The perfect birthday gift for this guest would be $10,000…and he’s more than willing to wait a few days to have it in hand.
You see, that money ending up with Matt Jones of Phoenix, AZ in that time frame is a real possibility. He’ll be one of many top competitors shoeing up for the 3rd Annual CBE $10K Cactus Classic starting Friday.
Jones can strike. A LOT. He has hundreds of honor scores. At last year’s USBC Open Championships, he ended up 20th in singles with a 736.
He’ll also be involved in a doubles action match for the ages this fall.
Thanks to his quick response to Theo Douthit’s Off the Sheet challenge in Ep. 166, we’ll ALL be celebrating Jones’ latest trip around the sun! Come join The Birthday Boy for his bowling story on Ep. 169!
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I encourage you to get P what all things the game of bowling helping Bowlers do the hand collapses down and I’m going to try to Bow the best I can 2,000 subscribers 2,000 subscribers I want to challenge Chad Nelson Tom Corbin Jason Bel [Music] Monte well hey everyone welcome to Thursday tonight here at bowling with the fef a platform for you to share your unique bowling story live right here on our YouTube channel hopefully you’re live with us um I know the timing is a little different than we usually do but we’ve got a great guest and hopefully that more than makes up for it uh those of you live thank you so much for uh tuning in maybe in conjunction with or instead of the presidential debate uh but uh those of you who opted that way uh welcome to replay and please feel free to leave a comment uh if you have the chance I read them all and certainly appreciate all that engagement uh one thing I want to mention before uh we get going with our guest is the PBA Elite League uh they have chosen their MVP for the year and it is Andrew Anderson uh he is the MVP of the first ever uh PBA Elite League regular season because as you’ll remember they changed the format this year to give it some time to breathe I guess you could say a bunch of different events and culminating in the playoffs coming up here’s how the voting broke down uh they it was a panel of PBA officials that uh voted on the MVP contenders and eventual winner you’ve got Anderson up top uh with Las Vegas at 150 points behind him was py hanran from the New Jersey uh team at 60 Jason Belmonte at 45 Justin null of 15 and then a three-way tie at 10 with Tom Smallwood Jason sterer and Kyle troop the playoffs are at Bayside Bowl in Portland Maine starting on September 15th you’ll see quarterfinal action starting that afternoon at 4 pm Wisconsin time on FS1 Anderson’s top seated Las Vegas high rollers will either face the mtown muscle or New Jersey kingpins the next day and of course you’ll see that uh on FS1 as well congratulations to Mr Anderson on winning that MVP award Connor Brown with us live says he was glad that he was able to make it tonight he has been very busy hope that’s a good thing uh Connor was one of our previous guests on the show so uh if you are here live like Connor uh you know give that give that live chat a work out it’s up there it’s there for you let us know what you think if you have any questions or anything like that that’s the place uh to pose those questions hey I do want to remind you that we do have a merch store now it’s at etsy.com shop Bowling withth FF co uh we have T-shirts we have hoodies thanks to uh my production partner Sam Zappa Henrik Meer you can outfit yourself and one of these bad boys spares will get you to Sunday uh that’s what one of my college teammates Troy warline used to say so we call that one the warline there’s also a Wisconsin version great quality stuff and uh a great way to support the channel and bowling uh so uh yeah go ahead give it a look Connor says he just had an eight game sweeper in Hampton Virginia and finished eighth out of 60 congratulations that’s awesome glad to hear you’re having the success there in uh the the tournaments over in Virginia that’s good stuff and uh hopefully that encourages to to bowl even more because uh that’s you know that’s always good good for you good for the sport uh and now a word from our sponsor handmade salsa is great but it’s such a hassle cutting yourself the constant waiting burning yourself oh look at that mess raise your snack standards chip magnet salsa raise your snack standards make them tall and proud and get into some chip magnet salsa they sponsor bowling with the fef and they are based in oakair Wisconsin Distributing salsa and relish and a whole lot more to stores in more than 38 States and Canada or uh you can also find them online at chipm magnet salsa.com and if you order at least $30 worth of product enter the promo code bwtf 202 for it check out you’ll get 25% off your order and there is no limit on that bad boy so uh stock up because chip magnet is the real deal chip magnet salsa raise your snack standards and as always thank you so much to chip magnet for supporting bowling and bowling with the FF well our guest for tonight has more than his fair share of accomplishments on the lane and a few that he’s setting his sights on in the months ahead he’s starting things off with a highlevel tournament in Arizona the 10K CBE actually we’ll reverse those CBE 10K Cactus classic it uh starts on the 28th that’s tomorrow uh runs through June 30th at Lake View Lanes in Sun City Arizona and as the title would have you understand first place is worth $10,000 a great tournament uh if you’re interested uh in finding out more you can always email me I can get you connected with the tournament director but you’re going to have to get through this man among others uh Matt Jones uh if I can get that Banner back down is uh here with us live he is the birthday boy quite literally thank you so much for joining and happy birthday thank you I appreciate it I’m glad to be on this H podcast man that’s awesome yeah yeah a a year older a year wiser and a year more experienced on the lanes for sure um when Theo came on uh Theo du the tournament director at the 10K classic he shared his perspective about kind of how that thing came to be Origins the the car rides with you going back and forth to New Mexico to BU high level events over there what was that like from your perspective and tell me about how you saw those conversations did you see them resulting in what you guys have down there now I was hoping it would um Theo was running tournaments prior to then and you know we’re always traveling to Vegas California New Mexico bow all these 10K events and I always got to him I was like man why can’t we just run one in Arizona it’s like you know maybe we could run one in the winter when our weather is great in the winter it’s not snowy it feels like spring for most other like Midwest Eastern uh States so we always I always try to get in Zer like dude we should really run a 10K tourid I think you can do it and then we were just coming up with ideas of like what should the format be what type of players are we trying to attract like sponsorships like and then you know boom like three four years later he you know he got the itge to do it and then we got the center and then now he’s going on the third year yeah what uh what are you expecting this year as far as I think he’s released the pattern and you know the format now yes yes um the scoring Pace I think is going to be about the same it has the last couple years um usually around even a little bit plus to make the top seven in each Squad uh the place we bowl ATS pretty high friction so 26 mils probably plays closer to like 23 Ms 43 feet probably plays closer to 39 ft uh it’s just a high friction Center so the middles are going to be hooking quite a bit um so I can see depend on who you follow who’s in your squad um scores could be up there but I mean for the most part I think even the about 20 30 over is going to make the top seven in each Squad okay gotta ask uh $10,000 on top it’s not like we all have $10,000 laying around if you are you know both on your game catch the breaks you take that top prize what do you do with $10,000 vacation like with the family first thing first and foremost I’m fortunate enough to have a decent job same with my wife so um vacation definitely for sure there you go good good plan Connor says happy birthday uh to you Matt and many many more appreciate it Conor thanks a lot man yeah good guy like I said came on a previous episode and uh of course you know did well in in his tournament back uh in his hometown let’s uh let’s get started with your story um you were telling me uh you know before we came on that you’ve been in Arizona since age five but you weren’t born there uh where where were you born Ogden Utah so my dad was in the military uh so stationed out in Ogden so I was there for five years don’t remember much of it um but then moved out to Arizona and he was on base there and that’s where I started to learn out of Bowl is on the base okay so what what’s that like at a military base I know it’s it’s going to be hard to you know to remember everything because you were so young but do you have I guess any recollection about that environment I I do it was um pretty like you know just seeing a lot of the military there obviously he was uh with the Air Force um and they had like the bull back then back then it bowling was huge for them so I go in there Saturday the mornings uh while he was on base working and I go in there with my mom and you know bowl a bunch um and then eventually you know got into really heavy on the base and on base you know a lot of those guys bowl for free so I did when I was younger so I got the bowl a lot um and then I finally got into it to where I wanted to actually learn how to bowl like my dad okay and how often did your dad do it and uh on base he was probably bowling he was bowling like three four leagues a week while he was on base he’s always been around a 220 average Bower uh fairly straight um nothing fancy down and in um never won anything really huge but he wasn’t like no slouch either you know what I mean sure what uh what did your dad do to kind of foster that growth in you because you mentioned that you know you got into it you got into it heavy there’s some some passion some drive there and I wonder was was he behind some of that yeah he was absolutely uh he always encouraged it once he seen me really getting into bowling he was always encouraging like hey let’s do some leagues let’s drill you some bowling balls so was always encouraging me teaching me how to bowl get me to that next level and then once I got to a certain point with my bowling I was able to kind of take it from there and then kind of learn from some of the better Bowlers um some of the ones who had like more uh knowledge about Lan play and stuff like that but he he got me to that point so sure you end up in Arizona um how does that affect you know your ability to bowl your um your access things like that uh I had a great access thankfully because of the base they had a pro shop in the base too so my access was pretty easy and like I said bulling in Arizona was pretty huge for a while um now we have a bunch of Bolero centers uh out here not a whole lot of independent like Most states do a lot of states have independent centers we don’t have very many I think we have four five independent centers the rest are bolo ran ah okay so yeah where I live the closest Bolero is like 90 miles away so they’re all it’s the opposite for sure yes yeah yeah for sure uh look who we’ve got live here Theo du F and Jonesy two great people well what’s up Theo takes one to no one right right absolutely 100% yeah and uh yeah so glad that he came on and also challenged you it’s funny because this is kind of like a gosh I’m trying to think because I’m based in Wisconsin and yet the Arizona guys have really come come out strong um you know we’ve had the on Carl and it all kind of started with Robert Smith I reached out to Robert Smith Robert Smith challenges Carl Carl challenges Brianna comes on I mean you know so way to way to plant your flag in the ground we we we have a strong community in Arizona for sure yeah yeah that’s good stuff um your physical game how how would you say you developed your physical game um so my dad got me started I was straighter and then you know you start watching PBA on TV so you start like I watched guys when I was younger was Norm Duke Pete Weber Walter Ray Steve Hoskins and you know being being the young guy I’m like oh I want to throw it like Pete Weber I want to throw it like Steve Hoskins and so my the game developed from being a like straighter player low red player to now I’m a 450 460 rev rate and get around it quite a bit and I kind of taught myself how to uh you know get develop the Rev rape just by watching guys like Pete Weber on TV and Steve Hoskins and how they do it yeah it’s it’s cool to see that for those of us who are kind of growing in the sport or maybe can’t do it ourselves but it takes I mean like I said not all of us can do that is there is there a secret sauce is there is there some way that you know that you can point to and say yep that’s how I was able to really you know increase my revolutions on the Bowling um honestly it was just constantly watching those guys and like how they do with their wrist cuz now you know the guys do with the elbow and the wrist and the collapsing now back then it was like all done with the hand and the wrist like they didn’t have much like elbow bend it was wrist and and fingers so I kind of got fortunate just practicing it so much that I got pretty decent at it yeah and so once I seen that I was like oh well now I’m even more in the buling now I want to do more and then you know I could hook the ball pretty good and then I eventually had to develop like a spare game to get better so yeah we all do right right will’ll get you to Sunday um yes absolutely yeah let’s talk honor scores when you have your when did you have your first one 15 when I was 15 no sorry 14 shot my first 300 when I was 14 and then I didn’t shoot my first 800 till I was 16 I believe okay um I can’t even tell you the ball my first 300 was with a red alert danger zone um and then my first 800 I believe was with the combat zone the Pearl combat zone was my first date oh okay yeah and since then obviously you’ve had a ton of them so yes rattle off a few yeah have they come in bunches have they been kind of consistent throughout your career um I’ve had years where I’ve only had probably like five or six 300s um but I’m pretty consistent averaging about seven eight but I’ve had some Seasons where I’ve gotten to 13 14 for like six or seven years where I F like this year I think I’m at 1 300s now and 12 800s for the year so that’s crazy yeah and in total we’re talking what 260 plus 300 yeah and then I think I’m in the 160s and eights now oh my Go I mean not all of them have counted because I know if you look up USBC because I know some people are going to um we’re talking just tournaments over my career there’s a bunch of people who don’t tournament everyone knows that um but just over my career I’m probably like said right around 260 and 160 ah okay and look at this breaking [Laughter] news ongoing joke uh because Hammer just announced uh new bowling balls Tuesday and uh Theo and them joking that I’ve already shot 300 with them and I haven’t even drilled them yet so and it’s because I just I just shot another 300 just this past Monday um trying out some uh different layouts on bowling balls and then a couple weeks ago I had a 300 in the same Center and then I had 300 800 in the King of the Hill and uh we bow on some like our centors are not hard though at the same time it’s not like I’m splitting boards and like killing them you know what I mean we just some centers we B soft and it’s a little easier to get on our scores yeah yeah for sure um was there an opportunity for you to compete in the high school ranks anything like that oh we didn’t have high school bowling back then um okay the some we and I I’m sure you know about a junior Bowlers tour Southwest out here ran by Jeff Hummer um I bowled his first year the first year he started it 1996 I was handicap bowler of the Year okay so I started that’s where it got the competitiveness when I started bowling against um the people like Andrew Kane and Shannon palowski back then so that’s where I’ve got my butt handed to quite a bit by them but you have to in in absolutely that’s that’s how you get better I’ve always told myself and that the only way you get better is to bowl the best and like I can care less if I win lose whatever I just like competing against the best when I have the opportunity sure what did you see in yourself either physically or mentally as you’re having your butt handed to you but right I mean bowling in those more competitive environments um just that I had a lot of heart like I’ve never gave up in a tournament um even if I don’t have a look or a shot say I’m just completely lost I will use those games to learn how to bowl on that stuff like because I just don’t like embarrassing myself is what I call it for myself it’s just something for me when I’m bling on something really hard I mean I could be 300 under but I can guarantee you that next time if there’s a ran TR I build that next Squad I’m gonna be a lot closer to making the cut or have a chance to lead I like how you describe that though because it’s different than a lot of the guests I’ve had on here you said I have a lot of heart and I would think a lot of people a lot of Bowlers would say well it’s a puzzle that I have to solve it’s a brain game it’s you know it’s it’s deep in thought does you know do you saying it takes a lot of heart does that mean there’s emotion in it for you when absolutely you know when you’re going absolutely is absolutely is because it’s just the like I if I feel like if I’m not trying I’m Giving Up on myself yeah so what I mean by heart is that just the drive to not kind of just sink in into like just bowling bad and then just leaving it as is me I always feel like when you’re bowling bad is when it’s the biggest opportunity to learn something because when you’re winning you’re not really learning anything you’re just winning you’re bowling at your best but when you’re bowling at your worst is really where you see how good you can be what you need to work on and those are the things that make you better like losing makes you better yeah and you’re able to make that floor kind of rise and the ceiling along with it absolutely absolutely yeah and pretty soon I imagine you’re doing better in those jbts you’re competing oh yeah absolutely um and I mean sometimes you’re just the physical hasn’t caught up to the midal yet and that’s what happened to me throughout Juniors I didn’t win a bunch um I mean when you Bowl against people like Andrew and Shannon you’re not going to win a whole lot anyway I mean they’re just insanely good and still they continue to be good these days but um once I got into the adult ranks um my mental started catching up to my physical game and uh it just start translating the wins and honor scores and stuff like that and I always try to stay humble because like anyone ask me how many honor scores you got I’m like I have a few like I don’t try to blow you know brag about it whatever because there’s so many good Bowlers out there especially on the tour that could care less about the owners scor is that you know they’re looking you know what I mean so I just try to stay as humble as I possibly can to that helps me stay grounded and still be able to compete and be um you know humble about it sure was there a an important moment a signature moment that really kind of maybe turned how you thought about competing and the sport and all that uh you know something that you know gave you some momentum or some more confidence that you really kind of draw from when you look back on it um out here we used to have these terms called acba so they’re like the highest competition you can bowl um for Arizona so we you know we bowled against guys like Brett wolf and all them and uh once I started like making Cuts in those once I started cashing and then when I got my first win is when I really started to have the confidence like hey I can compete with some of these guys at the highest level and so you know from there on out I think I ended up with like 18 or 19 acba titles something like that I got a state Masters title like you know it translated some pretty big wins for me yeah it’s G to happen differently for all of us when we get that confidence but you know what did it do for you I mean did you see you know did you see more strikes did you see better spare percentage did you you know was there one aspect of your game that kind of my spare my spare shooting got better because I understood that the only way to compete with the guys at the higher level is you had to make your makeable spares because I don’t know how many times I would throw 10 strikes in a game but I had two opens and then you know when they got really hard and I couldn’t spare consistently you know those guys are shooting 190 180 20 struggling I’m shooting 140 150 160 and just behind by a bunch so I used to play catchup a lot so like once I wasn’t as versatile at the time so once the shot came to me yeah I can average 260 for the last three but I was 150 pins behind the players who were really good yeah so yeah yeah you said uh you had a taste of the college game too uh a community college I believe yes sir yeah yeah tell me what that was like to uh you know to kind of team up with some of those guys and compete against you know against other college teams a whole different environment um it’s so different when you’re not used to how intense the team environment is like college is a whole and now it’s even crazier like so many teams so many good coaches you know back then there was like three or four colleges that just dominated witch to state sagov Valley Western Illinois um those are the guys we bowled against back then and I mean we’re just a small community college so we didn’t have like the heavy hitter players like they did um but I loved it I I enjoyed every bit of it I even had a year at ASU uh under Jordan asberg I’m sure you know who Jordan asberg is yeah uh bold a year under him um end up getting a couple titles made it to Nationals uh with the ASU for one year but then outside of that just stayed with adult bowling and amateur bowling but the college aspect is awesome I I would recommend it to any Junior bowler coming up if you can get in the college bowling that’s definitely an experience you want to have oh yeah I’ll second that too uh we’ve got the agent on open here with Carl long I agree with Theo how many 300s did he shoot in the last 20 minutes we’ve been on for 23 so if he if he shot 300 he did it without my knowing about it um no it’s funny because I I did uh reach out to Carl before the show and uh asked him about you know some of your success on the lanes and you know what kind of made that happen um he said that you are truly one of the best Bowlers in the south west um that you are super dedicated to practice and you know exactly how to strategize for each game he says your ability to read the lanes and adjust is what really makes you sh um it you know that’s got to be a big part of everybody’s game but you know few of us become experts at it right what does it what does it take for you to you know to truly you know make that confident move whether it be on you know on the approach with rist position whatever you know the case may be and commit to it um it took me a while I’m not going to lie like I’d always second guess myself and then it got to the point that I was getting tired of being behind six frames to these guys who were like Fearless like when you bow against like the Jacob bu truff and stuff like that because that’s now who we compete with and the cortezes you’re like man they just made a move and didn’t even think twice and they could be on a five bagger and they’ll change balls and so I got to the point where I’m like you know what just don’t second guess yourself just make the move um so that’s what I started doing and that’s kind of what changed things is I just for the most part don’t second guess myself myself and I try to see what the scoring pace is looking like to see if I just need to hit the pocket and get nine or if I need to make a big move to try to strike quite a bit to keep up with the field yeah so I definitely always watch scoring pace for sure sure and that kind of thing takes practice what does a practice session look like for you uh a lot of for for me I’m a field player so I’m not super technical so I can normally i’ I’ve been doing it for so long now that I can feel when something’s off for my game um so I’ll practice a lot of just feel and then if I feel like I need to learn a pattern you know I’ll go to a center that could put the pattern up but we know topography obviously plays the biggest part in that but it’s just to get reps in and then just to see what like these six or seven balls I feel like I’m gonna throw to see what their big different biggest differences are when I have to make those transitions yeah yeah it’s one of those things in the modern game where you see you know certain moves maybe in League or in a shorter format thing right um but then you get to something like cve like the 10K events like I’m sure the agent Nong open is and you’ve got High Rev players you know equipment that’s just sucking up oil nonstop and you’re having to make huge moves right yes yes absolutely and I use um fill balls in the 10th Frame unless I’m shooting a 300 game um I’m using that fill ball to to see what uh my next transition is going to be so like if uh you know if I need to move way left I’ll make a 15 board move left try a ball just to see what it looks like so I just get some information um for the next few games yeah for sure um another you know of course Theo here live got had to ask him too um you know he said that you’re pretty rounded when it well-rounded when it comes to Lan in play um he said you’ve led the new New Mexico open before also the youngest Phoenix USBC Hall of Famer um he also added probably one of the nicest people you could meet on the Lan as well but tell me about that Hall of Fame induction I mean that’s got to be a special moment for you right oh absolutely was um my dad passed away about seven years ago now and so it was definitely super special because um it was really for him because he’s the one that got me started in bowling so to get to the Hall of Fame is crazy it’s awesome my next goal is to hit the state hall of fame um but there’s so many people I can think that got me there Theo’s one of them um you know guys like Brett wolf Ben Laughlin like these old school players that some people might recognize um always helped me when I had questions so I always tried to pay it forward with anyone else on the lanes like I’m never mean to anybody if they ask they can ask me a question even when I’m struggling and I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability and try to help him as much as I can because you know I got that treatment when I was younger trying to learn and so I feel like I just got to pay it forward to other young kids who are trying to learn too that’s really cool that’s that’s cool of you to do and uh a great reflection of you know probably how you were raised as well speaking of your dad so yeah kudos to you on that who do we have here who’s this guy this guy just recently struck out last night to beat me in King of the Hill that’s Derek aov that would be my ball driller as he works for virtue Bowling Supply out here in Arizona uh shop that I go to I’ve been with him since day one um he’s my ball driller that kind of got my Arsenal in check this year uh I could think a lot of My Success to him because he got my Arsenal looking insanely good we came up with different layouts for me to compete a little bit more and to be able to deal with transitions better make it easier for me to switch balls um he’s he’s he’s definitely been a part of My Success this year like I’ve had a pretty good year in Bowling definitely not going to lie about that I’ve had a great year especially at my age I’m pretty happy with it um he’s definitely been a big part of it and yes last night he struck out to beat me in the King of the Hill 239 to 237 and it’s not the first time he’s done it he’s done it often to me he throws it really well so is is coren his sister that’s his wife his wife okay yep that’s his wife and you know everyone knows Corine she throws it great too um but yeah so yeah I’ve tooken a Beat from both of them before if you know I noticed his shirt if you come out there on the lanes in Arizona and you’re not wearing EFX are you like Persona NADA um for the most part yeah now I’m with royal flush with Pharaoh’s uh brand um but I’m still super friendly with Banna Randy but yeah t AFX out here is pretty pretty strong sure I bet yeah um one of the other events that uh you had some success at uh was you know the agent dong open and I want to talk a little bit about you know that because you finished the 13th but I want to start out with the night before right the sweep the rack sweeper you know you’re sitting there holding the big check with the trophy Brooklyn Rob with that you know with that grin right over your shoulder yes sir yeah I I asked Carl about that performance and what he thought really stood out and uh he said it was that you were you know really cool and collected um under pressure uh he said even against tough competition you kept your calm you nailed some clutch shots when it mattered most and that you just know how to win is that something that comes natural to you or is that something you had oh no that’s something I had to learned I’ve I taken my fair share of beatings from a lot of great Bowlers um just just something to learn how to like stay calm under those pressures not get too amped up because my biggest thing is I get amped up and then what do I do I grab it I throw it harder ball goes all over the place so I’ve learned not to like really score watch for the most part unless I absolutely positively uh have to um so I’ve learned how to just be calmer just try to make the best shot I can and not to get overly upset about it like if I throw a good shot I WRA 10 I’m not that upset like it happens it’s bowling if I throw a bad shot this I’m going to be a little upset by myself because I expect a little bit better out of myself but for the most part if I can make a quality shot and I hit the pocket then you know not much I can do at that point so but yeah it’s I definitely learned how to be a little more calmer especially as I gotten older um you know having kids and everything else definitely makes bullying not seem as so um emotional like so like harsh like you know you get super angry when you make a bad shot and I still do occasionally don’t get me wrong but having kids and having a family definitely changes that perspective because it doesn’t make it and you know I don’t mean this in a bad way but it doesn’t make it as important as it probably was when I was in my 20s so now I’m in my 40s you know family is the most important so even when I struggle I get to come home to a good family so I’m not that upset yeah the big picture changes a little bit and for some folks that that really helps them you know on the lanes as well as off um right so sweep the rack sweeper Ag and on open they’re both firsttime events how cool is that to you know to win that first time sweeper oh that’s awesome uh I’ve gotten a few sweeper wins tat um New Mexico open I’ve won their sweeper before um mini Eliminator back then won a couple of their sweepers one a high roller sweeper I’m I’m I’m pretty good at sweepers for the most part I’m so used to the um Sprint formats from the tat so I have bow the tat since its Inception and you know those are three game sprints so I’m pretty used to three- game Sprints for the most part um the fact that I won it’s still pretty awesome because that competition in that field like I’m in the middle of the pack like there’s so many great players so the fact that I got the win was nice and then the fact to finish into the top 16 into the agent onop was also another you know feather in the cap as well yeah what do you think of that whole thing you know kind of in hindsight they you know they put on this event they got all the participation they’ve got another coming up right you know what how do you how do you go about reviewing that now that it’s kind of in the rearview mirror and you got another one coming up this fall um just kind of the same way I I love the way he ran the event he did a great job with it got a lot of quality players out there you know Simonson um Robert Smith and you know hopefully more to come this year um I just like being able to compete man I love it it’s so much fun and Carl does a great job as well as Theo does so I’m even more excited that we have two tournaments where 10K is on top and I just look forward to it even more now now I got a doubles match coming up against Andrew Kane and Brett wolf which is even more exciting um Carl runs a great event man so I’m looking forward to it just like I’m looking forward to Theo’s event this weekend uh just being able to compete is great for me I just love competition um I just love what it brings out of people and whether I bowl good or not man I just like being around good people and I like bowling great tournaments so I think Carl’s tournament this year I think it’s going to be more successful than it was last year yeah you see how I was ready for you with the you were you absolutely were me and my boy Kyle King righties against lefties man I’m I can’t wait man it’s gonna be a great match Yeah Carl called it four topnotch Arizona guys ready to go head-to-head it’s going to be an epic match um what do you think it’s gonna take to win that oh uh well Noah and Carl the patterns hard um in match play last year they got pretty easy that’s because you had you know 30 people 40 people who knew what they were doing to the Lane so we opened them up and made them pretty easy but I mean we’re going to have to bow the sweepers and kind of get an idea um but I know we are bowling on the pattern fresh so it’s going to be basically how me and Kyle are going to break him down for ourselves uh to give us the best chance I mean score-wise probably won’t take much man they’re still going to be hard could be 440s to start and then if we make them easier could be 470s but Brett and Andrew I mean they have accolades that are insane I mean Brett wolf 2000 ABC Masters champion though in urethane when it wasn’t a popular thing like he he might have been one of the few guys that kind of start that oh Europe on sport patterns look great so I mean he dominated that event I remember like a shot 260 against Dennis Oran um so and then Andrew I mean his name’s all over the place no matter where you go PBA amateur events Team USA USBC I mean Andrew is just accurate and crazy good so I can’t wait man I I’m looking forward to it and I’m great friends with both of them so yeah uh probably a lot of trash talking will happen too which I’m looking forward to as well and then uh Brett’s actually helped me with my game this year uh he’s coached me a little bit so you know if he does lose it’s his fault I mean but that’s even cooler for you you know if you guys win because you kind of get to show them what’s up yeah absolutely no no that’s that’s awesome and uh I I do have the flyer here for the AG and Dong open that’s uh coming up the 17th through the 20th of October another 10K event on on top and of course all the side action that you could ever hope to want at Bolero kirene um you know you mentioned bigger and better Carl has you know put out there that he’s got someone on social media now he’s really excited about this I mean you know gez it’s what three months ahead of time and we’re already talking about it so I mean how cool is that to to have it back again I love it uh it was such a good event last year um that I was really hoping he was going to do it again this year and then now this year it’s bigger better he’s got the sponsors he knows how to Market really well he’s got Theo helping him run the tournament which Theo is so great at running tournaments um yeah man I’m excited and I hope it stays around for as long as it possibly can yeah yeah again if people are interested hit me up on email I can connect you with Carl and uh oh definitely bullet I think so I think you definitely have to if you love competition you definitely should and there’s so many different ways to make money and then on top of that it’s Arizona and October so there’s no snow you’re not going to see crazy weather from us like we’ll probably be in the 80s which is really pretty good weather for us out here so I mean it’s you’re coming in at a time where our weather’s not terrible and I believe our state fair is going on at that same time too so a lot to do around here yeah geez see if I if I came down and bolded I probably wouldn’t leave until June right and then and then our like I said and then our uh our uh you know golfing everyone loves the golfing in Arizona I know that like golfing out here in the winter almost impossible to get tea times wow yeah oh that’s right Theo I did I won Theo’s Cactus sweeper his first year too yeah yeah yeah what is it about the sweepers is it just the short format or I think it is I I think it is I like I don’t mind the short formats I know the better players love the longer formats like I do too uh the longer formats weed out the you know the player like it makes it the longer formats help the better players weeds out the players who aren’t quite there yet and I’m not saying they’re bad they’re just not at that level yet that’s why longer formats are always great short formats Anything Can Happen man just like on TV shows one game yeah it’s it’s a tossup and then if your strategy ain’t good then it’s and I just I’ve gotten fortunate enough to when I built Doo sweeper there was a couple squads before me so I got to see kind of how the LAN developed and got pretty fortunate that in practice I found a pretty good look that didn’t go away and I think I shot like 7:30 or 740 for the three games and I think it took like plus 20 to cash so okay so you uh you’ve mentioned kind of along the way some of the organizations and folks that are helping you out you talked about Royal Flush um obviously Hammer by looking at your hatat you are also an influencer with virtue Bowling Supply as yes um they have an an influencer program that they’re promoting right now um I I reached out to Craig Spencer he told me a little about it it’s solely focused on its members having a positive influence on bowling uh he said there is a skill-based category but it’s not just about skill they still have to be doing other things to positively influence the sport um and when it came to you he said that you are great at helping others coaching giving away equipment often and he called you an ambassador in the sport he said you’ve also been a longtime friend of his for 20 years um he said he’s found the key differentiator among the elite players is the ability to maintain humility and approachability from the lower skilled players even more so wanting to help them and not feel annoyed irritating or becoming condescending he said Parker bone is a great example of this and Matt has it as well wow that isn’t crazy to be mentioned in the same breath as Parker boo not going to lie but I do try to hold myself to like a standard and like again like I told you before I love helping people like I like seeing faces when something’s going right or you know some people might be struggling getting equipment so I’ll have some old stuff laying around I’m like hey here you go like you hope this helps and uh I’ve never become annoyed or anything like that with any bowler com over to you like said you can ask any of them Theo Carl and all them I can be bulling my worst set ever and if someone came up to them say hey Matt do you got a second I always give them my second no matter what yeah I was gonna say that’s the kind of thing that takes not only resources but time and you know I would think for someone it’s an investment in that time because you’re trying to make somebody you know better at the sport when you see somebody that you’ve spent that time with succeed B High game do something they’ve never done before what does that feel like for you it’s great greatest feeling ever like it’s better than any of my individual accomplishments like one of my favorite moments was getting to watch my wife shoot her first 300 game I told her she just recently shot it this year and I told everyone that is my favorite 300 game that’s ever happened in my career so like seeing other people succeed I love it like I’ve gotten to do my fair share of a accomplishments and I’m very happy with what I’ve done in Bowling um I just want to be one of those people that do good for the sport you know I mean so I just try to help as many people as possible even uh you know when they ask I’m never annoyed I’m always like yeah what do you need what do you need to help with what’s the question um even when people ask me about Hammer equipment or when people ask me about virtue Bowling Supply or when people ask me about Royal Flush I’m I’m never irritated I’m always here to answer any questions you have about them that’s awesome uh Carl says You seem to find it quicker something like that yeah something like that yeah was your wife uh into bowling before she met you yeah she was um so I met her so we we’ve been together 15 years now um and uh she was bowling before me but she used to know thumb it which she still can um but I remember having the conversation I’m like hey so do you want to get better she’s like yeah I really do and I’m like yeah you’re going to have to put your thumb in the ball then she didn’t quite throw it hard enough to be a no thumber so you know 450 rev with 12 mile per hour speed doesn’t doesn’t do well so it took her a while but now she’s about a 215 average 210 215 you know she’s not afraid to bowl in patterns struggles but she’s learning and it’s actually made her a better bowler like we bowl a pattern League that Theo runs funny enough on Tuesday nights and we bowl um Red Square which is you know the devil’s pattern oh yeah um we bow Dick Weber just got finished with and now we’re going to Wolf I think for these last four weeks but she loves bowling them like she’s never like oh I don’t want to bowl them because they’re hard she’s like nope Let’s Bowl this league um it’s definitely made her a better bowler for sure and then she got her first 300 this year which is great it was so awesome to watch I mean if you ever want to see it man just go on my Facebook it happened in want to say January February March somewhere around there I think it was February March but yeah I was more excited than she was yeah set the scene a little are you guys like on the same team when this happened yes yes so we bowl on the same team we bowl uh this Monday night League uh Bolero house out here and um she has the first like eight or nine in a row and I just don’t ever say anything because I don’t want to jinx it yeah she throws the first one in the 10 dead flushes it she goes Brooklyn on the 11th one and gets it and I could tell she’s getting nervous and I told her I said look don’t think about anything cuz like the whole entire Bowling Center stopped and you know how that is that’s so nerve-wracking um so so I told her I was like look the only thing you need to focus on is just hit your mark That’s it cuz like if you if you when if it’s your first 300 and you’re in that position there’s a hundred million different things going to your head like I gotta make sure I do this I gotta make sure my speed’s right I gotta make sure I hit on it the same way I told her one thing and sure enough she lets it Go High flush like like she’s never like she’s done it before yeah so no and that’s like I said that’s my favorite 300 game I’ve ever seen it’s my favorite one by far oh that’s fantastic that’s fantastic uh two hands is where it’s at says my guy pton schs I’m sure for me I’m sure you can imagine how he delivers the ball oh my so my son uh he’s like very little bit in the bowling he’s a two-hander I love it like I bowling has to evolve like i’ never get into that argument of one-handed two-handed bowling evolves and my son those are two had he’s probably like 440 or 540 550 rate doing it so he’s just has to learn you know where it’s going when you know what the throw when the throw where to play but he loves it like he tried one-handed and he just didn’t enjoy it very much he went to two-hand it loves it now yeah are how involved are you in in his development would you say you’re coach uh not really I mean uh he’s 18 so you know uh he works and whatnot so he’s just getting back into it um I try to help him as much as I can I’m just not very good at coaching as far as two-hander goes that’s something obviously significantly new so he has guys like Craig Spencer and stuff who has the coaching for two-handed so anytime he’s uh when he gets back into it he’s probably GNA go to them to sharpen up his game a little bit yeah what uh what do you where do you go from here I mean you’ve had all the success you’ve got these tournaments coming up um you mentioned that you never really gave you know the PBA a shot no is you know is is a one-off regional or anything like that in your future or uh they happen regionals happen every once in a while um I’ve bowled the USBC Masters three times I’ve made match play twice top 32 one time is my best finish and that was the year Tom Hess won in Reno okay um I have an Infamous 94 game at the Masters I shot a 94 uh the year Fagan one it was at Sunset Station uh we had a casters round because now they don’t have casters rounds anymore but back then we did um I shot at 94 my first game because I pulled the muscle went back there in practice oh jeez after taking some painkillers I went 94 250 260 I shot 600 with a 94 game and then and then shot like 220 230 my next one made match play but my back was so messed up I bowled Kurt Pon he ran me over and then I bowled William Crane and lost my two matches but I was okay because I got that far with the messed up back but yeah I shot a 94 game at the Masters not even embarrassed about it it happens but that’s where my heart comes in I shot 94 which you would imagine most players are like I’m done I’m throwing in the towel I’m like you know what my goal is to get the plus and I and managed to get the plus after three games wow that’s got to be one of the greatest 600s ever thrown um it was definitely embarrassing the start because you know you got guys like Bill O’Neal Tommy Jones like they can all see this score and they’re probably sitting there going like there’s no way this guy belongs in this field because I would think the same thing 100% things Sy is like how did you make casers round and you shot a 94 game yeah and and then I come back 250 260 and I’m like kind of established myself like okay I still do kind of belong here um and then I got ran over a match play but it happens and then the year H won uh K bull some kid from Colorado one lost to Rick steel Smith I mean no uh beat George Lambert um and then I lost to Ronnie Russell okay so yeah so I’ve had some as the Masters I mean some not great success but I’ve had some hey and you know and the fact that you’re willing to to give it a go I mean that’s awesome you know I’ll bull it again I’ll PLL it again I think that’s another one of my things is I want to go out there and try it again um not sure when that will be but I I I will try the Masters again at some point cool cool um one of the other things that that Carl told me was that he can confidently say that JJ your dad would be immensely proud of all of your accomplishments not only have you become unbelievably successful as a bowler uh but he says that you’ve also grown into an exceptional man husband and father um he says your dad would undoubtedly be proud of the Legacy that you’re Crea I would hope so I mean I I try to do um you know things that my dad would do I try to be the best person I possibly can in the bowl in the community with my family um so man I really appreciate those words from Carl because like you know Carl’s another guy like Theo I look up to both of them man they do a lot for the bowling community that like I’m super proud to call them my friends yeah he says all heart I love that that’s great yeah um of course had to ask him about your being a Bears fan yes I am a Bears fan yeah he said you know it’s not easy these days uh but he says your loyalty shows your resilience uh he says that you stick with your team no matter what which says a lot about your character he says uh you know but hey not everyone can be smart enough to root for the 49ers I don’t know I mean I’m hoping the Bears have a better season this year I know the Caleb Williams draft not a whole lot of people are excited about it because you know a lot of people like Justin fields and I’d say you’re a Green Bay fan and we’ve been taking whooping from you for God knows how long um but uh you know I’m hoping we have a better year we have a insane offense like our offense on paper looks really good yeah I’m just hoping Caleb could you know make that offense mesh I really do and if not it’s just another season for us Bears fans that’s right does does your fandom go back to 06 85 oh God uh my first game I ever watched as a kid uh was Walter pton oh okay so that’s how I got into just being a Bears fan like I got to watch I mean arguably one of the greatest running backs of all time yeah and so that they were my team since then all right and so I’m I’m through with them through thick and thin no matter how bad or good they are look at this guy look at this guy that just means you want to see it again right yeah oh Brett Rogers his 49ers got us last year I know oh man they’re they’re so good and they just continue to get better and stay better God y they’ll they’ll have their that was my dad that was my dad’s team he you know he liked the Joe Montana Jerry Rice combo I mean how good were they back then I mean it’s pretty insane incredible yeah just I mean you just throw your hands up and say well right they did it again yep and and they probably will in in this generation too but yeah I’m sure well it’s hard to beat Patrick Mahomes man it’s so hard to beat that dude it is it is for sure all right so you’ve seen one of these before uh you know we end things up by going off the sheet and that’s where I ask you to challenge somebody just like you’ve been challenged by Theo and you know Carl’s been challenged by Robert Smith doesn’t have to be the greatest bowler in the world but certainly can be we look for people who are passionate about the sport and have a un story to tell so Mr birthday boy Matt Jones who would you like to challenge to be on a future episode so I was thinking about this for a while and I want this person to be on there because you know he just started up his company it’s doing pretty well Pharell Williams I feel like he’d be a great person to have on the show um especially now he’s got royal flush and I mean they’ve been going huge since donon Booker won the Masters I mean so I feel like he would be a good one and his accomplishments by far especially h scores rise Crush mine I mean that dude’s been throwing honest scores since he was in diapers so and I and I’ve known him since uh it’s like 13 12 13 I mean Pharaoh grew up in California and so I mean when we heard that name we’re like who’s this guy and then you watch him throw the ball you’re like Jesus this guy’s insane so I think Pharaoh Williams would be a good one yeah love the suggestion Pharaoh if uh you know if you’re seeing this and are interested in taking Matt up on his challenge you can email me bowling with the FF at yahoo.com or hit me up on Facebook we can make that happen Carl says he would be a great guest um and I like how Theo and Carl are kind of going back and forth here just remind Carl what my Chiefs have done to the 49ers and he comes back with this and that’s why I love them both man their banter is great but they’re both great ambassadors to bowlan out here same with Craig Spencer I mean you got a chance to chat with him with the virtue bulling influencer stuff I would have as him to do it but I know he’s got a lot on his plate right now with the influencer stuff doing his own thing with the virtue bowling or else I would have had you have him come on here for sure but I know uh Pharaoh with his upand cominging company uh with royal flush and stuff I think he would just be great to be on the show yeah and uh and Craig did come on uh the ipsia channel which is a little little side project I do and I had a nice interview ahead of the holidays and you can find that okay on ipsia education three 137 here on the YouTubes it’s called hot topics and got a bunch of little little bite-sized interviews for that so uh if you’re interested in finding out more insight from Craig that’s where he lives um but uh yeah we are going to uh take a week off here uh on bowling with the fef to celebrate independence day but then we’re coming back strong we are coming back really strong with the queen be Liz culan thir Thursday July 11th 700 p.m. central she is currently 18th in points and money on the pwba tour three career titles including the 2018 US Women’s Open uh you’ll see her in action later this month with the Lucy doubles with her partner Richie te uh you you can’t help but be you know impressed by her performance oh God her she’s insanely good I mean see the like numers she puts up even in League she puts up these phone book telephone book Numbers in League that are just insane what her High set’s 890 I believe 889 or 890 yeah super insane but she’s such a great bowler and obviously it shows look at her on the pwb tours in the top 20 in points and yeah no she’s insane she’s insane for sure back at our usual time 7 PM Central on uh Tuesday July or yeah Thursday July 11th uh yeah make sure and be here live for that one and uh yeah Connor says thanks Matt for coming on the show he said he really enjoyed hearing your bowling story keep doing great things and keep shining on the lanes Connor appreciate it man you have yourself a great day and thanks for the birthday shout out yeah and uh you know my thanks too uh you know totally appreciate you coming on and really good to get to know you and and a little more of your story even if you want to keep cheering for the Bears I suppose that that’ll be okay but you almost feel sorry for me really I kind of do because but but then I remember that you’ve got all these free weekends in January and it’s like do for yeah no but uh but but thank you so much um you know like I said appreciate you reaching out right away and and this was a lot of fun I mean to to do this on your birthday it’s a pleasure for me for sure I appreciate it man thank you for having me and I’m gonna continue to keep watching all right I appreciate that and uh thanks to everyone else who uh took the time to watch even though we were head-to-head with a presidential debate that won’t happen often but uh yeah uh subscribe to the channel like this if you like what you saw even if you didn’t and uh we will see you [Music]
