GO BELMO GO!!

We would like to thank all the members of the 55th Annual Military Bowling Championships for their dedication and service to our great country.  Your patriotism and sacrifice has made it possible for us all to enjoy our favorite things in life, such as bowling.  We salute you and wish you all luck in the championships this coming week.

BowlerZone announces it’s newly added feature where users can browse for leagues in their area.  Driven by user input, this feature will soon provide information for just about every league in the United States.  This will benefit bowlers of all ages and the bowling centers the leagues are hosted in as well.  It will get the word out and provide exposure to alleys that may otherwise be overlooked by newcomers to their city.  So please be a part of this building process and a part of its success.  Add your leagues today!

We decided to give the “just opened” Celebrity lanes a try this weekend. Not bad at all! This is definitely a family center that will do well to appeal to a wide range of ages. We were impressed with the layout of the center. You have a clear view of the gaming rooms for the kiddos while sipping on an adult beverage at the bar or having a snack on the lanes while enjoying bowling with the grownups. I bowled a 191 my first game (with my own gear) and felt the lanes were pretty forgiving. Our server was attentive and the front desk was accommodating and informative. The only wrench was trying to get to the center, which was a variable out of their control. I hope that when the Arapahoe/Parker road project is done Celebrity lanes will be the new hot spot in our area! I know we will be back to venture their menu and check out the game rooms!

The new Kegel machine has arrived at AMF Aurora in Aurora Colorado. A house that has seen its share of challenging conditions is now playing with the big boys. I had a chance to check out the lanes last weekend and noticed a remarkable difference. With the previous grooming, one was left to tweak their style depending on the day of the week, or which lane they were playing. After the arrival of the Kegel, all I had to do was ensure I hit my mark with the proper delivery blend, and the lanes took care of the rest. Thanks AMF!

I had the most amazing day last Saturday. My hubby and I were lurking around the corner of Arapahoe and Parker trying to get a peek at the new Celebrity Lanes being built. Low and behold we saw balloons, a grill and water and thought what the heck. Not only were we treated with brats and beverage, we got a tour of the almost finished building by the bowling Guru himself Jairo Garcia with Cal Eichinger’s blessing! So with hard hats on board we got the grand tour. I don’t want to spoil anything but this was a goose bump experience for sure. Celebrity Lanes will deliver an experience with all the bells and whistles that will put a grin on any patrons face from nine months old to ninety. There is something for everyone here and I can tell you they will not be disappointed! I am a semi-serious amateur (who’s not so good) bowler who has appreciated the sport for as long as I can remember. I grew up literally a stones throw away from a bowling alley that my Auntie managed, so it’s a home away from home for me! Walking through made me think of a bowling theme park, hard to visualize, but the only way to describe it. This was only the cake the frosting for me was having a great discussion with Cal about the history, evolution and the many facets and avenues that one of the oldest games, not to mention today’s most popular sport has taken. Cal was so kind, down to earth and attainable. I am definitely a fan. I am counting the days till their opening and encourage everyone to check out the hottest family spot right off of the Aurora and Parker intersection across from Arapahoe crossings and The Corner Star mall on the northwest corner. This place is EPIC.

Okay maybe it’s just me but aren’t the short summer leagues supposed to be for fun and give one a chance to work on their form?  Winter leagues to me can be a little stressful when trying to place higher in order to win that coveted cash prize, especially when your team mates are scratch bowlers, which I understand.  So during the summer I enjoy signing up with a league and teaming up with people who are also there to have fun.  At least I thought that was the case until last night, when I had a team mate climb all over my $%s because I wasn’t at my best.  So I had an off night, big deal.  And here’s a news flash Mr. serious…..Don’t join a summer league, where we manage to squeeze in a few frames amongst all the beer drinking if you plan on winning every game.  Go join a more serious league.  Am I alone here?

I have to give a shout out to a family who bowled next to me yesterday.  I was working on my release yesterday when a family with three young kids began to setup on the lane to my right.  I immediately started getting anxious about having to deal with poor etiquette and unruly behavior.  To my surprise, the parents of these kids had obviously been working with them on good manners for quite some time.  Not only were they very courtious, but they were serious about their technique and improvement thereof.  If I had to guess their ages, I would say the two girls were 8 and 11, and will turn out to be better bowlers than me since they are doing this well at this age.  It’s nice to know there are parents out there who know how to teach their kids valuable lessons in good manners and a nice family sport.

After more than three decades as a Denver landmark, Celebrity Sports Center closed in 1994, taking the eighty-lane Celebrity Lanes  bowling alley with it. But the institution’s good name has lived on in the nostalgic minds of anyone who grew up here during those years, as well as on the Internet, where there are several Celebrity memorial pages.

And it’s the name that Cal Eichinger, who owns Elitch Lanes, and his business partners with Kelmore Development will resurrect next year when they open a state-of-the-art, sports-themed Celebrity Lanes bowling alley and entertainment center at 15755 East Arapahoe Road near Parker Road in Centennial. “Sometimes a name can become bad, but the name was good in Denver,” says Eichinger, whose career in the bowling industry took him from coast to coast before he settled in Denver nine years ago and bought Elitch Lanes. “And it will follow the theme of what we are doing with this entertainment facility.”

While the celebrities from the old Celebrity Lanes were the Hollywood type — original investors included Walt Disney, Bing Crosby and George Burns — Eichinger’s celebrities will be more along the lines of Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche players. In fact, he says, Donald Siecke and Bob Koontz of Kelmore are working on a deal with Stan Kroenke’s Altitude Sports and Entertainment to name the grill at the bowling alley after the company and host TV broadcasts in the space.

But the bells and whistles don’t end there. In addition to forty lanes of bowling, a full kitchen with a chef, a patio, a large game room (not as big as the original Celebrity’s, but still big) and outdoor bocce ball, Celebrity Lanes will feature four sports-themed private “boutique” rooms each with four bowling lanes, plush seating and individual audio and video capabilities. The main bowling lanes will be designed so that when the lights are turned off, UV projection will make it appear as though customers are bowling on ice; one of the private rooms will have UV lighting that makes its alleys look like center court at the Pepsi Center.

“Without these guys, I would never have been able to do something like this,” Eichinger says of Siecke and Koontz. “This is going to be bowling, but it’s more about entertainment. It’s not going to be like anything else out there.”

-Denver Westword