I’m a big fan of finding and trying new social media platforms.

When I first heard about Bluesky several weeks ago, I didn’t see it as a substitute for any other platform or away to signal my political leaning. The former would probably fly in the face of what I’m trying to do with the marketing of Bowling With The Fef!, and the latter is something that almost always has nothing to do with Bowling With The Fef!

At that point there weren’t many bowling related accounts on Bluesky, but after about a day, I was glad to see an inbox message from Simon Kimber, the creator of the Tenpin Toolkit (tenpintoolkit.com) app.

That led to this episode of the show that we called Bowling’s Swiss Army Knife.

----------------------------------------

What’s YOUR bowling story all about? Tell us!

SUBSCRIBE (on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/c/bowlingwiththefef?sub_confirmation=1

Email bowlingWithTheFef@yahoo.com and YOU could be on the show!

Bowling With The Fef! podcast: https://bowlingwiththefef.podbean.com/

Join our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/855152748614347

Bowling With The Fef! on X: https://x.com/BWTFef

Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

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

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. jerrysskormorbowlingsupply.com (715) 559-1822

Did Nate Purches just have his best week EVER?

Maybe for now...but, if his current trajectory in bowling continues into 2025 and beyond, he will probably top it soon!

Purches, of Fond du Lac, WI, combined a runner-up finish at the PBA Regional Players Invitational in Reno, NV on Sunday (Dec. 15, 2024) with receiving the 2024 Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year award a few days prior.

And Purches is also exempt for the 2025 PBA Tour season because of his fourth-place finish at the PBA Tour Trials in August.

What does this guy do for an encore? We'll have to wait to find that out, but the newly-crowned ROY shares his thoughts on a memorable 2024 in Ep. 188!

-----------------------------------------

What’s YOUR bowling story all about? Tell us!

SUBSCRIBE (on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/c/bowlingwiththefef?sub_confirmation=1

Email BowlingWithTheFef@yahoo.com and YOU could be on the show!

Bowling With The Fef! podcast: https://bowlingwiththefef.podbean.com/

Join our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/855152748614347

Bowling With The Fef! on X: https://x.com/BWTFef

Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

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

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. jerrysskormorbowlingsupply.com (715) 559-1822

Nate Purches of Fond du Lac, WI had a rookie season on the PBA Tour in 2024 that was outstanding.

Before all that, he was a talented junior bowler who got a taste of the bright lights of TV during the PBA Junior Finals in March 2021.

At the time, he was 17-years-old and a few months away from starting college at UW-Whitewater.

He discussed that on the show along with Shawn Wochner in this flashback episode: Shimmy Shimmy Ya.

-----------------------------------------

What’s YOUR bowling story all about?

Tell us!

SUBSCRIBE to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/bowlingwiththefef?sub_confirmation=1

Email BowlingWithTheFef@yahoo.com and YOU could be on the show!

Join our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/855152748614347

Bowling With The Fef! on X: https://x.com/BWTFef

Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

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

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

For the first time in several years, UW-Eau Claire's club bowling program has both mens and womens teams.

Our guest is the coach who guides them all toward success!

In October, the club announced that Alex Bandli would be at the helm of both teams.

The Blugolds have had some great teams dating back to the early and mid 1990s and are working toward creating more magic in the 2024-25 season.

Bandli is originally from the Madison area and, when he's not with the Blugolds, competing on the lanes, or at his day job, he's often launching a drone and capturing spectacular views as an aerial videographer and photographer (flightfirstphoto.com).

This is where we get to know Coach Bandli and his bowling story!

-----------------------------------------

What’s YOUR bowling story all about? Tell us!

SUBSCRIBE (on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/c/bowlingwiththefef?sub_confirmation=1

Email BowlingWithTheFef@yahoo.com and YOU could be on the show!

Bowling With The Fef! podcast: https://bowlingwiththefef.podbean.com/

Join our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/855152748614347

Bowling With The Fef! on X: https://x.com/BWTFef

Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

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

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. jerrysskormorbowlingsupply.com (715) 559-1822

In July of this year, a new Executive Director came on board to lead one of the most well-known charitable organizations in the bowling community.

Jessica Abel of Broadalbin, NY started in the role at Bowlers to Veterans Link (https://bvl.org/) after two years of work at the International Bowling Campus and a successful run as a competitor at Wichita State University that included a national championship.

"She taught me how to turn my computer on, she'll tell you that!" Luis Benavides said while challenging Abel to appear on the show in Ep. 180.

Abel accepted that challenge soon after, and we will get into her role at BVL along with her bowling story!

-----------------------------------------

What’s YOUR bowling story all about? Tell us!

SUBSCRIBE (on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/c/bowlingwiththefef?sub_confirmation=1

Email BowlingWithTheFef@yahoo.com and YOU could be on the show!

Bowling With The Fef! podcast: https://bowlingwiththefef.podbean.com/

Join our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/855152748614347

Bowling With The Fef! on X: https://x.com/BWTFef

Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

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

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

Every year around this time of November, people in the bowling community and beyond ask 'What’s up with this “Feftacular?”'

Well, to truly know what The Feftacular is all about, you have to know about SerbskE$ Club.

It was during this episode of Bowling With The Fef! in June 2022 that the team asked if I would sub with them.

Because I typically bowl on Thursday nights, and they bowl on Wednesdays, we decided that the night before Thanksgiving is the perfect night for it.

So, in November 2022, The Feftacular was born.

It’s a night of league with plenty of bells and whistles.

Feftacular III (Nov. 27, 2024) has a "Red Carpet Meet and Greet Pregame" before bowling at Village Bowl in Menomonee Falls, WI. It is the center known to most as The Country Club of Bowling."

There is also a postgame party afterwards with music, food and fun.

But the bowling itself is an experience, one that is preceded by nearly 30 years of SerbskE$ Club history.

You’ll hear several voices on this episode, mostly Mark Ignatowski, Pete Serbiak and Jeff Ehrhardt.

Through the episode, you’ll learn all the nicknames, the significance of things like the Halfway There Choir, the Super Milty and, why, in the SerbskE$ Club, there is No Coaster Left Behind.

-----------------------------------------

What’s YOUR bowling story all about?

Tell us!

SUBSCRIBE to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/bowlingwiththefef?sub_confirmation=1

Email BowlingWithTheFef@yahoo.com and YOU could be on the show!

Join our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/855152748614347

Bowling With The Fef! on X: https://x.com/BWTFef

Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

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

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

In each of the past two years, the PBA has stopped at FireLake Lanes in Shawnee, OK. One was a national tour stop in 2023. The other, a Southwest Region event this past May.

But the rosters for these events had something in common: both included PBA Tour champion Joe Firpo.

It was June 1987 when Firpo and doubles partner Del Warren took the title at the Showboat Doubles Classic. He appeared on televised PBA Tour finals many times after that in the late 80s and 90s.

Firpo bowled around the Atlanta area after leaving the tour. Now he lives in Oklahoma City, and recently mentioned how an episode of the show brought back some great memories of his days on the tour. Ah, the way we were...

We're examining some of his favorite times on tour, many of which were not in the bowling center!

-----------------------------------------

What’s YOUR bowling story all about? Tell us!

SUBSCRIBE (on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/c/bowlingwiththefef?sub_confirmation=1

Email BowlingWithTheFef@yahoo.com and YOU could be on the show!

Bowling With The Fef! podcast: https://bowlingwiththefef.podbean.com/

Join our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/855152748614347

Bowling With The Fef! on X: https://x.com/BWTFef

Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

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

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

PBA Tour champ Joe Firpo reached out to me recently about a Bowling With The Fef episode he watched.

He said that there is nothing funnier that the stories from a couple of those guests.

Of course, I had to ask him if he would come on the show. He will on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 live on the YouTube channel and shortly after here on the podcast.

Firpo’s win on the national tour was a doubles title in 1987 with Del Warren.

Del was a guest on the show for episode 46: Life Lessons.

Recorded in October 2021, this was, of course, before the Webber International mens team's most recent Intercollegiate Team Championship in the spring of 2024.

But there were plenty of magical moments for him to talk about, including the doubles championship that would be Firpo’s lone national tour title.

----------------------------------------- What’s YOUR bowling story all about?

Tell us!

SUBSCRIBE to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/bowlingwiththefef?sub_confirmation=1

Email BowlingWithTheFef@yahoo.com and YOU could be on the show!

Join our Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/855152748614347

Bowling With The Fef! on X: https://x.com/BWTFef

Bowling With The Fef! is brought to you by:

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

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