A FISHY BUSINESS!
"Just the kind of tournament competitor I
have been looking for over the past ten
years," exclaimed Eden SuperBowl GM Neil Dent
on Tuesday afternoon..
The reason for this most unusual
revelation?
Two very welcome competitors arrived from
the 49th state of the USA, Alaska., and the
two guilty parties are none other than Rick
Winther from Fairbanks and Harry Mickelson
from Kodiak Island (but spending a lot of time
in Washington State), along with wives Shirley
and Camille. Just Rick and Harry will be
competing on the lanes.
 "So,
what's unusual?" I hear you ask. Well, believe
it or not, these hardy Alaskans turned up in
Malta with a bagful of fresh fish from home
and insisted on cooking a home speciality of
halibut cheeks for Tuesday lunch for the
tournament management. Promises of further
culinary ventures with some Alaskan salmon,
reputed to be the world's finest fish, make us
look forward to another enjoyable experience
later in the week.
This is the first visit to Malta for both
Rick and Harry. Rick has 18 perfect games and
three 800 series' to his credit, bowled over
his 46 years playing the sport. He is the
proprietor of two specialty fish restaurants
in Fairbanks, both closed during the winter
months, so that's when he turns his attention
to the lanes.
"And how many perfect games have you
bowled, Harry?" "Hmm - thirty-something," came
the prompt reply, " and I've hit 18 x 800
series!" Also to his claim to fame is two
years as a member of the illustrious Team USA
in 1988 and 1989.
Harry's most disappointing moment in
bowling came when he led the Olympic
qualifying tournament by 400 pins and then
lost the chance to represent the United States
in the Olympic exhibition bowling event in
Seoul, Korea in a one-game roll-off to Mark
Lewis.
Pic: Rick and Shirley Winther cooking
the halibut cheeks.
UP AND RUNNING Edward Fenech,
operations director for the Eden Leisure Group
(pictured left), opened the ninth edition of the
Malta Senior Open on Wednesday morning, well
assisted by Eden SuperBowl general manager
 Neil
Dent (right).
Both expressed their pleasure at greeting the 230
competitors from a record 20 nations.
A special warm welcome was given to the four
bowlers travelling all the way from the United
States, all of them first-timers in this popular
event. The task of rolling the first ball fell
to BJI's European editor Keith Hale, felling just
six pins with the first ball he had rolled for
over a year. Edward Fenech had threatened to fine
Hale ten Maltese lira ($28.00) as a donation to
his favorite charity for each pin left standing
but relented after witnessing such a poor attempt
at a strike. A TASTE OF WINE Mike Gatt,
the assistant manager of the Eden SuperBowl, likes
to make his own wine and brought in a special
bottle of orange wine which he classed as a rare
vintage and wanted his senior management to
savour. He placed the bottle in the centre's bar
fridge to cool and went to retrieve it a couple of
hours later. To his horror, he was told by the bar
staff that they had sold the wine to some very
thirsty Finns who had been drinking chardonnay for
some considerable time. The Finns did not seem
to notice the change in flavour, but Mike was very
upset to lose his bottle. The management and guest
did wonder what they had missed! Return to Main Page
For further information, contact Keith Hale:
keithhale679@aol.com
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