outscoring his opposition 36-33 during the day).

 

Big weekend schedule coming up: Oshawa Tebles / Leaside MT / Coburg OF. Hope my boss doesn’t find out I’m doing all this bowling . .usually when I take off work to bowl I tell him I’m going to the race track or casino . .he understands that better!.

 

 BB in the GTA