CLASSIC ARCHIVE: THE FIRST MCCRACKEN CLASSIC
In eager anticipation of the McCracken Holiday Invitational on December 17th, this week will be devoted to sharing memories of Classics past.
In February 2003 after several grueling nights in the Utah snow on "The First Vampire," the McCracken Classic was born. It was a 16 player tournament of rental shoes and house balls at Fat Cats in Provo (the legendary locale where "Lil' Lighting" officially became "Lintinin").
It was a competition stacked with the MC usuals: Sterling, Themule, Beefcake, Mumbly Joe (now The Condiment), Lintinin and McCracken, but it was the unforgettable bowling of a dark horse named E. Fudd that will live on in Classic lore. The lead-up of this story may be different depending on who tells it, but the bowl-tastic ending is always the same.
In the 10th frame of a semi-final showdown, Mumbly Joe finished his roll to take a narrow lead over E. Fudd: 124 to 120. With two rolls to knock down five pins and earn a visit to the finals, E. Fudd was up. Fudd was an underdog with nothing to lose; in fact, his only goal for the evening was to demolish the ever-antagonistic Script Supervisor Cop (aka SCOP), which he did in the first round. Two lanes away, Lintinin was smashing Frankler 162 - 116 in the other semi-final. Mumbly Joe was surely nervous that he had not created enough distance to meet Lintinin in the finals.
On Fudd's first roll he pulled down three pins, drawing the score closer: 124 - 123. Fudd confidently focused on his final task: dropping two pins for his third victory and a visit to the final. He approached, wound up, and at the point of release, slammed the ball into his right leg, sending it immediately into the gutter, while simultaneoulsy flopping into the lane and onto his back. Game over. Mumbly Joe wins.
In the finals, Lintinin bowled a tournament-high 165 over Mumbly Joe's 144 to win his fourth straight and capture the title of what was the first of four McCracken Classics in 2003. There were no Classics posted in 2004 or 2005.
E. Fudd was never seen again (not true).
4 Comments:
Perhaps we can collectively recreate what actually happened. i seem to remember being the one paired up against Scop in the first round, and destroyed him 164 to 74 or something like that. But these are pathetic scores! Lintinin should have been knocked out in the first round with a score like that (surely he benefited from some sleazy seeding lobby). My scores after round one typify the Condiment Meltdown, already etched in stone long before I even became the Condiment. I verify McCracken's version of E Fudd's 10th frame mishap, however: the slamming the ball against the leg, the ball veering off at an 80 degree angle into the right gutter, the falling over the line into the lane. Mumbly Joe prevails only to get humiliated in the final by nemesis Lintinin. Was there Rock N Bowl at this event? Is that why my scores went to shit? There were 2 Classics where Rock N Bowl ruined me.
6:28 PM PST
True, Rock N Bowl kicked in for the finals in both MC1 and MC3. MHI will have no Rock N Bowl; will that push The Condiment onto victory? Or will he remain the "Barry Bonds" of the Classic"?
Lintinin can confirm the matchups in MC1 since he has the original bracket.
6:40 PM PST
I also it remember it being a 17-person tournament, with us making the two most lowly, most hated players duke it out in a preliminary.
Both of my MC meltdowns have been Rock N Bowl related. It's absoutely ludicrous that these are still sanctioned tournaments. What if all the lights went out at SBC Park and fireworks and neon lighting came on and it started blaring "We are Family" over the PA system?
Barry chokes without all of that stuff; you cannot say the same about Condiment, who is steady as a rock these days.
9:14 PM PST
3/4th of the SLC Contingent (I do kind of like that name) bowl better in the dark.
12:27 PM PST
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