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by Randy OoneyMy Nickel’s Worth by Randy Ooney
Rings
Years ago there was a performer by the name of Lily Tomlin who appeared on a comedy slap stick show called “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In.” She donned a long skirt and a hairdo in a 1920’s bun and played a switchboard operator for a phone company. Her famous line intro to her skit was “one ringy dingy, two ringy dingys”. I recently saw a TV ad to purchase DVDs of the show and when they showed a short of Ms. Tomlin, I thought of the Chicago Cubs. Since they waited 108 years between World Series Championships, they designed a ring for players and staff that contained 108 diamonds. I thought that was a bit excessive until I heard about the New England Patriots Super Bowl championship ring. They designed it with 283 diamonds! Why is that number significant ? It has not been 283 years since they won anything. Later I learned that they used 283 diamonds because Atlanta had a 28-3 lead before Tom, deflate gate, Terrific brought the Patriots back in the game. I began league bowling back in the 1960’s when lanes were hardwood and bowling balls were made from hard rubber and later plastic. A 300 game was as rare as Confederate money. I believe Leo Mann had the only 300 in the history of Hopkins Lanes back then, and maybe John Eiss and Paul Johnson scored perfectos at Aqua Bowl. The ABC used to award a very nice ring to honor those achievements. Later in life, still on Maple, but with a reactive Rhino Pro, I managed 12 in a row at John Dorek’s Chanhassen Bowl at age 46. No, there were no diamonds in the ring to commemorate my years of futility but I was thankful to the ABC for my award. Later at Stardust I squeaked out an 801 set and I paid the extra $$$ to have a “Golden Saladium” ring since I guessed that it may be my first and last 800 series. In the new millennium more and more honor scores were recorded and the USBC cut back to a less expensive version of the rings. Now it is just a once in a lifetime award. I understand that because these days there are two or three 300 games every Monday in the Twin Cities Masters league at Texa Tonka, and besides, drock and Lumpy each have only ten fingers and the rings would look funny in pierced ears. Good luck in chasing the ring.
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